Good speakers at low volume?

Hi

I like to thank Branislav for this thread. I'm somewhat in the same boat - apartment dweller.

Branislav, does you amplifier have decent volume pot so as to fine tune/adjust the volume when playing? The volume pot on my amp is not that great (something I'm looking into)...

For me my Altmann dac and Altmann integrated amplifier (20W @4Ohms) both run off 12v car battery. In addition I have (apart from the digital cable) Synergistic Research cabling with active shielding.

I have minimal acoustic treatments with, in each corner, a Echo Buster Corner (triangle) and a Cathedral Sound Panel. This has helped greatly in that the bass is much better controlled in the room and helped with the echoes.

The above two points leads to a much quieter background and hence I can hear more and be involved at lower volumes.

I'm not saying change your amps or cables. It's just my observations on how I've, by accident, manage to listen at somewhat low volumes and still enjoy my music.

Btw my speakers are Kef 103/4's, 91 db eff, 4Ohms. The room is small (14,5'x 16). I've still to treat 1st reflection points and rear walls. I'm also looking at other speakers, mostly out of curiosity and so thanks to all the suggestions thus far.

Question for Musicnoise (or anybody who knows) - coming back to the comparison you mentioned of b&w 804 and b&w 803, I'm assuming it was the latter one that played better at low volume right?

What you really need is a "loudness" button on your pre-amp. Unfortunately, these are rarely found in "hi-end" pre-amps or integrated amps these days. The reason you need the loudness button: Fletcher-Munson effect and your ears. The human ear is most sensitive to mid-range frequencies. The result is that as the overall volume level decreases, you begin to lose the lower and upper frequencies relative to the midrange. That's why you "lose detail" and bottom end bloom when listening at low volumes.

I'm sure the others here will label me a hi-fi heretic for this suggestion but it really is the only realsitic answer to your situation simply because of the non-liner way the ear responds to sound pressure levels. One can approximate the effect of a loudness circuit using a parametric equalizer. That would be a fall-back solution. You can get good info on this online by Googling "Fletcher Munson Effect".

You're not allowed to say the words "loudness button" on THIS site.

Seriously, if you have one, obviously, try it, it might work.

Otherwise I wouldn't go out of my way to get one. They are usually not very flexible. Some units, like older Yamaha units for example, have variable loudness adjustments at least which is better.

If you think you have the right speakers and matching amplification for the application and still are not satisfied, a pre-amp with more flexible tone controls can help. There is another recent thread on "flexible pre-amps" or something along those lines here that you might take a look at.

Harbeths sound great at low volumes - crytsal clear vocals and warmth. They are used in BBC for drama productions etc - great clarity in the midrange without cranking it and enough bass that it won't sound thin at low levels.