Speaker specs: Sensitivity, & Amp match

S7horton is correct:)! 6db (spl) *is* "twice". Elevick: You show this yourself quite explicitly, above: As change in spl relates to w change^2, 2x as loud requires 2^2=4x watts. Every 6 db you clearly show x4 watts. Cheers!

Gregm, I think I'm getting confused! As I understand it, a doubling of power results in a (measured) 3db response in sound from a speaker, but the 3db, or even 6db, increase in volume isn't necessarily "percieved" by the listener as a "doubling" in volume. From what do you conclude the 6db increase in volume results in a "percieved" doubling of volume to the listener?

I smell this thread getting caught up in semantics.

But I do "percieve" myself having twice as much fun reading it than anyone else......:-)

Elevick is correct. A 10db increase in SPL will only be double the volume (what our ears hear and brain perceived to be).
The usefulness of all this becomes becomes apparent when we think about how the ear perceives loudness. First of all, the ear is very sensitive. The softest audible sound has a power of about 0.000000000001 watt/sq. meter and the threshold of pain is around 1 watt/sq. meter, giving a total range of 120dB. In the second place, our judgment of relative levels of loudness is somewhat logarithmic. If a sound has 10 times the power of a reference (10dB) we hear it as twice as loud. If we merely double the power (3dB), the difference will be just noticeable.

Regards,
Rich

I actually thought the perceived increases were exponential, not logarithmic, but I'm far from an engineer. I just know my shorts will taste like s**t. Someone check audioasylum to bail me out please.
Keep in mind that I used the word "perceived" since I know a physicist will tear this statement apart otherwise.