Speaker efficiency

[Moh]

Klipsch is said to have some of the most efficient speakers. I play speakers at very low volumes thus my amp has plenty of power for my needs... Is there any other advantage to efficient speakers other than be able to play louder with limited power?

 

Thanks.

[garyrc]

45 minutes ago, Moh said:

Klipsch is said to have some of the most efficient speakers. I play speakers at very low volumes thus my amp has plenty of power for my needs... Is there any other advantage to efficient speakers other than be able to play louder with limited power?

 

Thanks.

 

Only that high "efficiency" (high sensitivity) "goes with" other characteristics that minimize certain kinds of distortion, such as modulation distortion.  In speaker design, there are more than three desirables, but three are related, as depicted in Hoffman's Iron Law:

         

          Relatively small size

          Deep, good bass

          High efficiency

Pick two; you can't have all three.

 

For example:

 

Small, airtight acoustic suspension speakers must have large cone excursion to produce adequate bass, which produces unwanted high modulation distortion.  Because of the need for large cone excursion, these speakers are of very low efficiency. 

 

Large speakers can produce good, deep bass without much cone excursion (1/16 inch, or less, in the case of the Klipschorn, the Jubilee, and various huge speakers), so there can be very little modulation distortion.  Also, since so little excursion is needed, these speakers can be very efficient. 

 

Naturally, if you have a small room and sit close to the speakers, you will need less power than with the opposite.

 

[DizRotus]

What Gary said, plus many amplifiers generate their lowest distortion at lowest output. As the output increases, so does the distortion.

[LTusler]

Same corollary in racing:

Fast

Cheap

Reliable

 

Pick two.

[KT88]

On 3/28/2022 at 2:18 PM, DizRotus said:

What Gary said, plus many amplifiers generate their lowest distortion at lowest output. As the output increases, so does the distortion.

 

Well, that's not always the case. Especially highly efficient speakers need an amp that makes very little distortion when played very quietly. But more than just a few transistor amps only sound good when they are much too loud than is the need of high efficiency speakers. That's why efforts like Nelson Pass's with the amps called "first watt".

[Islander]

The very efficient speakers resolve fine details in the music more easily than less efficient speakers.  This brings the sound a further step towards accuracy and realism, even at low volume levels.  As well, the very efficient speakers have a greater dynamic range, which allows them to reproduce the softest sounds and the loudest sounds as softly and as loudly as they should sound, which makes for more realistic sound.  

 

The opposite is elevator music, in which there seems to be only one volume level, which produces a very flat background-type sound and saps the energy from the music, making it sound dull and uninteresting.  That’s what low efficiency in speakers can sound like.

[TubesGlo]

Sort of a side note question with probably an obvious answer. Wouldn't it be safe to assume that with high sensitivity speakers such as the Cornwall for example, an amplifiers output tubes will be worked less outputting the same dB level vs a speaker with lower sensitivity? Longer tube life over time etc.?