Hello
Do you have any recommendations for speakers that draw out the soundstage at low volumes and sound musical.
The b and w 805d4 is quite special in this regard. The harbeth shl5 plus is also really good. Although I am looking more for a small floorstander.
Does Anyone have any experience with say pmc or acoustic energy, or any other brands up to around £7000, that are masters at low volumes?
I have a nsc222 and nap250.
Thankyou
Have you tried the search facility? (Best before starting a thread!)
E.g. (click): Speakers that sound good at low volumes
Or: Speakers for low volume listening
Or possibly: Low volume listening
And there others - it is a recurrent subject
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@RicSyd I have a problem with this subject area. It would help if you defined low volume. I also agree with @Innocent_Bystander. There was a long thread about this only a short while ago.
Regarding your question, I have the Spendor A4, which is certainly small floor standing. I use the SN3 and in 7 months of use, I almost always listen between 8:30 and 10 on the volume knob. Would you consider that low volume?
I also think volume relates to sources to some extent. I replaced my ND5SX2 with an NDX2/XPSDR which has resulted in tracks sometimes sounding louder overall or at least more variability with regard to volume among the tracks on a given album. How much is due to the speakers and other parts of the system is impossible to pin down.
In summary, you might need to dig deeper to operationally define low volume and what contributes to a system’s ability to perform well in this area.
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Get yourself an 8Switch and some good power cables and you’re on your way…
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I recently chose Wilson Benesch Precision Series P1.0 for exactly the reason that you describe. It cost about the budget that you mentioned, or less used, but is a standmount with integrated stand. It was not part of the recent thread mentioned. Sound quality is superb IMHO.
I’m actually doing that right now so as not to disturb the neighbours so early in the morning.
Soundstage, tick.
Musicality, tick.
ATC SCM19’s.
Tick. 
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Just a thought but have you considered some headphones?
Not a fan of headphones. Gives me tinnitus….
I am a bit surprised you mention scm19 as it’s a sealed box design? What are you powering it with?
Ex-dem or secondhand is a good way of maximising spending power, and that budget secondhand brings in a good range of reasonable speakers.
Meanwhile do bear in mind that room and speaker/listener positioning can be very influential on soundstage.
Given this, and assuming it means you like the family sound, the most obvious small floorstander to try is the 804d4, though secondhand prices probably still somewhat over your budget, otherwise the d3 which definitely can be had under £7k, though I don’t know how the sound differs.
In Australia with a much smaller market, so less of these second hand opportunities… d3 meant to be a bit brighter though than d4.
Take a look at my profile.
I just auditioned the smaller cousin ATC SMC 11s. Definitely needed some volume to get them going to my ears. On the other hand the Neat floorstanders I tried seemed very easy and sweet at low volume. Maybe the ribbon tweeter?
Bruce
Come on the man asked a simple question.
Intresting what is your idea of law levell listening.
Low level is loud enough without waking the family at night…
They’re upstairs though…so there is some slack but noise does travel in this home
I am familiar with what low volume listening means just that ATC speakers as good as thay are it is the first time I heard sombody recomend them for this.
Maybe measure and quite typical average loudness in dB(A)? There are pocket computer (aka smartphone) apps that can do this, e.g. Decibel X and dB Volume.
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Volume dial at not quite 8 o’clock.
Hi Bjorn
What does it do, the 8Switch…?
I often listen to my system at extremely low volumes (maybe 7 or slightly above on the volume knob) and it still sounds superb. Speaker sensitivity level is 90db, however.
Spendor D7.2s – highly recommended (at all volume levels!!).
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