Speaker for low volume listening

Just returned from the hospital after a hearing test, I’ve been told I’ve got moderate hearing loss and have been booked for hearing aid fittings… Have recently got a new naim nait 50 and wondered if anybody had any suggestions for detailed speakers that are good at low volumes

Do a search. There are other threads on this or similar topics.

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As Jaybar says, there are many threads on the subject and the search tool is your friend!

Meanwhile, you’ll soon be wondering why you didn’t have your keys tested sooner! And you will discover some of the top end you’ve been missing. As for low level listening, do bear in mind depending how quiet you go, the bottom end of the music and to an extent top end will diminish in relative intensity, so will not be the same as listening at higher level. And that is nothing to do with speakers, but your ears!

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Some ls3/5 (Falcon Gold Badge) could fits, those are really nice especially bass/mid area…if you dont need to listen at live level.
Of cours genre of music is also key ….

Best is to do a shopping list and start listening….lots of fun in front of you

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This is another recent thread on this topic and the specific response includes links to others.

I don’t (yet!) need hearing aids, but do those on the forum who have them keep them in for actual “sit down” listening sessions?

If you have what is officially categorised as moderate hearing loss you would benefit from aids - and you’d notice the difference listening to music. I’ve gad mine for a year now (hearing loss moderate), and suddenly cymbals regained the zing I hadn’t noticed had become muffled. (Yes, I listen with them in - they just boost the high frequencies, other sounds going straight into my ear as normal. And speech intelligibility in noisy environments is so much better.

The problem is that with many, even most speakers, at low volumes the sound tends to recede into the boxes and becomes somewhat distant and unengaging. You have to increase the volume and suddenly you hit the point at which the music seems to spring into life.

The best speakers for low volumes tend to be more efficient designs that have a more up-front and immediate sort of presentation.

LS3/5a’s have been suggested. These IMO would be one of the worst contenders. They are hardly the most lively and immediate sounding speakers even at normal listening levels, but turn the volume down and they are even more ‘pipe and slippers’ in their presentation.

But this only highlights how personal these things are. They are not for me, but I can well imagine some people absolutely delighting in a pair of LS3/5a’s playing softly late at night…

Really, as always, you must listen for yourself, perhaps even more so with something like this.

I do and I enjoy still better. But my hearing loss is very little, however it caused tinnitus.

Agree always matter of preference, ls3/5a with enough Energy from the amp is really nice at low level….short distance…small room.
Lot better than my previous B&W and Harbeth…pehaps soundstage not as big as other but immersive for sure.
At high volume or big room .……better locking for alternatives because not the best contender for sure

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Because of the way sound pressure and frequencies work with our ears, low volume is unlikely to provide a wide frequency response and sound somewhat un rewarding for hifi.
You might be better off getting a pair of good quality headphones that suit your head, ears and tastes… the Nait50 has a very capable headphone amp. This way you can enjoy music at lower volumes … as headphones are eq’d to generally follow the Harman curve.

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Following on from Simon’s post about the dynamic range of low level listening, another option is small subwoofer where you can adjust the bass response a little when listening at low levels.

I wonder how some Quad 57s would get on with a Nait 50?

Interesting thought… I suspect they could sound sublime.

I ran Quads ESL 63’s with a Naim Nova. The combination worked well.

Low level listening is intrinsically unrealistic and although it’s still possible to have a musically rewarding experience of sorts it is very different from attempting to recreate reality and requires a different approach. I find headphones to be equally unrealistic but I agree that they are certainly much better suited to low level listening than most speakers.

This really opens the door to all sorts of questions - such as what are we trying to achieve with a domestic hi-fi system? For me the answer is a credible illusion of reality. This demands, by definition, large wide-bandwidth dynamic speakers and high volumes. It can’t be done any other way.

But arguably that’s not always an appropriate goal to pursue for everyone in every situation.
Someone living in an apartment for example - as my wife and I once did. That is if you have any respect for your neighbours. In these sorts of situations we are attempting to create a scaled-down miniature version of reality. Something less wild - tamer and more domesticated. It’s a challenge to make it work entirely satisfactorily and I’m not sure we really ever did.

I think perhaps high resolution is more important than wide bandwidth here. So perhaps electrostatic speakers could well be the answer. Were I back in that situation I would certainly be inclined to give them a try.

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Much modern music is mastered to sound its best at 44.1 or increasingly 48 kHz sample rate at 16 or 24 bits… I don’t think higher sample rates are going to add much for most recordings…

I think bandwidth and resolution are intrinsically linked… a narrower bandwidth is going to filter and smear many finer micro detail and nuances.

I do believe phase integrity across the pass band is important for accurate and ultimately enjoyable replay… to be honest I don’t know how electrostatics fare here… I seem to remember the good ones employed phase delay systems to help in this regard… so they might sound very good and natural.

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The OP calls himself @Analogkid70, presumably that’s a clue to his preferred source, though it might be misleading, as it has been for some time with @Analogmusic.

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