My listening room fluctuates between 22 & 24 db with the entire system on
(it always is unless their is severe weather)
& no music playing.
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.
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.
60 responses Add your response
+1 @ghdprentice So the reason you are professing this specious conclusion is because you are comparing an incredibly well thought out inexpensive system with a sloppily thrown together expensive system.Exactly. The proper comparison is: A. Properly researched and matched equipment and well designed room with inexpensive equipment vs. B. Properly researched and matched equipment and well designed room with expensive equipment When the variables are changed to make the inexpensive equipment win, it’s not really a fair theoretical comparison. If one can only afford inexpensive equipment, then the question is: C. Well designed room with inexpensive equipment vs. D. Haphazard room with inexpensive equipment Here, D clearly wins. Final thought: Does price correlate with quality? Surely it does, assuming one does a little research. Is it *worth* the money? That's an empirical and subjective question based on values and bank account. |
mijostyn If you are listening to vinyl it would be difficult for normal environmental background noise to supersede vinyl background noise.You must have a very noisy turntable system! The more you post about your vinyl playback - excessive rumble, flapping subwoofers, DSP to calm things down - the more it appears that something is badly amiss. |
I have to completely disagree with you guys on price not being a good indicator of sound quality. In general, price is a good indicator at the component level and at the system level, given an equal time and effort invested in system component selection and integration. To get the maximum out of every component requires a lot of work and great care in selecting compatible and complementary components. So if your own time is worth nothing and you are willing to spend hundreds of hours researching and testing to assemble a system with the objective of putting together an inexpensive system with spectacular sound… you can do it. But if you put that same amount of effort into putting together a system without the cost constraints it is going to sound much better (assuming the same skill level). So the reason you are professing this specious conclusion is because you are comparing an incredibly well thought out inexpensive system with a sloppily thrown together expensive system. I was young without money once… I spent hundreds of hours on research, comparing components, identifying new companies with exceptional product that were trying to enter the market by entering cheap, tweaking what I had… etc. I achieved great levels of performance per dollar invested. But had my budget not been restricted I would have a hugely better system for the same amount of time invested. You may not like this, but in general, if you are an informed consumer you get what you pay for. |
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.Wisely said... My best to you.... |
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? |
WOW these rooms sound so cool but to you have system good enough for them? With a relatatively isolated room under 35 Db you begin... Money dont buy HiFi.... a working brain and acoustic laws and basic scientific facts can do.... It is easy to verify, listening very costly "unnatural sound" of many so called costly system....Compared to my 500 bucks one.... For sure they are better, but not as much as they think, this is why i am glad to own mine and dont want them at the price they paid... The only criterium to judge a hi-fi system is the final ratio S.Q/ price....Not the price....And this S.Q. is based on acoustic concept: timbre, imaging, soundstage, source width ratio/ listener envelopment... If not, it will be easy to boast about the price and not very useful to most.... I prefer to sell creativity at peanuts cost.... But many dont believe in simple acoustic experiments , they believe in price paid... Then ANY "relatively good system" at a lower price than imagined is good enough.....Modulo electrical,mechanical and acoustic control.... |
...high '20s' to mid '30's, but in town. Traffic dies off at night. Next to rails, so occasional 'loudnesses' beyond control.... ...sounds of Industry, all that....*s* No 'real close' neighbors, so dB is what I'd care to do. Source: 'Live' calibrated into R/T eq display... Space itself is....'tolerable'.....most 'noise floor' is just the sound of 'things'....Multiple 'puters, light racket.... |
Most of the music will be above the noise floor, so yes, in that regard you are right. You will not hear the fridge, air conditioner, etc….BUT, there will be passages that fall below the noise of those item and it will be masked. I want to hear all of the music with as much of the fine details as possible. |
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@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. |
If you believe the science, the average background noise level in an urban setting is +/- 25 db. Even standing in your listening room when you can't hear a thing. Two reasons. 1) there is background noise below, or above our hearing threshold. 2) Our brains have learned to tune out a lot of the usual background noise as it has learned there is no significance to it. |
douglas_schroeder Thanks. we are on the same page. I absolutely loathe intrusive noise of any kind. Particularly phones which are banned from new and former listening rooms. Secret Intel: I unplug the main connections to the house land line when I'm seriously listening. Now, only you and several A'goners know. All the best Regards, barts |
