What's the spec I should look for to know the loudness of the speaker?

[wannabelean]

Its all in the title. Anybody knows which spec I should look it? I'm looking at the loudness/quantity of the sound produced.

Thanks!

 

[shadyJ]

The spec you want to look at is "sensitivity", audioholics has a good article about it here. It's basically how loud a speaker can get with a certain amount of current, most speaker manufacturers go with 1 watt. Speakers with higher sensitivity ratings don't always get louder than ones with low sensitivity, but many times they do, especially when their sensitivity is very high, like in the upper 90 decibel area.

 

[Haoleb]

When shopping for speakers, how loud it will get is not really a spec you should be concentrating on. Unless you plan to use extremely low powered amplifiers which I doubt because if your into those you know all about sensitivity. How loud a speaker will sound is mostly dependent on the size and type of room you will be listening in and your amplifier power. Sometimes a manufacturer will list a spec that indicated how loud a speaker will play before audio breakup and distortion occurs. Usually called Max SPL, This is a spec that indicates how loud a speaker can play with the required power, Not sensitivity. Most times unless you have a high quality amplifier your amplifier will start to run out of steam before your speakers do, in which case you will also experience distortion and possible speaker damage.

 

[markw]

"Waiter, the food tasted horrible, and there wasn't enough of it!"

What the others have said, but one more thing to add: How loud a speaker plays has no bearing on it's sound. It may play loud, but if you don't like the soud, what does it matter?

 

[fmw]

Actually, sensitivity isn't so important unless you couple it with power handling. Highly sensitive speakers simply play louder at a given amount of input power than one with less sensitivity. As mentioned above, you may get a less sensitive speaker to play louder by applying more power to it. All speakers will burn up given enough power. If you want loud speakers look at pro audio sound reinforcement speakers rather than home speakers. They won't sound as nice as home speakers but they are designed to fill auditoriums with sound. For instance, I use a pair of large Electro Voice speakers for my digital piano. I drive them with an amplifier that produces almost 600 watts per channel into their 4 ohm impedance. They are sensitive and have a lot of power handling capacity. They can be heard right along with any other instrument in the band in an auditorium. I can get by with a single speaker in something the size of a dance club. Home speakers can't take that much power. Click here for an example of a speaker such as I'm talking about.

 

[Grador]

There's another thing you need to look out for with sensitivity. Some speakers trade off coverage angle for sensitivity, if you're looking for large area coverage for a party then this isn't going to help you much. On the other hand if you want to be properly in their focus sensitivity will be very telling.