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speaker sensitivity dividing lines

What do you consider to be the dividing lines between low sensitivity, medium sensitivity and high sensitivity speakers ? Here are some thoughts on the subject and please keep in mind that i'm basing these spec's on the speaker being fed 1 watt @ 1 meter with the results averaged over a wide frequency bandwidth ( 100 Hz - 10 KHz). While this "somewhat" takes the impedance variance out of the equation due to using 1 watt rather than 2.83 volts, a speaker that is more sensitive may not be "easier" to drive due to high levels of reactance and / or impedance swings. As such, the lines between a "resistive 92 dB speaker" ( medium sensitivity ) and a "reactive 95 dB speaker" ( high sensitivity ) could be blurred in terms of why a big amp can't drive a more sensitive speaker but a smaller ( yet "beefier" ) amp can. Then again, that is a whole 'nother can of worms for another thread.

The reason that i bring this up is that we may all have slightly different ideas as to what is high / low sensitivity. In order to make conversations a little more easily understood and get to a point where we are all on the same page, coming to some type of mutual understanding as to what we are using as reference points might make things easier. I think that this would come in handy for such things as an "Audiogon FAQ's" type of section that will probably pop up sooner or later.

As such, these are the basic guidelines that i tend to follow when looking at speaker sensitivity with the above criteria taken into account. I'd like to hear from others as to what their "dividing lines" are and how we could come up with an "Audiogon reference" when discussing speakers & efficiency ratings.

83 db's and below = ultra low sensitivity

84 - 87 dB's = low sensitivity

88 - 92 dB's = medium sensitivity

93 - 97 dB's = high sensitivity

98 dB's and above = ultra high sensitivity

Obviously, these figures are somewhat random but you have to draw the line somewhere as far as "spec's" or "performance on paper" goes. Any and all comments / suggestions welcome. Sean
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sean
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
That looks 'spot on' to me Sean. I think that's a rather good tool for beginners. That would put me right smack in the middle of medium @ 90 db.

John
unsound
7,329 posts
 
Gee, on paper it looks well enough. Some how it's hard for me to imagine 87 db's as low. With out doing any research, I would have guessed more speakers are 86-87 db's than not.
sogood51
2,157 posts
 
My Vmps's are 91db, not to hard to drive, but still take a fair amount of power. I would say they are in the medium sensitivity camp. I think your pretty much right on with your chart keeping speakers with wild impedance swings out of the picture as you stated.
sean OP
6,231 posts
 
Unsound: In the days of yesteryear where sealed designs walked the Earth in great numbers, there were TONS of speakers in the 85 - 88 dB range. Since driver technology has increased over the years, vents of one kind or another are FAR more common and many designs "share the load" with multiple drivers covering the same pass band, efficiency has crept up a bit over the old school "one driver per passband" sealed box of yesteryear. From what i've seen, I think that most speakers are in the 88 - 91 dB range nowadays. I could be wrong though and that's why i asked for other points of view. Sean
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gs5556
1,234 posts
 
I would factor in amp/preamp gain also. I have a 26 db gain preamp and a 4 db gain 2A3 SET and 86 db @2.83V/4ohm speakers. This front end has about the same effect on these speakers as a 100W amp with a typical 12db gain preamp (but at different volume settings). So, to a low gain front end, they would be "low" sensitivity. But to a high gain front end, they act as a higher sensitivty speaker. Maybe that's one reason, along with the level of our recorded source material, why we have different opinions as to what we call what. With that aside, I would call anything over 90db/1w/1m "high" sensitivity, anything below 85 "low" and in between "typical" since that is what I think most speakers are - 86 to 89.
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