Significance of minimum power to a speaker?

[sprinter]

This is a general nooby question. I see some speaker specs which list a range of power inputs or a minimum power rating, such as this http://www.commonsenseaudio.com/affordableaudio.pdf one which specifies 5-30 watts. What happens if you drive it with only 3 watts, for example?

[picowallspeaker]

I don't know...Electrons get lost before arriving to speaker's voice coil ? ha ha ha
Depends . One important thing is sensitivity ,or better the efficiency of the system (speakers & crossover+cabinet )since we're talking about power . I think it may be related to the crossover circuit inside (or external) which may be very populated by coils&caps&resistors that suck energy ,so a beefy amplifier is requested to drive it .
Average listening in my room is 1W (FALSE!!!)...at this level I can hear perfectly everything with high sensitivity speakers (94 dB) that provide flat freq response.

[stratus46]

Originally Posted by sprinter

This is a general nooby question. I see some speaker specs which list a range of power inputs or a minimum power rating, such as this http://www.commonsenseaudio.com/affordableaudio.pdf one which specifies 5-30 watts. What happens if you drive it with only 3 watts, for example?

Nothing bad except some may find it underpowered. The variation between my preferred level and yours and anybody elses my be very large. I personally sometimes like it loud and to get there takes some power. 70-100 Watts a side will keep me happy the vast majority of the time. But, sometimes (once or twice a year) I want it even louder and the big system with 300 a side is wonderful. Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake or the Mormon Tabernacle choir just doesn't cut it without some guts - at least for me. Peter Hurford playing the Ratzeburg Cathedral Rieger organ also needs power. IMO one of the finest organs and recordings I've ever heard.

To answer your question, this is DIY audio so build yourself a chip amp. It's a great way to start.

G²

[CLS]

keep away from clipping, any watt will do.

I had used 0.7W amp for mid/high channel in an active system, and it could play very loud without problem (clipping).

[SoNic_real_one]

I suspect that minimum power is necessary to "hide" sonically the non-liniarities of the mechanical friction and elastic hysteresis, to achive lower distortion for a certain driver.
A high power driver has a more rigid suspension, membrane, centering pice, in general has more friction to "fight" than a smaller one...

[picowallspeaker]

Originally Posted by SoNic_real_one

I suspect that minimum power is necessary to "hide" sonically the non-liniarities of the mechanical friction and elastic hysteresis, to achive lower distortion for a certain driver.
A high power driver has a more rigid suspension, membrane, centering pice, in general has more friction to "fight" than a smaller one...

I don't think so . You're talking about the quality of construction of the speaker.
little/big speakers may make difference ,i.e. having different efficiency ratings..but then you have to analyse amplifier-speaker interactions .

[AEIOU]

Originally Posted by sprinter

This is a general nooby question. I see some speaker specs which list a range of power inputs or a minimum power rating, such as this http://www.commonsenseaudio.com/affordableaudio.pdf one which specifies 5-30 watts. What happens if you drive it with only 3 watts, for example?

Some speakers don't seem to come to life until you are driving them with x amount of power. Never any harm with using less/least power, but there just won't be any dynamics.

[sprinter]

Originally Posted by stratus46

Nothing bad except some may find it underpowered. The variation between my preferred level and yours and anybody elses my be very large. I personally sometimes like it loud and to get there takes some power. 70-100 Watts a side will keep me happy the vast majority of the time. But, sometimes (once or twice a year) I want it even louder and the big system with 300 a side is wonderful. Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake or the Mormon Tabernacle choir just doesn't cut it without some guts - at least for me. Peter Hurford playing the Ratzeburg Cathedral Rieger organ also needs power. IMO one of the finest organs and recordings I've ever heard.

To answer your question, this is DIY audio so build yourself a chip amp. It's a great way to start.

G²

How's your hearing doing? I agree with you, BTW. But now I need power more to compensate for my hearing losses

Good answers so far. Thanks.

[Keriwena]

It is interesting to note that the sensitivity of this speaker is 96db, which is quite high for a speaker this size. This makes the Audio Nirvana speakers a natural match for lower powered amplifiers. This high efficiency rating means that the Audio Nirvan drivers could match up with 5 watt per channel flea powered tube amps, or even a high quality 30 watt per channel integrated amplifier.

So the "power requirements" are a range of the max power of the amp, not a minimum and maximum.

At that efficiency, 5 watts would be "earplugs required" loud.

[sprinter]

Originally Posted by Keriwena

So the "power requirements" are a range of the max power of the amp, not a minimum and maximum.

At that efficiency, 5 watts would be "earplugs required" loud.

Ah, good catch! Still, I do see occasionally, a minimum power spec. I'm not sure where right now.

Brings up another concern, though. How do you protect a speaker like that from accidental overloads?