Speaker sensitivity vs SQ

Hence why I will harp incessantly w.r.t. acoustics and take with a grain of salt many audiophile claims, especially after seeing listening rooms. Totally laughable when they then make claims about other people's systems not being resolving enough. But I digress.

I'm with you.  What I think I have observed is

a - Self delusion
b - A large variability in the ear brain mechanism being able to filter out room acoustics.

Based on what I know about machine learning, and neural nets, and observations at shows, I believe some listeners can pick out some delicate traits about system despite absolutely terrible rooms.

I personally, cannot.  As studies in learning and acoustics have shown, filtering out noise is energy consuming.  Your brain works harder in an acoustically messy environment and I absolutely feel it.

@erik_squires wrote:

"As studies in learning and acoustics have shown, filtering out noise is energy consuming. Your brain works harder in an acoustically messy environment and I absolutely feel it."

Totally agree.

In home audio, "your brain works harder" = listening fatigue.

[public service announcement] In an acoustically messy environment like the back of a classroom (or even worse the back of a lecture hall), "your brain works harder" = you are straining to use ALL of your CPU power just to understand the individual words, and that takes not only more energy but also more TIME. So by the time you understand one word, the lecturer has already moved on to the next word, and you have neither the spare CPU power nor the TIME to comprehend complex concepts so that you can store them in your long-term memory. This is one of the reasons why the kids in the back of the classroom get tired within fifteen minutes and are by far the ones most likely to flunk. So even if they are shy introverts, tell your kid and grandkids to sit in the front if at all possible! [/p.s.a.]

Duke

Surprised that no one has mentioned “Hoffmann’s Iron Rule” in this discussion.

Josef Anton Hoffman was the “H” in the original KLH company. He was an audio engineer who theorized that you could only have two of the following in speaker design, never all three:

1. Small speaker enclosure
2. High efficiency
3. Accurate bass response

That is, if you want an efficient speaker with accurate bass, you cannot have a small speaker enclosure. 
Likewise, you can have a small speaker enclosure with good efficiency, but bass response and accuracy will be limited. 
My impression is that speaker design is primarily driven by that limitation when addressing SQ and efficiency.

Hoffman's rule applies to passive dynamic drivers in traditional cabinets.

I have found it interesting to see who has worked around some of this at times, including KEF, B&W and even Bose.

Some interesting designs using smaller than optimal cabinets, which fix the bass by EQ are fun to discuss.

Best,

E

@audiokinesis , @erik_squires ,

Trying to dig it up, it's around here somewhere, but I had a good paper or two on electronic (DSP) correction of thermal compression both copper and magnetic.  It is yet another reason why active speakers will rule the high end roost eventually. Passive will never be able to accomplish what active will be able to.  For subs, active position feedback already can correct for this.