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How loud do you listen (loudspeaker users)?

How loud do you normally listen (dB-A)?

  • 50-60 dB

    Votes: 13 7.1%
  • 60-70 dB

    Votes: 48 26.2%
  • 70-80 dB

    Votes: 83 45.4%
  • 80-90 dB

    Votes: 28 15.3%
  • 90+

    Votes: 11 6.0%

  • Total voters
    183

Thomas savage

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I tend to try to listen to what I consider "realistic" levels, so if I am listening to the sort of folk music I usually listen to unamplified in a small club the level will be less than rock music.
A big Symphony will have a much lower average loudness than the peaks and quiet bits, if the recording is any good, so I have given a typical listening level in the "medium" bits. Peaks will be 20dB more and quiet bits 40dB less.
Same here, if I'm listing to a jazz trio I want it to sound as lond as it dose in the village vanguard or similar venue.

Most audiophiles iv ment listen ridiculously low level on the sound meter . I cant see the point of that unless its background music .

Its ment to sound real lol
 

dasdoing

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ended up with 81dBc with dolby pink noise.
with that beaing said: this is the calibration I ended up with by ear using -14LUFS Spotify as main source

and this is the starting point. use this only ocasionaly (weekends) and when not will atenuate with ISO loudness correction, most of the time in 6dB steps, sometimes as low as -38dB
 

Marmus

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Everyone sure likes it quiet. You want to die with hearing left? You may all be young and scared. Don't worry. Go loud. 120-130 is what rock was made for. 80 is for grandpa in a rockin chair. Huh?
 

Marmus

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That is a good point and maybe why we have much better tweeters now. Like the B&W diamonds. But honestly while I like highs I love bass and drum Impact.

I do enjoy a dead quiet room. Will turn off AC and anything else in the house. Also will wait until early morning even when living in the country. But inevitably the knob goes up as the listening session goes on. Have found that the ringing is always gone within 3 days. ;-) I don't usually listen that loud for that long anymore. 110dB for 30 minutes Is not unusual though. All this with speakers. I go light on headphones and in ears. That does bring out tinnitus quickly.

One point t all tis was power required. I use 2 old, modified 555s in a 17x19x23ft very solid room with strategically placed short deflection absorption and a little corner reflection diffraction to keep sound pressure as high as possible. So 400rm/chan and 8ft away. 120dB max there.
 
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Pdxwayne

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That is a good point and maybe why we have much better tweeters now. Like the B&W diamonds. But honestly while I like highs I love bass and drum Impact.

I do enjoy a dead quiet room. Will turn off AC and anything else in the house. Also will wait until early morning even when living in the country. But inevitably the knob goes up as the listening session goes on. Have found that the ringing is always gone within 3 days. ;-) I don't usually listen that loud for that long anymore. 110dB for 30 minutes Is not unusual though. All this with speakers. I go light on headphones and in ears. That does bring out tinnitus quickly.
In my car, I could easily get over 100db, C weighted.

Can't really do this at home as bass notes would shake the walls too much....
 

kevin1969

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At 54, my hearing ain't great either. Last time I tested myself I was topping out around 14.5khz. Plus, I have some tinnitus. I also live in an apartment and I'm pretty careful to avoid annoying my neighbors. Under normal circumstances my listening is in the 65-70db area (at my LP of course) but every once in a while I'll push it up to 75dbs or so. Frankly, 75dbs is pretty loud. Even if I was in a house and could crank it up if I wanted to I probably wouldn't go much over 75-80 very often. I put myself in the 70-80 bracket of the poll as that's basically my max level.

Could not plucking ear hairs help with higher frequency hearing?

Asking for a friend.
 

Andysu

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Movies/music 70 - 80dBA peak. Hearing is sensitive to high frequencies then hearing rolls off and less sensitive at the upper higher frequencies which can be boasted turned so they are just about perceived as pinching effect but maybe annoying to my two cats as their range is up to 90KHz.
 
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jcarys

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I've been monitoring this lately since I keep getting roped into threads at AVS Forum with newbies who think they need external amps for their new Klipsch home theater. (When I bought Klipsch Heresy speakers about 40 years ago one of the selling points was that they didn't need anything special for amps, but I guess it's fallen out of their marketing materials.) I keep pointing to the watts vs. spl calculator and try to convince them they don't need more than their shiny new receiver. They must all think that product designers have absolutely no concept how the receiver will be used. Anyway, I try to get movies about 75db with some peaks jumping to the low 80s. I agree with others here - for music, there is a "just" volume which recreates the performance (rock band, jazz combo, symphony) and that's what I try for. It's usually less loud than movies and notably fewer explosions.
 

Marmus

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That is a good point and maybe why we have much better tweeters now. Like the B&W diamonds. But honestly while I like highs I love bass and drum Impact.

I do enjoy a dead quiet room. Will turn off AC and anything else in the house. Also will wait until early morning even when living in the country. But inevitably the knob goes up as the listening session goes on. Have found that the ringing is always gone within 3 days. ;-) I don't usually listen that loud for that long anymore. 110dB for 30 minutes Is not unusual though. All this with speakers. I go light on headphones and in ears. That does bring out tinnitus quickly.

