Recommendations for speakers that sound great at lower volume levels.


I have a pair of Harbeth SHL5 Plus and they sound wonderful when I crank them up. But at moderate to low volume levels they sound disappointingly flat and unengaging - instruments are less palpable, bass has less bloom, and soundstage has less air and dimensionality. I drive my speakers with a tube integrated - a Line Magnetic 845 rated at 26 watts of power. My Harbeths are rated at 86db. Would a higher sensitivity speaker be helpful? Or how about a good quality small shoebox sized pair of speakers coupled with a subwoofer? Or not. What speakers are going to deliver music you can feel at low volume levels? What say all you wisened audiophiles?
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Showing 1 response by mijostyn

Every single loudspeaker you will ever own will do the same thing. Actually, it is not the loudspeaker. It is your ears. Better yet , it is everyone's ears. Google Fletchur-Munson curves.
What you need is loudness compensation. Older preamps usually offered a single level loudness filter but in the "No Tone Controls" era the filter was dropped. Consequently, if you want a recording to sound right you have to play it back at the volume it was mixed at which depends entirely on the mastering engineer. Loudness compensation will give you a lower volume that the recording will sound "right" at. In the digital era this is easy to do without adding distortion and ruining the image. Those with room control can program their own loudness curve into one of their presets for times when they do not feel like shaking the shingles.