Hi guys,
UPDATEDThe closer we can get to 20Hz, the better the speaker can reproduce low frequencies.
Low-end extension is definitely a metric in which I'm interested. However, it may or may not be terribly relevant, depending on crossover frequency. That said, I'd usually opt for a 6.5" driver over a 5.25" driver (for that bass extension), but one should really listen to decide.
The Sensitivity of the speaker is 85dB. The higher this number, the louder the speaker will be at a given level.
What this number means exactly is that when fed 1 watt of power, this speaker measured 85 dB at a distance of 1 meter. The other measured 87 dB at 1 meter with 1 watt of power.
Clearly, this is a measurable difference, but I wouldn't make too much out of it. One thing to question -- did either company specify
how this was measured? What frequency? Using a broadband noise? etc. I would imagine that this measurement could be tweaked depending on company-internal goals to become either bloated or conservative.
While 87dB doesn't seem to be much more than the SV 85dB, understand that a 3dB difference would need half as much power as the other to produce the same level of volume.
Right. Another way to state this is that for every doubling of power from your amplifier, the speaker will measure 3 dB louder. So, as determined from this spec, you will measure 87 dB with 1 watt of power, 90 dB with 2 W, 93 dB with 4 W, 96 dB with 8 W ... 108 dB with 128 W. The "other" speaker, with a sensitivity of 85 dB, will measure 106 dB with 128 W -- there's still a 2 dB difference between the two from a 1 watt input to a 128 watt input, and all points in between and beyond.
In other words, these speakers will be almost twice as loud at the same level, compared to the SV bookshelf.
Well, what it means that one speaker will be 2 dB louder than the other with a given input power. The 2 dB delta will mean that your amp would have to work not-quite-twice as hard to generate the same output
at 1 watt.
Although you will require not-quite-twice as much amplifier power to generate the same SPL from one speaker to the next, the
percieved output level (to the human ear) will NOT be "double." I've generally seen numbers like 6 dB to 10 dB where people consider things to be "twice as loud." This is easy to prove to yourself if you have an SPL meter -- simply increase volume until you register a 2 dB increase in measured SPL and you will hear that it's not a doubling in volume as perceived by your ear. Bottom line: a doubling of amplifier power does not translate to a doubling of perceived volume to a human.
Like frequency response cutoffs (the 50 Hz to 20 kHz stff), sensitivity of a speaker is one metric. At 85 dB and 87 dB, I wouldn't consider either of these speakers terribly sensitive to input power.
The
Infinity Primus series is a great entry-level speaker that I've heard first hand. I think they're about $80+ each at Amazon. Its frequency response is spec'd at 49 Hz to 20 kHz, and its sensitivity at 90 dB. Of course, I wouldn't base my decisioin on these two criteria alone, but if you did, the Infinity would be "better" than the others in consideration, right?
In the end, I think you'd be happy with any of the above choices. If not, sell 'em and keep on shopping!
Hope that helps a little.
