Way to go, Mapman!
A speaker that is a **true** 90 db/1W/1m/8 ohms driven by 8 watts should be able to generate SPL's in the mid-90's at a centered listening position about 10 feet from the speakers. Which would certainly seem likely to be adequate for the majority of chamber recordings. The problem that often seems to occur, though, as Duke mentioned early in the thread, is that the specs are inaccurate and/or misleading.
One commonly seen example of a spec being misleading even if it is accurate would be a spec such as 90 db/2.83volts/1m for a 4 ohm speaker, or for a speaker that is spec'd as having a higher impedance but which is more accurately characterized as a 4 ohm speaker. The 90 db in that situation corresponds to just 87 db/1W/1m, since 2.83 volts into 4 ohms is 2 watts rather than 1.
In this case, though, it would seem that the 90 db figure is an honest one.
Best regards,
-- Al