Best Late Night Low Volume Speaker

Quads, especially the 57.

best,
Tom

Agree, Quad 57's.

Soundlab

I have Quads (2805) precisely because I live in an apartment where low level detail is much more important than high SPL and deep bass. I think any ESL will do but the newer Quads are a lot easier to use.

Tubes are often recommended but I prefer my Pass Aleph 30 to the two tub amps I have tried. Later versions of this or the XA30 should work nicely.

I just sold a pair of Zu Essence and the first thing I noticed going to my new pair was that they don't have that EFFORTLESS sound that the Essence's had. Retrieval of low-level detail was astonishing with the Essence and I think that is what makes late-night listening (or in my case VERY early morning listening), enjoyable. Yes, they are 97 db/ 12 ohm which makes them very easy to drive. They had so much impact and dynamics at low volumes. I didn't know it until it was gone. Very underrated speaker.