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 itsjustme

Several good comments above that deserve amplification.  I dont know what the SPLs are at my chair but i do know that:

1. the ear has a reduced sensitivity to extremes at low levels, so too low is not ideal
2. Noise will mask low level detail if the level is set too low.
3. Music also provides "feel" - does the kettle drum vibrate you?  That's realistic.

Too loud certainly overloads both my comfort and my room( and generally not my amps, which i have the ability to measure, roughly).  But too low obscures detail, even things like the texture of vocals. You may question if its a "good thing" but at moderately hgih levels i can often hear the artifacts of mixing.  not so at lower levels.

And gladly, despite many decades, many concerts and tons of listening, i still hear very high frequencies in my lab - 15-20k. Down in audibility, yes, but I hear them. When i'd travel to our NY lab decades ago, my dog used to get annoyed when [name withheld) turned his oscillator up to a HF rather than off :-)  Cant fool the dog.