@djones51 You are correct. Usually I see this with elevated treble or bass response. Dali and Dynaudio sometimes exhibit this. Some of their models are definitely better for low volume listening.
Are all dBs created equal?
I recently purchased new speakers and I have run into something interesting. With my old speakers I listened at 80 dB average and it was comfortable. At 80 dB average with the new speakers it seems much louder and I have to turn it down to 70-72 dB to get to my comfort zone. Why would 80 dBs sound so much louder with the new speakers? FYI, the new speakers are presenting more detail and refinement. The sound stage is better in every way. What gives?
Showing 4 responses by erik_squires
A watt is the amount of energy used. Look at it this way. 24/7 your power company feeds you 240V at your main panel. That’s a matter of "pressure." You are not billed per volt though, since with no current (all breakers off) there’s no power used. You get billed when power (watts) are consumed, by turning on a light switch, oven or amplifier. :) The 1w/1m (1 watt at 1 meter) measurement tries to measure how much power is consumed, how much you would be billed for to generate a certain dB. The 2.83V/1m (2.83 volts input, measured at 1 meter) is how the speaker responds to the voltage pressure. If the speaker is 4 Ohms, this is 2 watts. If the speaker is 8 Ohms, 1 watt, and half a watt at 16 Ohms. Since most speakers impedance can vary a great deal, and many of us use beefy amps the 2.83V/1m rating makes more sense. It tell us how loud it will be when you turn the volume a certain amount. For tube users, knowing how loud per watt could be more important. |
That’s for speaker measurements. If the OP is talking about the sound pressure at his listening location that is different.
Efficiency is about output per watt, so 1w/1m is used. The input voltage is adjusted based on the impedance. It's also kind of a PITA to measure so often done at exactly 1 kHz. Sensitivity is about output given an input voltage, so 2.83V/1m is used. In this case the watts could be much higher or much lower than 1. There's no guarantee. The two are equivalent only if the speaker is exactly 8 Ohms, but in either case the SPL is measured the same way. |
If we are talking about measured audio dB, then this article may start to help:
https://www.vernier.com/til/3500 also look up :
Lastly though, the Focal seems to be tuned "loud" but they are also notorious for having difficult impedances around 100 Hz. Depending on your amplifier it may seem bass shy.
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