How Efficient Are Your 2 Channel Speakers?

megasat16

Hi!

I am interested in finding out what's your favorite 2 channel speakers running in your stereo rig.

Do you use Tube Gears (Tube CDP, Tube Pre or Tube Amp or all or any combination) and do you hear a slight hiss from the speakers at a really close up.

Thanks for sharing your experiences!

James

tcrossma

I don't have a lot of experience with different speakers, but I'm running LSi15's and am pretty happy with them. With my current gear it is dead silent even with my ear right up to the tweeter.

nikolas812

Right now Monitor 5B's with peerless tweets and upgraded crossovers. Efficiency is 91db. Ran with a Single Ended Tube amp with about 5-7wpc... Its dead quite.






Nick

steveinaz

I'm running a SS 205 watt amp into 92dB/1watt speakers. With the volume maxed, I can hear a faint hiss when my ear is right at the tweeter.

treitz3

It depends on the genre of music I am listening too, as well as what speakers I am running at the time. Everything affects everything as MM says. To answer your question? Anywhere between 1.6 ohms to 8 [not nominally].

dougy

My LSi-9's are rated 88db sensitivity...and I don't need no stinking tubes!
Silence is golden!

lightman1

Nothing but brute force sent to the bookies. Nothing but dead silence between tracks, even if I could stick my head into the voice coils.

lightman1

megasat16 wrote: »

Hi!

I am interested in finding out what's your favorite 2 channel speakers running in your stereo rig.

Do you use Tube Gears (Tube CDP, Tube Pre or Tube Amp or all or any combination) and do you hear a slight hiss from the speakers at a really close up.

Thanks for sharing your experiences!

James

Sorry, Mega. 5Jr, Moni 5 or Moni 7's.

george daniel

1C's,, tubed pre and power.

lightman1

george daniel wrote: »

1C's,, tubed pre and power.

Fook you George.;)

lightman1

Why aren't you at Jerry's?

george daniel

Unsure of the agenda-plan on going over Sat,,are you there?

lightman1

george daniel wrote: »

Unsure of the agenda-plan on going over Sat,,are you there?

Nope. Hadda work more than I wished today. bummer.

Face

Rig 1. 94db, all SS, no hiss, line conditioner/UPS
Rig 2. 85db, tube integrated, no hiss, line conditioner
Rig 3. 91db, tube integrated, hiss, no line conditioning

See the trend.

mhardy6647

Altec Valencias in the living room. 16 ohm; ca. 100 dB per (watt? 2.83 VAC? who knows?).
A better answer is probably the old Rolls-Royce response to questions about engine horsepower: "Adequate".

heiney9

1C's SS power and pre very slight hiss with out power cond. 88dB; RDO's, Sonicaps, Mills

dead quiet with power cond. no more slight ground loop hum either.

5B's toob integrated no power cond. very slight hiss have to put my ear to the tweeter and has to be dead quiet in the room to hear. 89dB

5B's have RDO's Solen, Mills

nikolas812

Are the 5B's 89db? I thought they were 91db. Maybe thats the JR's I'm thinking of..





Nick

Ern Dog

I got tubes everywhere. My speakers are 94db, or somewhere around there, 4ohms. Using 90 WPC tube amp. And I have a fooken loud hum... tried everything under the sun to no avail. Dealer says will fix for $150.

BlueFox

PSB Synchrony One Towers. From their web-page:
Anechoic Chamber 88 dB
Typical Listening Room 90 dB
Nominal 4 Ohms
Minimum 4 Ohmns

Powered by 2 Cambridge-Audio 840W in mono mode; 800w at 4 ohm

Dead quiet. Loving every second.

leroyjr1

Klipsch CF-4

102db @ 1 watt

http://www.klipsch.com/products/discontinued/details/cf-4.aspx

heiney9

nikolas812 wrote: »

Are the 5B's 89db? I thought they were 91db. Maybe thats the JR's I'm thinking of..





Nick

It depends on which Polk manual you read.......I guess. Mine are early 5B's with fuses the manual says 6 ohm and 90dB. Another owner's manual states 4 ohms and 91dB. So yes your close, but then so am I

nikolas812

Hilarious.

I also thought they were 8ohms. Wow. The more I learn about them the more I think they are wrong for my setup. I have a SET amp with 8ohm taps only and about 5wpc. I don't think there sensitivity or impedance are a good match..


Can't wait to get my Frugal Horns here. SolidSqual and I are going to go get them on the 20th. I think they'll be better suited for my amp being a single driver speaker with an 8ohm load and a 95db sensitivity rating. I have high hopes for them anyway. We shall see....







Nick

danz1906

LINN AV5140s
90dB
4ohms

zingo

SRS 4.1TLs at 91db with 16wpc tubes; plenty of power. Although, every once and a while I hook up the 450wpc Carver.

reeltrouble1

I think you are mixing sensitivity with efficiency they are not the same thing.

