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High Sensitivity Speakers

ahofer

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WANT TO KNOW THE TRUE SOUND QUALITY ABOUT OMEGA & KLIPSCH
SPEAKERS WHICH ARE OF HIGH SENSITIVITY .

Is the all caps thing because we are all so low sensitivity?
 

Helicopter

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May I respectfully suggest the F1-12’s from Fyne Audio for the OP’s consideration?:facepalm: Would you, dear experts, kindly comment on their measurement results, please?:)

Any open-baffle designs from Spatial worth consideration? No published measurement results found anywhere, unfortunately…;)
It doesn't look horrible to me, but I like vintage speakers, horns, etc. FR looks warm sounding with a little boost above 100kHz in mid bass and declining in highs. It is a little jaggy so it won't be super realistic sounding, but it should be pleasant, especially fairly close where room response will be less pronounced. I bet I would like the sound OK, but I would not trade my Focal Aria 948 for them. The cabinets are really pretty.
 

Zedly

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From my experience the loss of perceived dynamics at lower volume is primarily related to inadequate bass and science helps explain why. The Fletcher-Munson loudness curves show how our ears are less sensitive to low frequencies at low volumes. Proper equalization can increase our perception of full dynamics at lower volumes with any speaker. I always run my sub a little hotter when listening to music at low volume levels and the little gut punches from the lowest notes create the perception of increased dynamics.

I like Audyssey's Dynamic EQ because it does exactly this. My wife and daughter like listening at lower levels than I do, so I have to turn the volume down when we listen/watch together. Dynamic EQ boosts the lows when you turn down the volume, so we still get good bass.
 
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S. Ghosh

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ASR Trigger Warning: The "average" (median/mean) / typical ASR member/poster is advised to just skip over this post. Move along. There's nothing to see here. These are not the droids you're looking for. ;)


IF (???) budget and/or available space are constraints, @S. Ghosh -- you might want to consider a single-driver (so-called "fullrange") loudspeaker.
Not sure what would be readily available where you live, but there are myriad options, including purchaing a pair of drivers and building (or having someone build) enclosures for them.

Now -- here's the thing. A "fullrange" driver is a big bucketful of compromises by definition, considering that the nominally "audible" spectrum covers three orders of magnitude of frequencies (20 Hz to 20,000 Hz; i.e., wavelengths of ca. 17 meters to 1.7 cm), but most of them employ no electrical crossover to waste amplifier power, and they can be quite sensitive. A variety of tricks are sometimes used to enhance the perceived performance of these drivers -- e.g., horn, pipe, or transmission line loading for bass enhancement, or parasitic ("whizzer") cones or dual-compliance suspensions (a la the Altec "Biflex") to extend treble response. It is possible to make a "fullrange" driver that is fairly sensitive (even very sensitive, at least by modern standards). The optimum size for a single-driver seems to me (empirically!) to be about 200 mm (8 inches, where I live) but there are many such drivers commercially available that are larger and smaller than that.

These are currently fashionable in some circles:
https://www.lii-audio.com/

Fostex (Foster) has a long-standing position in manufacturing "fullrange" speakers and offers designs and kits to build enclosures for them.
https://www.fostexinternational.com/docs/speaker_components/types_of_drivers.shtml

The classic sine qua non were/are the drivers from an eccentric British company called Lowther. These drivers are interesting and very polarizing in the 'community'. They're very sensitive, though -- and very expensive.
https://lowtherloudspeakers.com/

There are other modern manufacturers/distributors of "fullrange" drivers. In the US, Madisound and Parts Express are good sources. Parts Express has some unique offerings sold under their "Dayton Audio" brand, as well as some interesting (and not inexpensive) TangBand drivers.
PE's fullrange driver offerings are mixed into the offerings in this filtered view from PE's website: https://www.parts-express.com/speak.../midrange-midbass-drivers-full-range-speakers

There are other current production options for both drivers and fully-finished loudspeakers (drivers and cabinets) -- some include various kinds of "passive" networks to improve their performance (at the expense of some sensitivity and dynamics, for better or worse). Here is one (US) example -- also, again, quite polarizing to "audiophiles" ;)
https://omegaloudspeakers.com/

There are also many "vintage" options from companies storied (Altec, JBL, Electrovoice, Jensen, e.g.) and less fondly remembered (Utah, University, Oaktron, e.g.) Even the fabled ;) retailer "Radio Shack" sold some interesting "fullrange" drivers over they years.

Are these drivers/speakers ideal? Far from it. Can they deliver good dynamics? Yes (in some cases). Are they "colored" (i.e., do they exhibit substantial deviations from flat frequency response)? Yes, almost without exception (and without regard to price!). Do they suffer from other woes not typically found in "normal" loudspeakers? Yes (e.g., Doppler distortion and rising impedance at higher frequencies being among the most typical). Can they sound "good"? Yes (subjectively). They're absolutely, irrevocably not for everybody. In other words, you'll want to try before you buy.

