Celestee vs Clear MG Professional: which needs more amplifier?

The Focal Celestee is 35Ω at 105.0 dB/mW; the Focal Clear MG Professional is 55Ω at 104.0 dB/mW. This page covers what they ask of an amplifier, not how they sound.

The Clear MG Professional needs 1.0 dB more than the Celestee to reach the same loudness — 0.40 mW against 0.32 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationCelesteeClear MG Professional
Impedance35 Ω55 Ω
Sensitivity105.0 dB/mW104.0 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)119.6 dB/V116.6 dB/V
Power for 100 dB0.32 mW0.40 mW
Voltage for 100 dB0.11 V0.15 V
Current for 100 dB3.0 mA2.7 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
4.38 Ω6.88 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB
out of 280
280280

Where the two part company

Every source in the database that drives one of them drives the other. On power, the choice between these two changes nothing about what amplifier you need.

1 source is low enough in output impedance for the Clear MG Professional under the one-eighth rule but not for the Celestee (Shanling H5).

280 of the 280 sources here reach 100 dB on both.

What each one needs from 80 to 105 dB

The Clear MG Professional is more demanding than 46% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the Celestee than 34%.

dB SPLCelestee powerCelestee voltageClear MG Professional powerClear MG Professional voltage
803.2 µW11 mV4.0 µW15 mV
850.01 mW19 mV0.01 mW26 mV
900.03 mW33 mV0.04 mW47 mV
950.10 mW59 mV0.13 mW83 mV
1000.32 mW0.11 V0.40 mW0.15 V
1051.0 mW0.19 V1.3 mW0.26 V

The cheapest source that satisfies both

SourcePriceHeadroom, CelesteeHeadroom, Clear MG ProfessionalOutput impedanceNoise
JadeAudio JA11$2019.4 dB16.4 dB0.5 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO KA11$2927.6 dB24.7 dB0.7 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO BTR11$3619.4 dB16.4 dB0.5 Ω8.0 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 280 reach 100 dB on both. 69 of them also publish an output impedance low enough for both under the one-eighth rule and a noise figure that stays below the audible-hiss threshold with both.

The cheapest of the 69 is the JadeAudio JA11, at $20. It leaves 19.4 dB of headroom on the Celestee and 16.4 dB on the Clear MG Professional, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 4.38 Ω and 6.88 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 16 dB and 19 dB below the 20 dB SPL this site treats as the point where a quiet room stops hiding it.

Try any other source.

What each sheet prints, and what it is worth

ModelAs printedToleranceStandard
Celestee5Hz – 23kHznot printednot printed
Clear MG Professional5 Hz – 23 kHz±3 dBnot printed

Focal prints 5Hz – 23kHz for the Celestee and 5 Hz – 23 kHz for the Clear MG Professional.

Clear MG Professional: Focal puts the tolerance in the row heading rather than beside the numbers: the label itself reads "Frequency response (+/- 3dB)".

Only one of the two is a specification. The range printed for the Clear MG Professional comes with a tolerance; the one printed for the Celestee does not, and a range without a ±dB figure says nothing about how loud that model is at either end of it. The two cannot be compared number against number, however similar they look in the table. Of the 490 models whose maker prints a range, 58 print the tolerance.

Not a measurement; maker by maker.

Both pages in full

Both have a page of their own. In full: Focal Celestee and Focal Clear MG Professional. Every figure on this page comes from what Focal published, or is derived from it — what that maker publishes, counted.

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