Originally Posted by Ian
If all speakers are calibrated identically, surely, at the sound levels that can be achieved by all speakers, then no one speaker is going to be more over powering than another. ie a DSP8000 played at 65 is going to be as loud as a DSP33 played at 65.


Yes - but as you eluded to, you must look at the spread of the energy imparted to the room. The 33's and the 8k's will (roughly) follow each other down to a certain frequency. However, below 55hz (ish) the energy output of the 33's will fall away at 12dB/octave. The natural room gain will add the lower frequencies at the same rate, in effect creating a mechanical second order crossover.

The 8k's will continue their energy output to a much lower frequency. This output will be added to the lower frequency energy gain due to the room, creating a bass heavy overall response, in the same way as turning up a bass tone control would.

Of course one disadvantage of running a system at lower volumes is the loss of dynamic range - you lose the subtle details that make up so much of a 3D soundstage.