Is the entire "speaker efficiency" conversation motivated by passions and opinions about the free choice of amplifiers -not speakers ?
Brad
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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@lonemountain Brad, I think one of my points is that the free choice of speakers and amplifiers are connected. IOW, a highly inefficient speaker is going to severely limit your amp choice, and conversely a very low powered amp ( or an amp with minimal current drive capability) will also be a non-starter with a speaker that cannot be properly driven by said amp. Therefore, picking out either one of these designs invariably leads one down a path, that may or may not be where one wants to go. |
@daveyf +1 Mike |
@lonemountain Brad, you make an interesting point. While most folk would consider your example as efficient, the other variable, which could effect how an amp interacts with this speaker is how the load the speaker presents varies across it’s frequency spectrum. For example, I know of a very good metal box speaker that has specs similar to what you post ( not quite as good, about 89db vs.90db), but this speaker drops down to less than 1 ohm in the bass regions between 35hz and 55hz. Therefore, I’m not so sure I personally would consider this speaker as an efficient speaker, or easy to drive. |
- 178 posts total