Is there any advantage to lower efficiency speakers? 87 or below?

Mmm, duplication of 'live' is such a 'moving target'.  Since one is listening to a recording of a live performance (for example) that's gone through myriad equipment and processes in the interval.  It seems to me (IMHO time) that the only way one could really make the comparison properly is to have been at that performance.  And even then there's the contrast of where one was sitting, one's state of mind, and the influence of memory.

*Sigh*  We're left with attempting to recreate as best as one can our opinion of what it sounded like, or should sound like...in an entirely different space.

Studio work boils down to the artist(s) working with the engineer(s) to make the work sound like what's in the artist(s) mind.  There's a certain simplicity in that...

We can either approach that reproduction with either 'bare bones' or a more complex combination of items.

Either way, it comes down to what sounds good to you.  And the guy next to you will think it sounds like dreck and you're brain damaged or have a hearing malfunction.

*L*  And we're right back to 'what sounds good/right to you, and the enjoyment of that.  And 'twas always thus, and will always will be.

MHO and yours....;)  May not or never be the same, but many things are like that...

how much live unamplified music is in your listening diet ?
and then with a good mic or two before the tape heads or after ?
try that a bit
but yes we all have our opinions

 A lower sensitivity speaker will block more noise contamination than a higher sensitivity speaker.
 Often times a speaker designer will sacrifice some sensitivity for other considerations.

I forgot, unsound is right. :)

Very high sensitivity speakers (100dB+) often need very quiet amps to prevent the idle amp noise from becoming noticeable.

However I don't know if a single speaker designer who says "Oh, I'm going to hear too much noise, better lower the sensitivity...." :) That's not usually a concern.

Best,

E

This is meant not as a right or wrong thing but more of an observation
 as a recipe for success or consistancy.
It is not that speaker designers deliberately design low sensitivity loudspeakers but in order to seem natural or flat all drivers need to be padded to the one driver that is lowest as mentioned above.
 With cost effective means to look at breakup behavior of cones and domes available today one reason some designers end up with lower sensitivity is that speakers end up that way when using drivers that are breakup free in their passbands or range of operation.
  In most loudspeakers especially high sensitivity ones some of the apparent sensitivity is output from the random ringing of the cones.
 This definitely will smear the music fed to the speaker.
 Low wattage single ended tube amps definitely have a sonic signature and if that is preferred one has no choice.
 But for most of us higher power good sounding amplifiers are available  for reasonable money.
 Best
JohnnyR