High efficiency speakers vs Low, pros and cons

Speakers that are high efficiency ( 95 - 96 dB's and up ) tend to sound punchier aka "more dynamic". This is even truer for "ultra high efficiency" designs ( 100+ dB's ). Having said that, most of them also tend to be bandwidth limited and lack the ability to handle gobs of power / play at sustained high volume levels. They tend to use inexpensive low mass* drivers that break up and distort if pushed hard. As such, the benefits of high efficiency are only good if used at lower power levels. As Unsound said, these are pretty vague generalizations, but ones that i've come to realize via past experiences. There are exceptions to every rule though and more than one way to skin a cat. Sean
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* the more mass you have in a driver, the harder the motor must work to push it, hence a loss in efficiency.

This is a VERY technical question and involves the engineering trade-offs between transient response, bandwidth, driver excursion, cone break-up ( distortion ), power handling, etc... Suffice it to say that if one could achieve "perfection" i.e. all of the desirable traits that we look for in hi-fi with high efficiency, the designer would be a genius that knew how to circumvent the laws of physics. As such, engineers and manufacturers weigh the balance in what they are looking for and design according to what they have available to achieve those goals at a given price point. As such, a medium efficiency speaker offers the best compromise in several areas. On top of that, they are also the most commonly available in terms of selection of drivers, so that is what we end up with as a majority. As others have mentioned, either design can work well in a system IF that system is set up to work as a team. Like anything else though, the team is bound to have a few "star players" ( high points ) and a few sore-spots ( weaknesses ) regardless of the efficiency.

My suggestion is to look for speakers that are at least "reasonable" in efficiency ( 88+ dB's ), offer a stable impedance that is 6 - 10 ohms nominal and will cover the frequency range that you want in a room the size that you'll be using them in. Then again, finding all of these features in one package at a price you can afford is "almost" like having your cake and eating it too : ) Sean
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Roy aka gma@pcisys.net: Thanks for your contribution regarding speaker design and the way that you worded it. It was very well put and easy to understand. I'm glad that you have the ability to speak in terms that the average audio enthusiast can follow along with. Your post was a great contribution as far as i'm concerned. Then again, it agreed with what i've been trying to say, so it's no wonder that i like it : ) Sean
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