Question concerning db sensitivity

Jmcgrogan2 wrote: "Generally, there are no generalizations in the audio hobby."

LOL! That's great! I presume you did that on purpose.

There's a great deal of truth in that statement. One can find exceptions to most of the generalizations (and if I'd have said "to all of the generalizations", I'd have been over-generalizing!).

It is the high efficiency speakers that are smooth that are the most exciting. It is the low efficiency speakers with great dynamics that are most exciting. It is the box speakers that sound boxless, the horn speakers that sound hornless, and the planar speakers that can do deep bass and don't beam that are the most exciting. Seek out the innovative exceptions - they're out there!

Duke

There is one small point that one can generalise on: the higher the sensitivity, the more uncompressed dynamic range you can have (note: you "CAN" have. You might not have in practise). How it sounds, is another matter.

The only thing that I've heard about high sensitivity speakers [95+ dB] is that one has to be more careful with the choice of upstream gear, especially the amplifier.

As usual I agree with my friend John(Jmcgrogan2).I Think it is a question of quality and system synergy.I recently sold a pair of Revel F-30 speakers that sounded great with my large Plinius solid state amp.When I switched to Consonance tube amps I found the more sensitive Soliloquy 6.3i speakers to be a better match.Both pair of speakers are excellent when paired with the proper ancillary equipment.

Larry

I'll mention something to consider since it hasn't been addressed in the above posts. Higher sensitivity in a speaker will also result in louder power supply noise passed on to the speakers. This may or may not be audible at the listening position, but if you listen in the nearfield the noise can be substantial.

If you can hear idle hiss such as rf noise in an 85db speaker then consider bumping that noise up by 10db in a 95db speaker.