I’m concerned you’re already at 4-6 o’clock with your speakers. If possible I’d demo the speakers at home or bring the amp to the store if possible before buying.
Sensitivity 86 v 90
I am considering an upgrade from speakers with a sensitivity rating of 90 db, 4 ohms, to larger speakers rated at 86db, 8 ohms nominal. Same brand, PMC. My tube integrated amp is 80-112 watts triode/ultralinear, and it’s fine for my 90 db speakers. Although, it is sometimes at around 4 o’clock on the volume control, approaching the max at 6. I am aware of the “amp power must double for each 3db increase in volume” rule of thumb, but really have no practical experience with this. I do like having 90 db efficiency, always assumed that meant a less powerful amp would suffice.
My question is, would the decreased efficiency be a concern?
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Agree with @soix You can never have too much power, but you can sure have too little. |
What is your preferred listening volume in the room? Have you bought a sound level meter in order to get a real number to work with? Note that one person's "loud" is another's "medium" and so on. The size of the room is also a factor along with whether or not you use a subwoofer (deep bass takes the most power.) Finally, keep in mind that the position of the volume knob is not an indication of whether or not you are at or near the amp's max output. Here, the voltage output of the source and the input sensitivity of the peramp/amp play a big role. For example, a while back I tried using a unity-gain preamp with a low sensitivity power amp and having the volume knob turned to max only gave me moderate volume. I had to switch to a preamp with additional gain to get the sound I wanted, even though I did not change power amps. As you can see, lots of moving parts. But your first move is to figure out your desired listening level. |
In my experience for most speakers, the relationship between sensitivity and amplifier watts is often an overblown consideration. Gain, however, is predictable. Like others have stated you may have a gain issue. I do not know your preamp but 4-6 o'clock seems quite high already and a lower sensitivity is sure to make that more challenging. |
@lloydc Wrote:
No! The two speakers have the same efficiency. Changing the impedance of the speaker will change the voltage sensitivity, not the efficiency -- the 4Ohm speaker is getting 2 watts from the amp, the 8Ohm speaker is getting 1 watt from the amp. That’s why the 4Ohm speaker has a 3dB higher sensitivity. (Ohm’s law) Sensitivity and efficiency are not the same. See below: Paragraph C. Hope that helps. Also, what is the gain of the amp you have? Mike
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- 36 posts total