More power for better sound at low volumes?

The fact that any good system sounds different when playing at low volume usually has zero to do with the system, and everything to do with your ears and your brain. The spacial cues provided by treble get lost, and the bass stops interacting with everything...clearly a good, even response system does sound better than a crappy one at all levels and obviously a near field system can play lower and retain fidelity because it's closer to your head. Remember, sound is made of waves travelling through the dense air in your room, to the dense brain in your head. I prefer that amp designers not put any low level frequency boosting in my amps, and I can reach for the damn headphones if I need 'em.

Good points by the Wolf man.

Differences in sound at low volume may have some to do with the system, particularly the speakers, but yes a lot to do with you and how room acoustics work.

"sound is made of waves travelling through the dense air in your room, to the dense brain in your head"

My listening room and I both resemble that remark!

Also I realize now that a pressure controlled listening room might be the ultimate tweak, though more costly than fancy fuses. Anybody out there have one of those?

In all seriousness, I truly do think that my system sounds better on high pressure weather days than on low ones at all volumes. A scuba suit with acoustically transparent ears might also be required for the ultimate tweak to go along with the pressurized room!

Also in all seriousness, has anybody say in a mobile home ever a/b compared their system set up in the mountains at high altitude (lower air pressure) compared to down in the valley at lower altitudes/higher air pressure? I would expect some differences.

I tried filling my listening room with a gas to see if it made any difference, but I passed out before I got to hear anything.

Bad beans I think. With some discrimination as well as expert advise I'd imagine you could do better. :-)

I would think your amp's input sensitivity and your speakers' sensitivity are the main factors. Also I think the noise floor and distortion figures are a contributing factor in that the lower they are, the higher the volume you can comfortably tolerate, therefore perceived loudness will be less. So i find some of these responses a bit skewed. Ssglx's point is well taken. The smaller the amp, the more relevant the parameters I just mentioned will be. This has been my experience.