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How loud is too loud

Hi. Im new to the world of audiophile and am hoping someone can help with a problem only nine months in to spending £3000  on my set up. I've got an audiolab 8200p power amp, audiolab 8300cd and monitor audio silver 8 speakers. After playing some fairly heavy house music at -10db I noticed a distinct lack in sound quality when I played music at a lower volume and now it sounds as if I've lost a whole frequency level. There is not distortion as such, it's just that music sounds quieter and less definition in the top end. I always run my system in before turning up the volume and never push it too hard for too long. Normal listening level is around -30db.
Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
tcapone
glupson
7,842 posts
 
erik_squires,

I wonder if current batch of Yamaha integrateds (501, 701) has something similar to what you are describing Denon as. A friend of mine has one and it does exactly that, it gets quieter when you engage "loudness" which is actually not a usual old-fashioned button, but a knob with a certain range. It has not worked really well for me so far, to say the least, but I could not believe some fine engineers would put it there if it did not work at all. Next time, I will try making it louder and then using loudness the way you mentioned although, I admit, it seems a bit counterintuitive to me. We will see, I mean...hear.
erik_squires
16,016 posts
 
glupson -

I just looked at it, and YES! They seem to work exactly the same way. :) It _is_ counter intuitive.

I do often wish I had that feature.

Best,

E
glupson
7,842 posts
 
erik_squires,

I was curious so I just looked at the owner's manual for Yamaha 301/501/701 on their website to see what they say about it. From your previous post, I got the idea that, after setting volume somewhere relatively high, engaging "loudness" decreases volume while somehow increasing (or relatively not decreasing) middle range.

However, they say "Enjoy natural sound even at low volume by lowering the mid-range sound level and compensating for human ears' loss of sensitivity to high- and low- frequency ranges at low volume."

If I am getting it all right, your description would be opposite from theirs although, at least to me, yours seems more logical. Not that I have any deeper knowledge of these things. What do you think?

Also, their explanation leaves room for more explanation, but they left it for some other owner's manual, I guess.

https://usa.yamaha.com/files/download/other_assets/8/332208/A-S701_S501_S301_om_U.pdf
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