What is your take on high efficient speakers vs. low efficient speakers?

@charles1dad , Yes, realism could be the final goal. How do you get to realism? How realistic can you get? Many of us do not even think about realistic. It is viewed as an unrealistic goal. Not true at all. Given the right recording a system can sound scary realistic and I do not mean with just an acoustic guitar either. It can be done with full on rock and jazz. It can be done with equipment that is not Luxury Audio. There are also several roads that lead to Rome. Of the three systems that met my criteria for realism one was a three way dynamic system and the other two were based on very different types of ESL. Three systems out of hundreds including the ones I designed (under the wishes and pocketbook of persons usually more interested in fancy decor and artwork than music.)  Many of them were owned by audiophile friends. Some of them were mine. 

Among audiophiles there is significant variance in expectations and priorities. Someone is bound and determined to set himself up with a SET amp because he heard one he thought sounded good, in a totally different environment than his own listening room. Now he can't get the volume he would like on some recordings so he goes out and gets a set of high efficiency loudspeakers which are not capable of performing as well as the ones he had (with the right amp) but they go loud and he is happy. Then there is the confusion generated by unintentional psychological disinformation. There are people who will swear their system improved by putting their cables on elevators. All of a sudden everyone is selling cable elevators. So what is an English Major to think? While guys like my are laughing under our breath. 

Accuracy gets you in the ballpark, taste gets you to realistic, both get you evicted. 

Agreed @charles1dad 

@mijostyn These 8’ panels…where need they be located in relation to front and side walls? What size room approx?

The few Ive heard where mad far out into the room.…

@grannyring 

I have not heard the Horning Aristotle speakers. I have heard their larger sibling the Eufrodites on 2 separate occasions. So I understand your enthusiasm.It doesn’t require much power to make them sing. More importance placed on the quality of the watts driving them. 🙂

Charles

High sensitivity speakers sound more like live music.

My speakers are home-brew, look like Klipsch Lascala on steroids, average sensitivity is 105dB and I tri-amp with an analogue active crossover (subs, bass/low mids, mids/treble)

For me the micro and macro dynamics associated with high sensitivity (100dB+) is something I could never do without, and being able to use very low power amps is a definite advantage

BUT

-big horn systems image differently, you either love it or hate it

-ANY noise or distortion will be MAGNIFIED and unbearable - this is real - any RFI / EMI, any noise on the AC lines, anything from the outside world (or from your electronics) that would mostly stay hidden on a low sensitivity system will be exposed and you will have to deal with it or live with it!

-caution with gain structure is important, otherwise say hello to noise (see above remark) and hello to all the issues some preamps can have when used with the volume potentiometer at the lowest settings (bad stereo tracking, loss of dynamics and definition, etc) YMMV depending on the quality of your preamp(section), but shouldn’t be overlooked