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? 

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Showing 1 response by mlsstl

What is your preferred listening volume in the room? Have you bought a sound level meter in order to get a real number to work with?  Note that one person's "loud" is another's "medium" and so on.  The size of the room is also a factor along with whether or not you use a subwoofer (deep bass takes the most power.) 

Finally, keep in mind that the position of the volume knob is not an indication of whether or not you are at or near the amp's max output.  Here, the voltage output of the source and the input sensitivity of the peramp/amp play a big role. For example, a while back I tried using a unity-gain preamp with a low sensitivity power amp and having the volume knob turned to max only gave me moderate volume. I had to switch to a preamp with additional gain to get the sound I wanted, even though I did not change power amps. 

As you can see, lots of moving parts. But your first move is to figure out your desired listening level.