Question Advice for better sound at lower volume

[brazim01]

Hi, relatively new here so apologies for any errors in posting.
I am trying to achieve better clarity of sound at lower volume.
My kit list looks like this:
Rega P3 Turntable
NAD M10 (being used exclusively as a streamer)
Rega Elex MK4 Amp
Spendor D7.2 Speakers

The speakers were a decent upgrade recently at a price I couldn’t turn down but I don’t think I’m getting the most out of them. The room is around 5m x 4m and the speakers are placed approx 1m from the long wall and about 3m apart (this room configuration is essential because of how the rest of the room is used). The room has a large rug covering most of the wooden floor. I play mostly vinyl and stream tidal.

I guess my question is where would I get the greatest impact from investing in component upgrades (Amp for example or maybe adding a sub)? I appreciate that there’s lots of information missing but I’m just interested in opinions and don’t want the post to be over long. I also acknowledge that room treatment and speaker placement may well be the real answer to my problem.

Any thoughts would be very much appreciated. I’m not an expert and certainly not sensitive about criticism of the set up.

Thanks.

 

[abacus]

The ear becomes less sensitive to bass & treble at lower volumes, thus you need to boost these frequency's to bring the balance back, unfortunately most audio amps these days don't have bass & treble controls as you are expected to listen to the system at realistic volumes (Which the vast majority of users cant), so apart from adding a graphic equaliser there is not much you can do (You will just need to get used to it), to make things even more complicated it isn't just a simple case of boosting bass & treble, as you can see from the description of the Fletcher Munson curves explanation here

Bill

 

[nopiano]

Our ears are naturally less sensitive to sound at lower volumes. That means we hear less treble and less bass.

Some years ago the ‘loudness’ button was fitted to many amplifiers, and that boosted bass and treble as you turned the volume down. But in most case the results were not great, often being too boomy. Rega are the opposite philosophy, with no tone adjustments at all.

As an experiment, you could try the M10 as an amp, if it has a digital tone control or DSP. I need to check that, do you know?

Edit: yes, it has tone controls, ideal for testing if this is the issue.

 

[PieterG]

It sounds like your room and setup are fine. If you have a "loudness" setting in your audio path somewhere, switch it on and see if it improves things at low volume.

I can relate to your experience. My daughter is very sensitive to sound, so i turn the music down when she's in the same room. Below a certain volume the music becomes imbalanced, but the loudness in my streamer EQ fixes that to some extent.

Normally i don't use EQ at all (audiophile heresy and so on). I do find that systems generally have a volume sweet spot or at least a minimum threshold. Despite the size of my speakers (KEF floorstanders) i do find them very good down to fairly low volumes (conversation level). I wonder if smaller speakers tolerate low volumes better...

 

[brazim01]

Our ears are naturally less sensitive to sound at lower volumes. That means we hear less treble and less bass.

Some years ago the ‘loudness’ button was fitted to many amplifiers, and that boosted bass and treble as you turned the volume down. But in most case the results were not great, often being too boomy. Rega are the opposite philosophy, with no tone adjustments at all.

As an experiment, you could try the M10 as an amp, if it has a digital tone control or DSP. I need to check that, do you know?

Edit: yes, it has tone controls, ideal for testing if this is the issue.

Thank you, I’ll see how the M10 sounds.

 

[brazim01]

It sounds like your room and setup are fine. If you have a "loudness" setting in your audio path somewhere, switch it on and see if it improves things at low volume.

I can relate to your experience. My daughter is very sensitive to sound, so i turn the music down when she's in the same room. Below a certain volume the music becomes imbalanced, but the loudness in my streamer EQ fixes that to some extent.

Normally i don't use EQ at all (audiophile heresy and so on). I do find that systems generally have a volume sweet spot or at least a minimum threshold. Despite the size of my speakers (KEF floorstanders) i do find them very good down to fairly low volumes (conversation level). I wonder if smaller speakers tolerate low volumes better...

Thank you

 

[James105]

Thank you, I’ll see how the M10 sounds.

Hi
As well as tone controls the M10 also has dirac room correction software, its a limited version thats is included the full range costs $99 as an upgrade. Not sure if you listen at low volumes all the time or jus at night but you can store three target curves to switch between or switch it off.

Again not knowing the version of the M10 it might not have a phono stage but looking at the back of the Rega it has a record out, I assume this can be connected to a line input on the NAD.

 

[daytona600]

Sounds odd but only a very dynamic system , with very big speakers & generally very expensive will sounds good at very , very low volumes

A great pair of active speakers in near field ( 1-2 feet ) can also sound fantastic at very low volumes