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C´mon, someone own up. What´s the secret of good sound at lower volumes ?

Efficient speakers with sensitivity over 90db with a very quiet (low noise) amplifier but also perhaps the quality of the volume pot ? I got good results from my Cambridge audio 740a which I now use in my second (AV) system.
This has a logarithmic volume pot and seems to work very well at low level with both my LV avatars and the AE linear 3 I have.
 
chris@panteg said:
Efficient speakers with sensitivity over 90db with a very quiet (low noise) amplifier but also perhaps the quality of the volume pot ? I got good results from my Cambridge audio 740a which I now use in my second (AV) system.
This has a logarithmic volume pot and seems to work very well at low level with both my LV avatars and the AE linear 3 I have.
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Yes a low noise floor help immensely. Never quite got the low level performance from my LV setup OBXR2s that i got with Avantgarde Uno's or the Raidho's I have now I did overlap amplification between the LVs and Avantgarde Uno's I expect that the positioning of the LVs was sub optimal in respect of wall reflections which both the Raidho's and Avantguarde's are more tolerant of.
 
Mongeddavid said:
Yes a low noise floor help immensely. Never quite got the low level performance from my LV setup OBXR2s that i got with Avantgarde Uno's or the Raidho's I have now I did overlap amplification between the LVs and Avantgarde Uno's I expect that the positioning of the LVs was sub optimal in respect of wall reflections which both the Raidho's and Avantguarde's are more tolerant of.
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I find the LV's very sensitive to placement , tricky to get them right but once in the sweet spot oh so good.
 
In my system , the Harbeth P3 Es2 sound much fuller and engaging at low volume than the ProAc 10s ence why I sold the 10s
 
I've found that as I've replaced components in my system with one's with with a higher SRN's, I can hear more of the music even when I reduce the volume
 
Chris said:
My system sounds ace at reasonable (for me) volume (unreasonable for SWMBO) where it really comes alive but flat as a pancake if I turn it down to her reasonable, namely where you can talk and be heard (God knows why people want to do that when music´s playing).
I am no headbanger, I´m talking about Armatrading, the Dan, Patricia Barber and Bill Evans etc. for God´s sake. Is near field listening the answer, in a tiny room, on my jack´s ? Are standmounts likely to improve things ?
Am I the only one with this existentialist problem ? Is hifi really for nerds only ?
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A few years ago in short term accommodation I was unable to listen to music at standard levels and found listening at quiet/TV levels over speakers more unsatisfactory than listening on headphones at standard levels. I then started exploring the options to process the stereo signal on headphones to move the in-head sources out of the head and possibly to restore a bit of spaciousness. Beyerdynamic had a headtracking system that seemed to bring significant improvements in a brief demo but I only heard sources supplied by the chap running the demo. Unfortunately it cost thousands which I couldn't justify at the time given I would be able to use speakers again at standard levels in a few months and the headphones would be put back in a cupboard to get dusty. Which is what happened.

I didn't explore the possibility of processing the stereo signal over speakers playing at TV levels. Boosting the bass and treble to restore a better perceived tonal balance would be one thing to do. The loss of perceived detail in the source could be restored with some compression. The loss of perceived indirect sound would likely require a bit of HRTF trickery but if the room acoustics is poor as is often in the case in the home this might on balance be an improvement. If implemented well it might bring an improvement but like listening over headphones the chances of it being as satisfactory as listening at standard levels to speakers seems very unlikely.

Having said the above, some people actually like listening to stereo over headphones while others seem happy enough listening to music at significantly less than standard levels without it intruding on their pleasure. So there is a large chunk of personal preference and/or adaption involved. When I was forced to listen to music over headphones I found they became progressively less intrusive over the months as the brain adapted to what was natural/artificial.
 
Mongeddavid said:
Yes a low noise floor help immensely. Never quite got the low level performance from my LV setup OBXR2s that i got with Avantgarde Uno's or the Raidho's I have now I did overlap amplification between the LVs and Avantgarde Uno's I expect that the positioning of the LVs was sub optimal in respect of wall reflections which both the Raidho's and Avantguarde's are more tolerant of.
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never thought of the low noise amplifier part of the equation but going from Nait5i to Luxman 505 mkII into my same Tannoy Eatons and it is a hugely quieter background with low level listening much better
 
I'm surprised that noise floor is an issue for anyone (at least, with a solid-state amplifier or well-designed valve amplifier) - With no music playing and my ear close to the speakers I cannot hear any hiss with the volume set at any level.

For many types of acoustic music I think there is often a natural level that sounds best, and some types of music will inevitably lack impact at low volume, e.g. Large-scale orchestral music just doesn't have the same impact at low levels, regardless of how good the speakers are.
 
I found a solution to this perennial problem. With my semi-active speakers (active bass), at low volumes I simply turn up the bass gain on the speakers. Works a treat.
 
The hifi sounds best especially at low levels when the ambient noise of the room is at its quietest. HVAC, humidifiers, outside noises in certain rooms can raise that by 10-15 db making low level listening difficult.
 
Yank said:
Most important factor for low-level listening is to eliminate environmental noise.
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Yes, this summer I replaced the three 5' x 3' windows in my studio with sound mitigating windows. They have a high STC coefficient and the result is, frankly, exceptional. I can listen at lower volumes as a result.
 
One of the reasons I changed from the Royd Albion to the Royd RR3 was that the Albion need too much power to sing, and I did most of my listening at lower volumes. Therefore, changing your speakers would probably help. Note that my RR3 didn't sound as good at higher volumes as the Albion.

Since then, however, I've built a much better power amp (Avondale NCC300 monos instead of Naim NAP135 monos), and those same RR3s sound better at all volumes. I suspect the better amp could make any speaker sound better at a wider range of volumes, because of the way it takes control of the performance.

I guess I'm suggesting is that you change to a speaker that's sounds better when quieter, but also consider upgrading your power amp to get more control of it at all volumes.
 
CJ14 said:
A good power amp not a big monster but with a very good Damping Factor and O.T. PSU.
I use Royd's, with my amp and the Bass is fantastic even at low levels.
I have at this time a A40 new design.
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Have to agree with Colin, the A40 sounds perfect at low volumes into my Compasses! Even better turned up a bit!!;)
 
NAP300 driving SL2s is excellent at low volume, nothing is missing but when I swapped out the Qutest for the Dave this year things improved even further in some respects I enjoy late night listening with the volume low.
 
Another aspect.
Do you remember 'loudness' button?
Nowadays it's a forbidden theory. I mean that human sound-perception needs the LF and HF equalisation at low volume to get the normal 'curve'.
Some oldish integrals had an 'adaptive' loudness function: at low volume high eq, at high volume 'off'. Of course, there was a spec vol pot inside.
 
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