Posted by Duke on December 20, 2005 at 13:48:32:
In Reply to: Re: Hey, Duke posted by Roy on December 19, 2005 at 12:56:51:
Roy,
The 6 dB is a calculated anechoic efficiency improvement based on the increased energy density. In a semi-reverberant space, the relatively greater reverberant contribution of the wide pattern would probably make the difference a bit less than 6 dB.
I heard the Majestics when I took a damaged backplate to SoundLab for some outpatient surgery. Briefly, I'd done something stupid and damaged the toroid. At low volume levels that backplate sounded fine, but at medium volume levels there was obvious distortion.
Well, when we hooked that backplate up to the Majestics, there was no distortion. I thought oh great, I'll take it back home and it won't be fixed. They were already playing considearbly louder than I could go at home without distortion. Then Brett said, let's turn it up. Sure enough, at borderline high volume levels the distortion appeared. Now this wasn't done scientifically, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that the volume level where the distortion appeared was much higher on the Majestics than on my A-1s, even with the reduced reverberant field contribution and greater listening distance in the large factory space as compared to my fairly small room. Assuming that the distortion was input-voltage dependent (which would make sense), I'm quite confident that the 6 dB figure given by Roger West is realistic.
This level-dependent distortion was my first clue to the efficiency improvement of the new technology. I was frankly surprised when Roger claimed only a 6 dB improvement, as I'd have guessed more.
Duke