There are very highly reviewed speakers that I want to consider but they have a lower sensitivity rating than other speakers that I am considering also.
89 db seems to be average.
But is a drop down to 86 db speakers very bad?
For example -
Now Hear This! SB-2 -- 51Hz to 22kHz 86db 150 Watts
Now Hear This! SB-3 -- 39Hz- 22kHz 175 Watts 86db???
Can I call you Tim , for short that's one long name.
Any why the sensitivity based one the 1watt @1meter for loudspeaker loudness with pink noise testing determining the robustness of it, something like that, why Jan can fill a not more of the blacks in hear.
As for the front loudspeakers in any professional cinema they must be the same and the same applies to the home cinema as well.
Cutting corners will result in poor edge performance with dynamics from the softest voice sound to the loudest yelling screaming sound to the artificial fabrication of explosions.
The higher the sensitivity the better, if I had the money I'll have some high performance JBL cinema loudspeakers for the fronts and they some in all shapes and sizes from single 15in cab with Horn compression two dual 15in cab sizes with huge 3 foot square Horns like the JBL 2360-A which as a sensitivity of around 130db wow no problems there with that little girl from "Aliens" newt screaming to the top of her lungs.
The difference between 86 and 89 is 3 dB, or a doubling of power. It's not so much that I'd worry about it unless you will be using these in a large room.
An efficiency of 89 dB is decent but close to average. You won't see a lot more unless you go to horn-loaded speakers, which don't all sound very good until you spend a little more. Add some Klipsch to the lineup above and you'll see some bigger efficiency numbers (or JBL or Cervin Vega). For example:
Klipsch B-3 (bookshelf) 55Hz - 23kHz +/-3dB 93.5 dB 85 w (340 w peak) 8 ohms
Klipsch RF-25 (floorstanding) 45Hz-20kHz ±3dB 97dB 125 w max continuous (500 w peak) 8 ohms
If I were not wanting to spend too much overall, I'd stay away from 4 and 6 ohms speakers and stick with 8 ohms. Your unexpensive receiver will be happier driving them and will sound better.
Without going too in depth, every 3dB drop in sensitivity requires double the power to drive the speaker to the same volume, all other things being equal. As a result, it is generally beneficial to have a speaker with high sensitivity.
"Unfortunately also, some of the speakers with the higher sensitivity don't seem to have as broad of a frequency response (Ascend CBM-170) "
Not really. The Klipschorn is plenty sensitive and has a fine frequency range.
Headroom that's the word I was looking for setting for the max peak 85dbA weighting which will exceed this level, by a few db for argument sakes there will be plenty of headroom with lower distortion values within audio tolerances, so if you like to experiment in this, there is harm doing so.
And B-chaining the sound system over what you are using at present boy the differences will be huge active X-over units is the way with low going to the LF range of the bass spectrum from 20Hz to 500Hz and from 500Hz to 20Khz for the high frequency HF range with higher highs, to say that there will be less distortion.
If by any chance your loudspeakers have Bi-wireable go and buy an "Active" X-over units at least 3x for the fronts with adjustable frequency range settings as some come pre-fixed at 20Hz to 500Hz to 20KHz with 18db octave down slops, and sending 500Hz to 20Hz into your small HF tweeter will create distortion due to the low sensitivity and it's frequency range and will later burn the voice coil out.
So finding a "Active" X-over with adjustable frequencies, so that you can address the correct frequency to each driver element.
Timothy - In my opinion highly efficient speakers aren't as accurate as lower efficiency ones for the most part. The highly efficient speakers that are very accurate tend to cost multiples of the speakers that you mentioned. There are a few exceptions - Klipsch always comest to mind. This is my opinion based on my experience. But I have heard many others say the same thing.
Tim, As far as sensitivity goes, it depends on what type of listening you do. for some, a high level of sensitivity is important. For example, if you like to blast your movies/music on occasion, having a high sensitivity will make an obvious difference. If not, then it wont matter.
"For example, if you like to blast your movies/music on occasion, having a high sensitivity will make an obvious difference. If not, then it wont matter"
Won't matter of course unless you have a low powered amplifier.....then it will matter....and matter plenty too.
