I just bought a new amp about a year ago and noticed my speakers put a lot of bass out at low volume. It's around 300 or 350 watts into 4 ohms. I relaced an amp rated at 80 watts. Thought it was strange, used to have to put the volume up to begin to hear any bass. Now the balance of all frequencies stays present at much lower volume. I have no idea why this changed but would guess the increase in power. Other difference is my new amp is high current. It stays stable all the way down to a short. Easily drives 1 ohm impedance. There is no doubt powered speakers with active crossovers have much less distortion.
ATC SCM40As sound quality at low voume
I recently became very intrigued by the concept of powered speakers with active crossovers, particularly the ATC SCM40A. I read all the reviews I could find and more than one of them mentioned that while they sounded great at loud volume levels, they sounded poor at low volumes. I was surprised. I'm not used to hearing that. I'm not really sure what could explain this. In the grand scheme of things, I'd much rather have a speaker that played loud without strain, but I do often listen to music during "quiet hours" when I shouldn't disturb others in the house. Has anyone experienced the ATCs at lower volumes? Does anyone have an explanation?