Does It have to be loud?


Are you also under the impression that when people (or manufacturers) demo their equipment, they maintain sound pressure levels between 90-100 Dba. In general this is done in rooms being too small, and therefore the room will heavily interact with the sound heard in that room. Often, when you ask to lower the volume, the actual result is better, and –most likely- provides you with the information you were looking for. So, my question here is, do you also prefer to listen in the 90-100 dba range? Or do you –like myself- like to listen in the 70-90 dba sound pressure range? Of course, I’m referring to sound pressure levels at the listening position, which –in my case- is about 4 meter away from the speaker. 

han_n

Showing 1 response by ejr1953

I attended the Capital Audiofest for the first time last Fall, and most of the systems on display were (IMO) playing way too loud, so loud that the midrange and above were "grainy" sounding, not musical or pleasing at all!  It was like the systems were "shouting" at us.
In some cases, it seemed that the equipment could handle the volume, but it was too loud for the room.
Having said that, some music only "comes to life" when played just above 90db or so, the impact of crescendo from a large symphony orchestra...and of course many rock and roll bands.  But when the system is "blasting", I found you can't hear any of the detail in the recordings, really detracting from musical enjoyment.