One point t all tis was power required. I use 2 old, modified 555s in a 17x19x23ft very solid room with strategically placed short deflection absorption and a little corner reflection diffraction to keep sound pressure as high as possible. So 400rm/chan and 8ft away. 120dB max there.

**That was supposed to be an 11ft high ceiling, NOT 23 ft. I am shorter than that. Ended up being 10.5ft when all done.
 

Pdxwayne

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**That was supposed to be an 11ft high ceiling, NOT 23 ft. I am shorter than that. Ended up being 10.5ft when all done.
Good for you to have a good solid room.

I just listened to Wonder Women's Wonder Women's Wrath in my large living room that is wide open to whole house. 90db C weighted average for most of the song as measured from my seat and it is already pretty nice. Any louder my daughter upstairs in her room would yell at me. ; )
 

Beershaun

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I'm surprised at the huge range of listening levels people consider comfortable. I wonder how much is due to variation in our measuring tools? I am using just my android phone and the free Sound Spectrum Analyzer app. So definitely not a calbrated mic.

For folks listening in the 80-90 or higher band: If you use the same free app on your personal smart phone what do you get? Does it match up or does it drop into the 70-80 range?
 

polmuaddib

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My silent room is around 30 to 35 dbA. When music is around 65 to 70dbA, it is not really involving. Only between 75 to 85dbA music sounds better. I live in appartmant and it is impossible to go louder. I think that my neighbors are nice enough to tolerate these levels.
BTW, when the dog barks, couple of meters away, SPL meter jumps to 95dbA....
 

Pdxwayne

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I'm surprised at the huge range of listening levels people consider comfortable. I wonder how much is due to variation in our measuring tools? I am using just my android phone and the free Sound Spectrum Analyzer app. So definitely not a calbrated mic.

For folks listening in the 80-90 or higher band: If you use the same free app on your personal smart phone what do you get? Does it match up or does it drop into the 70-80 range?
Tool is an analog RadioShack Sound Level Meter. I don't use any free phone app.

Don't know why this thread only asking for A weighted. This is not telling the full story of actual volume. Bass is a big part of my music listening and thus C weighted should be more appropriate.
 

Marmus

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I'm surprised at the huge range of listening levels people consider comfortable. I wonder how much is due to variation in our measuring tools? I am using just my android phone and the free Sound Spectrum Analyzer app. So definitely not a calbrated mic.

For folks listening in the 80-90 or higher band: If you use the same free app on your personal smart phone what do you get? Does it match up or does it drop into the 70-80 range?

I have used a handheld Radio Shack dB meter, typcially all C weighted, and a spectrum analyzer with calibrated mic (from Parts Express). Used the same (both) for in car, at home, and at work (at engine test cells). The spectrum analyzer and cal mic system only goes to 120, the handheld pegs at 150. Also checked in car against another system. Readings appear repeatable but there are easily +/- 3dB to 5dB due to atmoshpheric conditions (heat/humid) that affect the sound generators and I suspect the mic outdoors like the car and engines, these we not done back to back in controlled conditions. But comfortable? nah at 120+, no not really. >than about 115 takes some effort (risk v reward you know), 130+ you know you are getting hurt, the 150+ your insides hurt but that was not music.
 

Beershaun

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Right. Our peak SPL measurements may not be defined the same way.

Whelp. If people are interested you can download the free app I mentioned to your phone and take a measurement so we are all using the same definition and tool with similar inaccuracies to see how different we are vs. how different our measurement tools are.
 
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My loudness preference depends mostly on the genre and given song, and whether I am doing serious listening or just for background. But coming from the music of the 60s and 70s and having worked in recording studios that recorded and mixed commonly at 100dB+average SPLs, I tend to listen around that level for certain rock tracks when I am alone and not disturbing anyone. But I only do that for short periods and not always throughout a whole song. For example with Stairway to Heaven I only really crank it up at the climactic ending that may be 110dB+ average SPL. But then I back off for a while with much quieter music to let the ears recover before another onslaught.

By the way, I hope everyone here knows that the commonly referenced official recommendation of 85dBA is based on a constant SPL for 8 hours because it is a workplace noise exposure requirement. I rarely listen to music seriously for more than around 1.5-2 hours and then at greatly varying levels. Applying the 3dB increase for each halving of exposure time gives a 106dB SPL limit for 3.75 minute period or about one song at a constant level. Now some songs don't have much dynamic range so they may be relatively close to a constant SPL so even one song played at 106dB SPL can be close to the recommended daily exposure limit. But I have applied my rule of letting my ears rest for a while before subjecting them to more high-level music and my hearing threshold has only changed about as much as my age-related loss accounts for. I know this because I had my hearing tested after my last job before I retired, so I can say that the method works as I have listened to many songs at high levels in my life.

Finally, I would like to offer that I think that for the best enjoyment and accuracy of music, it ought to be played at an SPL approximately the same as what it was recorded and mixed at. While that is impossible to know, a reasonable guess is probably not far off.
 

krott5333

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NIOSH has a free db app for iphone that I've found to be quite accurate when comparing to a calibrated db meter. (Within 1db usually). I highly recommend it. Unfortunately not available for Android (too many manufacturers, microphones, and gain levels to account for)
 
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