mannye
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- Sep 13, 2019
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In reply to the “how much power do we need” thread.
One of the posts noted correctly that the amount of amplifier power needed is related to the sensitivity of the speakers.
That led me to wonder if high efficiency speakers (And by extension amps) are generally better than low efficiency or vice versa.
The pros of highly efficient speakers 100dB or more is that they can be driven to astoundingly high volumes with as little as 3 watts like my Hornshoppe Horns which were powered by Bottlehead Paramour 2A3 monoblocks.
Cons are that they were always lacking in bass, and were relatively large considering only a single 4 inch Fostex driver in each speaker.
highly efficient speakers that “get it done” on the low end are just massive. Like many Lowther speakers I’ve seen and heard.
On the other hand, inefficient speakers like my Definitive Technologies BP 2002 towers sound great but they need massive amounts of power to sound their best. Power that is expensive to buy or in the case of commercial amps like Crown, loud and hot and inconvenient. Not to mention big.
I’ve also noticed that my very efficient speakers sound like garbage with a powerful solid state amp and most of my modern speakers sound terrible with flea amps.
I know each kid of speaker has its fans but I’m only a fan of great sound and I don’t care how I get there.
In my experience I like the way low powered amps and the speakers that match well with them are best at acoustic music in “small formats” like a single guitar player/singer or a small acoustic band and electronic music or rock and roll and large format acoustic music like an orchestra is best when I use the biggest solid state amps I can with full sized multi element speakers and sub woofers.
What do you guys think?
One of the posts noted correctly that the amount of amplifier power needed is related to the sensitivity of the speakers.
That led me to wonder if high efficiency speakers (And by extension amps) are generally better than low efficiency or vice versa.
The pros of highly efficient speakers 100dB or more is that they can be driven to astoundingly high volumes with as little as 3 watts like my Hornshoppe Horns which were powered by Bottlehead Paramour 2A3 monoblocks.
Cons are that they were always lacking in bass, and were relatively large considering only a single 4 inch Fostex driver in each speaker.
highly efficient speakers that “get it done” on the low end are just massive. Like many Lowther speakers I’ve seen and heard.
On the other hand, inefficient speakers like my Definitive Technologies BP 2002 towers sound great but they need massive amounts of power to sound their best. Power that is expensive to buy or in the case of commercial amps like Crown, loud and hot and inconvenient. Not to mention big.
I’ve also noticed that my very efficient speakers sound like garbage with a powerful solid state amp and most of my modern speakers sound terrible with flea amps.
I know each kid of speaker has its fans but I’m only a fan of great sound and I don’t care how I get there.
In my experience I like the way low powered amps and the speakers that match well with them are best at acoustic music in “small formats” like a single guitar player/singer or a small acoustic band and electronic music or rock and roll and large format acoustic music like an orchestra is best when I use the biggest solid state amps I can with full sized multi element speakers and sub woofers.
What do you guys think?
