Electrostatic speakers and low volume resolution

Tricky is an understatement from my standpoint. Phase relationships are so important to realistic sound reproduction one hand and potentially destructive on the other that understanding it sufficient to work with it in my system is making my brain tired. It's one of those things that, at this point in my development, I'll just have to count on the experts for guidance.

As far as dealing with individual hearing issues goes, I can only think of two things beyond the EQ that can work. Nearfield listening is one which I have in my garage setup (repurposed B&K AVR 307, iTunes lossless files and Celestion A speakers) which is not too special but sounds very good. The other is the use of hearing aids which I don't tolerate well because of ear canal problems. I've gone through 2 attempts using quite advanced aids and choose not to continue using them except as a last resort when or if the time comes for that.

All sources in my system (CD player, Apple TV, Sony Jukebox and DAC are routed through the preamp) and each, when in use, will contribute to phase alteration to some extent. BTW, how do autoformers fit into the scenario. As far as eliminating the EQ goes, I feel it has been too important an addition to consider removing it at this point.

Adding a super tweeter would be another method.

Low level resolution starts with source. What is your system reference for source?

Trying a "super tweeter" sounds worth considering but, as with everything else, there are a couple of things I need to better understand. First, I'm not sure what the term "super" denotes unless it simply describes a driver capable of reproducing frequencies beyond that of "normal" tweeters. Anyway, because the piezo is, in effect, a capacitor that would be connected across the speaker posts, I assume, would it not also try to act as a HF filter to the signal delivered to the panel? I'll study this approach a little more and keep it on my list.

Coincidentally, I initiated a thread a while back regarding the use of a piezoelectric transducer with a full range driver to avoid having to incorporate a crossover. I got some grief over that post but it was something I tried in the late fifties with a "sweet sixteen" speaker that I had built and it worked well for me. I mention this only because at least two of the listed so called super tweeters are piezoelectric.

Davide, if I understand your comments, I guess all issues in the chain potentially have their beginnings at the source. In my case I was able to acheive some relief in low volume resolution using a lower powered amplifier. As far as which component should be under looked at first for this issue, my first consideration would be the speaker. I say this because, although they were one of my favorite speakers in the past (still are) I've owned two pairs of Magnepans and found them not at all good resolving at lower volumes.

Broadstone- I realized how seemingly inefficient my beloved electrostats were, and how high the threshold was for system noise, only after I switched to horns. I started back in the early 70's with a pair of old Quads (a/k/a '57's) and used them standing alone, then with various subwoofers and super tweets, including Deccas and Sequerra ribbons, before switching to a Crosby-modded '63 back in 1990. They served me very well until the mid-2000's. (I still have both pairs of Quads, and the Deccas, sorely in need of resto). When I switched to horns, my system was noisy as hell! All kinds of squirrely stuff, from noise on the line, to tube rush, to low level grounding anomalies. This isn't to dump on electrostats- to the contrary, still think the original Quad is the best mid-range reproducer in the biz, but what it taught me was that all the low level nuance (like the noise) was probably below the threshold of hearing on these things (and my ears were much younger then). Not suggesting you run out and buy horns, but I offer this only as another way to look at the same experience.
There is also something else- it seems that for every system, and every record, there is a 'right' volume that sounds natural. I rarely listen at really loud levels, but to realize what's on the record, I find that there is a spot that is just naturally right for that recording, and it varies.