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Speaker sensitivity vs SQ

My first thread at AG.

Millercarbon continues to bleat on about the benefits of high sensitivity speakers in not requiring big amplifier watts.
After all, it's true big amplifiers cost big money.  If there were no other factors, he would of course be quite right.

So there must be other factors.  Why don't all speaker manufacturers build exclusively high sensitivity speakers?
In a simple world it ought to be a no-brainer for them to maximise their sales revenue by appealing to a wider market.

But many don't.  And in their specs most are prepared to over-estimate the sensitivity of their speakers, by up to 3-4dB in many cases, in order to encourage purchasers.  Why do they do it?

There must be a problem.  The one that comes to mind is sound quality.  It may be that high sensitivity speakers have inherently poorer sound quality than low sensitivity speakers.  It may be they are more difficult to engineer for high SQ.  There may be aspects of SQ they don't do well.

So what is it please?

128x128clearthinker
piaudiol
75 posts
 
The GR Research high sensitivity speakers are, in a word, stunning.  I had a pair of the old Super V's.  Then a pair of Wedgies on top of 2x12 open baffle servo subs (flat to 20Hz at brutal levels).  I'm getting ready to build a pair of NX-Tremes.  Once one goes to really good open baffle speakers it is very, VERY hard to consider anything else.  Watch these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYP-XErZHu4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xxFKVC2Xro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgoR2PLEZsk

tomic601's avatar
tomic601
13,085 posts
 
i spent a decent amount of my career in anechoic chambers testing advanced technology, simple stuff , some suborbital. my prefered vendor of loudspeakers ( since 1977 ) actually have and use a chamber for development and importantly production, doing the precise work of tuning to a standard and nulling. Do you have a chamber ?
elliottbnewcombjr
5,674 posts
 
I bet these E-V SIX are efficient

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/electro-voice-e-v-six
alexberger
935 posts
 
@audio2design ,
Thank you for the link to the article.
It is so sad that most audiophiles don't care about this one of the most important characteristics for speakers SQ.High efficient designs sound more alive, with better texture, micro and macro dynamics.In contrast - the high compression of low sensitive speakers masks important music information and causes listener fatigue.
In addition, most audiophiles don't have a clue how good sound tube SET amplifiers (with the proper high efficiency speakers) are compared to any transistor amplifier design.  
Regards,
Alex.
clearthinker's avatar
clearthinker OP
1,582 posts
 
Thank you Tomic.  I have heard it said that speakers for use in home music applications should NOT be voiced in an anechoic chamber as the effect of the room boundaries will be entirely lost.  The result will be an artificial sound environment unrelated to the venue of any real performance.  That seems to make sense to me.

For some comment on 18 inch woofers see my earlier posts.

Hi Alex.  9w SETs.  You love 'em or hate 'em.  They're not for me.  I don't like high levels of third and fourth order distortion.  For those that want it they do offer a caricatured inaccurate presentation of the programme, particularly in the bass where their lack of control allow the cones to slop all over the place.
Neither are they relevant to my thread - it's about speakers.

There I don't buy your simplistic statement that efficient designs sound alive etc and inefficient speakers are compressed, mask important information and are fatiguing.  That's just an unhelpful generalisation.
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