If 3db increases power by double.....

TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
does it also increase volume by double?
That is the issue of having enough power to play wide dynamic material with wide dynamic range. A 1 db increase is just about what you can detect, some seem to need a 2 db increase. 3 db is the first step up the ladder easily detectable.

In listening to uncompressed sources the average power is low but peak power high. That is why you actually need higher power reserve from a lot of classical music ad opera, then you do for pop and rock music.
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
does it also increase volume by double?
'Loudness' is the perceived change in amplitude. 'Loudness' is a psychoacoustic metric so its not an absolute and so is subject to individual differences. There is some other oddities such that while many people perceive a 10 dB increase as a doubling of loudness, they perceive a 6 dB reduction as a halving of loudness. And this is all frequency dependent too. Increases in loudness changes its scale depending on frequency, so it depends on whether we are talking about bass, midranges, or upper treble. The don't react the same to human perception, even for the same corresponding changes in SPL. For my own perception, I would say that a 10 dB increase is quite a bit more than a doubling.
 
davidscott

davidscott

Audioholic Ninja
'Loudness' is the perceived change in amplitude. 'Loudness' is a psychoacoustic metric so its not an absolute and so is subject to individual differences. There is some other oddities such that while many people perceive a 10 dB increase as a doubling of loudness, they perceive a 6 dB reduction as a halving of loudness. And this is all frequency dependent too. Increases in loudness changes its scale depending on frequency, so it depends on whether we are talking about bass, midranges, or upper treble. The don't react the same to human perception, even for the same corresponding changes in SPL. For my own perception, I would say that a 10 dB increase is quite a bit more than a doubling.
Agreed.
 
JerryLove

JerryLove

Audioholic Samurai
Putting a second speaker playing at the same volume would be +6db... so it would be the most literal "doubling" of loudness :)
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
On your avr with a dB volume scale pretty easy to tell for yourself what 3dB difference is...or 6 or 10....
 
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