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Relate sensitivity/impedance to speaker efficiency

Can you help me relate speaker sensitivity and impedance to how efficient speakers are relative to one another?

What I mean is, given 2 speakers with the same or similar sensitivity (say 89 or 90), if one has a nominal impedance of 4 and another has a nominal impedance of 6, would the higher impedance speaker be easier to drive? Would the higher impedance speaker perhaps offer more flexibility in amplification (perhaps allowing the use of tubes?

What matters more for ease of amplification - a speaker with higher sensitivity or a speaker with a higher nominal impedance? (i.e. given similar nominal impedance, going from a speaker with a sensitivity of 87/88 to one with a sensitivity of 90/91; or given a similar sensitivity, going from a speaker with a nominal impedance of 4 to one with a nominal impedance of 6 or 8?)

I realize the answer to these questions is probably more complex, but are there some general rules to use as guidelines before actually trying the speakers out?
nnck

Showing 1 response by mmike84

mmike84
309 posts
 
You could try asking in this forum about specific speaker models as it is likely someone here has empirical knowledge of how they perform with different amps.

However I have been surprised many times by how well some speakers sound when matched with a tube amp that supposedly was way too underpowered. My general rule of thumb is a good sounding amp usually sounds good regardless of the speakers, and you'll never know for sure until you try it.
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