How Efficient Are Your 2 Channel Speakers?
Comments
-
10-4
-
The manufacture's bear some responsiblity for the confusion between speaker sensitivity and efficiency terms, by utlizing the sensitivity rating a less effecient speaker can be made to appear to play louder, its a numbers game, I would add to what has been said.
Time was 16 ohm speakers were in fact the norm, time is this is no longer the case, far from it. why? guys like power, big numbers, yada yada, so lets market this as best we can within the rules.
Speaker efficiency measurement is based on current utilized to output sound usually expressed as xdb @ 1 watt at one meter.
Speaker sensitivity is a measure based upon voltage, as has been said 2.83 volts, however, no consideration is givin to the amount of power being utilzed. So a speaker lets say 4 ohm may measure 93db sensitivity rating but be using 4 watts of power to do so not one watt, making the speaker appear more "effecient" when in fact it is using more power.
As far as hiss my experience has been that some small amount could be considered "normal" however the use of balanced components and cabling can reduce and even eliminate it despite any efficiency rating not to say you should put a 200 watt amplifier on some 104 db efficeint speakers and think your going to necessarily hear paradise on the dash board lights six blocks away at your seven/eleven.
Balanced trumps unbalanced.
RT1
