New efficient speakers - best way to keep noise floor down?

Edit: lowrider57 said it more succinctly

I have very efficient speakers too (96 db/Watt), in a vinyl-only system, and have struggled with this. If your vinyl source is quiet with normal speakers, it will be equally quiet with efficient speakers - i.e. the efficiency of your speakers has no bearing on your perception of source noise. This is because you simply adjust your preamp’s volume control to get the signal level you need to achieve listening levels - and for efficient speakers, this will necessarily be a much lower volume setting, which rejects the source’s noise floor exactly in proportion to its signal (i.e. the signal and noise get equally attenuated, and then equally "amplified" by your sensitive downstream amp & speakers). Your vinyl source’s noise floor is a function of the quality of your phono stage combined with the output of your cartridge.

Where you can run into problems elsewhere in your setup is if your preamp and amp don’t have an adequate signal/noise ratio. That’s because these are your active stages downstream from your volume control - so any unused gain is going to contribute to your noise floor, with no chance to reject it via volume dial. This is going to be most egregiously demonstrated by tube preamps, especially ones with high gain. My tube amps are VERY sensitive amps (275 Watts / 1V input) so any residual noise from the preamp is going to be made extremely apparent. I’ve tried more than a few tube preamps, and the only one so far that’s been dead quiet in my setup is the Audio Research Ref 6 - very impressive! Stereophile posted some nice measurements of the REF 6 in their review, so I’d make sure to have a preamp at least matching its signal/noise.

In recap - use a preamp with as high a signal/noise ratio as possible, keep its gain on the lower side as much as possible, and if you can utilize amps with a lower input sensitivity (or add attenuators to the inputs if you have excess system gain to spare) then that will help too.

Yes, pops/ticks from the vinyl/stylus pickup is a different issue than residual noise floor from your active components, and ground hums. Indeed - cartridge quality (especially stylus profile), condition and grade of vinyl, phono stage, and overall vinyl/stylus hygiene quality will determine how annoying or innocuous these noises are. As Terry mentioned, Ralph of atmosphere has long posted some very interesting information on the subject of phono stages, and how some designs can greatly exacerbate the pops/ticks issue (I believe he mentions overload capability and recovery - i.e. you're not hearing the actual aberration on the vinyl so much as the amplifier's poor handling and recovery from it).

Speakers themselves should not directly affect the perception of pops/ticks, unless they have an emphasis in the frequency ranges of these unwanted noises - those may not be the best choice for a vinyl system..

I started out with a Benz Glider and the pops/ticks were there, but did not significantly detract from my enjoyment of vinyl. Then I got a Ortofon Kontrapunkt "c" (Fritz Gyger 80 stylus), and wow! The noise floor dropped, along with pops & ticks. Another year later, and I hear my first Koetsu - it was a revelation how quiet this cartridge was, not to mention the rest of the sound quality. I still run Koetsu as my favored cartridges, but I’ve also been particularly impressed by the top Shelters’ (Accord and Harmony) exceptionally low noise. And I use a Clearaudio Double Matrix Sonic pro for cleaning vinyl, and a Magic Eraser for the stylus. A good vinyl record is as close to a living performance as I care to imagine.