You need a quiet house for low level listening. If not, then you need compression to bring up the quiet parts. Most music produced today is already compressed beyond belief. 😡 I think some 4-6” paper drivers would be great, however some large format speakers deliver great detail at low volumes.
Maybe a reverse Fletcher Mundson curve loudspeaker would work best, one with a midrange scoop?
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Personal experience is somewhat the opposite of the general consensus here. I would say that the best speakers for lower listening levels in my personal experience are those with very low sensitivity. If you have a speaker with a real world characteristic sensitivity of 93dB@1M, and you want to listen quiet, then you're operating the pre-amp and amp in a territory that it may not even be particularly well optimized for.... All the various gain stages turned way down through the system to deliver tens of millivolts and milliwatts to the speaker (or less) is ripe with opportunity for "losing something" along the way. At these levels, minor imperfections in any connection or tolerance variations from channel to channel start to show up. This stuff all get buried "in the noise" so to speak once we get up over 1-2V
A 2-way or 3-way built with an E150HE-44 on bottom sounds great at low listening levels. Final system sensitivity when building around this woofer will be less than 80dB@2.83V with BSC and will require some actual amplification to play even at low levels.
A 2-way or 3-way built with an E150HE-44 on bottom sounds great at low listening levels. Final system sensitivity when building around this woofer will be less than 80dB@2.83V with BSC and will require some actual amplification to play even at low levels.
There was a thread similar to this question a while ago. Without r-reading it IIRC there were many opinions and not a huge consensus. I suspect because there are actually different ways of achieving success. FWIW, I've spent a lot of time on low volume listening and have personally come to the belief that two important factors are:
(1) If listening at levels below the real/normal/original SPLs, our own hearing inevitably causes us to perceive the frequency response somewhat differently, and so less realistically. To counter this, the response of the speaker should be shaped to restore the equal loudness curve at the quieter SPL - whether that is done acoustically or electrically/electronically or in DSP etc it doesn't really matter.
(2) At lower SPLs the electrical/amplifier signal is of course also lower. So I believe that losses, especially mechanical losses, in the speaker/driver can have a truncating effect on the quieter lower level signals. So higher Qms can help.
Similar things to (2) can happen elsewhere in the system; the +/- crossover of a class B or AB amp can disproportionally affect lower level signals for instance, and also a given noise floor will have relatively greater effect on smaller signals. In fact the whole dynamic range of the signal is less, in effect meaning lower resolution, so low distortion generally is important for preserving detail.
(1) If listening at levels below the real/normal/original SPLs, our own hearing inevitably causes us to perceive the frequency response somewhat differently, and so less realistically. To counter this, the response of the speaker should be shaped to restore the equal loudness curve at the quieter SPL - whether that is done acoustically or electrically/electronically or in DSP etc it doesn't really matter.
(2) At lower SPLs the electrical/amplifier signal is of course also lower. So I believe that losses, especially mechanical losses, in the speaker/driver can have a truncating effect on the quieter lower level signals. So higher Qms can help.
Similar things to (2) can happen elsewhere in the system; the +/- crossover of a class B or AB amp can disproportionally affect lower level signals for instance, and also a given noise floor will have relatively greater effect on smaller signals. In fact the whole dynamic range of the signal is less, in effect meaning lower resolution, so low distortion generally is important for preserving detail.
I think what is being discovered here is the loudspeaker solution is incomplete. It would be better to have equalization, compression, a low wattage class A amp, and purpose built loudspeakers. Seams like a lot to ask and ignores the intent of the OP’s question.
So, back to the original question about a good loudspeaker for low level listening. Bass is difficult at low levels and would probably be handled best by a band pass system that has a peak around 50hz. Sorry, but something like a Bose boom box would work well here. Then hand off to a delicate high resolution midrange padded down 6-9 db below the woofer output. Then hand off to a tweeter that has a rising response. A speaker like this can easily be modified with passive components to get a reasonable ‘U’ shaped response.
So, back to the original question about a good loudspeaker for low level listening. Bass is difficult at low levels and would probably be handled best by a band pass system that has a peak around 50hz. Sorry, but something like a Bose boom box would work well here. Then hand off to a delicate high resolution midrange padded down 6-9 db below the woofer output. Then hand off to a tweeter that has a rising response. A speaker like this can easily be modified with passive components to get a reasonable ‘U’ shaped response.
I do a fair amount of late-night "low level listening" and what I use for louder day-time would work well too -- provided frequency response isn't normally dome-shaped, detail resolution and dynamic articulation are excellent, and (if multi-way) drivers aren't too far apart for near-field close listening. Vintage fullrange drivers of all sizes or some modern small ones tend to work well except for bass, so a simple sub would help. Example: Fostex F108eΣ in tiny closed box (actually bowls) supplemented with a vintage 12" over a can (described in one of my posts). Also try up-firing a fullrange with peaky highs. If a line of small fullrange speakers variously labelled Hifi-bird/Isred/MKhifi/Michael Audio (not Mark) is available consider those (Amazon used to have a 4").
