What is the sound level of Your Listening Room?


I am curious about what the sound level is at your listening position with your system turned off. I have checked mine and during the day it is about 43 dB and at 1:00 a.m. it can be as low as 28. I can improve the daytime level to 35 dB by turning off the refrigerators and air conditioner. What have you done to improve the sound level of your room?

I am considering adding a listening room to the back of my garage (wife is on board because she needs more storage space) and if you have made improvements that have reduced your ambient noise, please share them.
baclagg

Showing 4 responses by mijostyn

Mahgister, I think you and I agree that price is not an indicator of sound quality. None of the ultra expensive systems I have heard reached the absolute sound. I think we also agree that certain equipment represents a much better value than others. You get much more for your money.  We also agree that it is easy to just plop money down on a system. It is harder to make a great system on a limited budget. If we disagree on anything it is the definition of limited. Limited will be determined by the financial status of the person times the importance of music to that individual. 
I think my system is a fabulous value. I have heard systems costing 3-4 times as much that can not hold a candle to it. But, it is a lot more expensive than $500.00. Power to you. If you are happy with your system that is all that counts. 
baclagg, sure, I understand your concern about low level passages. If you are listening to digital sources there could be enough noise to interfere. If you are listening to vinyl it would be difficult for normal environmental background noise to supersede vinyl background noise. 
I am a String Quartet fiend. Maybe my house is quieter than most but I am never bothered by background noise even with digital sources.  Perhaps my brain, trained by decades of vinyl only listening, has learned to filter out noise? 
@douglas_schroeder , irrelevant? I have news for you, noise is noise whatever the source. But, fortunately our brains can only pay attention to the loudest noise. It is called Masking. People who have tinnitus which bothers them at night will run a droning fan in the bedroom. It will mask their tinnitus. Listen to the background noise on a record between songs. It disappears once the music starts. It is being masked by the music. Unless you have jackhammers in your listening room any noise in the house, refrigerators, air conditioners, your kids, all of it disappears once the music starts playing. If you hear something just turn up the volume.
Having an absolutely quiet room would be nice, certainly could not hurt. But, it is not mandatory for the best performance. Look at all these people who prefer vinyl. It is horrendously noisy compared to digital. The noise doesn't seem to dampen their enthusiasm.
Interesting. Everyone is so interested in environmental noise. The noise on a record might be 60 dB down if you are lucky. Now , if your turntable is not isolated you can take that environmental noise at say 80 dB down and amplify it with your turntable so it is 40 dB down. Clever. So, if you are really worried about it get a decent isolated turntable or buy yourself a MinusK platform. 
Mike all that stuff is great but it will not save you from the trucks driving down the street. It does sound like your place is out of the way. I Live on a cul-de-sac 1/2 mile from a main street. On my other side is an 18 hole golf course. So, for a house not to far from society I'm pretty quiet. But, noise is never a problem for me. Maybe I listen louder than most but for whatever reason noise is never an issue. Fortunately our brains can only pay attention to the loudest noise. If the noise is over 30dB down you will never hear it.