Makes perfect sense to me. Although in practice it seems that certain designs seem to subjectively suit one style of music over another I think ultimately if a speaker does not perform properly with a certain musical style then it cannot be truly considered a "good" speaker. The general assumption is that rock requires more\better bass than say jazz or vocal music etc. Phooey. Really the only requirement that rock would have over other genres (maybe) is volume capability, which IS a definite weakness in ...
Well, yes and no, Nate.
Yes in most cases, but only because of the power handling limitations of speakers. If you create a speaker which can take say 200W/8 ohms, which is 23 dBW, and it is reasonably efficient at say 92 dB/1W/1m, add 23 dB and you have (92+23) 115 dB SPL at 1 m. For comparison's sake:
1. The loudest peaks at rock concerts which have been recorded hit 112 dB, as compared to symphonic orchestra peaks which go "only" up to 110 dB,
2. A jet engine going full blast will produce 111 dB SPL at 3 meters, and
3. It is generally assumed that 109-110 dB SPL is the threshold where we instinctively cover our ears to protect them from excessive loudness.
My own speakers use components in a configuration which allows for power peaks exceeding 250W/8 ohms, so theoretically I should be able to hit around 116 dB SPL at 1 m. I never tried, and don't intend to.
Subjective loudness depends on many factors, from speaker load characteristics, its crossover and its inherent losses, via the amp driving it to the room it works in.
Subjectively, speakers with a leaner bass response will be better suited to chamber music, light jazz and acoustic musinc than rock - that's true enough. Other types of speakers, and JBL is usually mentioned here, will give powerfull bass but will not be very good for lighter paced music; that's a poor speaker, famous name notwithstanding, because 1 will get 10 that if you measured its POWER curve, you'd see it's anyting but flat, with the bass being prominent and high range subdued.
For the uninformed, a speaker's power curve is essentially analogous to an amplifier's power bandwidth; this is its frequency response but at high power levels, not the usual 2.83V. It is a much more revealing measurement regarding the speaker's true performance under real world operating conditions than the usual manufacturer declaration (just as an amp's full power bandwidth is far narrower than its frequency response at 1 W/8 ohms).
Far less magic in it all than one is usually led to believe ...
Cheers,
DVV
