How important is the efficiency of a speaker to you?

@phusis

I normally agree with your posts, but not this one. A transducer engineer like Doug Button (he worked at EV when I did, and then again at JBL when I was there) or Rich at ATC would agree with my post (maybe not exactly the way I say it). The physics of the speaker is a balancing act: if you want more efficiency you give up other advantages. Im not saying this is wrong, it’s simply a choice. A moderate efficiency speaker (86dB 1w/1m) is not a mistake either as it is just a different choice that enables other performance features that high efficiency cannot offer. You cannot have it all. My point is simply that this thread seems to universally promote that high efficiency is the primary hallmark of high performance and that is simply not true. It can be important if you need High SPL, or like horns or big wave-guides (which can image well), or use speakers in a highly reverberant environment where narrow dispersion is an advantage, but these conditions certainly don’t exist in every room or for every listener. It’s a trade off and is not a "good or bad" or "right and wrong" thing. Decide what you want, then figure out what speakers do that.

A good example of deciding what’s important to you is a listener in a small space; a small stand mount speaker with excellent low frequency output, say a LS3/5a type KEF design would be a good choice. Super high efficiency is not gonna happen in this type of design. If a listener wants wide dispersion speaker because he/she wants it to sound the same anywhere in front of the speaker, super high efficiency is not gonna happen. If a listener wants super low distortion because they are in mastering or recording, then super high efficiency is typically not a goal. The hardest part may be understanding what you want in your space vs what other people want in their space, as the reviews say this is good or bad but don’t really discuss the space or the listeners goals much. Whether it’s good or bad is ALL about matching your space and your goals with a speaker. High end speakers are not good or bad on some universal scale. There are too many engineering goals/design features to account for that define good or bad in a given space. Efficiency is just one of these many features.

Brad

@atmasphere   Thank you. If you would have told the dealer exactly what you posted, he would have belittled you just the same. Some folk have agendas, and in this case, the guy was only interested in selling this speaker....not in discussing in any way the potential downfalls that this design elicits. OTOH, that was his job that day.

@lonemountain I couldn't agree with you more, it is absolutely important that one match their desired speaker to the space/room that it is going to be listened to in. However, the efficiency and the very nasty load that the speaker in question presents to the amp is a factor that IMO should not be overlooked, regardless of the room size. Personally, i am not that concerned about speakers that present a moderate efficiency, only those ( like the design in question, and others) that present basically a short to the upstream amp! 

@lonemountain +1.

Dear @daveyf  : IN any case and not so expensive you can find out the  Parasound JC 1+ monoblocks that when you listen it in any speaker at any SPL you did not ask if you are listening tube or SS amp but only enjoying MUSIC.

John Curl is a very low profile Master Designer Electronics Engineer.

Parasound Halo JC 1+ monoblock power amplifier | Stereophile.com

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

@rauliruegas Funny you bring up the Parasound amps. A fellow a'phile whom I know well, decided to buy a pair of very expensive and very difficult to drive speakers, reasoning like you, that the Parasounds would be the answer. His budget was limited a little, so he spent the $$ on the speakers and left himself with only one option for the amps...based on his budget. Let's just say that the speakers went onto the used market within a few months, and he was forced to sell them at a considerable loss. I believe what @atmasphere noted above is the whole reason.

PS. He no longer owns the Parasounds either.