ORIGINAL: bigcountry
It all depends on their force curve. How much stored energy there is. Thats why some recurves smoke longbows. They feel harder to pull the first half of the draw and get easier the last. They store more energy. But I have seen some recurves have so much mass in the limbs, they are slower than the longbow that is properly designed. Like ACX's limb have very little mass, and will smoke more recurves.
Its all a balance of limb mass, and draw force curve.
bigcountry is right.
I have different bows for different situations. I really like my 50" Browning Cobra I @ 40# for in my pop-up blind while turkey hunting. I Like my Predator 60"and Bear Custom TD 56"@ 55# for treestand hunting. My Wing Red Wing Hunter and Bear Grizzly both 58" are just fun to stump shoot and hunt with. The longbow is fun for 3D, stump'n and whatever.
Shoot as many bows as you can get your hands on and enjoy them all for their likeness and differences.