HTH ("hope this helps"), as they say. :)

EDIT: Here are two subforums at other hifi websites that might be of interest/value for you to peruse, @S. Ghosh
https://hifihaven.org/index.php?forums/high-efficiency.21/
https://www.audioasylum.com/forums/hug/bbs.html

These might be of interest, too:
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?forums/the-lansing-legacy.212/
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?forums/the-klipsch-korner.131/
https://community.klipsch.com/
http://audioheritage.org/vbulletin/
https://www.hostboard.com/forums/f700/index13.html (moribund, but still some good information scattered through it)
thank you for your so-detailed advice . but in kolkata i.e. in INDIA availability is a major issue .
 

mhardy6647

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thank you for your so-detailed advice . but in kolkata i.e. in INDIA availability is a major issue .
I do understand that! Thus I tried to cast a very broad net in terms of "ideas" (I hesitate to call some of them "suggestions"). :)
I guess my advice would be to think small and (relatively) inexpensive if you cannot find a friend, colleague, or dealer to 'try before you buy'.
As Pasteur said, "Chance favors the prepared mind".
In this context, I mean to imply that the more information you have going into the hunt, the better the end outcome is likely to be.
It also helps to "know thyself" (who said that? Seneca? Some Greek dude? Heck, maybe it was an Asian philosopher, and the Greeks "appropriated" it! ;) ) in terms of the qualities of sound that one prefers.

WANT TO KNOW THE TRUE SOUND QUALITY ABOUT OMEGA & KLIPSCH
SPEAKERS WHICH ARE OF HIGH SENSITIVITY .
By and large, the classic ("heritage") Klipsch have, to me, a very harsh and aggressive sound. Most of them have horn resonances in the treble that make them, to me, ear gougers. I do like the Chorus and the Chorus II, but they are large, expensive, and perhaps very hard to find when you are.

The modern versions of the "Heritage" Klipsch loudspeakers are reputed to be much better than their multiple generations of forebears -- but a recent test of the current Heresy (the smallest and, for many folks, perhaps most practical of them) suggests, perhaps, "more of the same" in terms of their unrefined and aggressive sound characteristics. It is Klipsch's stock in trade, and they (no pun intended) revel in it! ;)

another year klipsch by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
PWK-BS fashions by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

EDIT: Here's a link to the link ;) with the "Heresy IV" review mentioned above:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/klipsch-heresy-iv-speaker-review.17853/

Omega -- I don't have ears-on experience (well, at least not much). Opinions seem very mixed.

Many folks seem to like the DeVore loudspeakers, some (most?) of which offer very good sensitivity -- but they are large and very expensive.
 
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S. Ghosh

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It doesn't look horrible to me, but I like vintage speakers, horns, etc. FR looks warm sounding with a little boost above 100kHz in mid bass and declining in highs. It is a little jaggy so it won't be super realistic sounding, but it should be pleasant, especially fairly close where room response will be less pronounced. I bet I would like the sound OK, but I would not trade my Focal Aria 948 for them. The cabinets are really pretty.
It doesn't look horrible to me, but I like vintage speakers, horns, etc. FR looks warm sounding with a little boost above 100kHz in mid bass and declining in highs. It is a little jaggy so it won't be super realistic sounding, but it should be pleasant, especially fairly close where room response will be less pronounced. I bet I would like the sound OK, but I would not trade my Focal Aria 948 for them. The cabinets are really pretty.
need extensive review about spatial audio open baffle speakers
 

jkasch

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Audiophiles consistently describe HE speakers as sounding “more dynamic” or “more alive” and “like they are here” vs “you are there”. I’d be interested to know if ASR members think this is true given plenty of amplifier for a less efficient speaker. Or are the aforementioned qualities a function of frequency anomalies and/or the radiation patterns of HE loudspeakers.
 

AnalogSteph

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A combination of relatively narrow dispersion and frequency response eccentricities strikes me as the most likely explanation indeed. Dynamics do not exactly get any better when lots of reverb is involved. A small(ish), wide dispersion speaker in a large, lively space may get the tonality right but will struggle with lots and lots of diffuse sound bouncing around. And even the tonality part is a challenge, given that directivity is almost never completely constant (below a certain frequency most speakers turn omnidirectional, the bigger the lower; multi-driver DSP trickery can push this point down).

The "speaker size vs. room size" thread should be a good read. EDIT: I meant this one.
 
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MakeMineVinyl

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Audiophiles consistently describe HE speakers as sounding “more dynamic” or “more alive” and “like they are here” vs “you are there”. I’d be interested to know if ASR members think this is true given plenty of amplifier for a less efficient speaker. Or are the aforementioned qualities a function of frequency anomalies and/or the radiation patterns of HE loudspeakers.
Horns in general can easily take on an overly aggressive and forward character and depending on the music one listens to, this might be a plus or a minus. Horns can sound as refined as any other type and still have the "dynamic / more alive" character, but its a balancing act to get there.
 

Kvalsvoll

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Audiophiles consistently describe HE speakers as sounding “more dynamic” or “more alive” and “like they are here” vs “you are there”. I’d be interested to know if ASR members think this is true given plenty of amplifier for a less efficient speaker. Or are the aforementioned qualities a function of frequency anomalies and/or the radiation patterns of HE loudspeakers.

And add to the above answers how transient reproduction is improved due to reduced compression because less current for same output equals less compression - in general.

BUT - since high sensitivty in itself is not a parameter that says anything about the sound that comes out, it is obvious that if capacity requirements can be fulfilled with less efficiency and more amplifier power, then the resulting sound will be the same - with lower sensitivity.
 

Sal1950

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Plus one.

87 db isn't high sensitivity. I might settle for less than 97 db, but certainly would be talking 93 db and above.
It's a relative number but I sure wouldn't consider 87 db high. Somewhere over 90 is in the ball park I'd say.

Take a look at some of the speakers from Legacy Audio in Springfield IL., many of his speakers go way above 90.
I've heard a number of his designs at audio shows and have never found them to sound any less than highly impressive.
https://www.legacyaudio.com/
 
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