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Speakers for low volume listening

A

And765

New Member
Hello
can anyone recommend small floorstanders or large bookshelves (but not wide ones) suitable for low volume listening, such that the soundstage still opens up and there is a good drive to the music at low volumes.
thanks
 
This is a priority of mine, for evening listening (65dB'ish).

The Neat Petite Classics do it great

As do the Dynaudio Heritage Specials, they are exceptional at low volume (pricey though, if you can find them)

A bunch of other speakers I had needed volume to come alive Dali Opticon Mk2, Q Acoustic Concept 20 and such needed to be driven to at least 75-80dB before I could feel some presence / soundstage in the room.
 
Columbo said:
This is a priority of mine, for evening listening (65dB'ish).

The Neat Petite Classics do it great

As do the Dynaudio Heritage Specials, they are exceptional at low volume (pricey though, if you can find them)

A bunch of other speakers I had needed volume to come alive Dali Opticon Mk2, Q Acoustic Concept 20 and such needed to be driven to at least 75-80dB before I could feel some presence / soundstage in the room.
Click to expand...
I had the Special 40's and they definitely needed a bit of welly to come alive, they where excellent at 75db and above. I'd love to hear a pair of HS's.
 
If I only ever listened at moderate volumes, and particularly if listened relatively close to the speaker, say up to a couple of metres, I'd use a pair of Genelec 8030s or one of their other similarly-sized models like the 8331. Acoustic Energy AE1s are recommended by a lot of people too, but I haven't heard those in familiar surroundings.
 
TDL RTL3's fit the bill (narrow floorstander) - I almost always listen at low volume and I am very happy with their performance, never feeling the need to wick it up to get the music to come to life.
 
uncl_nigel said:
For what it's worth...

In my long quest for decent 2am sound I'v found that the amp is the vital factor... It's surprising how good a beefy power amp can sound at low volumes.
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100% this, how well a system plays quietly has more to do with the amp than the speakers.
 
And hence why high-sensitivity speakers often got this down - they are more likely to be already maxed-out amp-wise?
 
And765 said:
Hello
can anyone recommend small floorstanders or large bookshelves (but not wide ones) suitable for low volume listening, such that the soundstage still opens up and there is a good drive to the music at low volumes.
thanks
Click to expand...

BLUMENSTEIN ORCA

Handmade BAMBOO (or BIRCH) solid timber, ported cabinets.
Single driver.
Fairly flat impedance around 6-8 Ohms.
Small enough to position almost anywhere.
Get them up on just 10W, but can handle a lot more!

CFABAE4F-EC0B-4552-A904-FA63E537D21D_1_105_c.jpeg


As a size reference point, the ORCAs are around the height of an LP sleeve.

I still miss what they can do with solo piano music...
 
Kinda depends on budget (and as upthread, I'd focus on the amp first) but if it were me, I'd be shortlisting the Eclipse egg-shaped single driver jobbies, the Fyne Audio Vintage 5s, and the Amphion standmounters. Or, perhaps something like the smaller Maggies.
 
Columbo said:
This is a priority of mine, for evening listening (65dB'ish).

The Neat Petite Classics do it great

As do the Dynaudio Heritage Specials, they are exceptional at low volume (pricey though, if you can find them)

A bunch of other speakers I had needed volume to come alive Dali Opticon Mk2, Q Acoustic Concept 20 and such needed to be driven to at least 75-80dB before I could feel some presence / soundstage in the room.
Click to expand...
I too have a pair of Petites in my home office and certainly agree that they do great but they are sat on a pair of Gravitas for bottom end.
 
I have RFC Rubato on demo and the moment. They would perfectly fit the bill, work great across all levels, much preferred over the Dynaudio Special 40s or Proac D2R that I also had in for demo. Lots of other good suggestions above.
 
uncl_nigel said:
For what it's worth...

In my long quest for decent 2am sound I'v found that the amp is the vital factor... It's surprising how good a beefy power amp can sound at low volumes.
Click to expand...

Never really considered this but thinking back there's a correlation between low level performance and amp upgrades. Hmmn, wonder if I've done Dali and Q Acoustics a disservice? Maybe. Though I've seen more than one review for both brands say they need the vol dial cranked a bit. One Q Acoustics Concept 300 review for example...

"One downside is that at low volume these are not at their best. They sound great but lose some body as you go lower on the dial. I’m talking low volume as in, running it at 1AM while everyone else is sleeping. Something like the Klipsch Heresy IV do very well at low volume but more speakers these days than not are not at their best when you have to listen low. Even so, I did listen at 2am one night, and with the Nova set to 30 on the dial that sounded stunning, and it was still low enough not to wake Debby in the other room. So while not the best for low volume, they are better than some of others in this area. Still not low volume champs."

It's a mystery to me.

That quote... horn loaded speakers, I imagine they'd help at lower vol too?
 
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