BEST LOW VOLUME FULL RANGE SPEAKERS?

Look into the Von Schweikerts dB99. They are a high efficiency speaker which tend to work well at low volumes, they look pretty cool and they have built in subs to dial the bass up to your tastes. I have never heard them, but have read good things about them. I would also suggest some high efficiency designs to do what you want. I have some older klipsch speakers. They are 100dB efficient and excel at low volume with nice impactful bass.

Check out high-endaudio.com for what a speaker should do at low volume.

Geo--Can you shout in CAPS at low volume? Wink and a nod, Trip

Audiokinesis's post is worth reading twice. One solution for your situation might be a pair of Omega Speakers stand mounts with a sub. You then have a single driver covering most of the range that has no crossover or different cones and domes to match up at a certain volume and you have a sub to cover the bass which you can turn the volume up to it independently to suit your taste. It might sound a little out of whack at higher volumes but that's not what you are looking for and if you do want to, just turn the sub back down. Good luck.

I just got Zu Definitions. They're 101 db efficient at 6 ohms and fear no volume, or lack thereof.

Part of my demo to others is to play a known song, and about halfway through to turn the volume down. And down, and down, and down. They literally need to be *almost* off before the full range is lost. I haven't had the speakers long, but the 4 people I've demo'd them to have all been most impressed with this element of their performance.

I credit this to the lack of any crossover elements at all from 40 hz to 12 khz - no electronics to get fussy with signal transfer. And, no inefficient drivers of different properties trying to get along.

These also have 4 powered 10" sub drivers in back. There's no crossover setting, but gain is easily adjustable via rear-mounted volume control.

They are very detailed, but not in the typical way. Nuanced would be more appropriate.

Call Sean at Zu. If there's someone in your area who's got them, he'll probably put you in touch.

Good luck!

I would third Audiokinesis. The fact that the electrostats have one crossover point between the pannel and woofer make for a more seamless blend between the two. I'm not terribly familiar with the SoundLabs but with judicious use of tone controls you can usually make an electrostat sound very full at low volumes without being congested assuming the pannel is covering a large enough portion of the spectrum.

Do keep in mind that most electrostats are funny about room placement so you will need some freedom of movement away from front and side walls.

Good luck!