How loud do you like to play your music?

Nil,
It is an ad-on.
and what is all this meshugas since I've been away?
You just can't leave the boys alone.....(;

A few weeks ago I sold my Usher BE 718’s and replaced them with Focal JM Labs BE Micro Utopia’s… forcing me to mess around with speaker placement. I was perfectly happy with the Usher’s, but the temptation was too great so I took the plunge. I don’t know exactly what db level I was playing the Usher’s at, but I always set the volume level at the same mark. When I played the Focal’s at the same mark, the sound was “uncomfortable”. That confused me because the Usher’s are more efficient than the Focal’s.

I finally figured out that I must have been playing the Usher’s at a db level that gave me the fidelity I was happy with. At the same time, I realized that the Focal’s would give me the fidelity I was looking for… but at a lower db level... and that has made my wife very happy.

I listen a lot based on the volume that one would expect if the music was live. So with Wagner- peaks around 110, but ELP's first LP I'll have dialed back a bit to peaks at 100-105. Solo guitar is then at 75.

In order to play these volumes comfortably (the way real music can do- 110 db is easy for a live orchestra), the system has to be free of resonances and odd-ordered harmonic generation (odd ordered harmonics are the cues that the ear/brain system uses to determine how loud a sound is). With no artificially enhanced volume cues then the cues come from the sources rather than the playback.

Raks, you said "When I played the Focal’s at the same mark, the sound was “uncomfortable”. That confused me because the Usher’s are more efficient than the Focal’s."

Actually, it's the other way around. The Ushers are much less efficent than the Focals. I made the switch in the opposite direction from you (from Micro Utopia BE's to the Ushers and there is definitely a difference in the efficiency with the Ushers needing considerably more power to hit the same volume level). So, if you set the same volume level on the Focals that you listened to with the Ushers, that explains why the sound was "uncomfortable". At the same volume position it would have been louder with the Micro Utopia BE's. So, it's most likely not a matter of the Focals giving you the fidelity you were looking for at a lower level.

Disclosure: I am an Usher dealer and a former Focal dealer.

Seconding Everest_Audio's comment, John Atkinson's measurements of the Usher indicate a measured sensitivity of 85db/2.83V/1m, less than their claimed 87db specification, while the Focal's are specified at 89db.

The usual confusion factor of 2.83 volts vs. 1 watt is present, but since both speakers are specified as nominally 8 ohms, and have a minimum impedance in the vicinity of 5 ohms, that is probably not significant in this comparison.

Regards,
-- Al