Is the most efficient speaker the best speaker?

Hi,
Weseixas, basd on your example of the two systems above, the horn/SET 20watt wouuld have much more available headroom (dynamic reserve)than the inefficient system. At 15 feet(roughly 5 meters) to achieve a sound level of 94db the horn/SET would require 4 watts, the planer/200 w system would need 128 watts. 5 divided by 20 is a much smaller % of available power rhan 128/200w, thus far more reserve headroom for the higher efficiency system.
Best Regards,

Apogee Stages were notoriously inefficient, but, for what they did, were in a class by themselves.

Weseixas, I think you might want to recalculate that.

Through the years I have found that going down in amplifier power and up in speaker efficiency has given me the best sound. I am currently running an Altec 604 based speaker which is 101db. I have this matched up with 1 watt Serious Stereo 2A3 monoblocks. When called upon this combination can produce very high db levels in my 14 X 30 foot room.

Charles1dad
"But,to each his own"
Triode , words of wisdom. The low power amp/high efficiency combination seems to more sucesfully present the flesh and blood, living breathing presence that`s so convincing. This ability to consistently create such realism is what pull me over to this genre.(is it the much simpler circuits and fewer parts?). Trumpets,pianos,saxaphones and human voice is simply much closer to what I hear at live performances, the palpable reproduction is stunning at times.

Yes, this may be true for some such systems. But, one cannot say that is the exclusive domain of SET amps and high efficiency speakers. Just another way to get at natural/live performance with a sound system. It's a big audio world out there folks! Again, my current rig gets closer to what Charlesdad describes then my past horn/SET rigs.

To each his own and several roads can lead to the same destination.