Decks for Low efficiency vs. high efficiency speakers

[bonzo75]

Read this interesting tidbit on another forum - does anyone know how TT choice will change from high to low efficiency speakers?

"The Verdier is generally used in a specific school of system building, based on high efficiency speakers. If you've been to Munich, the Silbatone guys demonstrate every year that a spherical stylus gets quite sufficient information off a record, thank you, if said information finds it easy to travel out of the speakers and to the listener's ear. Decks for this school are really only there to provide a stable platform for arm and cart and not editorialize the sound. Besides the Verdier, look at Micro Seiki etc. for a similar approach. If used outside this context, such decks are often accused of sounding a bit quiet or even boring.

Systems built around low efficiency polyprop or bextrene drivers tend to favour decks that take a more active role in shaping the end result, I find, and depend on a more highly developed sense of detail, and quite often a higher level of treble, as provided by sharper styli à la MicroRidge et al. "

 

[microstrip]

Read this interesting tidbit on another forum - does anyone know how TT choice will change from high to low efficiency speakers?
(...) "

Thanks for pointing it. Perhaps we can write the address explicitally http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showthread.php?t=181077, the whole thread is very interesting.

I have known about the Verdier since long - I think we can consider it a vintage turntable, it has been manufactured with minimal changes for more than 30 years. It was a pioneering design - the platter floated in a magnetic field, something usual nowadays in other brands. Unfortunately I never listened to it, although I saw it in shops in Paris - but feel guilty when I think it is an european design manufactured not too far from me! Jean Verdier died in 2014, but fortunately his son assures the production of the Verdier platines. For those interested in belt driven turntables, the Verdier uses a linen belt, made with the famous french "Fil Au Chinois" linen thread. Perhaps it is the secret of its sound quality!

The claim " and not editorialize the sound" seems however somewhat abusive. Why should we consider that other modern turntables "editorialize" the sound?

 

[bonzo75]

I don't think he is referring to vintage vs modern in this context, but he considers some tables active (don't think he necessarily means modern TTS are active)

 

[PeterA]

What does "a more developed sense of detail" actually mean? Is he saying that some analog front ends are able to retrieve more information from vinyl grooves and then pass it along in a more transparency? And if so, how or why would this effect whether or not a speaker system is more efficient? Are efficient speakers, requiring less powerful electronics, more transparent than less efficient speakers requiring more powerful electronics?

It is an interesting topic. Would efficient speakers favor analog over digital sources? I have not read such claims and I don't have enough experience with high efficiency speakers to have an opinion.

 

[Bruce McDougall]

Because high efficiency speakers often sound lean and lack bass for their size, turntables and more importantly tonearms and cartridges with a "fleshy" sound and deep bass should compliment. I would run as neutral a deck as I could, and fine tune with arm / cart. In my opinion decks with an excessive "dark" quality or lightness are flawed components.

Decks btw can also be "tuned". A silk thread or fishing line will often give a more responsive "accurate" sound. Ditto for a lighter oil in the bearing well. Rubber belts and heavier oils slow the reflexes of the table and often make it sound "bigger". Bass notes especially, lag in time a bit which creates the effect.

Regards,
Bruce
Anvil Turntables

 

[bonzo75]

Because high efficiency speakers often sound lean and lack bass for their size, turntables and more importantly tonearms and cartridges with a "fleshy" sound and deep bass should compliment.

This comment about high efficiency speakers sounding lean is plain silly. There are a lot of high efficiency speakers I don't like, but even in that 'don't like' subset I wouldn't make this generalization.

 

[Bruce McDougall]

High efficiency speakers inherently produce less bass for a given size. There is an inverse relationship between bass response and efficiency, and cannot be gotten around. This is why something like a "Voice of the Theatre" 100db+ speaker produces far less bass than a 86db stand mount. Horns and physical size remedy this to some extent.

Btw, I am a fan of high efficiency designs, and of course a good designer can make an excellent speaker regardless of efficiency.