Electrostatic speakers and low volume resolution

Phase is tricky! We can't hear phase on simple tones like a sine wave, but we can hear it in a spectrum of frequencies. Our ears use phase to construct the sound stage. If phase is altered, it can also be interpreted as tonality.

I had this demonstrated in spades years ago when I was trying to find why a phono section was sounding bright. It turned out that the manufacturer had abandoned the RIAA curve at frequencies above 50KHZ- well above human hearing- but the phase shift that resulted sounded like brightness. The fix was to restore the RIAA curve even though the preamp hardly had much bandwidth above that!

An EQ unit between me an the source would be one of the things I would look at eliminating if low level detail in the system seemed to be lacking. There are often other ways of dealing with hearing loss.

Tricky is an understatement from my standpoint. Phase relationships are so important to realistic sound reproduction one hand and potentially destructive on the other that understanding it sufficient to work with it in my system is making my brain tired. It's one of those things that, at this point in my development, I'll just have to count on the experts for guidance.

As far as dealing with individual hearing issues goes, I can only think of two things beyond the EQ that can work. Nearfield listening is one which I have in my garage setup (repurposed B&K AVR 307, iTunes lossless files and Celestion A speakers) which is not too special but sounds very good. The other is the use of hearing aids which I don't tolerate well because of ear canal problems. I've gone through 2 attempts using quite advanced aids and choose not to continue using them except as a last resort when or if the time comes for that.

All sources in my system (CD player, Apple TV, Sony Jukebox and DAC are routed through the preamp) and each, when in use, will contribute to phase alteration to some extent. BTW, how do autoformers fit into the scenario. As far as eliminating the EQ goes, I feel it has been too important an addition to consider removing it at this point.

Adding a super tweeter would be another method.

Low level resolution starts with source. What is your system reference for source?

Trying a "super tweeter" sounds worth considering but, as with everything else, there are a couple of things I need to better understand. First, I'm not sure what the term "super" denotes unless it simply describes a driver capable of reproducing frequencies beyond that of "normal" tweeters. Anyway, because the piezo is, in effect, a capacitor that would be connected across the speaker posts, I assume, would it not also try to act as a HF filter to the signal delivered to the panel? I'll study this approach a little more and keep it on my list.

Coincidentally, I initiated a thread a while back regarding the use of a piezoelectric transducer with a full range driver to avoid having to incorporate a crossover. I got some grief over that post but it was something I tried in the late fifties with a "sweet sixteen" speaker that I had built and it worked well for me. I mention this only because at least two of the listed so called super tweeters are piezoelectric.

Davide, if I understand your comments, I guess all issues in the chain potentially have their beginnings at the source. In my case I was able to acheive some relief in low volume resolution using a lower powered amplifier. As far as which component should be under looked at first for this issue, my first consideration would be the speaker. I say this because, although they were one of my favorite speakers in the past (still are) I've owned two pairs of Magnepans and found them not at all good resolving at lower volumes.