Saved me some effort. I would like to add that what is becoming more and more clear to me is that what is missing with lower sensitivity cones/domes is the "breath of life" and it doesn't matter how transparent, revealing etc. they are...they just don't have it. It also doesn't matter if they are in the low 90s db and drivable with a SET...they still don't have it. It comes down to dynamics and compression I think but I don't have a definitive handle on it yet. Cones/domes seem to compress even micro dynamics thus smearing or blunting the scaling of these shifts. We can detect that as a lack of realism because in the real world the instrument just does what it does. Blunting or compressing at all levels is what I now hear in nearly all dynamic (ironic name actually) speakers.
Interestingly, one of the cone/dome speakers that I heard that minimized this issue was the original Wilson X1 Grand SLAMM. It was a true 95db and an easy SET friendly load. No Wilson since has had that high sensitivity or that easy of a load. it might been a bit ragged in FR but it was low distortion and scaled with ease and was very lively. Single driver speakers can have life as well, even without horn loading (my Decware HDTs have a pretty good dose of it) but are usually too compromised in other ways...
Funny enough, I got more "breath of life" from my big electrostats, which while being more limited perhaps in ultimate macro dynamics, didn't seem to have the same micro dynamic blunting and could sound spookily real with a simple arrangement (solo, duo or trio) at realistic, unamplified, volumes.
I hear the same microdynamic blunting with SS gear as well...although the best stuff is not too bad this way...just not as good...
