Technical question.

[LWW 10+ year member]

I have a discussion going on at another forum with a person who claims to be a champion audio system builder and installer.

I make no claims to this, but I'm not a hack fanboy novice either.

Here is the debate.

If you have a single speaker with an efficiency rating of 120 DB SPL at 1 watt at 1 meter I claim that:

- To raise it to 130 DB SPL at 1 meter requires 10 watts.

- To raise it to 140 DB SPL at 1 meter requires 100 watts.

- To raise it to 150 DB SPL at 1 meter requires 1,000 watts.

- To raise it to 160 DB SPL at 1 meter requires 10,000 watts.

- To raise it to 170 DB SPL at 1 meter requires 100,000 watts.

- To raise it to 180 DB SPL at 1 meter requires 1,000,000 watts.

Assume that the power supply never drives the speaker to clipping, the speaker never blows, and the tone is constant and all things other than power input and SPL rising, remain constant.

My position is that the laws of physics rule and the predicted DBs will be reached until either the amp or the speaker reach their physical limits where they can longer perform.

Their position is that the laws of science don't apply in the real world and their experience makes them right, period, end of discussion.

Opinions from a position of knowledge are appreciated in advance.

LWW

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[skadude016 5,000+ posts]

in a perfect world sure. but in real world application your calculations and theories wont work. You are also not taking into account power compression of the woofer.