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How loud do you like your music?

How loud do you like your music?

  • Under 70dB

    Votes: 59 20.3%
  • Around 75dB

    Votes: 104 35.9%
  • Around 80dB

    Votes: 72 24.8%
  • Around 85dB

    Votes: 35 12.1%
  • Around 90dB

    Votes: 11 3.8%
  • It has to be over 90dB to enjoy

    Votes: 9 3.1%

  • Total voters
    290

DSJR

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I'm currently playing some music while my better half is out (hell the neighbour - well no, not really :D) One track which upsets the Harbeths AND the house structure is the not-well titled 'I Take Comfort from Your Ignorance' by Ulrich Schnauss (I personally take no comfort whatsoever from ANYONE'S ignorance). There's a bass line which sets the room off and moving outside of said room, it resonantes throughout the building and depite a thick party wall, I'm sure the neighbour gets it as well :(

[edit] -

Now onto Tangerine Dream and Ricochet pt1 and 2. I don't need a 'HiFi' to enjoy this album and in fact it's a mid 70's mid to lo-fi bass-light production no doubt monitored on large monitors :)
 
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DSJR

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We used to have bass and treble controls on amps. They were great.
The IC-150 preamp does have defeatable bass and treble controls, but they only work on the extremes, not the areas I want. I did turn the bass down for that track though :) ).

My 'flat earth 1980's' argument against tone controls was that if you suffer boomy bass (typical BeeBeeCee box from yesteryear used in a bass-issue UK room - I'm trying to be as UK-centric as possible as I believe many US rooms are constructed and sized rather differently to ours), no ampount of eq is really going to fix it, as the bass *quality* will still be boomy, just less of it.

Having said that, the bass 'controls' on modern active speaker models combined with the better coupling between driver and amp, may well work a treat.
 
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killdozzer

killdozzer

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No major hearing loss. Some high frequency loss from FOH work in my youth and the usual loss due to age. (I'm 58)
The ability to create high SPL with minimal distortion is another factor. I have friends whose systems would be taxed to produce that type of level and I would find the distortion unpleasant.
Well then, maybe there's more truth to "the more acoustic treatment and less distortion, the louder you go". I always knew this to be true and even if an album is heavy metal or hard rock (or badly produced), I'd turn the volume down. (And with "crunch" type distortion like some songs by R.E.M. those really claw at my ear-drums).

When it comes to the sample I proposed, what prevented me going higher were the chord strikes on keyboard. (I watched the video, it looked like it was keyboard)
 
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killdozzer

killdozzer

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I'm currently playing some music while my better half is out (hell the neighbour - well no, not really :D) One track which upsets the Harbeths AND the house structure is the not-well titled 'I Take Comfort from Your Ignorance' by Ulrich Schnauss (I personally take no comfort whatsoever from ANYONE'S ignorance). There's a bass line which sets the room off and moving outside of said room, it resonantes throughout the building and depite a thick party wall, I'm sure the neighbour gets it as well :(

[edit] -

Now onto Tangerine Dream and Ricochet pt1 and 2. I don't need a 'HiFi' to enjoy this album and in fact it's a mid 70's mid to lo-fi bass-light production no doubt monitored on large monitors :)
Surprised to see Tangerine here, I really like them (I don't know why :) ). Stratosfear is my favorite album. I suppose it's because I had it on tape when I was very young and kept playing it even before my musical taste developed so it sneaked/smuggled in on time. These days, I can still enjoy Stratosfear, but can't get into any other album by them... (??)
 
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killdozzer

killdozzer

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Interestingly "Drive" is one of the nicest songs in terms of nice recording (weird but nice).
I agree! A lot of their songs are very nice and even that crunch is quite well done on some anniversary remasters. I can finally blast "I Took Your Name"! I love that song.
 

DSJR

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Surprised to see Tangerine here, I really like them (I don't know why :) ). Stratosfear is my favorite album. I suppose it's because I had it on tape when I was very young and kept playing it even before my musical taste developed so it sneaked/smuggled in on time. These days, I can still enjoy Stratosfear, but can't get into any other album by them... (??)
Try to imagine a naive 17 year old at Whitsun 1974 hearing a new friends HiFi system. Two album,s stand out, the first being 'Primeval Rhythm Of Life' by Mandingo, a then well recorded and produced album. i was then shown a blue swirly cover with the words 'Phaedra by Tangerine Dream' in an artistic font printed on the gatefold sleeve. I've said this many times, but hearing Phaedra for the first time totally blew my head off and I and my musical tastes never ever recovered from it (I've never been into recreational medicines apart from alcohol later on, but this track can send you on a journey through many mental vortices). The opening seconds still send me even playing quickly on this dud old laptop and knowing a lot more now of the accidents in sequencer tuning in the swirly bits that introduce the main piece, slowing it down to a propulsive rhythm and re-tuning to match the filtered mellotron section that, edited together and drenched in reverb, became the first few minutes of the title track - Got goose bumps again already and I've played it hundreds of times now - Back to topic, you don't need to play this hugely loudly either, but as long as the room doesn't swamp the slightly murky 'Manor' production, whatever suits :D



