Speaker sensitivity vs SQ

@atmasphere --

...  A higher efficiency driver that can make 98dB with 1 watt and is 8 ohms is a different beast altogether. This describes the 15" drivers in my speakers at home and they cost $2000.00 each.

These are field coil-fitted drivers, right? In that presumable case their price, though way above what needs to serve a fitting purpose here, makes a little more sense. 

You can find 15" drivers that cost $200.00. I'd be very interested to learn of a 15" with the same 22Hz free air resonance and 150 watt power handling that cost $200, or even $600.00. Have at it! But I think you'll find that such simply does not exist.

The Electro-Voice DL15W woofer/mids of my pro cinema speakers are 97dB sensitive/8 ohms, have a 21Hz free air resonance, and take 400 watts long term. And there are two of them in each speaker (+ subs). Being they're high-passed below ~85Hz further adds to their power handling. I'm unaware of their price being they're discontinued, but my guess is around $300 retail per driver at the time.

Hi @clearthinker ,

The problem is because high efficiency speakers today are rare a very few audiophile had opportunity to listen good implemented system with high efficiency speakers.
The other factor is the average high efficiency speakers are more transparent and shows more flaws of the system electronics.

I remember, for me it was shock when I at first listened a good high efficiency speakers system back at 2002. I was like a medieval knight who saw an army armed with aircraft and tanks.
Since that day I heard many systems, but any low efficient system didn’t impress me. In the best case they sound just OK. They also sound more boring in therm of music.
If any thing impressed me - it always was high efficient system!

Regards,
Alex.

Thanks Alex.
In terms of my original question, I am rather afraid you are saying high efficiency speakers are rare because they're rare.  That won't get us far.

And on your second point. Or are systems electronics commonly used to drive them often flawed?  I have always felt that in many cases it is the flaws that make them less 'boring'.

@ctsooner wrote: 

"it's simply not true to make a statement that a higher sensitivity speaker is more costly to make..."  

Based on sixteen years of manufacturing fairly high efficiency speakers, I disagree.  

The enclosure is usually the most expensive component and high efficiency calls for large, typically labor-intensive enclosures.  As enclosure size goes up so does the enclosure cost, even moreso if the larger enclosure is also more complex.  And enclosure size has two hidden costs:  Shipping cost and opportunity cost.  The latter is due to the sheer amount of space the speaker takes up in a showroom.   

Many other costs also are typically (though not always) higher with high efficiency, but enclosure cost is always higher for the larger enclosure assuming an equivalent enclosure build technique, and dramatically so for dramatic size differences, and even moreso as the enclosure complexity increases.  Sort of like the cost of building a house goes up as the size and number of rooms (complexity) go up. 

Duke  

Alex, who said you need 100 watts to drive a voice coil at normal volume? First of all music is dynamic and made up of a palette of frequencies. You don't listen to a sine wave. Even with less efficient speakers RMS wattage is going to be pretty low at normal listening levels maybe 10 watts at most while still hitting peaks of 100 watts. A woofer that is well ventilated is it's own fan. That is the way it is designed. The drivers I use can take 600 watts continuously indefinitely. I doubt they have ever seen 100 watts RMS