[Ultralight]

If that's the case, then horns should do well then as the horn does not allow the air to 'slosh' around as you aptly described...  Anyone know if that is so?   Intriguing.

Whoops, I see that Dave in the previous post already confirmed that.

UL

Large area drivers have higher acoustic impedance at low freq. Acoustic impedance means gripping the air better at a given freq, so you get the thrilling satisfying bass even at low volumes. It's all about that bass.

Small drivers just slosh air around in their cones, so detail and SPL suffer, the lower the freq. Air rolls off the edge of a small driver at LF because the air is thin enough to escape at the speed of sound before the cone can grab and move it effectively. At higher freq, the cone is moving faster so the air viscosity is too thick to escape before it is plowed by the cone, so you get a solid pressure wave with detail and SPL preserved.

Some ESLs have large radiating surface, so the low volume, low frequency satisfaction remains.

[Ultralight]

JK, I listened to some high dollar speakers this week (up to love five figures) and realize that the LS50 is not too bad.  Not the greatest for low level but there is still a fair bit of detail.

UL

I have also read that electrostatics do well at low levels, but no personal experience here with that.

My experience with Magnepan planars (10 years with MMGs, stock and then modded) is that they DO NOT do well with low volume play back, one of the biggest complains are they have to be turned up to become "alive". It was one of the reasons I finally dumped mine for a pair of small dynamic monitors. The Maggies, sounded like a transistor radio when turned down.

Now the Magnepans could give a decent sound level at the listening chair, and due to the dipole effect, would cancel out the overall sound escaping the room...unfortunately they did not sound good at these lower levels.

Many evenings I eventually abandon  the wife and her boob tube (TV ), go up stairs to the dedicated room and listen to music at low levels. Mating a pair of KEF LS50s, with a SS preamp and amp gives just enough detail and bass at low enough levels (keeping in mind that Fletcher–Munson curve). The KEFs are not said to be the best at lower levels, but they are a big improvement over what I had before.

To the OP, I know you also have the same KEFs, so not sure what to say, maybe try the Harbeths, which are said to be better with this issue. Or incorporate some type of loudness control, like we discussed over at Karma. In my case, upgrading to my present preamp (NuForce MCP-18) did help a little in this regard. You're using Line Magnetic, right?

[JLM]

Primarily you're fighting the design of the human ear, which is more sensitive to midrange frequencies at lower sound pressure levels (a survival adaption, so you can hear a predator sneaking up).  Search "Fletcher-Munson curve".  The phenomenon has been known for decades.  Those who don't study history are doomed to suffer it again.

Back in the 70's and prior amp designers used a "loudness control" to compensate that could be engaged/disengaged.  But it was correct at only one low volume setting for one speaker efficiency and one room setup (size, near-field/far-field).  Purists of course hated it, but it worked pretty well for mainstream speaker efficiencies/room setups.


Agree with the above comments relating to various background/system noise and speaker efficiency (driver and crossover).  And note that tubes sound best at low levels while solid state sound best at higher outputs.

[bladesmith]

I would think that a very efficient full range driver in a OB design would be best at low levels.
 

[Rusty Jefferson]

Efficient drivers in horns/waveguides and large, light-coned woofers do this very well as do stats and single drivers but I'd have to say a very efficient horn speaker would probably win out.

+1 for this idea.

I was also looking for a system that would play just as well at low levels as higher or "normal" levels. Few reasonably priced speakers will give you excellent dynamic range at low volume.  My system is doing it very well. Using a rebuilt pair of UREI 813c studio monitors in conjunction with a pair of 8 cubic foot subs. Both the UREIs and the subs are about 100db efficient. Driving the UREIs with an OTL 300b amp. Excellent dynamics even at low volume. It's like having 2 refrigerators in the room, but.....exceptional performance at low level.


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[mcgsxr]

When I ran an SEP Magnavox amp (roughly 3-4 wpc) with my Visaton b200 full rangers on open baffle, I found it was exceptional with certain types of music.

Typically it was at its best under 90db, and was excellent at anything above 70db.