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Good speakers at low volume?

It's a known fact that a lot of speakers "come alive" when they reach at least moderate volume levels. However, since I live in an apartment, I'm looking for a good speakers where I won't lose all the details while playing at low volumes. In that respect Audio Physic speakers are great, full of detail, unfortunately they lack dynamics for me when I happen to listen to rhythm driven music. I'm thinking 4-8K price range (Dynaudio, Dali...). Any suggestions are appreciated.
branislav
branislav OP
405 posts
 
I guess having a powerful amp is part of the equation too...
lindisfarne
511 posts
 
Hawthorne Audio Solo
magfan
1,583 posts
 
I used to set my Maggies about 4 feet apart, facing each other and lie down between them at 0 dark30. It was like the best headphones I ever had....sound was full/open and perfect.
johnk's avatar
johnk
1,975 posts
 
AudioKinesis, Makes a hi quality loudspeaker in your price range. The design looks to be usable in near field or at low levels. Dukes a great guy to deal with and hes right about hi-med eff designs. Another option is a PHY or large full range driver loudspeaker, no crossovers = easy to drive at low levels, while still sounding full, no need to turn up to get even frequency. I enjoyed stats maggies for many years but dipoles, bi poles designs flood room with SPL sure can sound good at low levels but sound can travel a bit. If low level is to keep from bothering others than maybe not so good. If you just like music played at low levels and don't have others to bother than stats maggies might be worth a listen. With all things. YMMV.
jb0194
476 posts
 
As Duke noted, you're fighting the Fletcher-Munson curve at low volumes.

If you're an apartment dweller going the dynamic "cone" transducer route (assuming a somehat small listening room):

- high efficiency 2 ways

- good small footprint stereo subs designed for music, not ht

- rat shak spl meter

Use the rat shak spl meter to equalize relative volumes of the 2 ways and subs at your preferred listening volume.

I'm not fond of a single sub, as harmonics extend well above 60hz, rendering the subs localizable. If adjacent to your mains, you won't notice if blended well.

It's a bit of a complicated setup, but there's no getting around the reality of how we "hear" at low volumes. It's the loudspeaker paradigm I use, being a low volume listener myself. I have a moderate sized room in a single family home, so can use a 2 way line array for a nice combination of high efficiency and "dynamics" ability.

I've not lived with 'stats, so can't comment on whether they could simplify matters for low volume apartment listening.
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