Low-sensitivity speakers — What's special about them?


I'm building a system for a smaller room (need smaller bookshelves), and I did a bunch of research and some listening. I am attracted both to the Dynaudio Evoke 10's (heard locally) and the Salk Wow1 speakers (ordered and I'm waiting on them for a trial). I have a Rel 328 sub.

Here's the thing — both of those speakers are 84db sensitivity. Several people on this forum and my local dealer have remarked, "You should get a speaker that's easier to drive so you have a wider choice of power and can spend less, too."

That advice — get a more efficient speaker — makes sense to me, but before I just twist with every opinion I come across (I'm a newbie, so I'm pathetically suggestible), I'd like to hear the other side. Viz.,

QUESTION: What is the value in low sensitivity speakers? What do they do for your system or listening experience which make them worth the cost and effort to drive them? Has anyone run the gamut from high to low and wound up with low for a reason?

Your answers to this can help me decide if I should divorce my earlier predilections to low-sensitivity speakers (in other words, throw the Salks and Dyns overboard) and move to a more reasonable partner for a larger variety of amps. Thanks.
128x128hilde45
There are decades of scientific research, testing and effort on this subject. Old ideas about horn loading have not been disproven or debunked; rather the audio community, led by science and research, now understands better where horns pay off and where they don’t. Live sound could not exist without horns. In home audio, they are your friend if all you have is a 20W tube amp and you want to recreate the experience of a live orchestra. In home audio, they are not your friend when it comes to dispersion and low distortion. Personal anecdotes do not overcome the extent of verified research done on the subject by audio’s superstars such as Raymond Cooke (KEF), Floyd Toole (JBL), Billy Woodman (ATC) and all the unknowns from companies that got us here, such as Advent, EV, James B Lansing’s brother Altec, on and on.......

Talk about old technology, I have a 1929 Stromberg Carlson radio with a 15 inch 2 way coax (discrete hand made coax, not an acoustic coax "whizzer cone") sitting on what I think might be the worlds first home use transmission line. It was the beginning of high end audio.
Brad
Lone Mountain

In home audio, they are not your friend when it comes to dispersion and low distortion.
This statement is false. Horns are well-known to have extremely low distortion if properly designed- the first paper I saw in this came from the 1950s when slide rules were how things are done. Nowadays people use computers to optimize the shape of the horn and get very good distortion figures as a result.


The second thing horns can do for you has to do with controlled directivity which they have and other speaker types do not. This allows you to minimize side wall reflections (which are interpreted by the ear as harshness due to their short delay times) if you so choose.


As a result you can get excellent imaging and depth with very low distortion easily rivaling the best ESLs.