Easy fix. Add a subwoofer to your system. High level connection only.
The Low Volume Loudness Dilemma
I love the power and detail of music played at what I call "Actual instrument volume" which is pretty loud and dominating.
I like music in the background when I'm reading or entertaining. The problem is that the fullness and richness is thin to gone at low volume. This seems to be the case no matter how much a system costs. I listened to a Burmester rig driving a set of Wilson Alexx V speakers in a perfectly tuned listening room with cabling that costs more than my Lexus and the "missing music" at low volume problem was there too. $350,000 in gear couldn't fix it.
I did the unthinkable - I bought a DBX 2231 equalizer off of eBay for a couple hundred bucks and messed around with the sound curve. Viola! "Loudness"! I know this is sacrilege and may cause excommunication by the purist class but I am able to get full rich sound at low levels. The Eq also compensates for the anomalies in my listening area (large great room with other rooms connected to it.)
I don't have the square footage or budget to build a proper dedicated listening room with all the sound management treatments so I'm "making due" with what I do have.
Does anybody have some guidance or constructive thoughts on how to get full rich music at low SPLs?
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@yesiam_a_pirate So some are touching on the real problem here but most don’t seem to really understand it. Our ears are adapted to hearing human voices. Most of the time these are in the mid-bands. Because of this we have the Fletcher-Munson Curves mentioned earlier. And one guy mentioned the variable loudness control on his Yamaha. Pioneer had this too. This aural problem is why this control was put in receivers back in the day. The secret is that is automagically decreases gain on the really low and really high frequencies to make up for it since the systems boosts it when at low volume. And yes like the Yamaha guy I thought and still think it’s an awesome feature. Just using EQ alone doesn’t work because the effect isn’t linear. So you’d have to adjust the EQ gain per the level you are listening. Somebody might have said all this already but thought I’d throw my two cents in for understanding vs just solutions. |
On my modest NAD 375bee I kick up the bass at low volumes, back in the early days the loudness switch of my Sansui AU717 was always on unless it was a party and the volume was at stupid levels. Most speakers won’t blume unless sufficiently powered and can use some help when only a few watts are applied. It’s not a sin if it sounds right ...
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@Crustycoot - I have a couple of questions about Yamaha's YPAO function. All the Yamaha equipment I have owned predates YPAO so I have no clue how well it works although I have read some favorable comments online. That said, does this room compensation software really give you a compensation for listening volume so that at low volume settings for your speakers it really mostly follows fletcher-munson curves? That would be a major point to consider if you are looking at buying new equipment and would be enough for me to consider buying Yamaha over some other manufacturer that does not offer this feature. |
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