Turn down the Volume!

Since my home is situated on a 1/3 acre property and there are copious amounts of insulation in the walls and ceiling, I am fortunate enough to need not worry about bothering the neighbors with my music. This was, of course, by design.

When I’m busy with other things, background levels are fine, as lower volumes don’t pull my attention away from whatever task is at hand. But when I’m relaxing in my listening chair and focused on my music, I prefer an average SPL in my room that produces a lifelike representation of the recorded instruments and vocals.

The graphic below is a frame grab of a jazz piece played back at my usual "focused" listening level using Z-weighting (essentially unweighted, so a more accurate reflection of the actual overall volume in the room without compensation for the nonlinearities human hearing). A-weighting would have resulted in values about 20 dB lower.

For those who can’t decipher the banner text in each quadrant of the image:

• Linst = Instantaneous SPL
• Leq = Average SPL during the measurement run
• Lmin = Minimum SPL during the run
• Lmax = Maximum SPL during the run

The dynamic range is indicated by the difference between the Lmin and Lmax values

That’s why they are called loudspeakers!   There are times to listen quietly and times to crank it up!   There you go, 2 sentences. Sorry, three, oops,  now four.  Fuuuuuu#cck!

it's simple - the secret is to use BIG speakers, but listen at a low volume (you need a good active preamp) ... get a powerful rich quiet sound ...

small speakers will not give such an effect - they cannot push air - they "pierce" it like a needle

in audio - everything was invented a long time ago))) there is almost nothing new

(RIGHT ROOM) VOLUME (RRV).
 

Get the volume set right THEN NEVER CHANGE IT  Yup you read that right, once it’s set for a particular source you don’t change irrespective of the type of music.  RRV as I call it should become de facto but if isn’t  

As the OP points out this a rarely discussed issue BUT IT IS CRUCIAL to your listening enjoyment. 

I opened a similar discussion on another forum, which claims to know ‘what’s best’. They piled in. Couldn’t handle my reasoned arguments. The forum owner even challenged me to post some decibel readings coz he wouldn’t accept I was doing it right AND playing at decent sound levels, even in a small room. So I took his challenge posted three readings … and the coward backed down and closed the thread.  What a woos!

So yes RRV challenges the norm. But boy does it work.  Dial in your RRV and never touch that volume button again. Just enjoy the music. 

Even in my twenties I didn't like to have a stereo be so loud you couldn't hear someone else speak. All those decades later, I can't handle loud volume, period. 

Re this: "To me, one of the most important subjective measure of a system is how it sounds at low volume."

@larryi, how right you are! I've listened to low volume music while working in home office for 25+ years. I've had a number of systems over that time. I found that sealed/acoustic suspension designs + a subwoofer play better at low volume than ported designs. Never heard horns, ribbons, or other high efficiency designs, so can't comment on those.

At least in my home office, I get terrific low volume sound from either the ATC SCM 12 Pros or the vintage KEF 103.2s. And with either pair of speakers, on those occasions when I feel like cranking it, the walls shake.