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The Low Volume Loudness Dilemma

I love the power and detail of music played at what I call "Actual instrument volume" which is pretty loud and dominating. 

I like music in the background when I'm reading or entertaining. The problem is that the fullness and richness is thin to gone at low volume. This seems to be the case no matter how much a system costs. I listened to a Burmester rig driving a set of Wilson Alexx V speakers in a perfectly tuned listening room with cabling that costs more than my Lexus and the "missing music" at low volume problem was there too. $350,000 in gear couldn't fix it. 

I did the unthinkable - I bought a DBX 2231 equalizer off of eBay for a couple hundred bucks and messed around with the sound curve. Viola! "Loudness"!  I know this is sacrilege and may cause excommunication by the purist class but I am able to get full rich sound at low levels. The Eq also compensates for the anomalies in my listening area (large great room with other rooms connected to it.)

I don't have the square footage or budget to build a proper dedicated listening room with all the sound management treatments so I'm "making due" with what I do have. 

Does anybody have some guidance or constructive thoughts on how to get full rich music at low SPLs? 

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erik_squires
16,056 posts
 

The main reason tone controls were considered bad, IMHO was they were often poorly implemented compared to the rest of the unit.  Some had excellent tone and loudness circuits while others simply did not.  The otherwise excellent Parasound P7 was a great example of a great preamp with really veiling tone controls.

The Denon and I believe Yamaha units which would allow you to dial in the appropriate levels of loudness were, also IMHO the best ideas for this I've ever seen.  Also important to note that the F-M curves are averages.  Your ears may or may not follow these curves that well, so feel free to season away as you enjoy most.

fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,598 posts
 

EQ units are OK for the task except that they are fixed. Well implemented loudness function tapers off as the volume increases.

medium_grade
87 posts
 

I like high sensitivity speakers with low watt tube amps for low-level or near field listening. Omega's Alnico speakers are excellent for this. 

whiteknee
49 posts
 

The DSP feature on my streamer/DAC has EQ. Seems to work fine.  Also my 40 year old MAC C33 preamp has a variable Fletcher Munson knob and a 5 band equalizer.  I used this to dial~in bass to my Klipsch Belles for 20 years until I bought my first sub.

ashoka
95 posts
 

Mission claims it book self speaker is good for low volume listening

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