I also have several "loudness volume controls" based on attenuation circuits from classic Japanese (large) all-in-ones. They boost the frequency extremes unlike typical simple EQ.
I also have several "loudness volume controls" based on attenuation circuits from classic Japanese (large) all-in-ones. They boost the frequency extremes unlike typical simple EQ.
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wchang nailed another important aspect of this... Driver separation aka point-source behavior in the nearfield. The speakers I built for the office, essentially use a ND91 as a broad-band mid-range driver, from like 250-7Khz. A very compact driver with relatively low sensitivity, that has been "knocked down" through the crossover design to run on top of a E150HE-44, with an ND16 picking up the very top ~1-2 octave (and yes, it rotates phase rapidly in the vertical but it doesn't seem to matter up at those frequencies as the listener can't really pinpoint the source of such high frequencies anyway). Anyway, point being these speakers behave as a point source in the nearfield for all intents and purposes because a small woofer is crossed low to a very small wide-band driver.
By contrast, my far more sensitive home speakers (high EBP 2-ways built with TF0818 and a DX25, crossed over steep at 1.5khz), the human ear can pinpoint each separate driver and the different sounds coming from them in the nearfield because that crossover is right in the middle of where our ears are hyper sensitive and tuned to locate things. These require being at least 6-7 feet away before the fact that they are multi-driver begins to fade. At 10+ feet away these start to sound pretty good. Sure they can plan quiet, but to my ear the low sensitivity low EBP compact 3-way sounds better quiet which often includes nearfield.
By contrast, my far more sensitive home speakers (high EBP 2-ways built with TF0818 and a DX25, crossed over steep at 1.5khz), the human ear can pinpoint each separate driver and the different sounds coming from them in the nearfield because that crossover is right in the middle of where our ears are hyper sensitive and tuned to locate things. These require being at least 6-7 feet away before the fact that they are multi-driver begins to fade. At 10+ feet away these start to sound pretty good. Sure they can plan quiet, but to my ear the low sensitivity low EBP compact 3-way sounds better quiet which often includes nearfield.
A great driver for the purpose slightly off axis as described.…..run a tweeter 1st order from 7k on down for nearfield low level listening.
The problem arises with content……asking to play classical with 20db dynamic range at low levels inside with a high noise floor is just plain silly.
True, but that’s not what OP asked.Best low level spl listening, but high quality with great details is with dedicated headphone amp and good headphones
I don’t think so. At low levels the fullrange will deliver great midrange, but the ear can’t hear the bass or treble. Unfortunately this low spl application requires a three way with clever crossovers to scoop the midrange or a fullrange with a lot of EQ. Either solution has the potential for distortion. You will not be able to turn this speaker up to 11.
The OP asked for a speaker. I think the only solution is a three way with a depressed (but not sad) midrange.
The OP asked for a speaker. I think the only solution is a three way with a depressed (but not sad) midrange.
Guess it also depends on how high one can still hear. Fullrange augmented straight-through (what I call F.A.S.T.; @adason msg#13 is one too) with adjustable supertweeter/subwoofer is probably the most versatile and readily available. Or this for circuit-diy: high-fidelity loudness-tone-control
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/variable-loudness-diy-for-noob.381420/post-7213204
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/variable-loudness-diy-for-noob.381420/post-7213204
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I tried to compare a Seas DXT with a Bliesma T34B. The difference definitely being that the T34B has the dome "out" in front, making it a wider beaming tweeter, compared to the more controlled dispersion of the little waveguided tweeter from Seas. So I think that you might experience more "sparkle" with the dome midrange, simply because you have more reflections from this kind of driver, in any type of room.
Even though I do not say, that some drivers are not better than others - of course they are. But dispersion plays a big role here.
And as already mentioned. Fletcher Muncher is important here. Get some serious SD for the bass and a more controlled dispersion off the midrange and tweeter. In this way - IME - you get better controlled details pointed more at you and less into the room + bass that adds a bit of physique, which smaller speakers will never do. And then you can listen at lower volume, and still get a bit of all the fun
The ear is much less sensitive for low and high frequencies at low levels. That's what lead to loudness contours.
If you listen mainly at low level, get a preamp with loudness controls.
That is much more effective and can be adjusted to taste, rather than build a speaker that is set to a specific non-linear freq response.
Jan
Yes EQ is an option. I think the question is: is a purpose built low volume speaker any different, or better, than one built for your average living room that’s designed to be played at louder levels. You can EQ any speaker really easily these days and the OP can save a bunch of money. I don’t know what a quiet loudspeaker would look like, or why it would be any different than a loud loudspeaker. It can handle less power but it really should be much the same as any other speaker. However, a purpose built low level loudspeaker should take into consideration the human hearing abilities at low SPL.
Well, maybe in the nearfield. My ears follow FM curve very closely. I’ll have to experiment.