What decibel level do you listen at? What is ideal?

45 years ago, when I spent a lot of time in movie theaters, our Dolby techs would put a microphone half way back in the seats just to right of center and set center channel at 85dB, left & right at 83dB and the surrounds at 81dB (using pink noise).

I typically set volume to a level that I think approximates as if I were there, listening live.  So yes, depends greatly on genre and setting of the recording.  That often is on the loud side because of my rather large room (and my high school background in percussion).  

I too had Advents in 1975 & then a stacked pair. They were way better than their very reasonable price would suggest. They of course had excellent bass & pretty decent mids & highs if not the most open, extended & detailed in comparison to today’s good speakers. I had Lots of fun w/ them. 

I don't have a dB meter but I like to turn volume up so I can't hear my wife's complaints about it being too loud.

Pass x-250.8, Bricasti M1se with network card, specialty Tekton Encores,( all 175lbs each)  30'x60' 16' ceilings shop, dual SVS SB4000 subs (listening area 1/3 of that, speakers 12' apart 15' away, stream qobus via Audirvana  Rock and roll only, mid 80's to low 90's ( due to speakers efficiency, all done within class A of AMP) Metallica, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd etc. 72 YOA, still with pretty good hearing!  Also Project RS2T with linear power supply.  YOU ARE THERE! closer than you think after a Buffalo Trace or 2. Robert  TN   A shout out to you all for your help and assistance over the years,  Thank you, and Audiogon forum

Depends on music, mood and environment (sleeping spouse, guests, etc.)

To me, every song has its optimal volume setting.  I rarely listen above 90dB.  OSHA protocols state that risk of hearing loss is minimal with avg 85dB over an 8 hour period.  I use hearing protection while vacuum cleaning vinyl and have a decibel meter on my phone.  It's amazing how loud everyday activities can be.  Riding with the top down in my car is 105 dB! No radio.

On another note @mulveling - are you running the KT-88's in your amps and how much heat do they create.  I have the Sig 200's and they are warm here in Florida.  I will have to look closer at upgrading the amps as I have the Master Phono pre

The cut determines the decibel level.

When listening without any eq, the F-M curve is allowed to kick in and the volume control is used as a "focus knob", similar to a microscope or telescope, to determine the listening level.

Take a decibel meter to a live concert and measure a crescendo in a symphony. At home, match the volume to what you recorded in the concert hall on a recording of the same crescendo of the same symphony. 

That depends on how many cocktails you have .I guess...

@jonwolfpell 

I find it funny that so many people listen at levels where their amps, even with very inefficient speakers, are barely putting out a watt or two or maybe 10 on peaks. What’s the point of having big powerful solid state monsters if that is so? 

exactly. I’ve said this many times to the dismay of people who say (usually parroting what their dealer told them) something along the lines of, “but it provides more grip” or “but the transients come out better with more power”. 
 

If you are listening to 2 or 3 watts, the 50th watt or 80th or 405th watt are literally not even being created or accessed whatsoever. Just use a true RMS meter on your speaker wire and see for yourself. Press the “peak hold” button and see the highest number that gets hit. It’s that simple. 

it’s typically the higher power amps have a different component mix that changes the sound. You replace 0.6mm low mass wire with 2mm thick buss bars and 4x the power tank capacitance and that’s gonna change the sound.
 

 I’ve built many amps and power supplies and learned this first hand. 

" I’ve said this many times to the dismay of people who say (usually parroting what their dealer told them) something along the lines of, “but it provides more grip” or “but the transients come out better with more power”. 

I have fifty years of experience in pursuing high end audio. Solid state amps benefit greatly from more power in the vast majority of cases. No dealer has to tell me that, it's not a rule of thumb to benefit sellers of high powered amps. 

I match the DB level to the year of release. So wish you were here at 75 DB is ideal. Burning down the house by talking heads at 83 db is fantastic. Gets to be a bit of a trial listening to car wheels on gravel Road by Lucinda Williams at 98 db. Can't yet hear anything made this century unfortunately

While I can relate to music "coming alive" at a certain volume (average 65-70dB in my room), I’m astounded by some of the higher listening levels posted here. I don’t expect I’ll ever have the resources to experience what @ghdprentice describes, but I’m OK with that. 

Mid 70s C weighted average, peaks low to mid 80s depending upon music.  One of my systems runs Altec 604-8G.  At those levels my homebrew SE45 amp is using less than a tenth of its 1.6 wpc.  The first watt really does matter.

Peaks around 75 dB when my wife is home.

Peaks around 90 dB when she's not home.

The dogs don't care how loud I play it.