Why low sensitivity speakers?

Thanks Karls, I think I have read this somewhere as well. Rives, with all due respect, I don't think the frequency response of the driver actually has anything to do with its sensitivity.

With regard to efficiency, this is not exactly the same as sensitivity. The sensitivity rating accounts for the impedance of the speaker so it needs to be adjusted accordingly if compared to a speaker with a different impedance rating.

After a little research, I have found that it is true that in order to lower the fundamental resonant frequency of the speaker system, you must either increase the size of the enclosure, or decrease its efficiency.

It's not intuitively obvious why lower efficiency results in a lower fundamental, but I guess this results in more air pressure in the enclosure, which in turn results in a higher amplitude at the resonant frequency of the enclosure?

Can any speaker designers tell us if this makes sense?

Gs5556, I guess it's how you look at it. The people designing speakers with a high sensitivity don't have "limited bass response" as a design goal, just like people designing a speaker with good bass response don't have "low sensitivity" as a design goal.

I like your analogy, which makes since, but what physically makes this true is not obvious. I guess that with a given driver, and enclosure, it is through low "acoustic compliance" that lower frequencies response is attained.

Karls, just saw your last comment. Good point. It is the "suspension compliance" along with the "acoustic compliance" that results in the lower resonance of the system. I think we've got it figured out!