Best Late Night Low Volume Speaker

I have Quads (2805) precisely because I live in an apartment where low level detail is much more important than high SPL and deep bass. I think any ESL will do but the newer Quads are a lot easier to use.

Tubes are often recommended but I prefer my Pass Aleph 30 to the two tub amps I have tried. Later versions of this or the XA30 should work nicely.

I just sold a pair of Zu Essence and the first thing I noticed going to my new pair was that they don't have that EFFORTLESS sound that the Essence's had. Retrieval of low-level detail was astonishing with the Essence and I think that is what makes late-night listening (or in my case VERY early morning listening), enjoyable. Yes, they are 97 db/ 12 ohm which makes them very easy to drive. They had so much impact and dynamics at low volumes. I didn't know it until it was gone. Very underrated speaker.

My Merlin TSM-MXE's sound terrific at low volumes which is very important for my late night listening in my apartment.

Another vote for Quads

Hey Audiofeil, you are always so careful not to mention products that you carry in order to avoid any appearance of shilling but The Audio Note AN-E speakers are pretty hard to beat with a nice tube setup. I have had several pair of Harbeths in my room and sound very nice but, in my opinion, require a little volume to feel alive. I'm not bashing Harbeth, love em. My pick is the Audio Note speaker.