Tubes Rule...No hiss.

RT1

1fastz28

leroyjr1 wrote: »

Klipsch CF-4

102db @ 1 watt

http://www.klipsch.com/products/discontinued/details/cf-4.aspx

thats awfully high for an efficiency rating

mhardy6647

well, not really... but some of the later Klipsch products' sensivity claims stretch credibility.
I cannot really say for that particular speaker system if it's verity or balderdash.
The "Heritage" series Klipsch Cornwall was 100 dB/2.83 VAC/1 m (that one I can vouch for, as a former owner).

A Lowther twincone fullrange driver like the PM-6 is 104 dB/2.83 VAC/1 m

2.83 V is 1 Watt into 8 ohms.


Some of the (e.g.) JBL pro sound drivers have sensitivites of 107 dB/2.83 VAC/1 m
They are very costly.

You need that kind of sensitivity if you're filling a stadium or using, say, Bob Danielak's "DC Darling" amplifier (single ended 1626 for about 750 mW per channel) in your living room.

http://www.geocities.com/bobdanielak/darling.html
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/bostonbash99/

1fastz28

mhardy6647 wrote: »

well, not really... but some of the later Klipsch products' sensivity claims stretch credibility.
I cannot really say for that particular speaker system if it's verity or balderdash.
The "Heritage" series Klipsch Cornwall was 100 dB/2.83 VAC/1 m (that one I can vouch for, as a former owner).

A Lowther twincone fullrange driver like the PM-6 is 104 dB/2.83 VAC/1 m

2.83 V is 1 Watt into 8 ohms.


Some of the (e.g.) JBL pro sound drivers have sensitivites of 107 dB/2.83 VAC/1 m
They are very costly.

You need that kind of sensitivity if you're filling a stadium or using, say, Bob Danielak's "DC Darling" amplifier (single ended 1626 for about 750 mW per channel) in your living room.

http://www.geocities.com/bobdanielak/darling.html
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/bostonbash99/

i sell home theatre, but nothing special in terms of high end brands, we carry
polk, energy, klipsch, focal and i think the highest efficiency out of any of them is like 91 or so, thats why the 100+ was a shock

megasat16

reeltrouble1 wrote: »

I think you are mixing sensitivity with efficiency they are not the same thing.

Tubes Rule...No hiss.

RT1

I don't think I am confused about the term Sensitivity and Efficiency.

I mean it when I asked.

My definition of hiss is where the sound comes from the tweeter or upper end of the mid-range where it's more like a bit of air letting lose from leakey gauge of the compressor valve. Usually, one can only hear a slight hiss if you listen up close the tweeter.

I believe Hum / Buzz would be a bit louder sound and more prominent from the distance. It could comes from mid-range driver / woofers / sub-woofers.

The efficiency of the speaker is largely important to hear or not hear the low signal such as a slight hiss or not but usually hum or buzz is more powerful signal so even the lower efficiency speaker may not completely mask the noise.

Now, if you have a more efficient speaker (higher sensitivity), you may hear the lowest noise which may be a slight hiss originated from Pre-amp or amp part of the chain or even the source.

My rigs when used with all SS gears are completely quiet and no hiss of any kind when listening up close with the volume on the preamp set at 1/3 of max.

I've been playing with the Tube Pre in the chain and I could hear a slight hiss coming from LSi25. But when used with less efficient speaker such as Carver Amazing Platinum, the hiss is not noticeable.

Note to RT1 : Tubes Are Bewitching! Beware the Power of The Tubey Curse!

mhardy6647

SPL is a measure of speaker sensitivity; typically measurd as SPL in dB per 2.83 volts AC input at a distance of 1 meter.
Efficiency is just that, a measure of how efficiently a loudspeaker transduces electrical power into acoustic power. Efficiency is usually measured in percent.

They are related but neither the same nor interchangeable.

I, like many folks, do misuse the term "efficiency" on the hifi boards, but it is good for all to know the correct meaning of the term.

http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-efficiency.htm

As a rule of thumb, a large orchestra playing at full tilt (say, fffff!) has an acoustic power output of 1 watt (and is maybe 100 dB at a reasonable listening distance!). If you need to put 100 electrical watts into a loudspeaker to get 1 acoustic watt out, the efficiency of that speaker is 1%.

All amplifiers produce noise (hiss and hum). Hiss is thermal/shot noise from the active devices (tube or soiled state); hum is incompletely filtered AC from the power supply (and or induced from inadequate or improper grounding). The S/N of a good amplifier might be 100 dB, but with high-sensitivity speakers, if you put your ear up close, you'll hear it.

Most of my tube amps produce audible hum on high-sensitivity speakers. The quietest tube amp in the house, paradoxically, is the cheapest: the little S-5 Electronics push-pull 11BM8 amp is dead-quiet on the Valencias.

ahardy17

mhardy6647...i like your last name if that's it haha