5 Tips for Better Home Audio

After spending the equivalent of a small car on your HT setup, you certainly wan;t to make sure you get the most out of your experience.  Electronic House has 5 tips to maximize your audio listening experience. The most important one of the group is understanding what speaker sensitivity is and how it relates to the power of the speaker. Good reading before you head out and buy the 200 watt junkers.

From the article:

2. Power isn’t everything, either. Unless you’re planning to
create a great big home theater room, don’t get caught up in the need
for 100 watts per channel. Sometimes half of that will do for a modest
theater—and you can still make it loud. A speaker’s sensitivity is
actually more important than its power. Sensitivity refers to how well
the speaker responds to the audio signals it’s being sent. This is
expressed in numbers from about 87 to 93 decibels (dB), the higher the
rating the better. And here’s a little gem to share with your
100-watt-per-channel friend: An increase of 3 dB in sensitivity is
roughly equivalent to doubling the power output. (The sensitive guy
wins again.)