How important is the efficiency of a speaker to you?

@deep_333 

Here is a white paper written by Steve Deckert that explains it much better than I ever could.

https://www.decware.com/paper43.htm

Flea watt amplifiers are class A with minimal circuitry and no negative feedback as opposed to a high powered amplifier that relies on a much more complex circuitry and many more components.  As components are added there is a gain in power but it comes at a cost.  Top of line amplification can minimize those loses with higher quality components and advanced designs but they then become very very expensive and totally unnecessary with a well designed high efficiency speaker.

I'm running corner horns with two watts and can reach 85 to 87db in in a very large space without a sound deficit that's apparent to me.  I'm not able (or want) to play at 110db but I still have bass I can feel in my chest and a detailed sound stage that's simply glorious.

@ortodox 

02-29-2024 at 11:56am 

I went from 87 db speakers to 94 db speakers. Much better sound at low volume and less power needed.

****

I had a similar experience with going from 85 dB sensitivity (84-86 depending on whose numbers one is to believe) Ohm-Walsh 4 speakers to 92-94 dB Klipsch Heresy IV. 

I WAS using an updated (by me) ADCOM GFA-545-II to drive the Ohms (GREAT for RAMMSTEIN!), got into a class AB 6CA7 tube amp - Willsenton R8, totally modified/updated by me - then got the Klipsch speakers and a Tektron TK2 2A3/50I-S amp running 300b tubes.

Just before selling the Ohms, I hooked them up to the class A Tektron and they BARELY sounded like anything but hollow, without presence, a very narrow soundstage, vague, muddy.

I connected the ADCOM amp for the buyer and he was sold on them within seconds of hearing “In Your Eyes.”

I’m using 2A3 tubes now and enjoying 50-60’s Jazz more than ever.

Sensitivity, power driving the right speakers, makes a YUGE difference.

addendum:

Funny, I can remember a conversation I had with the father of a girl I was dating back around 1974 who said “you only need about 2 watts to listen to music” when the stereo we were playing was something like 50 WPC and after 50 years, I’ve come full-circle to pretty much the same conclusion.

YMMV. 

@danager 

What price  level and brands would you say have overcome the obstacles to achieve top level performance? 

Good to see how many people are getting on the high sensitivity train.  Why do I care?  More users means more choices by manufacturers.  The economics point big manufacturers to the expensive insensitive speakers.  

Some great posts here.

And some denying.

Jerry

I think a very reasonable argument can be made for low-power amps, along the lines of “the less you mess with the signal, the better.” So assuming you select a well-designed amp, you simply find a speaker that pairs well with it. I have a couple of Pass diy amps with 15 to 25 watts. I’ll call that low power in today’s market. So to go with the 15-watt amp (at 8 ohms) I built speakers with 95db efficiency. Nice sound, really sweet midrange in a 20x20 family room. The 25-watt amp is a little more flexible. It makes 40 watts at 4 ohms. And I like Magnepans, but they’re 86 db and 4 ohms. I tried it and liked it. Volume probably tops out in the low 90s db range in the large room they’re in, but it’s a living room, not my music room, so fine by me. I’ll add that among the high efficiency speakers I have hear at stores and with my local audio group, they have a dynamism I find appealing, really lively. But I value timbre above all, and that usually leads me to Maggies.