Nearfield Low-Level Listening : New Speakers or EQ? Thoughts?

@gemoody

Woofer: 6.5″ / 16.51 cm, 3″ / 7.62 cm voice coil. I assume standmounts have the same woofer.

Have been told my speakers, Totem Forest Signature, "need power to sing".

Agreed. And I agree that you would need an amp that has full output at the first watt. But that will not fix your problem.

I agree and disagree on EQ / Fletcher Munson. Yes, you can brute force correct for low volumes with eq. But "FR compensation" and "Come to life" are two different things.

Yes, Aiwa stuff was great. Giant Sony had an interesting way to deal with their competition. They bought Aiwa and then "discontinued" the company.

EQ will render a more cost-effective solution for you. The reason is that even a V-shaped SPL speaker will, in most cases I’ve seen, provide a boost of around 5 dB in the mid-bass and upper registers. However, to achieve the equal loudness contour (ELC), you typically need a 9-10 dB boost in the bass region for an average listening level of 45-55 dB, as I have at night.

Additionally, I believe digital EQ is more effective than its analog counterpart.

Try your old Kenwood amp first (not kidding).

Proper EQ will work.

DeKay

New speakers see here

Mike

How low are low levels?  I listen somewhat near field at around 50-60 db and get very good results from my Fritz Rev 7s.  Not sure how loudly you listen but 50-60 is about the level of a normal conversation.  I have a 5 band equalizer on my integrated that works very well for this type of listening environment.  I still get very good soundstage and imaging.  They do open up more with more power but they are very satisfying late night at 50-60db.