Moderator wrote: Keep in mind that our human hearing loses sensitivity at the frequency extremes as volume drops. For those not familiar, this is called the Fletcher-Munson curve and is the reason for the once ubiquitous Loudness button, replaced now with the more complicated (and even more damaging to the sound, IMHO) Dolby Volume system found on most modern products.

Thanks, Moderator Dude!

I do not use loudness enhancement with GEt's. I HAVE used LOUDNESS settings with other systems. GEt's behave/deliver with no help from outside EQ's of any kind.

Rick

Rick,

I listen at low to moderate volumes for most listening sessions. My two primary reasons are courtesy to my Wife and to conserve my hearing. I find the T1s very pleasing even at low volumes, though I do prefer listening in the 70-85 dB range. Every once in a while I'll bump it up where my peaks are well into the 90 dub range but I try to limit listening at these levels.

After managing a hearing conservation program for 15 years, I've seen the results of noise induced hearing loss far too many times. I plan to change nserve my hearing so that I am able to enjoy music and movies for many years to come. This is why I also avoid headphones and ear buds as well. When I do wear them, I keep the volume low enough to be able to hear ambient background noise. I cringe whenever I'm in the gym or on the go and I hear people's music from the headphones several feet away!

I find the Tritons are very articulate, even at low volumes. While the bass "energy" is reduced and not as fun, it is still very tonally rich. The HVFR and mid range drivers are still very adept at low levels and there is not much lost. The SCXL is much the same and it makes late night and early morning listening at low levels very enjoyable. Our theater room is directly below our master suite. I've insulated the space but with duct work, there is still a fair amount of bleed through at high volume; particularly with LFE. I've frequently appreciated how easy And enjoyable GET makes listening at low levels! This was not achievable through my previous Paradigm setup.

Cheers,

T Cobe

Hey guys, I'd like to resurrect this thread for the moment because the other night I had an opportunity to "test" something applicable to this threads subject.

I intentionally played digital source music (jazz, classical and "soundscape") samples at extremely low volume. It was very late night so outside noise was essentially a non-issue. I have my Triton's bass control at 12. I adjusted the bass control on both speakers setting them both to max, setting only one to max so as to compare it to the other at 12, etc.

I'm concluding that the Triton's do need a reasonable amount of minimum wattage to properly "engage" the bass/subwoofer. Playing at extremely low volume with the bass dial at max "muddies" the sound as opposed how loudness controls typically work. I can't exactly quantify the db level, but I'm guessing I was around 25. Didn't really like it.

Frankly, I think the GET minimum amplification recommendation at 20 watts (for T1) may be a bit to high, but it does serve as an indication that GET too realizes that very low (<.125) wattage just doesn't cut it.

GDHAL,

25 dB may be a bit too low. That's barely a whisper. I think for my listening preferences, 50 dB would be the minimum I would enjoy. If I had to go below that, I'd likely switch to headphones.

Cheers,

T Cobe

T Cobe wrote: GDHAL,

25 dB may be a bit too low. That's barely a whisper. I think for my listening preferences, 50 dB would be the minimum I would enjoy. If I had to go below that, I'd likely switch to headphones.

Cheers,

T Cobe

Agreed. But the thread does seek feedback about any db

I think that "proper bass management" might be the most difficult and the most controversial aspect to setting up speakers and amplifiers for "personal best music reproduction". I have just amended my recent post "a couple of bass management thoughts" to add data I collected during a series of settings experiments I conducted over the weekend. I believe my conclusions shed some light upon the difficulties each of us has in finding the best settings for our personal preferences.

I also think that "getting it right" for music is considerably more difficult than finding a good setting for movie-sound LFE effects. I say this because it seems to me that a goodly amount of movie LFE effects are just low-frequency rumbles, blasts, and other noises which serve to enhance the movie experience, but which are not comparable to what we want to hear when we listen to music.

You all might want to take a look at the data I attached to that post and consider designing and conducting your own experiments.

Happy listening,

Art