speakers for classical music

"A live orchestra can reach 115db peaks BTW"

Is that standing among the musicians in front of the brass and percussion or out in the seats?

In that I am a spectator not a musician, my perspective may be different. I usually like to sit back from the stage a bit so I can soak everything in with a perspective that matchs that when I listen on my system so I can compare. I think my ears would hurt at 115Db so I'm not sure it gets quite so loud there.

I have been to some rock concerts though right in front of the speaks where I do not doubt it was that loud. The volume was also quite uncomfotable and I suspect unhealthy as well.

I looked it up on the American Hearing organization website that symphony orchestra can in fact peak at over 115Db, however they also say that to listen to 115DB for more than 15 minutes per day is not recommended.

Of course, this certainly should not stop any devoted audiophile from wanting to be able to achieve it!

I sit in front of the percussion in an orchestra or two, and I believe the 115dB, but it's no big deal, since it's usually only for seconds. A much worse situation was playing next to a big band drummer that constantly registered almost 120dB from ten-feet away. (I had to wear plugs on that gig. I keep them in the gigbag).

Still, I think that generally the 115dB is from the conductor's perspective.

Dave

It all falls down to, do you want to be the conductor or do you want to be in the back seat, or way out in the hallway!!!

My speakers are about 105-106 db sensitive from 170 hz up (almost no resistors in the Xover), I use MONSTER 12 watt tube amplifiers...whatever you say you dont want to be close (11 feet) to a 300 watt amp and those speakers...what do you think the peak will be in db...
I havent done the numbers yet but I guess 115 db is not far fetched.
I have to be very careful or the speaker cable I use here, and of course I have a resistor stepped attenuator to finely control volume, now its sweet, its extended, detailed like crazy and the dynamics are to die for. not fatiguing or honky at all IMNSHO....
The biggest problem with horns is that you can go very loud and not notice it because distortion is very low, so the bass section has to be as dynamic as the mid-high region, when bass goes that loud things start to shake and you feel your chest thump, so its time to lower the volume...I use SS amps for my multiple bass drivers.

Dcstep, your goals and mine look identical on paper. We are thinking the same way there, but went about it differently. I use tubes *because* I can get them to be more neutral, detailed and relaxed; I'm not looking for coloration. On my speakers, you can't get most transistor amps to make good bass, and its easy to demonstrate how profound that difference is (my amps are full power to 1 Hz, unusual in a tube amp).

Like you, I trust my ears first :)

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The 115db peaks of the orchestra would be in the first 10 rows or so if you are in the center. So this is from the listening position.

Although this thread is about speakers, the match between the amp and the speaker is paramount. You do have to pay attention to the intention of the speaker designer to know what kind of amp is going to work with the speaker. Its not always intuitive! For example, horns are traditionally in the realm of tubes, but when I started seeing how the newer Avangarde crossovers were designed, it was obvious to me long before I found out that the speakers were intended for transistors only. In the case of the Trios, there is no tube amp that will sound really right on the speaker, solely on account of the impedance curve.

BTW, Nelson Pass has a good article, published about 2 1/2 years ago in Audio Express, about how full range drivers interact with 'current source' (high impedance, usually tube) amplifiers. He works with solid state of course, and began building high impedance 'current source' amplifiers. The First Watt amps are an example of that.