volume vs presence

There's a lot going on here, and more than can be covered in a forum.

A) Most likely, you already have hearing loss.
B) You aren't getting the full dynamics and transients, because 1) They're not in the recording, especially pop music, or 2) Your system can't produce them when they are in the recording, and 3) The louder you play, the more driver compression you get.

Causes range from compressed recordings to passive crossovers, inadequate amp power and overheating drivers coils. No one thing is going to solve the problem.

All good and valid input here already. There was a recent thread of someone having some synergy issues running class D amps with specific digital front ends and speakers. You may want to look for input on that specific combination you are using and alternative combinations retaining either amp or speakers.

One exception I'd have to a post above: bigger speakers are most definitely NOT necessarily more efficient (all else being equal). There are many large speakers that are notoriously inefficient and require gobs of current and power to make them sing. Magneplanar 20.1's come to mind. Size does not necessarily correlate with efficiency.

Jaffa,

Don't worry about your ears (provided you don't exceed half an hour loud).

Your amp can dish out more than your speakers can handle IMHO.

Your speakers must be pretty good if they sound better when turned up loud. (Most monitor speakers sound absoultely terrible when cranked => dull, flat and distorted and with loads of port chuffing) However, your monitors are still definitely too small to ever get quite the correct "impact" of real live music.

Think of small monitors as an upgrade to a regular radio - there is still no way to be fooled into thinking the music is real unless it is just a very quiet acoustical piece - this is because real music (especially drums) has lots of dynamics and proper bass is more felt or hinted at by room pressurization than heard. What you hear mostly from small monitors with impressive bass is RESONANCE not dynamics which is why most sound fake...think of resonance as like "humming" a tune versus saying Blue Dubba Dee Dubba Die - one is softer and blurred while the other has attack. Proper bass will not mask or bury the midrange - a resonant bass ruins midrange clarity through "masking".

If you love the PMC sound and the deep TL bass then I'd recommend you get the MB2i - this speaker will open you up to whole new world where percussion sounds real and visceral...

Check your hearing here

I think you may not have a problem at all. I find different albums and even different songs on the album have a volume where they sound best through my system. It always changes from day to day. It could be the environment you are in all day at work that could change the volume required to reach that sweet spot in the volume. I try at the end of the day to sit in my sound room and chill out with no noise or sounds for about a 1/2 an hour before listening and even longer if I drove around with the windows down in my van. Noise levels through out the day effects hearing a lot more than one would think.