Let's do some extremely basic math. If the louder speaker sounds better, even by 1 db, how much louder would Kef Q150 ($300) need to be, to beat the flagship Kef Muon, or even Kef Blade meta?
Perhaps the most annoying myth in audio of 2025? Talking about Loudness!
It is said far too often that the louder speaker will sound better, even by 1 decibel. I’ve found this statement to be supremely inaccurate. Anyone feels the same way or differently?
I feel the opposite to be true, once the speaker has reached a comfortable level, somewhere around 65-72 decibel, getting louder than that ought to sound worse for me. It usually sounds worse for a number of reason, room acoustic interactions, speaker cabinets, small distortion of drivers, etc.
Many years in this hobby has taught me to listen to things like smoothness, clarity, separation, microdynamics. An absolutely huge trait right now for me is how effortless is the sound. If it sounds strained, it’s not good to my ears, and many speakers sound strained to a degree even at average 70 db. After owning electrostats, I find many box speakers to lack the purity that I aim for. It gets worse the louder the box speakers get.
Showing 3 responses by samureyex
At AVS and elsewhere, they love to say the louder speaker will sound better. If a comparison wasn't db matched, it immediately becomes invalid. Saw somewhere yesterday that someone quoted a famous person name Toole in which Toole said the louder speakers will sound better, even by 1 decibel. I find it to be ridiculous. |
@mark200mph I said around 72 dbs sound best to me for very specific reasons. As the volumes go up into loud territory, Distortion of the drivers go up Distortion of the amp goes up Bass causing cabinet vibrations to go up. Room acoustic interactions go up Sound trapped inside the cabinet causing coloration/distortion go up.
All of these make the music sound worse, and for this reason, I don’t understand the myth that the louder speakers would sound better in a comparison. I'm also quite sensitive to an effortless sound vs a non effortless sound. I believe a non effortless sound is just some combinations of distortion as mentioned above. Don't quote me. |