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New member Username: Chris_mcferrinBaltimore, MD USA Post Number: 1 Registered: Jul-05 | What does the sensitivity rating on a subwoofer mean, and what would be considered good? Is 85 a good rating? Or just average? |
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Bronze Member Username: Infinity_addictSanta Rosa, California USA Post Number: 58 Registered: Jul-05 | go here http://www.electronixwarehouse.com/education/glossary.htm select "s" scroll down to sensitivity. |
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Gold Member Username: GlasswolfWisteria, Lane USA Post Number: 8853 Registered: Dec-03 | Speaker Sensitivity and Efficiency. Speaker sensitivity is a specification provided by all manufacturers of high-quality speakers. The sensitivity rating has no relation to sound quality, as some of the very best speakers have low ratings. Sensitivity ratings simply tell you how much sound a speaker will produce for a given power input. Sensitivity ratings are given in decibels per watt at one meter, or db/Wm. So, with an input of one watt (usually white noise), a speaker with a sensitivity of 90 db/Wm will produce 90 decibels of sound at a distance of one meter. A sensitivity of 90 is considered average, with ratings of 87 and below considered low sensitivity and above 93 considered high sensitivity. To increase the volume by 3 db, you must double the power. So, using the example above, to make 93 db you would need two watts, and to make 96 decibels, four watts. Most of the time your system is cruising along producing only a few watts. You need extra power for loud bass passages, crescendos in classical music, and other highly dynamic passages. Your speakers may need more than 10 times the average power to re-create these dynamic passages accurately, and if you are playing loudly to begin with, you may need an awful lot of power if you have speakers with a low sensitivity rating. So, when you are buying an amplifier, consider your speakers, your vehicle size and how loudly you want to play. If you have sensitive speakers, you probably will not need as much power -- even 20 clean watts would probably be enough. If your speakers are only moderately sensitive, your vehicle is large or exceptionally noisy at highway speeds and you want to play loudly, you will need more power in order to faithfully reproduce dynamic passages. "Sensitivity," which is expressed in dB, should not be confused with "efficiency" that is expressed as a percentage of power out relative to power in. Efficiency data for loudspeakers suffers from many problems such as failure to consider variations in frequency response. Speaker efficiency is the ability of the speaker to do work or use power. The more efficient the speaker; the less power is required for the speaker to produce sound. Voice coil design, type and size of the magnets, speaker cone design and material, speaker size, etc. all play a critical role in determining speaker efficiency. However, speaker size is a good general method for guessing efficiency. Typical speaker efficiency (for physicists) is about 5%. Meaning that for 100% power input, you get about 5% acoustical work back. Keep in mind that when considering subwoofers, or any speaker that will get more than ~100 watts RMS of power, these measurements are affected by other factors that make this specification less than useful when choosing between speakers. |
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New member Username: Chris_mcferrinBaltimore, MD USA Post Number: 2 Registered: Jul-05 | So a speaker with a higher sensitivity rating wont need as much power to get loud? Or is it the other way around. im considering basically doubling the setup i have now with my type R, an identical amp..one dedicated for each sub. and i know to notice an audible difference you need to double the power if im not mistaken. or am i? |
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Gold Member Username: GlasswolfWisteria, Lane USA Post Number: 8879 Registered: Dec-03 | double the power to a sub is about +3dB 2 subs, double power to each, is about +6 the higher the sensitivity of a speaker, the less power it requires to produce the same volume. as stated above. |