Sensitivity 86 v 90


I am considering an upgrade from speakers with a sensitivity rating of 90 db, 4 ohms, to larger speakers rated at 86db, 8 ohms nominal.  Same brand, PMC. My tube integrated amp is 80-112 watts triode/ultralinear, and it’s fine for my 90 db speakers.  Although, it is sometimes at around 4 o’clock on the volume control, approaching the max at 6.  I am aware of the “amp power must double for each 3db increase in volume” rule of thumb, but really have no practical experience with this.  I do like having 90 db efficiency, always assumed that meant a less powerful amp would suffice. 

   My question is, would the decreased efficiency be a concern? 

128x128lloydc

Showing 2 responses by atmasphere

phono preamp is a Rogers PA-2.  Cartridge is Lyra Kleos, .5 mv output version. I agree with the suggestions that the phono output is probably too low.   I can increase it by changing the driver tubes from 12au7 to 12av7 or 12ax7; I will try that. 

@lloydc 

While a higher gain 12Axx tube can drop into the same socket without damage to the tube or the circuit, that's not the same as saying it will sound right. The various 12Axx tubes have different operating points; if the circuit is to bring out the best in them it will be optimized for a particular type.

@lloydc Efficiency is 1 Watt/1 meter. With this spec, the speaker is fed 1 Watt for the measurement.

 

With Sensitivity, the speaker is fed 2.83 Volts instead. 2.83 Volts into 8 Ohms is 1 Watt. Into 4 Ohms its 2 Watts. So subtract 3dB from the efficiency of the speaker you have now, and you'll see there's only a 1 dB difference. 

For tube amplifiers the Efficiency spec is more useful, since tube amplifier do not double power as the impedance is cut in half.

But there is another issue here, which is the how the amplifier interacts with the impedance! Your amp uses an output transformer, and output transformers are always less efficient driving a lower impedance load!

They also can lose as much as an octave of bass response between the 8 Ohm tap and the 4 Ohm tap. In addition, the amplifier will have lower distortion driving 8 Ohms.

Since the difference between the two speakers is really only 1dB (if you do the math), you won’t have any trouble in that department. So the impedance is the far larger variable. I say go for it since the amplifier will be working better (if you measure the temperature of the output transformers before and after, assuming the same warmup time, you’ll find they are running cooler; that extra heat is caused by greater signal losses in the transformer).

In short I don’t see a downside with this move.