But aren't the Orions getting 60WPC x 4ch per speaker = 240WPC per speaker?
Each Orion speaker has four parts
Two woofers operating from ~25hz to ~120hz
One Mid-bass operating from ~120hz to ~1.4khz
Two parallel out-of-phase tweeters operating from ~1.4khz to ~20khz
Now, the woofers are operating in the same frequency range, so we can say that one woofer fed 1 watt has a sensitivity of 88.4db. Two woofers together, fed 1 watt each, have a sensitivity of 91.4db. Two woofers together, fed 60 watts each, will have an output of 109.2 db @ 1m. Now bear in mind they not actually be getting full power each at some frequencies, depending on where their impedance dips, the amps would be current limited rather than voltage limited. If the impedance dipped to 4 ohms, but the amps can only produce for example 100 watts into 4 ohms, then you've got a slight limitation - the speaker WANTS 120 watts to hit that 109.2db @ 1m - so it won't produce that full output! And like any woofer without a port, there's an eventual 12db/octave rolloff that the active filter has to correct, so it will lose efficiency as frequency drops.
The midbass has a sensitivity of 88db. Fed 60 watts, it can produce 105.8 db @ 1m.
The tweeters have a sensitivity of 89db. Now the orion uses two tweeters in parallel. This is essentially going to be a nominal 3 ohm load unless I am mistaken. Looking at the power cube of the 6012 at 1% THD
We can see that the power seems to drop off below 4 ohms. I'd roughly estimate about 95-100 watts at 0.1% THD into 3 ohms.
Now although the tweeters are in parallel, they're probably NOT producing any combined output because they are opposite polarity and there is a wide baffle in between, and they are facing opposite directions. So we can treat the sensitivity of the front tweeter as 89db/2.83v/m. The rear tweeter has a resistor in series so its sensitivity is down to 86db/2.83v/m Our amplifier limitation on the tweeter is about 106db.
So even though there's four amp sections, the only passband where they would combine for added output is in the bass.
Now there's two other issues with the orion.
First of all, the woofers are in free air. There is no box restricting their movement with acoustic suspension - their low end efficiency is improved because of this. Because of this, a low frequency tone can cause them to move quite a bit. At low levels the improved efficiency is a good thing, but with too much power you might bottom the woofer!
Second, the Orion is a dipole. It has a lot of active equalization. At a certain frequency, dipoles have acoustic cancellations leading to 6db/octave losses (along with the eventual natural 12db/octave rolloff of any driver)
That means, if the orions midbasses are even 6db down at 120hz, it has to draw more amplifier power as prescribed by the active crossover boost. So you can't expect the full output predicted earlier. There may be anywhere from 3db to 12db of boost at a given frequency. I don't know how much to be honest.
Combining the above issues, you can kind of see that the orion can't use too much power because of mechanical limitations, but it also has limitations where it might not be all too acoustically efficient at certain frequencies, no matter how much the cones are moving in and out.
How about the salon?
Harman's website states it as measured at 86.4 db /2.83v/m into 4 pi space. It may be more in the bass when you factor in that you've got a floor underneath you. and probably walls behind it.
It also states impedance as 6Ω (Nominal), 3.7Ω (Minimum).
If your amp is 300 watts into 8 ohms and 550 watts into 4 ohms, then let's pretend it's 550 watts into the minimum impedance of the salon2.
That means that as long as the drivers can handle the max power, you can roughly squeeze about 110.8 db out of the salons at minimum impedance maybe a db or two more at other frequencies. It also uses a downwards firing port to augment bass response without EQ boost.
If I had to guess, that's probably about 8-12db louder at points. That probably accounts for the subjective bass slam of the salons you think is better. With that said I don't know which one is giving you better in room bass response in terms of quality. The dipole but less output bass of the orions or the monopole but more output bass of the salons.
