Do speakers sound better with more power (volume)?

[Good4it]

Do speakers sound "better/different " at different volumes? Does more power drive them better?
Is "as loud you can stand" without distortion the best way to listen?

 

[jcriggs]

It depends on the setup. But for the most part no there is no better or worst sound based on the volume it's only louder or quieter. The only time the sound changes for better or worst is when u hit that threshhold of how much the speaker can handle. The only good or bad sound change u can get is when u start messing with the eq.

 

[ski2xblack]

Do speakers sound "better/different " at different volumes?

Many factors going on here, but let's start with you, the listener. Human hearing is non-linear; highly sensitive at frequencies of the human voice (midrange), less so for treble, and even less so for bass. Clicky.

So, considering that, yes, a speaker would sound different at different volumes, but due to the nature of our hearing, not the speaker. This is exactly what Audyssey DynamicEQ is used for, or the old "loudness" button back in the old days.

Does more power drive them better?

It will drive them louder.

Is "as loud you can stand" without distortion the best way to listen?

Only if you want to ruin your hearing.

 

[ski2xblack]

But wait, there's more!

Here is a link containing some spl/power info, as well as osha recommended safety limits for noise exposure.

http://myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html

And on top of all that, consider the recordings. Unlike the industry standard "reference level" for movie mixes, music has no such standard. Who knows at what level they were mixed at, and what the ideal playback volume is, but as a result some recordings sound better at different levels than others.

 

[Swerd]

Do speakers sound "better/different " at different volumes? Does more power drive them better?
Is "as loud you can stand" without distortion the best way to listen?

When people compare two different speakers, using a rig where everything else is the same, people almost always choose the speaker that plays louder. This doesn’t mean that louder really is better, only that most people interpret it as better sounding when they do an A vs. B comparison.

That’s why it’s important to equalize the volume levels of individual speakers involved in such a comparison.

Your questions are altogether different. I’d say the answers depends on which speaker and which listener.

 

[Good4it]

Same speaker but different volume. Does more volume/more speaker excursion make the same speaker sound different?

 

[ski2xblack]

Sure. Higher IM distortion (direct result of increased cone excursion), thermal compression, and the driver's thermal and physical excursion limits are the sort of factors that come into play as you lay on the power. Speakers have their limits, after all, and they'll sound worse when operated close to those limits.

 

[Trvlngnrs]

I had a salesman say that he owned Revel F206's rather than F208's because the Revel's "like power" and his room is about 400sq'. I understood it to mean he could give his F206's more power for the same volume.

Does this make since, as they have the same tweeter and midrange drivers?

 

[vsound5150]

It does make sense due to the F206's smaller cabinet size.

My SVS prime towers like the higher volume to bring out the highs.

 

[lovinthehd]

I had a salesman say that he owned Revel F206's rather than F208's because the Revel's "like power" and his room is about 400sq'. I understood it to mean he could give his F206's more power for the same volume.

Does this make since, as they have the same tweeter and midrange drivers?

The F206 sensitivity is 88dB per spec page; F208 is 88.5dB per spec, so the 206 needs just a tiny bit more power to get to the same loudness level. Listening to audio salesmen....meh.

 

[shadyJ]

It's theoretically possible that the impedance profile of the Revel speakers would be different enough for one to use a lot more current than the other for the same loudness level, but extremely unlikely. Revel would not screw up that badly. The speaker salesman lives in a world of make-believe.

 

[cel4145]

Same speaker but different volume. Does more volume/more speaker excursion make the same speaker sound different?

If your speaker is being pushed to distortion, or the amp runs out of headroom, then yes because of those factors.

Otherwise, yes for a different reason. See the link that ski2xblack provided for you. Because of equal loudness contours, we perceive different amounts of bass and treble at different volumes. That's why vintage stereos often had loudness buttons on them. It was a bass and treble boost for listening at low volumes.