Low volume listening dynamics

high sensitivity speakers are important, but even more significant is the ’first’ watt of your amplifier. most music lives in the quiet subtle passages, and some amps suck at low volumes. they need to get going to come alive.....especially some (but not all) high power amps with lots of ’junk’ in the circuit that the music has to ’come through’. the speaker can't overcome a degree of sluggishness for an amp at low volumes. it's just the messenger.

so it’s the combination of speaker and amp that is significant.

a great ’first watt’ typically comes down to a great power supply and a good, low noise, power grid. minimal parts count in the amp circuit and zero global feedback also contribute to a great ’first watt’. it frees up the energy to be more immediate and alive at low volumes.

good luck in your quest.......if you can put the whole picture together it will improve the musical involvement.

Great advice from @mikelavigne as usual and another thing high sensitivity gives you is a lot of choice in amps. I run my speakers on a 17 watt class A triode wired pushpull EL34 amp and they sound great at all volumes. Consider a good lower powered tube amp if you can.

You need a loudness switch or speakers tuned to be loud. What I mean is, a frequency response characteristic that promotes the treble and bass. You can get this via electronics, or you can find speakers that have this built-in.

Brands that come immediately to mind are Dali, Dynaudio, Golden Ear, and B&W to a lesser extent.

Give the mid-range Yamaha integrateds a try, their loudness dials are pretty interesting.

Best,

E

mikelavigne nailed it. As the Great Robert Harley once said, "If the first watt isn't any good why would you want 200 more of them?"