Full detailed sound at 30 - 40 - 50 dB


I love the nuance you can hear when listening to music at loud volumes, but unless no one is home, it’s not considerate or feasible to listen at such high volumes. Plus I just had a baby so everyone is always home and volume levels are limited to 40ish dBs. 

Any recommendations for getting the most detail at these volumes? Additional gear or recommended integrated amps?

My NAD 7175PE has a loudness button which boosts the treble and bass a little, and that certainly helps things in the Kitchen. 

My living room amp is a Rega Brio-R which doesn’t have any tone controls. 

Any thoughts? Thanks!
leemaze

Showing 8 responses by gdhal

Get some good headphones.
+1

The quiescent noise floor in my listening room at best is 30db (measured). Personally and IMO, anything music wise lower than 50db wouldn't be worthwhile to listen to from an enjoyment perspective. Background while having conversation about something unrelated to music perhaps. 

Any recommendations for getting the most detail at these volumes?
Yes. Assuming you want to use speakers and not headphones, sitting closer to the speaker by a few inches can be helpful. In my case I like to listen at times in the low 90's, but usually find myself backing off to the mid to low 80's as it gets into the late evening. At one point I positioned myself about 8 inches closer to the speaker (I'm 7 feet away now) and the 8 inch difference was enough for me to lower the decibel range (again measured) by about 2.5. Even a 2.5 db decrease in decibels can be helpful at times.
Note that creating an unusually quiet environment for a baby can condition the baby to not be able to sleep without utter quiet, sometimes not a good thing.

I recommend a little background Grateful Dead music from time-to-time. The baby will grow older with that much more love in his/her heart.
If you are wanting full detail at lower volumes, this is an area where tubes rule. This is because they tend to have a lot lower distortion at lower power levels. Something to think about...
Hi @atmasphere 

Given your statement, at what decibel level do you consider the volume to be something "higher" than lower volume? The essence of the question is at what power level do tubes no longer "rule" over SS because of power concerns. Thank you. 
@atmasphere

I’m very appreciative of your rather detailed and informative last post herein.

I know I read from you elsewhere on the forum (and quite a while ago now and paraphrasing) that all amps distort less as their power level is decreased, but must have missed the fact that this would only by to a certain point, after which distortion increases.

Also rather interesting that you should point out the relationship distortion has with harmonics and how you consider "weighting".

Honestly your write-up is analogous to Shakespeare. You just can’t read it once and claim to understand it :) I’ll copy/paste to a word file so I can more readily refer to it.

Thank you so much.
@cheapbob

You're welcome.

Cat on a tin roof, dogs in a pile
Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile 
There is always more to it...
@atmasphere 

Hi Ralph. I have a follow up question if you don't mind, as I mentioned I would be re-reading/re-digesting the rather informative information you've already provided.

Regarding the "weighting' where distortion is more problematic depending on which harmonic the distortion occurs, I note that manufacturers - including your own product specifications - provide "total harmonic distortion" and in some cases "intermodulation distortion". Other than subjective listening, how might a customer objectively derive from specifications alone at which harmonics the distortion is occurring? I guess what I'm asking is, is there a way to understand the individual numbers that comprise "total" harmonic distortion? Thanks.
But if the total is low, the components must be even lower (or theoretically at most equal).
Right, but atmasphere is stating that "a 7th harmonic at 0.005% is a much bigger sin in terms of coloration than a 2nd harmonic at 1%". So even a very low THD still begs the question, "at what harmonic"?