Studio Monitors Vs. Bookshelf Speakers: What's the difference?

Square wave, I was talking about speakers in general and did not have bookshelves in mind. I was only trying to explain how Quads sounded as compared to the other brands. Apologies for the deviation.

Hi,

If you want "life" in your music, look to high sensitivity speakers (> 92dB/watt). Of necessity, they have drivers with very light cones, that respond to the transient nature of music much better.

Then, whatever music you play on them will be more dynamic and with more impact, whether played at low or high levels. There are enough examples of bookshelves, and floorstanders, that foot this bill. It just depends on the priorities of the designer.

Viren.

viren schrieb:

Hi, If you want "life" in your music, look to high sensitivity speakers (> 92dB/watt). Of necessity, they have drivers with very light cones, that respond to the transient nature of music much better. Then, whatever music you play on them will be more dynamic and with more impact, whether played at low or high levels. There are enough examples of bookshelves, and floorstanders, that foot this bill. It just depends on the priorities of the designer. Viren.

errr.....I'm confused, again You mean some designers choose 'not' to make their speakers lively?? Why? Are there any disadvantages to a lively speaker?

If you want "life" in your music, look to high sensitivity speakers (> 92dB/watt). Of necessity, they have drivers with very light cones, that respond to the transient nature of music much better.

Hi Viren,
Is it some kind of generalization ??
As far as I have heard...there are very few speakers which have sensitivity greater than 92db (atleast the ones available in India).
Most of them are within 86-90db....are you saying we are missing somethng with these speakers ??

Yup, you do!

Ever since power in amplifiers became exponentially available, speaker sensitivities have been coming down. In pursuit of absolutely flat frequency response, designers have added more damping to driver cones to control their breakup behaviour. And to handle more power, larger diameter voice coils. As a result, you have heavier cones, and lower sensitivities.

What you gain in one hand, you lose in the other! If flat frequency response was the only criteria, we would have perfect speakers! However, you lose the ability to reproduce the microdynamics of music with these speakers, which is what brings music to life. And lose out in utilizing the linearity of low powered amplifiers. Have you noticed, in all these fabulous speakers, you really have to turn them up to get some semblance of life in music!

There are not as many examples of such speakers, because marketing trends dictate otherwise. And most audio companies are followers, not innovators. It's in the audio listeners interest to seek the right ones out.

Viren.

Can you give some examples?

There are not as many examples of such speakers, because marketing trends dictate otherwise. And most audio companies are followers, not innovators. It's in the audio listeners interest to seek the right ones out.

Couldnt get this one....
What are the marketing trends today ?

some time back the only way of judging the feel of a speaker was by how it sounded with ones brand of music. With a more scientific approach measurements started getting more and mpore important..which was a very good thing untill measurements started becoming more important thing than how it sounds.

These days POwer is cheap and in fact it is the low power amps which are more difficult to make and sellevery one want "More power" than better power.

These days there are more people buying speakers blind than ever and hence Specs take more importance than it should ever should..especially since the specs that we currently use has little relevance to what we hear and like.

(Eg take 2 different speakers with very similiar response and design but two different brands and they sound different)

But these days specs are more important to the buyer than the sound and a Flat reponse; lower extension in speakers is the "critical" factor for purchasing decisions. (For the same budget so many of us would still choose the 30hz-20Khz speaker over the 50hz-18Khz speaker !)

As mentioned by viren, One way of arriving at linear response is by having lower sensitivy so that the changes in power will have smaller changes in output and hence more linear response than a wayward one

Now this is not as bad as it sounds ..from the not so sensitive speaker I have heard (Eg Thiels) it still manages the tightest bass and the most delicate treble, and the fundamental tones are as good as ever..but something in the music seems missing and I have always, perhaps erroneously, attributed it to harmonics.

Just my 2 paisa thought..Virens comment on linear response just got me thinking on this

There is a significant, niche following for using flea powered amps ( 1 Watt to 10 Watts ) with Very High Efficiency ( Usually Horn Loaded ) speakers. The efficiencies, I am told run as high a 110 dB !

These speakers will put out VERY LOUD music with even a 2 Watt amplifier.

These are the speaker that Viren is referring to, and I think he also offers such speakers, locally made by him.

Just out of interest, even 110 dB speakers, Im told represent an efficiency of just 5%.

Our typical speakers that need 50 Watts or more to sing, have an efficiency of 1% or less, for converting electrical energy into sound waves...

Just out of interest, even 110 dB speakers, Im told represent an efficiency of just 5%.

No Amp_Nut let me add this!! I think this will amaze some!

Loudspeakers have a sensitivity of 85 to 95 dB/(W·m) - an efficiency of about 0.5-4%.

Loudspeakers have a sensitivity of 95 to 102 dB/(W·m) - an efficiency of about 4-10%.

Rock concert, stadium speakers have a sensitivity of 103 to 110 dB/(W·m) - an efficiency of about 10-20%.

Here is kitchen table" amplifier company founded by Nelson Pass in 2004.
http://www.firstwatt.com/index.html
These guys specialize in low power amps to be used with high-sensitivity speakers.
The following for low wattage amps – high sensitivity speakers is pretty huge.

Amp_Nut schrieb:

Just out of interest, even 110 dB speakers, Im told represent an efficiency of just 5%.

Actually the overall conversion of power from the Amp to the Speaker is in the range 1-5% !!!!!