How loud do you normally have your music?

[scrubb]

With regard to my permanent tinnitus, it's not so much how loud I play my music at home, but how loud my rock band used to play, coupled with the rock shows for which I mixed sound, coupled with the rock shows I attended, and the terrible A/V crew intercom headsets which often included sudden loud squealing. Now I have a permanent reminder of how much fun it all was.

 

[Deleted member 46664]

I had a theft situation and lost all my pooder gear. Even the backup drive was taken. That's when I went online and subscribed to a online backup solution for some years. Now I just backup to a hardware encrypted thumb drive that I keep hidden and don't store music files.

I know how that feels ... had a house fire several years ago lost everything including about 20 feet of vinyl on shelving.

And... many thanks to my neighbour who decided to make french fries at 3:00am and promptly fell asleep.

 

[sarumbear]

I play mine at 100% of the PC's volume control except for movies where I turn it down to about 1/2 the way to full. I can hear my headphones across the room clear as can be except the bass is non-existent. Maybe I need a more powerful amp.

In other words you don’t know.

 

[Doodski]

In other words you don’t know.

No. I don't have a mic.

 

[sarumbear]

No. I don't have a mic.

You can use an app on your phone, which will be accurate enough for the purpose. Some apps are even free!

 

[Plcamp]

I’ve not calibrated to sitting position spl, but the range my e30 outputs to power amp is -45 to -20 db, with the latter being the loudest I listen (with Paradigm towers at about 15’ listening distance).

Makes me believe I don’t need a big power amp, the Adcom 535II (rated @about 80W) I fixed up is more than sufficient.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

You can use an app on your phone, which will be accurate enough for the purpose. Some apps are even free!

yup, and they are surprisingly sensitive and reasonably accurate. Certainly within a couple dbs. I have several different free ones on my phone...quite handy actually.

On an un-related note, I'd suggest if you happen to be in a circumstance where you are constantly brick-walling your set-up (aka maxing out the volume) and still finding it a little too quiet at times you might want to invest in a dedicated amp with some more horsepower. Headphone amps are pretty inexpensive and you can easily get enough power that it will never be an issue again.

 

[kthulhutu]

I usually gravitate around 75-80 dBa depending on mood and more importantly the mix I am listening to. I find a good recording and mix goes a LONG way to increase perceived volume without me having to crank the volume control. I usually listen in shortish bursts of around 30 minutes.

I doubt your poll will help you find any correlation with tinnitus. There are many non-sonic causes of tinnitus and many more loud sound sources that people are exposed to such as heavy traffic, power tools, gunshots, loud shouting, industrial machinery etc that are more significant causes of hearing damage than your average stereo system.

 

[Deleted member 46664]

I usually gravitate around 75-80 dBa depending on mood and more importantly the mix I am listening to. I find a good recording and mix goes a LONG way to increase perceived volume without me having to crank the volume control. I usually listen in shortish bursts of around 30 minutes.

I doubt your poll will help you find any correlation with tinnitus. There are many non-sonic causes of tinnitus and many more loud sound sources that people are exposed to such as heavy traffic, power tools, gunshots, loud shouting, industrial machinery etc that are more significant causes of hearing damage than your average stereo system.

It's just curiosity ... I'm not conducting some kind of scientific research ....

 

[Mart68]

I downloaded an spl meter app on my phone to take part.

according to that, hand-held at listening position, and with me holding my breath, background noise is registering 20dB. I'm surprised it is so low, although it is quiet round here most of the time. Plus I suppose this is uncalibrated.

With 'GoldFrapp' playing, and at levels a bit lower than I'd 'seriously listen at, I'm getting around 55dB constant, peaking to 70dB.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

yeah 20dbs of ambient BG noise is a nice quiet room. My Livingroom (where the big system is) registers about 30dbs at best...which isn't bad either really. Currently sitting in my bedroom with the radio playing quietly and a window cracked with some traffic noise outside and I'm ranging between 39-45dbs...

 

[Mart68]

yeah 20dbs of ambient BG noise is a nice quiet room. My Livingroom (where the big system is) registers about 30dbs at best...which isn't bad either really. Currently sitting in my bedroom with the radio playing quietly and a window cracked with some traffic noise outside and I'm ranging between 39-45dbs...

I have double glazing all over, one of the adjacent houses is empty and the other neighbour rarely makes any noise at all. Plus house is on a side-street. There is some road traffic but never a constant flow of it. Even so I suspect the app is registering a bit too low.

 

[Holmz]

A danger with low distortion speakers, is having it louder than it sounds.

 

[threni]

My other poll question about Tinnitus and the surprising discovery that 80% of us seem to have it, got me wondering ...

Well, 80% of people who responded to a thread about tinnitus. If you had a thread about rehab you'de find most of us are recovering drug addicts. Actually, maybe you're right...

 

[Deleted member 46664]

Well, 80% of people who responded to a thread about tinnitus. If you had a thread about rehab you'de find most of us are recovering drug addicts. Actually, maybe you're right...

Like I said ... I'm not conducting any kind of analysis ... it's just curiosity and I thought some of you might enjoy the topics.

 

[Holmz]

Of course it was 80%.
People do not look at the thread who did not have the condition.

 

[CtheArgie]

It depends if my wife is home or not, or if my son holds the remote control.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

Of course it was 80%.
People do not look at the thread who did not have the condition.

I don't know about that...I mean if the title of the thread is "Do you have tinnitus?" and the thread includes a poll with a yes or no option, why wouldn't people who don't have tinnitus respond? I would assume the 80% number is on the high side, but not by as much as you might think. Also, I have tinnitus and I don't look at every tinnitus thread either so that goes both ways.

 

[bo_knows]

I turn up the volume until the vocals sound realistic. This usually puts me in the 80-90db range (C weighted).
Sometimes I check the levels with my i-phone and try to stay at or below 85db average C weighted.
I can only listen for an hour or so at that level before right ear fatigue sets in and let me know that session is over.
I do crave details and dynamics and in order to hear them (due to my age and KEF reference low distortion), I end up turning the volume up. Good thing is that I may have only a few critical listening sessions like this a week.

 

[ernestcarl]

I used to be in the "I like it pretty darned loud" crowd, but due to noise complaints I now mostly belong in the "moderately loud" to "loud enough" listener group.