Efficient speakers v. less efficient speakers

aball1,998 posts01-18-2006 2:24pmYes, a big difference. High efficiency means lots of detail and resolution. Just try hooking up a noisy amp to a 100dB sensitive speaker and see what I mean. Inefficient speakers lose lots of musical information in the process.


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BAMMMM
SmackDown,
Of course most audiophiles  can not understand, nor believe what you are saying here. 
The Industry has them deaf to high sensitivity speaker designs. 
They can not hear what you are saying. 
Your words are falling on deaf ears.

shadorne7,467 posts01-20-2006 11:08amRlew,

I am only concerned that someone reading this thread will think that a high sensitivity speaker is necessarily better than a low sensitivity speaker.

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back in your day, 2006, this way so true.
Low efficient speakers is pretty much all we had. Horns were too big, heavy and expensive.
Wide bands from Fostex, Lowther were OK, and were indeed far superior to most xover desifgns,. 
But with rolls offs on boths fq ends, Folks were not so interested. 
But since 2010, wide bands have come into all new high technology and blast any/every xover design away in a  shootout.
So your statement was kind of true in your 2006 post, but now in 2021, It is true
Higher sens wide bands are fundamentally superior to xover designs. 
I am blowing the Ram's Horn, but only a few will  hear the horn (pun intended)

shadorne7,467 posts01-20-2006 11:08amRlew,

I am only concerned that someone reading this thread will think that a high sensitivity speaker is necessarily better than a low sensitivity speaker.

Unlike the general rule about a bigger box having better bandwidth and therefore being a better speaker.....there is no simple rule of thumb for efficiency.

There are indeed advantages in high sensitiivity speakers, as myself and others have pointed out, such as a better dynamic range (less compression), however speaker design requires a balance of compromises and high sensitivity is not always better.

In very general terms, ultra-efficient speakers should be avoided just as ultra-inefficient speakers should be avoided. Both will have strengths but extremes are generally achieved with large compromises in other areas instead of an overall balance in performance.

Let me give a couple of examples of how a manufacturer can achieve high efficiency at the expense of distortion;

Long coil operating in short magnetic gap gives a low cost and highly efficient driver but it increases harmonic distortion as the voice coil operates outside the linear area of the short magnet gap. Also the heat dissapation is poor in these designs....so while they are highly sensitive they do not dissipate heat as well as a shorter coil in a longer magnet gap.

Very light rigid cone diaphragms made from hard/stiff materials (magnesium,ceramic,polymers). These efficient rigid low mass cones have low internal damping and tend to have high Q resonances. This efficient choice of cone leads to higher harmonic distortion than more critically damped designs.


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There is a lot of Meat and Potatoes here and just skimming over some of your incredible tech knowledge, It finally dawned on me why Voxativ uses extremely light Papyrus paper cone materials, Super thin, super light weight. 
and a super complex super power Neo magnet design..
Got it. 
Super high tech Neo meets super light weight papyrus paper and
EXPLOSION of colors, dynamics, soundstage, presence, no fatigue, just  the pureist highest fidelity.
Got it.