Hopefully you'll understand why 'Invisible Limits' is my favourite track from Stratosfear :)
 
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ZolaIII

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Surprised to see Tangerine here, I really like them (I don't know why :) ). Stratosfear is my favorite album. I suppose it's because I had it on tape when I was very young and kept playing it even before my musical taste developed so it sneaked/smuggled in on time. These days, I can still enjoy Stratosfear, but can't get into any other album by them... (??)
Why not, they had some great stuff.
 

Aerith Gainsborough

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Sorry for the wait, but the last 2 days were ... ugh. No Audio time for me.

Disclaimer: Long term listening volume, as in "I can let this run for hours w/o fatigue".
First track:

The Abysmal Region -13dB.png


Control track: nasty, compressed critter, same volume settings but would be too loud for me, long term I'd reduce the volume by 5dB.

Nasty Critter.png


Critical, short term listening would be +5dB from what is measured here. Also, volume depends on spectral content, generally, if there's a lot going on in the high frequencies, comfy volume seems to be lower.

Guess I'm a LOT lower than 75dB (A) average. :X
 

Sokel

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Sorry for the wait, but the last 2 days were ... ugh. No Audio time for me.

Disclaimer: Long term listening volume, as in "I can let this run for hours w/o fatigue".
First track:

View attachment 250429

Control track: nasty, compressed critter, same volume settings but would be too loud for me, long term I'd reduce the volume by 5dB.

View attachment 250431

Critical, short term listening would be +5dB from what is measured here. Also, volume depends on spectral content, generally, if there's a lot going on in the high frequencies, comfy volume seems to be lower.

Guess I'm a LOT lower than 75dB (A) average. :X
You have an impressively low noise floor,are you sure you mic is calibrated in terms of SPL?
I never got to get there and I have a treated room with 70cm of concrete around,4 meters low basement and very low traffic at night.
Lowest I can get is 33dbA.
(except if treated sealed room,then it's natural)
 

steve59

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There must be something wrong with calibration on my phone/app because it shows ambient noise in my basement listening room around 60db during the day and 40db average at night. Makes me wonder how accurate it is when it says i'm listening in the mid 90's
 

Sokel

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There must be something wrong with calibration on my phone/app because it shows ambient noise in my basement listening room around 60db during the day and 40db average at night. Makes me wonder how accurate it is when it says i'm listening in the mid 90's
40db what?What weighting?
 

steve59

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ambient noise
 

steve59

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If by Z you mean none it's Z. Next time I get a chance i'll check with A & C.
 

Sokel

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If by Z you mean none it's Z. Next time I get a chance i'll check with A & C.
See the photo at my #17 post in this thread,in REW's SPL meter there's all 3 and some other friends here also posted the response of each weighting.
The vary a lot in terms of ambient noise as it may have a lot of low freq content.
 

Aerith Gainsborough

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You have an impressively low noise floor,are you sure you mic is calibrated in terms of SPL?
I never got to get there and I have a treated room with 70cm of concrete around,4 meters low basement and very low traffic at night.
Lowest I can get is 33dbA.
(except if treated sealed room,then it's natural)
It's a very quiet neighborhood away from big roads and a quiet house. Typically noise floor is at around 42 to 46dB.
It is quiet enough that I am bothered by my own breathing most of all unless my fridge does it's thing. :'D

The mic is a UMIK with it's own calibration file. Keep in mind that the A weighting kicks out the bass, which is where ambient noise in a city is loudest.
 
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killdozzer

killdozzer

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It's a very quiet neighborhood away from big roads and a quiet house. Typically noise floor is at around 42 to 46dB.
It is quiet enough that I am bothered by my own breathing most of all unless my fridge does it's thing. :'D

The mic is a UMIK with it's own calibration file. Keep in mind that the A weighting kicks out the bass, which is where ambient noise in a city is loudest.
I also have a very quiet environment. My guess is, it's because I'm high up. Some of the noise weakens until it reaches me. I have average 24dB day time A-weighted, 42dB Z-weighted, 31dB B-weighted. Night-time it goes down, of course.
 
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killdozzer

killdozzer

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Almost 40% for around 75dB and together with the next one above (80dB) it's close to 65% falling into 75-80dB average.

And there I was thinking it's mostly me... :D
 
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