Are you not sure what makes certain speakers more expensive than others? Do you know why speakers having the same wattage cost differently? Are you dealing with system integrators convincing you why their system is right?
Let us help you understand which system is right and makes sense for YOU.
Introduction
Our founder Amod had topped a class called Advanced Loudspeakers in his Masters in Acoustics from Technical University of Denmark. It is safe to say that you are in good hands.
You can contact us directly if you need more help on this topic. Now let’s get right to it.
1. Loudspeaker sensitivity
An important rating to look at while looking at speaker wattage is speaker sensitivity. It can be understood as the dB SPL level achieved at a 1-meter distance from the speaker when 1 Watt of power is given to it. This rating gives us the efficiency of a speaker.
A speaker with higher sensitivity will output higher sound levels for the same power.
This also makes the speaker with higher sensitivity expensive. But you get to have less number of speakers and an amplifier with a similar power output to power your entire space.
One important thing to remember, you will find material and people that tell you the dB level drops by 6 dB when the distance is doubled. While this is true in open spaces, this is far away from correct in closed spaces where the levels are influenced majorly by the physics of the room, like the reverberation time and standing waves etc.
2. Frequency response
It is important to check the frequency response of a speaker system so that the engineers tuning it can create a full range balanced sound. Sub-woofers will take care of the frequencies starting from 30 Hz.
Their upper limit of the range can be between 200 Hz to at times 400 Hz. A full-range speaker will have a lower limit ranging from 50 Hz to 90 Hz and the upper limit will usually be close to 20,000 Hz. At times there are speakers that have a lower limit close to 100 Hz or 110 Hz.
These are good when only speech will be played through them and there is no requirement for music.
What is more important is to check how the frequency range is presented. Say two speakers present the frequency range from 50 Hz to 20,000 Hz, but one of them writes plus-minus 10 Hz and the other writes plus-minus 3 Hz. Do you know the difference?
Let us show you the difference.
When they tell you it is plus-minus 10 Hz, the frequency response graph will look like this.
Between the said range, 50 Hz to 20,000 Hz in this case, the difference between the highest point and the lowest point is 20 dB in total.
If it is plus-minus 3 Hz, the difference between the highest and lowest point is 6 dB in total.
The plus-minus 3 Hz system is slightly better as it is rather flat in the given range and will respond better to the EQ that the engineer does.
Having said that, you also want to check out the frequency response curve as to where is the lowest and the highest point and how it corresponds to the acoustics of your space. If the frequency of the highest point has a specific dynamic when it comes to the reverberation of your space, it will behave slightly differently.
The frequency response should be carefully matched against the designed acoustics of the space to get the best out of the entire space.
3. Directivity
Manufacturers will share a directivity curve in the speaker data sheets that looks something like this. Let me help you understand how to read this.
The speaker is at the centre of this circle pointing towards this direction which is the zero-degree angle or the exact front of the speaker. These difference concentric circles correspond to drops in dB levels for the same power.
This is the directivity curve right here which shows the drop in the output level for different angles. This is important when choosing the speaker positions. You want to make sure that the speakers are installed at proper angles to cover the maximum listening area.
One important thing to note, in a closed space, reflections and reverberation play a major role in determining the sound levels across the space. It is not a good assumption that areas falling out of the directivity rating will receive severely less sound.
While there are other factors that determine the overall sound quality of a space, I\we hope these 3 factors help you reduce some confusion you might be having about which system is right for you.
If you need any more help, write down your questions in the comments section or better yet, give Amod a call on this number. If you thought of someone whom this information might help, don’t forget to share this blog with them!
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