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Best thing I ever bought was a decibel meter...

Chrispy

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Awesome, was gonna pick up a mic but now I know I'm probably relative close with my app. Was one of those apps you downloaded "Sound Meter"?
Well I'd still get a calibrated measurement mic in general, but yes, one of the apps I've used is Sound Meter (android). It will somewhat be dependent on your phone's mic, too of course. I wouldn't count on it much for extremes of the frequency spectrum.....
 

jkasch

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I’ve been using Decibel X app. Pretty sophisticated.
 

FrantzM

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Music at 55 dB? 75 dB loud? Am I the only one to find this a bit on the low side? Especially 55 dB?
90dB, “A” weighted is loud to me, I rarely listen at those levels … once a while ,,,
 

Chrispy

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Music at 55 dB? 75 dB loud? Am I the only one to find this a bit on the low side? Especially 55 dB?
90dB, “A” weighted is loud to me, I rarely listen at those levels … once a while ,,,
Average? Peak?
 

BDWoody

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Music at 55 dB? 75 dB loud? Am I the only one to find this a bit on the low side? Especially 55 dB?
90dB, “A” weighted is loud to me, I rarely listen at those levels … once a while ,,,

I tend to listen on the louder side, with the occasional visit to reference level land.
 

Dustyc

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Amp makers must hate it one another audiophile buys one of these and sees how even a loud level doesn't require much in the way of power.
 

Chrispy

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Amp makers must hate it one another audiophile buys one of these and sees how even a loud level doesn't require much in the way of power.
I don't think it's limited to amp brands....but it still depends on what you want to achieve more than anything. All the amp manufacturer can do really is offer a particular feature/power spec....or dive into audiophilia of course. Depends on the speakers/room to an extent as well....not easy to just boil down to one audiophile/audiophool in any case.
 

Fenix84

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Music at 55 dB? 75 dB loud? Am I the only one to find this a bit on the low side? Especially 55 dB?
90dB, “A” weighted is loud to me, I rarely listen at those levels … once a while ,,,

Haha i listen to most of my music at 55 db avg, the loudest is around 75db avg.
 
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coonmanx

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Music at 55 dB? 75 dB loud? Am I the only one to find this a bit on the low side? Especially 55 dB?
90dB, “A” weighted is loud to me, I rarely listen at those levels … once a while ,,,
You obviously don't live in an apartment. 90 dB will get you in trouble with your neighbors and management or a visit from Johnny Law if you can't turn it down.
 

mmi

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Handy tip for low volume desktop listeners using mac… you can adjust volume in quarter increments by holding shift + alt when pressing volume keys.

I often wonder if I’ve ever even gotten close to 85db avg on my main system outside a party context. Super loud just isn’t enjoyable for me.
 

sarumbear

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Music at 55 dB? 75 dB loud? Am I the only one to find this a bit on the low side? Especially 55 dB?
90dB, “A” weighted is loud to me, I rarely listen at those levels … once a while ,,,
55dBSPL is a bit low but not unusual. Many people listen music at night when the background noise is low. That level works especially if the music is made by few players, like by a trio or a quartet.

I listen at around 65dBSPL but I have an acoustically treated quiet room. However, if I listen to symphonic or EDM pieces I crank up to 85dBSPL but limit to a short few hours.
 

dfgoiuj

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I bought a Tenma off of Ebay. It is very easy to use and seems to be accurate enough for what I do with it.
I found the Tenma ST-95 which comes with a calibration certificate. Is that the one? Reasonable price in the UK at £49.
 

sarumbear

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I never understood why one cares for a calibrated SPL meter. Why care for a few dB error on how loud you are hearing? Do you check if your multimeter is calibrated?
 
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coonmanx

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I found the Tenma ST-95 which comes with a calibration certificate. Is that the one? Reasonable price in the UK at £49.
Mine says 72-6604. All I know is that it has two scales and is easy to use.
Screenshot at 2022-05-31 12-36-49.png
 

mightycicadalord

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I remember going to a movie with my son one time where the sound was so damn loud I was sure it was giving people hearing damage. I probably should have told someone from the theater but I sat through it with my fingers in my ears for the entire movie. Wish I had a meter with me then. I could have told management, "Hey, this is too damn loud"...

Ah one of the many reasons I haven't bothered to step foot in a theater in many, many years.
 

Astrozombie

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It's never occurred to me to measure that while at the movies, usually because I have my phone turned off i guess.................I use the cell phone apps even though I do have the Radioshack (RIP) SPL meter around somewhere.
 
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