I auditioned speakers on modest dollar for just this issue, with my wife who has great ears but hates higher volumes. Mostly classical jazz and acoustic. Walked into shop expecting to buy the KEF's, came home with Rega RS3. Elegant sound. Adding an SVS sub eventually added the bass fine tuning at lower levels. And my modded Denon pre has great loudness control if needed.
A friend's Vandersteen II's with great electronics sounds fine on lower volume acoustic stuff also. But as others said if I had money and space for them I would have Quads or Maggies. Maybe later. Agree that placement and listener position huge. Near field likely the way to go.
A friend's Vandersteen II's with great electronics sounds fine on lower volume acoustic stuff also. But as others said if I had money and space for them I would have Quads or Maggies. Maybe later. Agree that placement and listener position huge. Near field likely the way to go.