Why are high efficiency speakers preferred for low volume listening?

@immatthewj Wrote:

Why are high efficiency speakers preferred for low volume listening?

I think it's because of milliwatts that a lot of amps produce higher distortion when operating at the milliwatt level. From Quicksilver website:  ''The Horn Mono Amplifier is designed specifically for use with very efficient loudspeakers.  It has extremely low noise and distortion as well as having 18db less gain than Quicksilver’s standard amplifiers.  This avoids the noise and gain problems that normally appear when using horn speakers.  The amplifier is designed to sound good at the extremely low levels (milliwatts) that horn loudspeakers require.  Many amplifiers actually have higher distortions at these low levels.'' See old post below:

ditusa

1,791 posts

09-23-2021 at 10:52pm 

@celestial__sound 
''because 90% of the time I listen at ~60dBs SPL.''

At 60dB SPL your speakers are not getting 1 watt or 2 watts or 10 watts, in fact they are not even getting 1/2 watt. At 60dB SPL your speakers are getting milliwatts from the amp. In my experience driving low efficiency speakers with milliwatts they will sound anemic at low volume; high efficiency speakers can play well with milliwatts and not sound anemic at low volume. Also amplifiers, tube amplifiers for sure, produce more distortion in lower impedances then higher impedances. That's why I said higher efficiency and higher impedance speakers make more sense then a more powerful amp.
Hope that helps...

Mike

@immatthewj Wrote:

But I am assuming it is how easy the speaker actually is to drive (and this would be due to its nominal impedance?) versus the number/sensitivity the speaker is rated at?

Yes, nominal impedance and minimum impedance. In my opinion all three specifications are important, efficiency, impedance and sensitivity. My speakers are 96 dB SPL @ 1 watt @ 2 meters @ 8Ohms, efficiency is 2.7% and minimum impedance is 6Ohms. And the speakers excel at low level listening at 60-65 dB, and at that level the speakers are operating with milliwatts. 😎

Mike

@james633 Wrote:

The negatives of horns are reduced sound stage depth (it is more or all in front of the speakers)

Not all horns are created equal, these horns have great depth of image, when the recording calls for it see here. It's been my experience in audio, that high efficiency and high power handling are two attributes that make for wide dynamic range in speakers.

Mike

@immatthewj, The importance of speaker efficiency: The article below is from 1962 and is as relevant today as it was then. Another advantage, with higher efficiency speakers,  is greater head room with a given amount of amplifier power. In my opinion, a high powered amplifier that can drive lower impedances will never be a proxy for a speaker's lack of true efficiency see here.

Mike

@atmasphere Wrote:

For that reason higher efficiency is good whether played at a lower volume or not since it can take advantage of lower powered and (hopefully) more musical amps.

All amplifiers make more distortion into lower impedances. This distortion is audible- don't fool yourself.

Its that first Watt of most amps that is usually the most important so if your amp has a good first Watt, you can see that a speaker of higher efficiency will be more able to take advantage of that.

I agree!