How loud do you listen to your music?

50 to 60db sounds right. Amplifiers generally only pump out fraction of a watt to generate music most of the time.

Makes one wonder why most posters seem to have this need for 100wpc (and higher) amps. Hearing issues I guess ... ;-)

Regards
Paul

03-19-07: Shadorne 1) human hearing has a 120 db dynamic range...if you play at 60 db SPL (close to the typical ambient noise floor of 30 db SPL) then you will almost certainly miss details in the music.

Shadorne, if your system leaves details in the music at 60db SPL you need to upgrade to a decent system

Regards
Paul

Oops , meant to say, if your system drops details in the music at 60db SPL, you need to upgrade to a decent system

80-100db listening levels for frequent and extended periods will do irreparable damage to human hearing. I am sure some people actually listen to music at those volume levels. Ouch. Worse than that are earphones. Kids that listen to their iPods the whole time are going to have impaired hearing by the time they’re 40 or 50.

Rather them than me.

Regards
Paul

Shadorne, my apologies for the tone in my prior response – that was uncalled for.

I have heard a couple of amps drop the lowest level detail from recordings that other amps are quite capable of reproducing at the same volume. It is one of my pet peeves and cannot think of much that annoys me so much … maybe the ex calling me and telling me how wonderful her new @#$% husband is?

Whenever you audition amps, you’ll do yourself a big favor if you also listen to them at very low volume levels. Many so called good amplifier fail miserably.

Regards
Paul

Onemug I have not listened to a parallel SE/SET amp at any length to really comment. I have listened to a parallel 2A3 on an unfamiliar system but it did sound very good and very natural.

Not an amp where you would need 100db of sound pressure to hear all the details :)

Hi Pdn

The lack of low level detail at lower SP level is not due to your speakers, rather it is due to your amplifier not having a low enough sound floor.

You should go and audition some amplifiers and listen to them at low levels. Take a SP meter and listen to music at an average of about 50db. When listening to a couple of amps at low you'll be surprised how many 'big name' amps simply drop low level detail.

I can easily listen at 50-60db on my setup and the music is still 100% complete and intact. I too do not want ruin my ears.

Regards
Paul

Shadorne, the majority of amplifiers lose low level detail of frequencies in the mid-range, i.e. 250Hz to 500Hz, and that is why people crank it. It has very little to do with the frequency extremes.

I agree with some your comments pertaining to phons, but you would need very sensitive ears to hear 20Hz. Very few speakers will produce sound under 30Hz, let alone 20Hz. Personally I feel low frequencies in my stomach before I actually hear them and we probably hear the harmonics of low frequencies without hearing the fundamentals of said frequencies themselves.

Same with frequencies of over 15KHz. I doubt many males will hear anything over 18KHz.

If the midrange is incomplete, the frequency extremes do not matter. Incomplete midrange = inferior amplification.

And forget about the theoretical dynamic range of CD. The majority of CDs are compressed to under 20db range. I listen mostly to uncompressed MFSL and direct-to-disc recordings, which has a way bigger dynamic range than most the crap available on CD. I cannot say what the peaks go to (probably 80-90db I guess) but the average is around 60db and I get the complete sound picture.

A truly good audio amplifier can create a complete musical picture at low SP amplification levels without losing the lowest levels of details. I have heard tens of systems where they needed to be turned-up-to-sound -right. Without exception, at low volumes they lack the small nuances and micro details that natural music has. These system simply have to be cranked because they suck at low volumes.

Regards
Paul