I see lots of talk about speakers and buying speakers on here. I have looked up some of these speakers and was really surprised at the specs on a few of them. I even found speakers where the manufacturer didn't list the sensitivity of the speaker just how many watts it will handle.
It only stands to reason the harder you have to drive a speaker to get the needed DB the higher the heat, the shorter the life of the speaker.
So here is how it works, I hope it will help you in future purchases.
Sensitivity, Power Handling and Output
Remember that sensitivity is only part of picture. Sensitivity combined with power handling will tell you what the maximum output level capability is. A high efficiency device with low power handling may not be able to produce as high an output level as a low efficiency device with higher power handling, and vice versa.
There are other factors that tend to change in the sensitivity/power handling tradeoff. Distortion will vary, and will tend to increase as output level and cone excursion increases. In general, a high efficiency device has the voice coil entirely within the voice coil gap at rest, which means that it has the maximum motor force available through small excursions, but at longer excursions the voice coil starts to leave the gap which results in a non-linear drop in motor force, and non-linear distortion. A high linearity / low efficiency device has a long voice coil to maintain linear travel through long excursion, but only a fraction of the wire is in the gap at any time, so only a small amount of the total motor force is available. You need to match the device to your requirements for low distortion or high output, and integrate those requirements into the overall system design.
Bandwidth - Efficiency Product is something that generally applies to loudspeakers. Typically higher efficiency is available at the cost of extended bandwidth, and extended bandwidth is available at the cost of high efficiency. Basically what this saying is that there is no such thing as a free lunch, and a moving system has to balance the need for efficiency with the need for linearity. Even systems that seem to cheat by using dynamic or motional feedback to deliver linearity at higher excursions, if analyzed, will show that the extra negative feedback drops the true efficiency of the overall system. In the world of loudspeakers this means that very efficient all horn loaded speaker systems, require multiple devices operating over narrow bands. Wide bandwidth systems like studio monitors are seldom as efficient as a horn loaded speaker system.
Speaker 1
Sensitivity: 95dB @ 1 watt @ 1 metre
Power handling: 300 watts AES
300 watts is 24.8 dB above 1 watt
Max output: 95dB + 24.8dB = 119.8dB @ 1 metre
Speaker 2
Sensitivity: 99dB @ 1 watt @ 1 metre
Power handling: 150 watts AES
150 watts is 21.8dB above 1 watt
Max output: 99dB + 21.8dB = 120.8dB @ 1 metre
Speaker 3
Sensitivity: 90dB @ 1 watt @ 1 metre
Power handling: 1000 watts AES
1000 watts is 30dB above 1 watt
Max output: 90dB + 30dB = 120dB @ 1 metre
It only stands to reason the harder you have to drive a speaker to get the needed DB the higher the heat, the shorter the life of the speaker.
So here is how it works, I hope it will help you in future purchases.
Sensitivity, Power Handling and Output
Remember that sensitivity is only part of picture. Sensitivity combined with power handling will tell you what the maximum output level capability is. A high efficiency device with low power handling may not be able to produce as high an output level as a low efficiency device with higher power handling, and vice versa.
There are other factors that tend to change in the sensitivity/power handling tradeoff. Distortion will vary, and will tend to increase as output level and cone excursion increases. In general, a high efficiency device has the voice coil entirely within the voice coil gap at rest, which means that it has the maximum motor force available through small excursions, but at longer excursions the voice coil starts to leave the gap which results in a non-linear drop in motor force, and non-linear distortion. A high linearity / low efficiency device has a long voice coil to maintain linear travel through long excursion, but only a fraction of the wire is in the gap at any time, so only a small amount of the total motor force is available. You need to match the device to your requirements for low distortion or high output, and integrate those requirements into the overall system design.
Bandwidth - Efficiency Product is something that generally applies to loudspeakers. Typically higher efficiency is available at the cost of extended bandwidth, and extended bandwidth is available at the cost of high efficiency. Basically what this saying is that there is no such thing as a free lunch, and a moving system has to balance the need for efficiency with the need for linearity. Even systems that seem to cheat by using dynamic or motional feedback to deliver linearity at higher excursions, if analyzed, will show that the extra negative feedback drops the true efficiency of the overall system. In the world of loudspeakers this means that very efficient all horn loaded speaker systems, require multiple devices operating over narrow bands. Wide bandwidth systems like studio monitors are seldom as efficient as a horn loaded speaker system.
Speaker 1
Sensitivity: 95dB @ 1 watt @ 1 metre
Power handling: 300 watts AES
300 watts is 24.8 dB above 1 watt
Max output: 95dB + 24.8dB = 119.8dB @ 1 metre
Speaker 2
Sensitivity: 99dB @ 1 watt @ 1 metre
Power handling: 150 watts AES
150 watts is 21.8dB above 1 watt
Max output: 99dB + 21.8dB = 120.8dB @ 1 metre
Speaker 3
Sensitivity: 90dB @ 1 watt @ 1 metre
Power handling: 1000 watts AES
1000 watts is 30dB above 1 watt
Max output: 90dB + 30dB = 120dB @ 1 metre
