efficiency- hope i spelt that wright.


after my last thread, I started thinking about speaker efficiency, my speakers are rated at 87 db's which i think are pretty inefficent,so I am thinking I need a bigger amp to drive them, is this true? now lets say i enjoyed klipsch (which I do not) they are very efficient so would a low wattage amp perform better for this speaker vs. a high waggage amp? Is a guy wasting his money buying inefficient speakers? my thought are the lower the wattage the cheaper the amp so if you could match them up with really efficient speakers you could have a gem, any thoughts on this question are something i will truly enjoy reading. thanks

mike
magnus89
My Wilson Watt Puppy 7's have 92 dB efficiency, although at 4 ohms impedance they draw twice the current that one rated at 8 ohms would have. I tried some 15 wpc SET amps with them, and while they would drive them to reasonably satisfying sound levels, the bass was loose and dynamics were compressed. 92 dB is not hugely sensitive, and the impedance curve also plays a big factor. If your speakers have impedance dips and/or the impedance is reactive (either capacitive or inductive), the speaker load may be such that it would tax your low-powered amp. As Tvad says above, I would contact the manufacturer for an impedance curve and recommendation on the types of amps you can drive them with. Also, low-wattage amps are not always cheaper--there are a lot of factors in cost--and they may or may not be a good match for your speakers. For instance, Lamm amps that have 18 wpc cost something like $30K and are raved about here on the Gon.
There are a few things you must do on paper when it comes to Amp/Speaker combinations.

1. Find out the lowest impedence of your speaker. If lowest impedence is 4 Ohms you should be fine, anything lower than 3 Ohms, you need to make sure your amp can handle this otherwise it will clip i.e run out of power.
2. Find out the minimum power required by the speaker based on its nominal impedence. If the specs say 30-250W @ 8 Ohms, you need a 30W amp and above e.g 60W would be fine. Can you use a 10W amp? Yes but you risk damage if the speaker demands the extra power and the amp clips trying to deliver and in some cases blow the tweeters as well. If no minumum is specified you have even use a 3W SET.
3. Efficiency is only a factor if you have a large room e.g 16x20 and/or you want to listen loud. SPL drops 6dB with each doubling of distance. So if your speaker is 87dB@1M and you are sitting say 3M (10 ft away) and your amp was using its first watt your SPL would be around 78dB. So what is loud? 85db is loud and safe. 90db is very loud only safe up to 8 hours per day before hearing damage occurs.
4. How much power then? Each doubling of power produces and increase of 3dB. So as per example above, you would need 78dB(1W),81dB(2W),84dB(4W),87dB(8W).

After all this homework, you should now listen to that amp/speaker combination.

BTW, my own speakers are rated at 87dB/M but specify needing an amp between 100-400W @ 4 Ohms, I am using a an capable of 500W @ 4 Ohms. On paper this amp will never cough up anything more than 6W at the volumes I listen to and only on demanding material would the amp ever have to call on its reserves.
Is a guy wasting his money buying inefficient speakers?

No. There is a lot more to speakers than this. Distortion. Dispersion. Driver integration. Compression. I have heard 83 db sensitivity speakers that play much louder than 91 db sensitivity speakers even if you drive the 91 db speakers with the same powerful amp that the 83 db speakers demand....a lot depends on Xmax and thermal compression. Many high sensitivity speakers with very light weight cones and long voice coils in small magnetic gaps (aka cheap drivers) will distort and compress very quickly.
"the lower the wattage, the cheaper the amp" is way off line. I'd take a 7 watt 300B tube amp over a 200 watt mass production solid state amp any day. The 300B is probably more money too. Quality, not quantity!
I agree with Elvick...quality first, however, if you do go with a mere 7 watts then you definitely need a highly efficient speaker...an 83 db speaker will be severely restricted if driven by 7 watts....in that case you might consider horns as an excellent match.