High end high quality int. amp for low level listening

Absolutely yes. Improving components improves the sound at all levels. Your choice of coarse must be a component which has the right character for your listening tastes. Also, while this is crude it has always worked for me, at least a 2x increase in cost… you can adapt the idea to the used market. But anything less is likely to be a lateral move where you will just trade good and bad characteristics. You need to jump a level or two of performance.

I was kind of interested in seeing if anyone has a firm grasp on what makes for a system that sounds great at low volume. It has puzzled me for a long time. From the answers, it doesn’t sound like anyone else does. I have a fuzzy idea.


After fifty years of trading up in an attempt to put together the best system I suspect it is primarily the speakers… but you can loose it by not having good electronics behind it. Planar speakers don’t seem to be good at it. I am thinking efficient speakers are more likely to exhibit good performance at low volume. Tone controls don’t help… I don’t think it is a fundamental characteristic of the amp… certainly not the preamp. So, everything, to me, points primarily to the speakers.

My current system is very good at it. Quite by coincidence (with morning coffee) I am currently listening at about 60db. The noise floor is very low, sounds discrete and extremely fleshed out. My speakers are not tremendously efficient (see my user ID), but they are adequately powered.

I don’t think I would consider changing unless I was going to buy in the $8 - 10K range. At best you will get similar sound, at worst not nearly as good. I