Bass Vs speaker efficiency


Is tight bass dependent on speaker efficiency? 
ashoka

Showing 2 responses by arafiq

So the million dollar question is that if high sensitivity is the way to go, given that such speakers give you the freedom to pair with low watt amplifiers, why do companies continue to make speakers below 89-88db? Is it just a conspiracy to sell mega-bucks amplifiers? 

Also, for some reason I have never met a high sensitivity speaker that I like. I listened to a bunch of Klipsch Heritage speakers (except LaScalas), Devore Orangutan 0/96, JBL. etc. I cannot put my finger on it, but there's something about low sensitivity speakers that pull me in much more so than the high sensitivity ones. I'm sure I'm not the only one, otherwise why would anyone ever buy them.
@atmasphere -- sorry I don’t know how I missed your response earlier. I really appreciate the explanation. It seems to me that you’re basically implying that the primary reasons the manufacturers continue to build low efficiency speakers has to do with cost and the fact that they don’t need much precision to build, which again translates into lower manufacturing costs.

I have been reading your posts and have a lot of respect for your experience and knowledge, so I hope this doesn’t come off as confrontational because that’s certainly not my intent. Having said that, I don’t know if your explanation makes complete sense to me. There are a number of highly respected manufacturers like Harbeth or Dynaudio whose speakers are more on the inefficient side of the spectrum. Is it possible that their reasoning has less to do with cost (they can always pass on the cost) or precision (I’m sure they have the manufacturing prowess to address precision), but maybe they feel that less efficient speakers bring something to the table that higher efficiency ones cannot? In other words, it could very well be a conscious design decision driven by the type of sound they’re aiming for and not necessarily cost.

AFAIK, other brands like Magico also make speakers that are not particularly efficient. Again, I find it difficult to assume that cost or lack of precision is what’s driving their decisions.

Lastly, I have heard high efficiency speakers at several dealers and always assume they know how to set it up properly. You might still be right that maybe they were not positioned in the most optimal manner. But this begs the question, what makes it more difficult to set up high efficiency speakers? That seems to be a disadvantage to me at least.