Generally, speaker manufacturers rate the efficiency or SPL level of their products by how many deciBels are produced by an input of 1 Watt at a distance of 1 meter.
Other manufacturers (Peavey) rate their speaker efficiency as a percentage, presumably, how much input power is converted to audible sound.
Does anyone know how to convert SPL to this percentage or, better yet, how to convert the percentage to SPL?
It would be nice to be able to compare a Black Widow to a JBL, Altec, EV, etc.
These are the issues I worry about on a Saturday night without a gig....
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David Spangler
Speaker efficiency ratings
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David Spangler
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T. C. Furlong
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I think Peavey does rate their speaker sensitivities in SPL 1W/1M.
From the Peavey spec sheet for a 1203-4:
1203-4 BW Super Low Frequency Driver
Features
Impedance: 4 Ohms
Power capacity: 1400 W Peak, 700 W Program, 350 W Continuous
Sensitivity: 98.4 dB / 1 W 1 m
Usable freq. range: 60 Hz ~ 3.5 kHz
Cone: Kevlar® impregnated cellulose
Voice coil diameter: 4.0 inch / 100 mm
Voice coil material: Aluminum ribbon wire, Polyimide-impregnated fiberglass former, Nomex® stiffener, Solderless diffusion welded OFHC copper leads
I don't know what the percentage would be comparing it's efficiency to. Let me know where you have seen a percentage used for a raw driver. I'd be interested to know more about this too.
TC
From the Peavey spec sheet for a 1203-4:
1203-4 BW Super Low Frequency Driver
Features
Impedance: 4 Ohms
Power capacity: 1400 W Peak, 700 W Program, 350 W Continuous
Sensitivity: 98.4 dB / 1 W 1 m
Usable freq. range: 60 Hz ~ 3.5 kHz
Cone: Kevlar® impregnated cellulose
Voice coil diameter: 4.0 inch / 100 mm
Voice coil material: Aluminum ribbon wire, Polyimide-impregnated fiberglass former, Nomex® stiffener, Solderless diffusion welded OFHC copper leads
I don't know what the percentage would be comparing it's efficiency to. Let me know where you have seen a percentage used for a raw driver. I'd be interested to know more about this too.
TC
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Dave Grafe
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The 1KHz@1w@1m rating is a standard that took a long time coming - for many years none of the manufacturers used the same rating system at all - some didn't even use the same standard themselves from year to year! This new "standard" still doesn't take into consideration the compression that occurs in some speakers at higher power levels or the response curves above or below 1KHz at various levels so there is still no way to tell is you will get better performance in your particular application.
Even different speakers of the same model will have different quality of sound. The bottom line is still to try out as many different speakers as you can until you find what you like the best for your own needs.<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Dave Grafe on 23 October 2005 at 05:57 PM.]</p></FONT>
Even different speakers of the same model will have different quality of sound. The bottom line is still to try out as many different speakers as you can until you find what you like the best for your own needs.<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Dave Grafe on 23 October 2005 at 05:57 PM.]</p></FONT>