How close to the real thing?

Shadorne, your Sheffield labs drum track test would be a very good one, but as regards the sound meter reading you refer to a "SUSTAINED 108 to 112 db" value, which would not be the same as the the actual peak dB reading. From Wikipedia: "'Peak sound pressure level' should not be confused with 'MAX sound pressure level'. 'Max sound pressure level' is simply the highest RMS reading a conventional sound level meter gives over a stated period for a given time-weighting (S, F, or I) and can be many decibel less than the peak value".

I would suggest that that the peak dB level in the test you describing would be well over 120dB at 1 meter -- I don't want to destroy the bass driver's suspension!!

Frank

Weseixas, I'm sorry but my figures correlate very closely with Atmasphere, 96 versus 98 sensitivity, 120 versus 140 good watts, my sound level of 117dB at 1m, his of 110 at 3m. Check out a text book, you lose 6db per doubling of distance -- from 1m to 2m down 6dB, from 2m to 4m (a doubling) down another 6dB, total 12dB. Remember, a 3dB difference is only just detectable by ear.

I also pointed out previously that the 10 to 20 times power is completely unnecessary IF the system is not distorting. I thus agree, that if the system is poorly engineered then you would need a very large "safety" margin, to compensate for the inadequacies of the setup.

Finally, the room size has nothing to do with it. Having personally experienced what is possible with a nominally mediocre setup, which has been tweaked in every which way, in a very nondescript normal room, I say that with total confidence.

Frank

Pubul57, it gets tricky talking about different powered versions of particular amp types, it's almost a how long is a piece of string conversation!

Theoretically the higher powered amp SHOULD be better because its power supply needs to be bigger, and it is working more within its limits. Unfortunately, manufacturers change a whole lot of things going for bigger power, and quite often these are backwards steps in terms of maintaining quality. For example, a small amp may be fully hard wired with very direct connection paths. The bigger unit is made up of modules, with wiring harnesses with push on connectors for ease of manufacture, and bang, there goes your quality in one hit! In other words, the actual quality of the engineering of the particular component is far, far more important that the nominal power rating.

A 60 watt amp and 89dB sensitive speaker will do a very, very nice job IF everything is optimised, and the amp does produce genuinely clean 60 watts -- class A is a relatively easy engineering way to do this, of course.

Frank

Any way that you look at it, High power matched with high effiency speakers will produce dynamics. And back to the ops original question, Dynamics go along way toward making a convincing presentation.
and Fas42, I have found on large scale music that room size does matter in reproducing that large sound stage. Maybe its just me not figuring out in 30 years how to set up a system in a smaller room, but I definately get a wider more natural presentation on large scale music in a larger room. Granted, the largest room I have experience in is about 20x30 ft (6.25x9.25 meters), but on large scale music, I have definately experienced a larger sound stage. My current room is 14.5x22 ft and it does a wonderful job with small scale recordings, but I haven't been able to duplicate some of the large scale stuff that I have heard in the past with the same recordings.
Cone mass & power also matter in larger rooms. If I understood what Weseixas was saying?