What creates the effortlessness in sound reproduction?

Efficiency is key!

And nice shameless plug Peter. Do better, please........

Oz

Peter is above board. The shameless ones are those with ulterior agendas. 

Even without hearing the speakers he linked to I can see that they have many of the criteria necessary to achieve effortless sound reproduction - given the proper electronics and cables ahead of them. 

Larger drivers, extended frequency response, plenteous power, overbuilt x-over or active x-over, larger speakers well past 4', etc. Many speakers have a few of these traits, but this one he linked to seems to have the necessary attributes to create the effortless sound discussed here. 

I have reviewed larger Legacy Audio speakers for Dagogo.com, such as the V and the Valor, and these are fundamentally superior in creating the sense of ease and capability beyond the norm. So, Peter's link is not just shameless promotion, it's a snapshot of the characteristics in a speaker that lend themselves to "effortlessness".  

Btw, it seems the speaker uses a 12" mid. Those with discernment might look to see that also Legacy's Valor similarly uses prodigious midrange. Why is that? Because it is fundamentally superior. Period. End of discussion. Size matters, and big gets fundamentally better sound in the end. Sorry for budget audiophiles, but that's the realty. 

Now you know.  :) 

I will add that one of the reasons that panels, such as the Kingsound King III electrostatic I reviewed for Dagogo.com, are so popular is that they can capture some of the immensity and openness of huge speakers. It’s a much more affordable way to go; one does not need to spend $80K to get some of the attributes of "effortlessness", but some will be sacrificed, such as macrodynamics. No way a panel will come close to the impact of such dynamic hybrid speakers. Not even close. Subs would be mandatory. That is why I pair the Legacy Audio XTREME XD Subs (also reviewed) with the King III to capture some of what is lost when moving to a panel. :)


Simply put, "effortlessness" is on a spectrum, like all other parameters of performance. It's not an end point, but a very widely experienced phenomenon that is open-ended. 

This is all about distortion.

If higher ordered harmonics not part of the music are present, the ear will sense them as brightness and harshness.


If there are room reflections that are occurring at less than about 10mS or so, the ear will sense them as brightness and harshness.

So the amplifier plays a role- as does the rest of the system! The rule of thumb I use is the system doesn't ever sound loud, even when at 100dB. So I do everything I can to prevent the system making higher ordered harmonic distortion, preventing vibration from affecting the components and insuring that the speakers are properly set up in the room. If all this is done correctly, you will find that many speakers can be quite effortless. I find it easier with higher efficiency speakers as they tend to have less thermal compression. ESLs can work nicely too, since they have no thermal compression at all.

"The rule of thumb I use is the system doesn't ever sound loud, even when at 100dB..."

Exactly my experience.