What makes a speaker perform well at low volume?


A newbie question, for sure.

I have seen threads that attempt to identify speakers that are good that perform well at lower volumes. I am curious to hear what, if any, quantative attribute make a speaker perform well at lower volumes.

For instance, higher sensitivity? Higher/Lower impedence, etc?

Thanks.
matthew_s

Showing 1 response by aroc

Three words: Low level detail. Sometimes the problem lies in the passive parts of your louspeakers (binding posts, wiring, crossovers, etc). sometimes it's the drivers themselves. Sometimes the problem is farther up the signal chain. And yes, high-efficiency/high-sensitivity speakers, especially single driver speakers, and well executed multidriver speakers are usually good in this regard. It also helps to have speakers that sound coherent (as cut from the same sonic cloth) over as much of the volume range as possible.

I don't have all of the answers. I've only been at this for less than 4 years.