Comment by kashyapc

> seemed to me like Op.1 b-flat minor was the one that would be overplayed

I don't watch much movies, but haven't seen Op. 9 No. 1 often in many places. I hope it remains that way! No 2 is wildly popular for its lovely long opening melody.

> preludes (raindrop etc) for example and they have softer key and louder key parts and I want to blast the softer side without overblasting and distortion

Yes, the preludes are lovely. But please -- you don't need to "blast" this music. This is not rock :-) Yes, there are a lot of "dynamics" (soft and loud and some gradations: pianissimo, forte, etc), but don't overthink it.

Just use a reasonably high-end speaker (e.g. I use an old, Bose "SoundTouch 20") and pick one of the recent recordings from Deutsche Grammophon. I'm currently listening to the nocturne interpretations by Kun-Woo Paik.