"Cab Sensitivity": what's it mean?

[Goose72]

the title says it all ladies and gents...

what should i look for when purchasing a cab?

 

[seanm]

A sensitive cab cries easier! And a really insensitive cab may refuse to play your notes and tell you to go away. So you want something in between

But really, a more sensitive cab will be louder at a given power level. Euphonic Audio has a good description here: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

In practical terms? It only really matters if you are trying to reduce the size of your rig. A sensitive cab (or two) allows for a smaller amp, all things being equal.

 

[billfitzmaurice]

the title says it all ladies and gents...

what should i look for when purchasing a cab?

Unfortunately there is no industry wide standard by which sensitivity figures are arrived at, so in far too many cases the published specs are meaningless.

 

[will33]

Exactly, if someone published honest numbers, their cab wouldn't look to good compared to the others and you'd probably pass on it. In a perfect world, sensitivity ratings would tell you how much SPL (sound/volume) the cab would produce with a given amount of input power. Ex: A cab with higher sensitivity would sound louder than one with a lower rating using the same size amp. In bass speakers, sensitivity below 100 or 200hz is what you really need to know and nobody publishes that except Bill F. from the previous post and a couple others, that's it, none of the major manufacturers that I know of.

 

[Hookus]

Definitely true. A sensitivity graph correlating sensitivity and frequency would be very useful. Much more than just a simple number. I think WinISD will give you just that.

However, I think the typical test parameter is 1 Watt at 1 Meter at 1 KHz.