Basic question about sound.

Posted by Brad Broten [IP: 209.82.120.19] on May 20, 1999 at 17:58:49
Using Mozilla/2.0 (compatible; MSIE 3.02; Update a; Windows 95):

In Reply to: Basic question about sound. posted by Robin Chen on May 19, 1999 at 18:38:09:

As Gary pointed out, doubling the power to a speaker will only increase the SPL 3dB, assuming the speaker is linear. I think what you are noticing is probably that the single speaker is becoming less and less efficient as you turn up the volume, which means it is no longer linear at those volume levels. At this stage less of the power gets through to create sound.

By adding the second speaker you are asking each speaker to use roughly half the original power consumption, where the speaker is much more efficient. As you turn it up, the speaker is still within it's range of higher efficiency, so you reach the magic 2x of sound at a lower volume setting on the receiver because more of the power is getting through to create sound.

Let's say for sake of argument that your original SPL is 90dB and your "2x sound" is (to your ears) 100dB. If you were to use a speaker designed to produce 100dB then you would notice that the amplifier volume level would be in the same place whether you used 1 or 2 speakers.

Hope that helps!

• Check this out in Forum 2 for further reading...

Follow Ups:

• Basic question about sound. - Rakesh Malik 10:08:21 05/21/99 (0)

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