How loud do you listen to your stereo?

[Absolute]

Normally between 65-75 dB average, very rarely above 80 dB. I listen to music for extended periods of time and feel more relaxed when it's not so loud. My room is pretty quiet after acoustical treatments on the ceiling and back-wall, so that was beneficial for the range of spl levels that sounds/feels okay.

 

[Mart68]

average 75dB but sometimes I crank it up a bit for a short while. Depends on the music.

background level is 30dB unless a car goes past. I'm on the edge of a small town but the street is quiet and my neighbour makes no noise at all. If I sit here in silence the loudest sound I can hear is the whirring of the hard drive in the cable TV box.

 

[Rja4000]

It varies with mood and circumstances.
Can be anywhere from very quiet to very loud.
Very loud, in my case, being with the Genelec 1032A pair clip LED on at 2.5m.

From spec sheet, that should be 113-8+3=108dB peak

 

[CMB]

I always have problems to interprete the level of the discussed dB numbers. Do you uselly speak about the dB average or the peaks ?

Anyway, this normal loud for me :

 

[CMB]

"I have a pair of K&H O300D (predecessor of Neumann KH310) supported by a Genelec 7060b subwoofer (10" woofer, 120W amp) in a 50 sqm living room / open kitchen with enough bookshelvs and furniture to offer a rather dry environment. Listening distance is 3.8 m. Room EQ is done in an AVP."

Hi LTig

Sorry to do an "aside" here. I was a time long contemplating a KH310/2xKH750 solution for my living room (32sqm +16sqm kitchen), which I understand is quiet similar to your combo in specs.
I then discarded this combo, mainly because of concerns about :
- compatibility with room size and listening distance (roughly the same as yours, mainly 3,5m, sometimes 6m from the diner table just for casual listening)
- larger directivity than for ex. KH 420.

From your post, you seem however plenty satisfied with how loud the system plays at your listening distance?
Do you experience any issues or are you plenty happy with the result?
Thanks

 

[Gorgonzola]

I listen at an average level 16+ dB above average.

My listening Jazz is about the same as Classical, but my occasional listen to Rock runs about 82 dB but with peaks perhaps only another 6 dB higher.

 

[LTig]

Hi LTig

Sorry to do an "aside" here. I was a time long contemplating a KH310/2xKH750 solution for my living room (32sqm +16sqm kitchen), which I understand is quiet similar to your combo in specs.
I then discarded this combo, mainly because of concerns about :
- compatibility with room size and listening distance (roughly the same as yours, mainly 3,5m, sometimes 6m from the diner table just for casual listening)
- larger directivity than for ex. KH 420.

From your post, you seem however plenty satisfied with how loud the system plays at your listening distance?
Do you experience any issues or are you plenty happy with the result?
Thanks

I'm very happy with the result (no need for more SPL capability). That's why I started this thread because according to the recommendations of K&H (or Genelec for let's say THD 8x5x monitors) I shouldn't.

 

[thewas]

By the way this discussion keeps coming up every some months.

How loud do you listen (loudspeaker users)?

No sure how this could work for headphone users (reading off the dB), so I'm limiting my question to loudspeaker users that can read dB with either a meter, or an app. As it sank in how much of my hearing I've lost in the last 30 years. The army tested my hearing at age 20, and I was able to...

www.audiosciencereview.com

(including a poll)

How Loud Do You Need?

I've used 83 dBC (slow) average at the listening position as my 'reference level' (based on mixing standards) for casual listening for some time now. Last weekend I played around with my highest DR recordings and the peaks were about 20 dB higher than my reference listening level, aka 103 dBC*...

www.audiosciencereview.com

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...w-loud-do-you-listen-to-your-headphones.3356/

(for headphones)

 

[izeek]

most times 60ish.
loud days 70+.

 

[Pdxwayne]

Wow that's loud. I couldn't listen to heavy metal or similar music at those levels - anytime the soloist is screaming and the drummer bashes the cymbals all the way through the song. Guess I'm just old fashioned LOL.

I think I am the same as you, can't listen to higher pitch sound at high level. 80db is enough.

That 93db level (C weighting and slow response) was mostly from the bass. That song has lots of strong bass.

In my car, when I last measured years ago, the bass notes could easily pass 100db.....

 

[JayGilb]

Just played some rocking blues (Travis Larson) and at 6 feet from the speakers and was hitting 110db C weighted/slow response.
Average volume probably about 80db.