mahgister, I read your posts and think that you make many good points. Your decibel scale is way off! First off there is no such thing as zero decibel and obviously no one has "heard" zero decibels. Even the quietest room in the world is not "zero". Secondly and finally...if you think that screaming in someone's ear is only 110 dB take a flight to NJ and I'll ring your ears for days with a few seconds of full blast vocal chords. Not sure where you got that info, but you are being misguided by it. All the best. Warm Regards, barts |
7dB is totally obtainable. I was able to go much lower than that even. Remember, dB is a log scale of pressure differentials. We like to think of it as measuring sound pressure level when really it is measuring pressure wave differentials. Sound is a wave of compression followed by rarefaction. High pressure followed by low pressure. This is the key concept to keep in mind when trying to lower your dB. Since what dB really is measuring is the difference between the two then the way to get it lower is to eliminate this difference. This is done most cost-effectively by filling your underground concrete bunker with liquid nitrogen. Within a few hours, a day or two at most, all motion ceases and you have virtually 0 dB. At least I am pretty sure. Every time I try and check my meter freezes over. |
fiesta75, yes, I was thinking the same thing. 7 is imo not attainable in a domestic environment. Recording studios are doing well to be under 20dB. mijostyn, Have you experienced what a room with reduced environmental noise does for the listening? Obviously, reducing source noise is advantageous, but irrelevant to this discussion. The genre of music played is absolutely associated with this topic. If you listen to music that has quiet or silent passages, guess what? You can hear environmental noise if your system doesn't intrude with its own noise. Those in normal domestic environments will have little appreciation of that variable. For instance, the start of Shelby Lynn's "Just A Little Lovin'" begins with a field of silence into which individual drum and cymbal strikes repeat. I assure you that a deeply depressed ambient noise field changes the musical perception radically. Any ambient noise, from an AC unit to an appliance motor running, etc. intrudes obnoxiously. At about 2:45 there is a pregnant pause as the instrumentation fades until almost silence. Again, if there is ambient noise of any degree in the room, it will sound like utter intrusion. Perhaps that is not your preference of genre of music, but simply because it is not important to you doesn't mean it's not an issue/consideration for other hobbyists. :) |
Okay some of you, I worked in a recording studio. I made a dB meter when I was 13 and it was calibrated to an NIST standard as my uncle worked for NIST. I don't dispute your list of sound levels. Some of the dB reading you guys are quoting must be "L" weighted. BTW "shouting in the ear" is way higher than 110dB! |
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. |
Thank you everyone for your replies to this post. I was up at 1:30 this morning and sat down in my living room to see what I would get. The average was 32 dB. I thing all of the air conditioner units running in town are adding to the noise floor. I am definitely going to look into some of the techniques I have read above to try to make my new space as quiet as possible. Would it be weird if I started looking for a new house with a finished basement instead of adding on?...lol. I think my wife would think so. |
This morning I got an average reading of 18.4db with a low of 13.8db in my living (listening) room. I have an acoustic ceiling in the living room. It’s not an open layout. Hardwood floor and giant Persian rug. I think old houses with new windows may be quieter. Quiet neighborhood does help. I do hear faint road and freeway noise and the quartz wall clock ticking. |
wolfie62, power relates to the quality of the sound, not the relative listening level. It has no bearing on the issue of ambient noise in the listening environment. You could use a cheap 50wpc amp or an expensive 1,000wpc amp, and the environmental noise issue is unaffected, given that the amps are quiet. Power is irrelevant. Perhaps you could do a little test to learn about ambient noise masking the signal. Take your audio system outside. Play it while the neighbor is cutting grass with a lawn tractor. Is the lawn tractor masking the music? Ah, then you obviously need a 1,000wpc amp! That should fix it all, right? Obviously, power makes the ambient noise go away, right? Or, perhaps you were simplistic in your assessment. :( Having a quiet listening space allows for appreciation of nuances such as the difference between a noisier vintage tube amp and a newer, more absolutely quiet class D amp, such as I wrote up for Dagogo.com, the i.V4 Ultra from Legacy Audio. It would be a bit tougher to hear those distinctions outside with the neighbor's lawn tractor running. But, relatively easy to hear such distinctions in a quiet room. Please do not disdain what you do not understand! :) |
I'm in the process of building the music room, lowest level on one side of a split-level on concrete but mostly above ground. Reframed with 6" wood wall studs then sprayed with open-cell spray foam (all surfaces). Then SAFB and finally Quiet Rock. Empty room as it sits right now, save for a shop vac. With the NIOSH app on my iphone I get 18dB. This is with no rugs, curtains or acoustic treatment. Funny that at that level of quiet even a very slight stomach burble bounces the app up to around 21-23dB. |
@wolfie62 Incorrect if you have a good system. The noise floor is critical in hearing nuances in most music. Mine is 23… but I have to hold my breath. A breath takes it into the thirties. I would imagine late Sunday night at midnight I could find a bit lower… my favorite time to listen. One of my favorite experiences at the symphony and listening at home is the slow trailing off of the orchestra when a piece intentionally drops off into the silence… there are the moments of near absolute silence as the harmonics decay into silence. It can be incredibly moving. |
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