Loudspeaker sensitivity and dynamics: are the two inexorably linked?


Have been listening to quite a few speakers lately, and increasingly I've noticed that more sensitive speakers tend to have better microdyanmics - the sense that the sound is more "alive" or more like the real thing.

The speakers involved include my own Magico A5's, Joseph Audio Pulsar 2's, and  Wilson Watt/Puppy 7's, as well as others including the Magico M3, Wilson Alexia V, various Sonus Faber's, Magnepan's,  Borressen's, and Rockport models (Cygnus and Avior II).

A recent visit to High Water Sound in NYC topped the cake though: proprietor and vinyl guru Jeff Catalano showed off a pair of Cessaro horns (Opus One) that literally blew our minds (with a few listening buddies).  The Cessaro's sensitivity is rated at 97 db, highest among the aforementioned models.  That system was very close to live performance - and leads to the topic.

I'm not referring to maximum loudness or volume, rather that the music sounds less reproduced and more that the instrumentation and vocals are more real sounding through higher sensitivity speakers.

Is this a real phenomenon?  Or is it more the particular gear I've experienced?

Thoughts?

bobbydd
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@britamerican wrote:

I think you are barking up a tree there @alexberger . No way crossover parts are heating as much as voice coil. Inductors probably not at all and what are we paying all that money for fancy resistors for??

The relevance here, coming down to practical usage, is that passive filter components heat up sufficiently to impact filter parameters, thus affecting the sound of the speaker to deviate from its intended design goals at changing, progressive SPL's. Surely this is not desirable, and that's just the workings within the crossover itself, apart from the fact that it's a "roadblock" by its mere existence; it effectively acts as a bottleneck between the amp and speaker, presenting a more challenging load to the amp that then has negative repercussions in its handling of the speaker and its drivers. Throwing gobs of money at fancy components doesn't really "add up" to anything, but rather potentially minimizes a nuisance. 

@steve59 wrote:

Paul Klipsch gets quoted for saying he just wished somebody would make a quality 5 watt amplifier, (hopefully I didn’t butcher that quote too bad) I’m not sure how the math works, but I would think the difference in sensitivity can be evened out by using more powerful amps to compensate. Say, a pair of kilowatt amps for 86 db speakers could have the same dynamics as a horn design being driven by your favorite 12 watt tube amp?  Having no educated qualification I would think heat would have to be addressed when designing for maximum spl? 

Say you have properly sized all-horn speakers with a sensitivity sitting at no lower than ~105dB's (likely higher from the mids on up). That's a some 20dB discrepancy in sensitivity here compared to your 86dB speaker example. 12 watts on those horns, in theory, should be SPL-equalled by shoving ~1.2kW's into the low eff. speakers. Practically: good luck with that. Those horns by and large will likely cruise fairly effortlessly along with 12 watt peaks, whereas the low eff. speakers fed with +1kW's will be at the end of their ropes (if they haven't already passed unto those eternal audio fields) with power compression screaming its ugly face in heavy measure.

Look at the Tom Danley quote above - if power compression starts creeping in at 1/8 the rated AES power handling it suddenly makes sense to work towards maintaining prodigious headroom. That is, how to achieve any notable headroom with 86dB sensitive speakers and a fair max. peak SPL requirement at the LP of, say, 105dB's - without any effects of beginning power compression? The speakers would have to take no less than 1-1.5kW rated power just to avoid the beginning effects of power compression. Good luck with that, not to mention the amount of clean amp power that would require - with plenty of power to spare. 

Many get by with much less power handling and capacity while feeling no shortage of dynamic prowess at the LP with lower eff. speakers, and if their max. SPL requirement is no higher than in the 90-95dB range it certainly lessens the need for higher sensitivity, power handling and capacity. That however is not to say more headroom won't make a difference here, certainly to those who knows the difference it can make, and to whom it's an important and desirable trait. 

I recently listened to the Cessaro horns demoed by Jeffrey and agree, it was the closest to live music that I’ve ever heard in a loudspeaker system.

Forty-five years ago, when I had yet settle on my Altec 604C speakers, I went through about a dozen different models. I found myself gravitating to speakers that sacrificed some detail for a life-like you-are-there - “dynamic” - presentation. These tended to be more efficient: 95db and up. My Altecs are 101db.  For what it is worth. 

I do not want to own speakers under 90 db efficiency with low impedances and sharp phase angles.  The speakers I have considered have been the Von Schweikert Ultra 7, Zellaton Plural Evo, Acora Acoustics SC2, Aequo Adamantis, Rockport Orion.  I currently own Legacy Focus (original) and Legacy Signature IIIs, not as resolving but superior musicality/listenability to most modern speakers which tend to be resolving over musicality.  The problem is so many audio equipment designers do not listen to live acoustic music.  They have untrained ears for music/sound.  I understand listeners have different music taste and hear differently, but live acoustic music should be the basis.  I do not discriminate between sources, only reproduction as I am a amateur singer, amateur recording engineer and livelong listener to live acoustic music (orchestral/opera/vocal/choral/chamber/jazz)  and minimum 2 hours recorded music daily.