My point of view is that it is a challenge to find speakers that perfectly match your specific sound quality values. It gets much harder by restricting yourself to a subset of speakers.
How important is the efficiency of a speaker to you?
I went to an audio meeting recently and heard a couple of good sounding speakers. These speakers were not inexpensive and were well built. Problem is that they also require a very large ss amp upstream to drive them. Something that can push a lot of current, which pretty much rules out most low-mid ( maybe even high) powered tube amps. When I mentioned this to the person doing the demo, i was basically belittled, as he felt that the efficiency of a speaker is pretty much irrelevant ( well he would, as he is trying to sell these speakers). The speaker line is fairly well known to drop down to a very low impedance level in the bass regions. This requires an amp that is going to be $$$, as it has to not be bothered by the lowest impedances.
Personally, if I cannot make a speaker work with most tube amps on the market, or am forced to dig deeply into the pocketbook to own a huge ss amp upstream, this is a MAJOR negative to me with regards to the speaker in question ( whichever speaker that may be). So much so, that I will not entertain this design, regardless of SQ.
Your thoughts?
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@ghdprentice I agree with this. Not only do you restrict yourself to a subset of speakers, but in the worst case examples, you also restrict yourself to a subset of amps. Like many of us, i know of a few a'philes who bought their dream speaker, only to find that the amp(s) required were a deal breaker, not only from a budget perspective, but also in many cases, from a placement/heat/aesthetics/weight perspective as well. |
More Efficient just means louder. Alone it has little to do with what amps will drive the speakers well ie produce the intended sound completely. That has more to do with how difficult a load which is more about impedance, not efficiency. So really all more efficient means is a flea powered tube amp can make them go louder before clipping sets in. It does not mean one is getting all they can out of the speakers regardless of amp. That’s not to say the results will necessarily sound bad, just not optimal, and different with different amps, not the same
Take Fritz speakers as an example. If you check out the website you find these are designed to be an easy load for any amp but are not high efficiency. They will sound more similarly good off most any amp and still achieve decent SPL with most any amp, so they are an excellent choice for someone who wants to get best end results using most any amp. The site also shows how the Fritz speakers compare In this regard to other popular speakers. |
My thinking is that efficiency is a product of both reactance (impedance and phase angle) and sensitivity. The reactance relates most toward 'easy to drive' while sensitivity relates more toward size of room to be pressurized. Since the Fritz speaker has been mentioned, I will add that Fritz speakers are easy to drive having a benign reactivity. A sensitivity around 88-90dB allows them to be played in smaller rooms with low wattage amps. As room size increases power requirement also increases however I can't imagine anyone needing more than 100wpc to drive them to their maximun output. If one is playing them that loud their room size/listening level likely is better suited toward a larger speaker. |
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