What component is responsible for dynamics ?

I remember reading a post many years ago on Audio Asylum where a recording engineer measured the compression of dynamic peaks in various loudspeakers, and found a strong correlation between loudspeaker efficency and preservation of dynamics. Unfortunately that post has apparently been removed so I can't post a link to it.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer

"Duke and John;
You two build with two different driver designs , is there an opinion on the type of drivers that work best for dynamics ? I don't want to start a battle here, just personal opinions."

Ha! If JohnK and I get into a battle, it'll probably be on the same side.

One thing to look at is, whether the speaker can reach the SPL you want at a relatively low fraction of its rated power. In general, most speakers have about 1 dB of thermal compression at 10% of their rated power. (Keep in mind that some recordings may have a peak-to-average ratio of 20 dB or more, implying that an 85 dB average level may have occasional instantaneous peaks of 105 dB or more.)

But headroom alone doesn't tell the whole story - in my experience at least, a higher efficiency speaker will have better dynamic contrast than a low efficiency speaker even if, on paper, they have the same max SPL capability. For example, a 97 dB speaker that can handle 20 watts will usually have better dynamic contrast than an 87 dB speaker that can handle 200 watts.

So I would give weight to both factors - how efficient the speaker is, and how much headroom it has. I think there's at least one more factor, having to do with the suspension system of the speaker, but I don't feel qualified to comment beyond that.

Duke