Very small room with very large stereo.

 

[monkeyboy]

conversation level loudness with speakers, with headphone or IEMs where there is some isolation even lower...

 

[BinkieHuckerback]

11

 

[MediumRare]

11

But this one goes to 12.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Just played some rocking blues (Travis Larson) and at 6 feet from the speakers and was hitting 110db C weighted/slow response.
Average volume probably about 80db.

Very small room with very large stereo.

JayGilb take it easy. Those kind of levels hopefully aren't long sustained periods.

OTOH, when the music moves you and the volume goes up, turning it back down just won't do.

 

[JayGilb]

JayGilb take it easy. Those kind of levels hopefully aren't long sustained periods.

OTOH, when the music moves you and the volume goes up, turning it back down just won't do.

Thanks for the warning, I never exceed those levels for more than a song in length.
My wife is visiting our daughter in California and this is the first time I've had a chance to stretch my system's legs in a long time and this thread
popped up when listening to music...

Just switched over to a DSP controlled crossover and am using this bachelor time to perform a lot of testing in an effort to dial in my system.

 

[Aerith Gainsborough]

How loud do you listen?

My system is calibrated to roughly 90dB Z-weighted peaks. I typically listen at -10dB from that point, so 80dB peak + whatever the dynamic EQ of the RME adds to the bass area.

I've heard +10dB from the calibration point, I did venture beyond that for brief testing periods but 100dB is pretty much the limit of my AVR and also my Arias. Even at 100dB, it sounds strained, might be my ears though, since that is bloody loud.

Absolute record was +18dB on a "bass only" track for maybe 15 seconds.
My sub didn't give a hoot, my neighbors probably did.

BTW: the same calibration applies to my headphone setup. So I always get roughly comparable volumes.

Edit: corrected math derp, had the wrong reference value in my head.

 

[richard12511]

For pop/rock(just because it's easier to measure), I'd say my average is around 83-88dB c weighted.

 

[jmhannam]

Dr. Toole, in his book, discussed hearing loss resulting from exposure to excessively loud noise. Not surprisingly, the vulnerability of the human ear to noise induced injury is frequency dependent, corresponding to its frequency dependent sensitivity, as illustrated by Fletcher -Munson and other curves. Hence, the rationale for OSHA and other regulatory bodies to offer guidance on allowed time-based exposures to loud noise based on various "weighted" scales, such as dBA, dBC, and so forth, which take into account the ear's sensitivity to different frequencies. In Amir's video he discussed a key difference between occupational noise and music, which I think is useful. He explained that while loud industrial noise is typically continuously loud, music includes occasional, very brief or transient peaks superimposed on longer periods of varying but much lower sound pressure levels. We are more conscious or aware of these longer continuous signals with their correspondingly lower SPLs. We are less aware of the loud transient peaks and less vulnerable to injury from them, as well. And, importantly, most of the energy in music is in the lower frequencies or bass, to which we are less sensitive, and which are attenuated by measuring devices using the dBA scale. Amir measures the SPL of music in actual dB SPL. Thus, measuring the loudness of music in dBA and in dBSPL is like discussing prices in dollars and a different currency. While 100 dB instantaneous may seem "loud" on paper, if its concentrated in the bass, it may be perceived as loud as a 60-70 dB SPL signal at 1,000 Hz. I use the NIOSH app on my i-phone with it's uncalibrated internal microphone, so I realize its hardly a precision device. And as Amir explains, even measuring "peaks" with such a device involves averaging the sound pressure levels over a period of time, thus understating them. Nevertheless, I do like to use it when attending a live performance, and then attempt to achieve a similar loudness level as measured from my listening position at home. Our local symphony orchestra often streams a recording of a live performance a week after a performance, so after attending and recording LC peaks of 108-112 dB SPL, Lmax readings of 88-90 or so, and instantaneous levels bouncing around between say 40-105 dB SPL, I adjust the gain on my system, typically -10 dB, to produce similar levels at my listening position. I'm sure it is not accurate, but close enough for my purposes and fun just the same.

 

[Dal1as]

I'll have to try this Monday morning. I believe my sweet spot is around 90db in my room. Peaks probably 95.

If your sub is giving out so low you're compressing your desired room curve when you start hitting higher levels.

Better bass response in a room allows your desired sound curve to sound the same at a higher db level.