The Low Volume Loudness Dilemma

@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.

A little late to the party here, but I have been pondering this myself. What I haven't seen generally defined, though, is what constitutes low volume vs high volume listening. Max for me is 65-70 db. I've always thought that is on the lower side of max volume?

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 ...

@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.

Surprised that nobody mentioned Audyssey Dynamic EQ yet. I have my Denon set for Audyssey to bypass the front speakers since the automatic calibration always sounds worse to my ears, but I have Dynamic EQ enabled which makes it sound excellent at low listening levels and dials back automatically as you increase the volume.