@curtdr that was what I experienced. Very clean but still loud. For his speakers though, he was very focused on midrange, it felt like if there was more bass then you wouldn’t need that volume. Seems like your system and the heresy balances better.
Turn down the Volume!
One topic that seems rarely discussed is volume. If you listen to mixing engineers, it’s their most feared aspect of how their work is measured, since it’s out of their control. This leads to things like loudness wars (assume the worst). As my system has improved, my main takeaway is I can be engaged with 60db peaks, where when I hear other systems you often have to turn it up to 90db peaks for it to sound decent. I’m pretty sure it all has to do with bass and room energy, but wonder if others have a similar experience. Side note that reviews or any subjective ‘better’ statements about gear rarely indicate how loud they are listening. since all we can perceive if volume it is puzzling. I will say if it sounds good with 110 db peaks then that is impressive.
Showing 7 responses by dain
@patrickdowns that seems familiar. I haven’t experimented too much but recently tried several preamps. I’m still confused as to what a high quality preamp does, but in this instance the one I tried needed to be quite loud to have any impact compared to the great one I currently have. So that’s an area to explore. I figured it was more about amps, but perhaps it’s about the lowest current gains. I also have a fully balanced system so that seems to raise the average outputs, but as with all systems it seems to do with synergy. |
@curtdr I have the opposite sort of speakers (Magnepan) but a friend has horns. Listening to his system once and while it didn’t ‘seem’ loud, I checked and it was actually over 100db in average. Now perhaps it’s a mistake but could the ‘focus’ of horns have this effect? Bass also plays a huge role, having twin subs seems to counterintuitivey let me turn things down. |
@mijostyn that’s fascinating. And f-m curves make sense. Much of this is in our brains rather than our ears. I’m not sure about ‘ level it was mastered at’ that would mean what? I’m thinking of if you hear music playing from afar, you can usually tell if it’s a live band or a recording. So it’s really about peak volumes very apart from average. Genre dependent for sure. I’m interested in streaming, since they have rules or algorithms to keep one song from out powering another. But it still leaves us to decide where the knob goes. If hitting 95 peaks for hours as you say it would seem risky, if it’s highly compressed (made constantly loud) it would be ‘fatiguing’, but that’s why I wonder why it isn’t mentioned more often. |
@bkeske I think that’s what I’m trying to address. When auditioning a new amp/ preamp, the music was lifeless and dull until it got to that 80 db area. But with my normal system it sounds great at 60. So it seems to impact the hobby and wondered why it isn’t mentioned more. Especially in reviews it never mentions listening levels. Also at 60 the music is just as lively, just perhaps ‘farther away’ in the soundstage. |
@johnk Many with horn systems have said that low volume is still satisfying. I have experienced a horn system that was actually much louder SPL than it 'seemed' - do you measure or go by ear? |
I'm glad this discussion is still going on, I've learned a lot from you all participating, and after viewing this, I think it explains the entire puzzle of why some recordings don't sound right at whatever volume you choose to listen at. Happy viewing, oh for those in a hurry, everything is due to mastering.
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