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Recommendations for speakers that sound great at lower volume levels.

I have a pair of Harbeth SHL5 Plus and they sound wonderful when I crank them up. But at moderate to low volume levels they sound disappointingly flat and unengaging - instruments are less palpable, bass has less bloom, and soundstage has less air and dimensionality. I drive my speakers with a tube integrated - a Line Magnetic 845 rated at 26 watts of power. My Harbeths are rated at 86db. Would a higher sensitivity speaker be helpful? Or how about a good quality small shoebox sized pair of speakers coupled with a subwoofer? Or not. What speakers are going to deliver music you can feel at low volume levels? What say all you wisened audiophiles?
128x128neptune123
tednep
33 posts
 
As someone Else wrote. You need a amplifier that can deliver enough curent when needed and minimum 50 Watt.
I drove mine with Maek Levinson 383 integrated and they sounded superb. 

I upgrade to Quad ELS 2813 and that combo is not something i have regeret yet😉

Regards
clearthinker's avatar
clearthinker
1,582 posts
 
Loudness controls are an interesting topic.
They have been universally denigrated by audiophiles.

But it is true human hearing has less acuity at frequency extremes - demonstrated by the fact most of us can hear nothing at all above 25kHz or below 12kHz.

But that is how all of us hear everything from birth to death.  So do we benefit from changing that pattern for listening to music?  An obvious response is that the hard of hearing benefit from hearing aids.  However this is not a reasonable comparison with those of us with normal hearing.

A mid-point perhaps is those who are older and suffer from natural detrioration of HF range and intensity.  There may be benefit in increasing the intensity of the HF signal.  This was achieved by the treble control, which with its LF parner has been out of fashion many years now.
austinstereo's avatar
austinstereo
61 posts
 
Some loudness function do emphasize the high frequencies as well.  The Fletcher Munson curve did include a boost in the highs as well.  Yea, it is a shame that this has all but eliminated.  Our shop deals mainly in vintage gear.  Almost all of it still has this feature.  The most useful were the variable loudness versions used by McIntosh and Yamaha.  
chayro
2,983 posts
 
Hard question to answer without knowing what kind of music you listen to and what your expectations are.  I've owned the SHL5s, but now I'm using P3s in the same room and I think they do better for low volume playing.  But, IMO, if your amp sounds good with your speakers at higher volumes, I'm not sure a more powerful amp is the answer for lower volumes.  A loudness control would be best, but alas. 
mtbiker29's avatar
mtbiker29
170 posts
 
Interesting. I had no idea how much I would come to value the Loudness button on my new Luxman. One of my musician buddies called it a "guilty pleasure" the other day and I couldn’t help but laugh. I keep it on up through about 75db listening threshold, curious if that is "low volume" to many of you.....

@clearthinker I would say "had been denigrated by audiophiles" as to me it seems they are back in vogue just a bit. Look at PS audio YouTube vid on this concept.

Agree on the overall statement that Loudness + sensitive speaker is likely your best outcome.
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