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Best speakers for a vivid sound at low volume

As I mentioned above, I've heard the Martin Logan Electromotions. These would be the ideal size for my room. However they didn't really have the clarity I was hoping for, and I felt the designers had been a little conservative with the bass driver. It was well integrated, but I felt they had been so at pains to get this integration correct that they had been a bit timid.

According to what I've heard so far, I think the Harbeth Monitor 30.1 is a better speaker, and better demonstrates the qualities associated with electrostats. However it may well be I didn't hear the Electromotions with ideal amplification. I heard them with Quad IIs, with which the sound was a little too diffuse, and with a Krell integrated, with which the sound was very controlled butt too dry. Somewhere in between might be excellent, so perhaps I should hear them again.
 
mudlark said:
In my opinion you will not be able to acheive what you want. The room is too big to allow you to enjoy your stereo at low volumes. In order to drive a larger room more volume is required.
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I have a similar sized room and achieve wonderful sound at low volume through my JBL K2 s (95db efficiency).
I believe many people use high volumes because they have a high noise floor, which is more intrusive at low volumes.
In other words you need as noise free a signal as possible at the speaker terminals.
 
I had shahinian obelisks which IMHO actually sounded great /better at mid to low volumes than outright loud. Discrete and affordable now on the open market.
 
Robert said:
Personally I think something like the loudness button adjusting the response is handy for low level listening, and for well known reasons connected to how the ear sensitivity with frequency varies with level.

Great idea I think. Someone should market it.
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I use a Musical Fidelity X-Tone to similar effect. If you want to be 'at the gig' then switch in the treble and bass modules at the required level. If you want soft and mellow, switch them back. Or switch it off if you want it just as it comes. Brilliant bit of kit, and lots of fun, too. And no it doesn't clutter the signal path - at least in my system.
 
It might also be mentioned that lowering the noise floor and dealing with RFI issues makes listening at low volumes much easier. Very often volume is wound on in an attempt to disguise or overcome RFI problems, and that's the issue whatever the speakers. It's what Steve Elford at VertexAQ calls 'the letter box effect'. He wrote a great paper about it that's on the web somewhere. And not while wearing his Vertex hat.
 
I have come to a significant yet blindingly obvious (re-)discovery, which is that I much prefer near-field listening, and always have done, but this new listening room has been making it difficult.

I did an experiment with my friend's Devore Nines firing across the room, absurdly close to each other, in near-field position, like this:



This brought back the intimacy I've been missing.

It's an awkward room because there are doors on each long wall; one of them is just to the right of the picture. This means that speakers either have to be very close together, or in the corners (which is really too far apart). It could work with smaller speakers close to each other, as in the picture.

However if I want speakers like the Devores, with significant frequency range, I have to have them firing down. The only option is to bring them much further into the room, a good three feet from the back wall, like this:



The listening position is roughly at the bottom right corner of the photo, so even this isn't quite near-field. But I think this is the position I will have to live with.
 
I do a lot of listening at very low levels these days. To be honest, I don't think I get peaks of over 70db more than once or twice a week.

The speakers I use excel here, undoubtedly helped by the remarkable delicacy of the amplifier which provides an impression of unrivalled micro dynamics and musical phrasing IMHO.

I would love to try the original Quad one day with the Berning however. With stats of course the side wall is not an issue but you really need to bring them a third of the way into the room. I do this with my speakers but in another room I've thought for years it would be interesting to mount ESL 57's on articulated wall brackets that you could pull out easily for listening - something that's designed for large flat screen TV's should suffice.
 
Repeating what others have said. I owned Yamaha NS1000Ms for a decade and they were exceptional at low volumes. Also Quad ESL 57s.

Nic P
 
ESLs seconded. Lovely at lower volumes. Impulse horn speakers also great when the wick needs to be kept low (and they're very affordable used).
 
Pac1 said:
Why? I've heard plenty of wooden cabs which excel at low volumes, my own designs included!
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IMO wood is irrelevant, high efficiency (e.g. BIG magnets and/or low mass cones) or very low mass drivers (such as electrostats) are the key, Just my personal experience ... I am no expert.

Nic P
 
Nic P said:
IMO wood is irrelevant, high efficiency (e.g. BIG magnets and/or low mass cones) or very low mass drivers (such as electrostats) are the key, Just my personal experience ... I am no expert.

Nic P
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Indeed. My speaker cabinets are made of wood, low mass paper cone drivers, huge Alnico magnets, easy to drive...they are crystal clear at very low volumes, which is actually a system requirement for me...

...about a year ago some friends came round and we were having a conversation after dinner with music playing in the background. He kept turning his attention to the music and couldn't concentrate on what we were discussing (something vaguely important), so I kept getting up to lower the volume further. In the end I just had to flick the Mute switch.
 
Nic P said:
IMO wood is irrelevant, high efficiency (e.g. BIG magnets and/or low mass cones) or very low mass drivers (such as electrostats) are the key, Just my personal experience ... I am no expert.
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Mine too. I listen pretty quietly, very quietly late-on, and I just find big efficient speakers are the least compromised to my ears in this context. I just don't seem to want to turn them up to get some sense of dynamic range or scale the way I do with little (and invariably inefficient) ones. It's all still there, even at very low level.

(currently listening to La Scalas at around 55db)
 
I do a lot of late night listening at low volumes, and I found that Gallo Strada II are quite good at that. Combined with NAD M51, VTL TT25 monos and B&W PV1 sub they produce very satisfying sound at low (as well as high) volume. Before that I had ProAc Responce One SC and they were also good for late night listening.
Also, it's not just speakers, there's a lot of good and expensive amps that don't sound their best until you crank them up.
In this respect I found that push-pull EL84-based amplifiers (ultralinear or triode-connected) sound great at low levels.
 
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