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'best' speaker design for low volume replay?

It's just a 'musing' so lets say anything from £500 - £100,000? :)
Have been wondering if it wasn't time for some electrostatics...are they available for under £4000? Do they like Luxman SS amps? Is the pope a catholic and other questions.
 
Rockmeister said:
It's just a 'musing' so lets say anything from £500 - £100,000? :)
Have been wondering if it wasn't time for some electrostatics...are they available for under £4000? Do they like Luxman SS amps? Is the pope a catholic and other questions.
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[Shameless plug] I have a pair of refurbished Quad ESL 63s in the Classifieds available for much less than £4k! ;). [/End Shameless plug]
 
Rockmeister said:
Musing on the principles of speaker design (size, driver size. sensitivity, driver technology etc etc) and wondering if there any 'rules' to follow when searching out speakers that sound 'alive' and fully wound when running at low to medium volumes.
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It isn't possible for music to sound as alive and correct at low volumes compared to standard levels broadly because:
1) the nonlinearity of how we perceive sound means we will perceive relatively quieter low and high frequencies at low volume levels compared to normal/standard volume levels
2) at low levels some of the detail in music will be at too low a level for us to hear

As mentioned earlier the first can be improved although not fixed with electronic equalisation such as a loudness button or modern equivalent. This equalisation could be built into the speakers but, unlike headphones where smiley equalisation seems fairly common, I am not aware of any examples. Anyone? They would of course sound poor at standard levels so it would be an unusual thing to do.

The second can be improved although not fixed by enhancing the relative strength of the direct sound compared to the reflected sound which is why, for example, people monitoring recorded sound often sit close to small speakers. Strongly directional speakers will also help achieve this albeit at the expense of a sense of spaciousness. As suggested above, examples are horns/waveguides and possibly panel/electrostatic/dipole speakers depending on what happens to the rear radiation.
 
h.g. said:
the nonlinearity of how we perceive sound means we will perceive relatively quieter low and high frequencies at low volume levels compared to normal/standard volume levels
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There is little difference at high frequencies, that is a misinterpretation of the equal loudness curves (one commonly reflected in the loudness compensations that used to be more common). What matters is not the shape of the equal loudness curves but the uniformity of the gaps between them, at high frequencies they remain pretty evenly spaced until the levels get very high. Low frequencies are where the compensation is needed.
 
I’ve always liked my Harbeth P3ESR at low volumes. Don’t usually find I need to reach for the Leben +3dB bass boost, but on some music it can be handy.
 
Slightly different view, but the two things that enabled me to hear clearly at low (late night) levels were a TVC instead of an active pre; the very low noise floor helped no end. And an active (analogue) crossover removed mud, which had a similar effect. Drivers were Jordan 50mm and 150mm metal cones. I still regret selling those.
 
ESL57s. If you can live with their particular requirements and appearance, there’s little to touch them at the price or even well above. I’m selling mine on, going back to actives for a bit, but I will surely miss them as I think that there isn’t a better speaker for me.
 
Lots of people say horns and other high efficiency speakers are good for low level listening. They are also considered to have good dynamics.
However, low level listening ought to benefit from some dynamic compression... so that low level details are not lost.
From this prespective, something like LS3/5As ought to be good for low level replay.

I'm not convinced that loudness contours sound natural. Our ears/brain expect less relative bass at low levels. When a piano is played quietly, do we boost the low frequencies compared to when it is played loudly? I think not!
 
Both the speakers I own. Tannoy Canterbury SEs and Troels Gravesen Illuminator 4s work brilliantly at low levels as well as pumping it out
 
cooky1257 said:
Hawhaw. At what distance? Some speakers need to hit a certain sound level before they come to life/together-once you attain that 'critical' sound level it will drop the further away you listen....
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Very true for Isobariks, in my experience.
 
cooky1257 said:
Hawhaw. At what distance? Some speakers need to hit a certain sound level before they come to life/together-once you attain that 'critical' sound level it will drop the further away you listen....
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:)
Serooos answer is that beow 70Db they fade away...detail vanishes and it's just 'background moosac'. At 76Db they wake up, and around 83Db it's perfect (this is all at about 3m from the seating position). Something around 87-93Db is LOUD but by eck they sound wonderful at this level. Persons saying Harbs are 'boring' need to hear 5+'s above 80Db.

I'd like most of that wonderful down between 60 and 70 Db for when the Mrs is grumpy.
Current solution is a pair of headphones (perfect in fact) but I was simply musing over pleasing us both:)

Horns? Massive ugly things and no thanks (unless it's Vox Olympians as a gift, in which case thanks and yes. I think, actually, that if this were a thread about ME buying new speakers (which it isn't) I'd be trying Tannoys next, probably the Legacy range. The Cheviots look about right.

I guess mini monitors in near field would also work well...maybe deep warm bass free but otherwise? I could build some good kits from Wilmslow for not too much to test the theory, but nearfield and the room don't really work.
 
I listen from 12 and 19 feet from my speakers at average levels around 78db from that distance. My Tannoy System 10 and DMT 15’s sounds great at that level and less. I also think the front end has much to do with that as well.
 
There are no hard and fast rules with regard to this question, and I think it is a generalisation that higher sensitivity speakers are more open at lower volumes. For example, my Royd RR3s are a very low 83db sensitivity, but are very open below 80db in the listening position.
 
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