Efficient speakers -- What was your journey from A to B to ?

In layman terms,

a) Efficiency

b) Bass

c) Cabinet size (refrigerator size vs WAF size)

Pick 2 (ab, bc or ac)

But, there's a whole lot more advanced topics tied to driver design, quality, compromises, etc....

Yummy quality power is very affordable these days, i.e., it isn't the 70s. Pursuit of efficiency and exclusion of "supposedly inefficient" ear candy speakers is a silly thing to do in 2024 and an unnecessary restriction/compromise imposed on the engineering workspace. One would be surprised how little power the "supposedly inefficient" ear candy speakers actually use at deafness inducing spl levels.

is that there is a sonic experience with the combination of lower power plus higher efficiency which is different than higher/sufficient power + inefficient speakers. It’s a nimbleness, a spry litheness -- in dynamics, pacing, but also in the way the tonalities are rendered.

@hilde45 , The last "relatively sensitive" speaker i had was the JBL9800 from their synthesis line... almost 20 years ago now maybe. It was possibly a letdown in comparison to my ’not so sensitive" current speakers (Schweikert 55, TAD E1TX), in every possible way i can think of. The JBL was a ear ripper with many a less than perfect recording. Since i’m a "music first" audiophile, i have loads of imperfect recordings from great artists and no inclination of dealing with such restrictions.

P.S. There are also so many killer resolving dacs these days (which didn’t exist back then), that can help deliver some of these traits/nuances you’re pursuing in sensitive speakers (without their cons).