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Speaker Asylum General speaker questions for audio and home theater. |
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Speaker Asylum General speaker questions for audio and home theater. |
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In Reply to: RE: Shouldn't 50 watts be enough for any speaker? posted by AudioDwebe on December 11, 2020 at 22:17:49:
Take the measurements at all three distances playing the same music and see what happens. Obviously the further away you sit the dB level drops.Test 1) I am currently watching a TV show that is acceptably loud and from my listening chair(3 meters), I am getting peaks of 46dB. My speakers are 90dB sensitive (Audio Note K/SPe positioned against the back wall but not in corners) This is a sealed infinite baffle acoustic suspension speaker rate at 6 ohm and recommended minimum power of 7 watts.
Everything is perfectly clear and I would say this is my normal TV watching volume - maybe a little louder. The preamp is the Audio Note M1 and using the mAmps from Wyred4Sound, Audio Note Empress Silver 2a3 monoblocks &7 watts per channel). Even at 9 feet from the speakers, I am using mere fractions of a watt.
Test 2) Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (35dB dynamic swings). At my chair (9 feet back - I recorded a low of 36dB and peaks of 72db. My SPL records in real-time and graphs the results so you can see them. The sound was clear - I could make everything out at 35db all the way through.
You read those reviews where the reviewer will say 'This speaker comes alive when you turn it up.' My problem with that is that if it needs to be turned up to come alive then the person's hearing probably isn't that acute or sensitive to hear everything they should be able to hear 30dB. Or something is wrong with the speaker/amp design.
I got full feeling bass and could hear all the instruments clearly and cleanly at 35dB.
Test #3 - Hard rock. I put on Motley Crue's Kickstart My Heart linked below. This has a limited Dynamic range but at 81dB - it was "LOUD" - and that is about the limit that I would do in this room. Again everything was crisp clear with plenty of impact. The Dynamic range I got from the digital version was a lot of 69dB and a high of 81dB. I just hand holding the SPL so more accurate results would be had if I had a stand.
So for music like Motely Crue and at 3 meters from the speaker I am not using even 1 watt to play rally darn loud.
I tested at 1 meter - the peak was 84dB and the peak at 3 meters was 81dB.
My room is 13w, 18 long, 9-foot ceilings. All walls(floors and ceiling) are solid concrete with two full-size leather couches and lots of paintings and a bookcase with LPs at the opposite end of the room for some absorption.
There are plenty of SPL meters to download to your smartphone - they're all free. Not quite as accurate of course, but you can ballpark the results.
I have never had any issue with any music even at loud levels with my 8-watt SET amps. They have been directly compared against 100 watts Class A Solid-State and will soon be compared directly against my 250w class D amps once they are broken in. With my AN speakers - I suspect there will be no advantage. But as I say - I may review speakers that will require significantly more power and I don't want to waste valuable tube life and higher electricity usage for TV/Movies, etc. So class D is far more green in this regard.
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Follow Ups
- I've run three tests for you. - RGA 12/12/2004:09:02 12/12/20 (1)
- You demonstrated the senitivity of your speakers is all. - 3db 04:53:00 12/12/20 (0)
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