does the 87 db sensitivity rating mean that this is the loudest it should sound with continuous power?
87db sensitivity that means that with 2.83v of input (which is 1w for an 8 ohm speaker, 2w for a 4 ohm speaker, etc), the speaker will produce 87db at 1m away.
It means that an amp capable of 100w into 8 ohms, and an 8 ohm nominal speaker, that same speaker will produce 107db SPL at 1m away.
At a more realistic 2.5m away that's closer to 99db.
Realistically speaking, 100w is the point where most weaker speakers start hitting their limits. Even if you were to double that, that's still only 102db at 2.5m away.
A properly setup processor will set it so that " 0 " equates to a max peak of 105db
so to get to 105db at 2.5m away, an 87db sensitive speaker needs 400w of input. But realistically speaking, that much input will blow your Totem speakers and won't sound great either.
There's 87db speakers that can handle 500w inputs - although a 95db speaker will likely still be more at ease at the same high SPLs because it could do identical ACOUSTIC output with about 65w. If it isn't, it's because it's a bad horn speaker with lots of internal diffraction.
