What speakers are good for low volume listening?

Seems most of the speakers I own come alive at higher volume levels. I am looking for a speaker that will sound great a lower listening levels. I would also love for them to be be efficient enough for low power tube amps. I sit about 8' from my speakers and the room is fairly small. Bookshelf or floorstanders are fine. say 3k budget

I have no experience with these but I would sure like to try a set of Klipsch Heresy IIIs. The specifications on efficiency sure seem to be good.

This is a good thread: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=54229

Mark Audio drivers :yes: Alpair 10.2 in a Pensil cabinet would get my vote.

robert1325 said:

This is a good thread: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=54229

Click to expand...

It is a good thread. I am looking to go a little more "modern". Does not mean I won't go vintage if the right speaker comes along.

Great question! I would say even the matching amp is a factor.

Check out the Tekton thread. I specifically got mine because they are not fussy as to placement & they are well suited to a nearfield environment (aka - too close to be turned up loud). Despite my reluctance to buy speakers unheard (available on line only), it turned out to be a good decision. They might work for you.

Wharefdale W90's would be an excellent match although they are big in size & weight,they are very efficient and don't need much power

Perhaps a secondhand pair of DeVore 3XL speakers would work well. Definitely in your price range.

I just want to strongly suggest that you go with stand mounts (bookshelfs) in a small room.

One basic mistake many make is putting too large of a speaker in a small room (in fact, unless your room is abnormally large...like really big, stand mounts or at most smallish floor standers are the way to go) which actually hurts the fidelity (it simply overwhelms the room's space).

Other than that, simply look at many recent stand mounts and check out the specs and go from there. I couldn't suggest any as I listen to most of my music at mid or loud volumes so I don't worry about whether speakers "work" at lower volumes; however I'd say that most good quality fairly efficient speakers with adequate power would be fine at all volumes.

In my relatively small listening room standmounts never sounded satisfactory without a couple of subs.

Even then they still fail to convey the grandeur and scale required of large orchestral music. Chamber music is OK, but the dynamics of good piano recordings aren't there. Forget about Richter or Sokolov.

Good enough for non-classical music.

Harbeth SHL5 and Yamaha NS-1000. I'm sure there are many others, but these are two speakers that work well at low volumes while still maintaining their sound signature. They sound good turned up too.

Second Mark's...also...cause I run them...Fostex FF85WK's in a Lance build with a sub to help the bottom...

I've ran these for over a year specifically cause they sound great at low volumes!!

My Klipsch Fortes are excellent in this regard. And they seem to love my low powered vintage gear, about 40wpc. I'm likely driving them pretty loud at around 10watts. Alternately, they don't seem to like my newer NAD amps at all. Strange, the way speakers seem to pick and choose their dance partners, as do amps. My vintage Pioneer receivers refuse to drive my SDA's. But the NADs just love them. Likely because the SDA's have been heavily modified, "Updated" and can dip down around 2 ohms at times. Just where the NAD's love to play. Anyone who hasn't heard the 375 driving into 2-4 ohms hasn't heard the 375. IMHO. Sorry to get so off topic, just food for thought when selecting speakers.

In my experience, most Klipsch while being very efficient, really come alive in a larger room. The best low volume, nearfield speakers that I've heard to-date are my Hornshoppe Horns. I imagine the Tektons would be very similar.

I've actually been OK with my Klipsch KG-4 in a smaller room at low volume. They do wake up somewhat with a little more volume but we're talking actually hitting the 1 watt level vs less than 1w.

Genelec powered monitors
http://www.cnet.com/news/listen-deeper-genelec-m030-speakers/

Another vote for these:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=554833

Low volume-level speakers

beercan:
I recently created a system for my living room where the goal was to have a system that sounded especially good at low volume levels. I think you are already headed in an appropriate direction by specifying tube amplification. I believe that it is the synergy between the speakers and the amplification that makes for a viable low-volume setup.

I found that the combination of a low-power tube integrated (Antique Sound Labs AQ 1005 DT - which is a 300B SET amp putting out 9 wpc) plus a pair of single-driver full range speakers from Omega Speakers (actually, I got a pair of Hoyt-Benford Type 1 speakers which seem to be in the process of being phased out by Louis) to work extremely well. I chose the Hoyt-Benford speakers after a discussion with Louis (the Omega Speakers maker) about the size of the room that I was dealing with and my desire to run at low volume levels. I think that the Omega line has numerous models that, deepening on your budget and room characteristics, would be great for your purposes. I should also point out that the full range single-driver speakers generate a great soundstage compared to conventional speakers because the music has a single point source for each channel and the resulting "sweet spot" is much larger.

As I was trying to work out this system, I also purchased an Audio Space Galaxy 34 (32 wpc but 16 wpc in triode mode) and a pair of Nola Boxers (thanks again, Mark) which are very efficient. These four components were tried out in various combinations before the Antique Sound Labs/Hoyt-Bedford combination was settled upon as the best solution for our living room. I put the Galaxy 34 and the Boxers in a near-field setup in my home office and am very happy with that system too 8^).

Anyway, classical music, especially chamber music that my wife loves and acoustic jazz which is my weakness both sound great in our living room. My office system is not too shabby either...

Good luck with your search.
Mike

Personally, I think that headphones are the way to go.