Recommendations for speakers that sound great at lower volume levels.

I have not been able to hear any of the new incarnation of KLH except the one's I bought on faith, the Kendall. The KLH 5 does indeed look like a wonderful speaker and I seem to see nothing but good press about it, but I have not seen or heard them for myself. If I can find a place to go hear them I certainly will. From everything I have read, they are the best speakers that the new KLH makes, but as we know, best for what exactly? I will say that I am quite happy with the Kendalls, so if the 5 is of a similar build and design quality, it would be quite nice. Now the only question is; how does it perform at low levels?

To further qualify my appreciation of the Kendall, I have had it for close to two years and am still quite happy with it. I listen to all sorts of music from the entire history of recorded music and it does all of that just fine, as long as I keep the volumes to reasonable levels. I have experimented a lot with placement and have settled for relatively close to side and back walls (maybe 15" from back and 2 feet from sides) which emphasizes the bass quite a bit, but at the relatively low levels I'm using, it's about right. Even though they are really good for quiet bassheads (is that even possible?) that doesn't mean the low end extension is all that deep. I think they do very little below about 35Hz. Tweeters are metal dome but not harsh to me, even when I crank them up above their sweet spot. Midrange is the best of any speaker I've ever owned, and I think that is a function of being a 3-way speaker with a modern midrange design. Imaging? Again it's fine, but it's not at the level of >$10K super-imagers. I find almost anything images well if you set it up right and sit in exactly the right spot. These are probably like most other $1.5K-3K towers on imaging, good but not above its peers.

So the KLH Kendall has its limits for sure. But it shines for me at low levels. If people say the 5 does the same, I believe them.

At least to my ears and my system the best I’ve heard at low volumes for detail and bass definition have been my sonus faber olympica 3

Thanks, Stingray26. I appreciate the effort and time you put into your response. I'll have to find out who in the North Carolina Triangle region sells KLH. I'm anxious to try them out. As I said earlier, I feel like the answer to my hifi dilemma is a high efficiency speaker (perhaps KLH or Klipsch) or a some kind of equalizer tone control, like Decware, 

Most of my listening now is in the late evenings or early mornings, at low to moderate volumes. The good thing about that is less competition from outside noise (less outside traffic noise, no TV going in the other room, cleaner air ways, less line noise, etc etc.). Unlike some who think that Maggies don't perform well at low volume, I find quite the opposite. With some pains taking detail to speaker placement and moderate room treatment and the help of a good sub/subs - Maggies can sound incredible, even at low volumes. During my late night sessions my little Maggies provide all the subtle details, fullness, richness and engagement of a live acoustic or great vocal performance, without having the next day numb that comes with loud.
With the exception of the larger 3.7i or 20.7i, I don't think there are many speakers at any price that could satisfy me more, than my little Maggie 1.7s, for the type of listening and music I enjoy......Jim

Higher efficiency speakers often do sound better than low efficiency, and can do so by a wide margin. But, some lower efficiency speakers do sound pretty darn good at low volumes. 

I agree that loudness controls are a huge help--yet, as stated above--they are nearly extinct.  I have a preamp with tone controls.  I use them about once or twice per month--typically when I want to work while listening or read.  At low volumes they do not impart distortion that I can hear or that bothers me.  As I tick the dial up, I don't like them or use them as much.  It's nice to have a tone defeat.