Speaker Question

[JumpMarine]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but could it be said that the perceived volume is more with a speaker that closer matches the actual output of an amp? For instance would a 25 watt speaker be more efficient with an 18 watt amp than say a 65 watt speaker? I know that there would be more cone breakup with the lower wattage speaker, but would it also seem louder?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Speaker Question

No, I don't think that's correct.

The spec you want to pay attention to is the sensitivity or SPL...the Sound Pressure Level. It's an indication of EFFICIENCY. That means how loud the speaker will be at a given distance from the speaker driven by a given number of watts.

Lew

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Speaker Question

The wattage a speaker can handle has very little (if anything) to do with presieved volume. However the effiency rating (measured in db's) does...

Look at this...

The effiency is measured with a test source being played at 1 watt of power and then they read the db level one meter away. This shows how many db the speaker will create with one watt of power one meter away.

A Celestion Vintage 30 is 100db, a Celestion G12H30 is also 100db and a Celestion G12M (greenback) is 98db. The Vintage 30 is a 60 watt speaker while the G12H30 is only 30 watts and the Greenback is only 25 watts.

So with one watt at one meter the Vintage 30 and the G12H30 would both create 100db's but both speakers have different power ratings, and the Greenback would create a little less volume at 98 db,s and it's only a 25 watt speaker.

Did that make sence at all?

 

[JumpMarine]

Re: Speaker Question

Thanks Lew and Christian, that is a very good explaination. So I guess that it's simply a matter of taste why so many use greenbacks or other lower wattage speakers with the 18 watters rather than what I thought was the output level.

 

[Gr8Scott]

Re: Speaker Question

I'll bet it has something to do with the Greenbacks breaking up at lower volumes than the other higher wattage speakers. That makes more sense to me than anything to do with efficiency.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Speaker Question

all good stuff.

the one trick is that some manufacturers measure from the dust cap while others measure from the baffle board giving a few inches difference which can make a difference and the frequency they look at might be different.

so comparing one company to another might not be comparing apples to apples.

 

[D-EJ915]

Re: Speaker Question

Generally the higher the wattage, the higher the xMax, or voice coil overlap-travel. Once xMax is breached the voice coil is no longer within the "prescribed" area within the magnet, power handlings are usually just ratings to keep it within the "area" if you will, if it goes out of the "area" it might hit the magnet itself or be "blown" in which it exceeds the surround's handling and rips it apart....umm...I'm lazy so I'm not going to go into any more details like Thiele/Small parameters or anything like that.

Also note that some sensitivity ratings are measured with a certain voltage and not a wattage.