between 90 and 95 decibels. I like it to have the same frequency balance as live music, which only happens when you crank it.
I'm curious. What is your "normal" listening volume?
I suppose this is an open question to any of you fine people, but I'm exclusively analog myself and particularly curious to hear from those of you who listen to records.
What would you say is your normal listening volume? Perhaps measure it and post the db's?
Thanks!
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Depends on the kind of music & my mood. Acoustic, bluegrass, folk about 80 - upper 80’s db at 10’ from speakers. Rolling Stones “Can’t You Hear Knocking” on their Sticky Fingers album, 100+ db as it was meant to be heard! I have a pretty powerful tube amp & high efficiency horns so the system is loafing along at any listenable volume in a pretty big room and sounds great. |
Most common listening volume level for me is around 80 - 85db at my seated position, which is the center of a triangle with both speakers about 10 feet in front of me, and 6 feet to either side of me (angled slightly towards my position, of course). My ears at the seated position are also probably about six inches higher off the floor than the top of the speakers. I find that this volume level equates to about 1 watt of output (based on the reading from my in-line analog Power Meter)... doing the traditional "1 kHz tone at 1 meter from the speaker face" on my Sansui SP-5500 speakers I get a reading of about 92 db on the db meter (official sensitivity rating of the SP-5500 is 98db; I have done some modifications to the speakers however, which may have affected that number)... I'm assuming the "at seated position" db level is lower due to the distance from the speakers and the fact that my listening room is fairly large (18 ft X 32 ft) and perhaps some sound absorbtion by the furniture in the room..? |
Hello Brokenrecord, My average listening volume level for stereo music as measured on a calibrated DB meter is 68 to 80 db depending on the passages. I do crank it up for my surround sound/cinema rig ranging from 78 to 90 db. The higher range is usually explosion, engines, gun shots, etc. This is subjective but I do limit the 90 db listening to brief period to keep my ears happy. Btw all measurements are taken at the sweet spot listening positions. Enjoy the music. |
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In the mornings when the house is sleeping around 65db, my noise floor in the AM is 25db. In the afternoons, around 80db, noise floor around 30db. Between 80-90db is my critical listening volume. Also kind of my happy place. When getting into it, dance party mode, around 100db. Usually not in my listing spot for that. Every once in a while, want the house to shake, do 80% volume around 106db, have hit over 110db a couple of times. But it's painful to be in the listening room. But it sounds great outside. |
I do play the soundtrack with the dopler effect of the train comming closer and pitch change and leaving with pitch change.the advantage is I can play it when I want and the train doesn't wake me up at night.normal listening 50 to 80 db.i did go see the who in the 70's it was loud. I guess that's why we have a volumn know we can listen at the level we're in the mood for.enjoy the music and the search. |
Yet Robert Harley says these driven with the Lamm 18 watt set's "was nothing short of magical in its reproduction of timbre, space, low-level detail, and other qualities that greatly contributed to the overall sense of realism" I can guarantee I will never be in the market for 750 lb speakers. And if I want to feel my house shake when I listen to music I will just buy a house near the train tracks. |
@mark200mph Wrote:
See here last page caution. Mike |
Up enough that one can't stay in the space without muffs ...🤦♂️👍 Sounds better at levels that make for sense and sanity. ;) Everything all at once is doable here. Enough that I get concerned about how warm wires are being wrought. No neighbors at night to annoy. Sweet. |
Yes 120 db can only stand for less that a minute then damage to the hair cells in the cochlea begins to happen.i do this to hear the base but have ear muffs on .osha states 80 db for 8 hours is the safe limit.i have several kw mono amps and some prominent crown 12000 that push the wattage.enjoy the music and the search.jays audio review of the magico q7 don't wake up until 80 pluss db and they are power hungry. |
I start with loud enough to overcome the psychoacoustic masking of my LOUD (easily at the perceived level of background conversation) tinnitus in the left brain. Insert LOL/ tears emoji. After that: music, mood are all in play. Some music Must be played loud and deep to convey its meant experience imo. As to blowing back your hair |
Peaks of 80-88 dB if my wife is in the shower, or not home. C weighted. Fast response. Measured at the listening seat, 8' from plane of speakers. One time, listening briefly at really loud levels (about 94), I got curious. Got up and measured the SPL a couple of inches from the speakers. It was peaks of 116 dB. A few seconds later the volume got back to comfortable levels. |
I take a similar approach. Tend to play louder. Try to take breaks. And when the top end isn't right, forget about it. But when the top end is right? And the mids? And the bottom end? When the record is extended well at both and getting everything right in the middle? Man! Sometimes it just seems I can't play it loud enough! |
Glad to hear someone out there is doing record shootouts! That's a big part of my listening. I totally agree that every record has an ideal listening level. The level at which it best comes to life. However I find with shootouts that it sometimes helps to play records even louder than that as this can sometimes better reveal their flaws. Not great for hearing though! |
@sargonicuse Thanks for app suggestion! |
Calm levels (30%): 65-75dB peaks Regular (60%): 83-90dB peaks Stadium Levels (10%): 95-110dB peaks For many, people will either listen louder or softer because their systems render tonality differently at different volumes (e.g. a tube preamp's volume will can determine the amount of "tubey-ness" and often sounds better starting at 11 o'clock"). But for really great systems, tonality, coherence, and realism are retained regardless of the system. |
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) provides a free sound level meter app for both Apple and Android phones. This app is calibrated for levels set by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health: NIOSH Sound Level Meter App | Noise and Hearing Loss | CDC The NIOSH Sound Level Meter and several other apps can be downloaded from your device's App Store by simply typing NIOSH into the search box. Warning: at the rate that federal agencies seem to be disappearing I wouldn't wait long to do this. For Dynaudio loudspeaker owners Dynaudio provides several free apps, including a sound level meter, that can be downloaded from your phone's app store. Simply type Dynaudio into your App Store search box and a list of free apps will appear. Some method of generating a steady state tone at multiple set frequencies will be important and there are a number of CD's and downloads available for this, some free and some costing small amounts. I own and have compared the above two tools and there might be minor response variances between them in your use. What's important though is to use any sound level diagnostic device, including calibrated microphones and software of course, to measure and establish a baseline for future comparisons. When testing or changing any ear or room acoustics having a set of baseline measurements recorded can be invaluable for detection and/or confirmation of differences that might or might not be audible.
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