enough watts to drive these speakers? Help?


Greetings all,

I've got a friend with 89db efficent speakers playing in a 12'x15'x8' bedroom. He's looking at getting a 8 or 10 watt, low powered SET amp and is concerned if his speakers will play "loud enough".
He usually listens to classical and jazz at "moderate" levels at the loudest.

I compute that he should be getting 95db using only 4watts and the room should give a little more, perhaps 2db.

Are my calculations correct?

Anyone else that has a similar setup and can comment if it's loud and dynamic enough?

Thanks and happy listening!
myraj

Showing 1 response by subaruguru

Think of it as surface area. As the distance doubles the surface area quadruples...equal to -6dB/unit surface area.
I didn't read anyone's reminder that sensitivity values are usually expressed at 1k, which can be far less meaningful unless one knows the low frequency rolloff (and impedence). Since it's possible for a "high" efficiency speaker to have much lower response, let's say, at 50Hz than a lower efficiency one with flatter bass, one can indeed be fooled into predicting that a low power amp might have an easier time with the former...especially if a low impedence couples with a large phase angle diff in the bass. So it's not so simple...especially with a tube amp.