How Loud do you listen to your Music/HT?? (DB)

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Yeah, I hardly ever listen to above 82dBA, which does not measure the subs at all. But in dBC, which measures subs + speakers, I can tolerate 105-110dBC okay.

 

[jcunwired]

What I can tolerate and what my intelligence tells me I shouldn't tolerate are two different things.

We are usually somewhere around -25dB to -20dB from reference, on occasion to -16dB. I don't recall listening to anything louder than that.

 

[Blackmambakila]

I like to go as high as it can go without distortion, i love when the bass shakes everything

 

[Lulimet]

75-80 DB if listening to music, 85-90 at most if watching movies.

 

[afterlife2]

Mine is between -38.5db to -28.5db for HT/Music(Also depend on the material some are recorded low). I really don't blast it, since I live in an apt, but weekend I do. for GI Joe 2 this past weekend I had it up to 25.5db. I was a rockin'.

 

[3db]

I have two levels depending whether or not my other half is at home.

 

[16hz lover]

Years of manufacturing and mechanical work have taken its toll on my hearing, and I usually listen to live levels as if I'm in the middle of the band ( which I spent a lot of time doing )

I like 120 db peaks with sustained 90-100 db levels as I usually am playing a wind instrument along with the music.

 

[avengineer]

This is an interesting but fairly pointless discussion. We're throwing around four different terms resulting in four different kinds of measurements, sometimes in the same post and sentence.

There's "Peak", "Average", then "dbA", and "dbC". That produces these combinations, which for the same signal will read very differently, and are shown here in decreasing order of maximum reading for the same signal:

dBC Peak
dBC Average
dBA Peak
dBA Average

Then we get into the actual integration time of both the "peak" and "average" functions, which will further skew the numbers.

If we're going to have any meaningful comparison, how about we all stick to the same type of measurements? And, as long as we're at it, for any comparison to be valid we should all use the same test signal.

So let me suggest we start this over. This time, set your volume control where you usually listen, then using an SPL meter set for dBC Average (slow), play this file (burned to a disc if you need to) and record the result, post it here.

This is a 15 second -20dBFS uncorrelated pink noise FLAC file:
https://filetea.me/t1saMckK415SgxTXEQRyHYqMw

This is a 15 second -20dBFS uncorrelated pink noise .mp3 file:
https://filetea.me/t1se3gnsX8jSo2x5HDwp4eNIg

Use whatever's easier.

If we now all measure our systems the same way, we'll have something we can talk about. True, we'll still have meter calibration issues, but that shouldn't be more than +/- 2dB. What we will have is an average level measurement with a -20 signal. Since we know that film tracks are mixed at 85dB SPL with 20dB of headroom, we know that we an get peaks up to 105dB SPL before we run out of undistorted data. If our test files measure at 85dBC, then we know our maximum peak will be at 105dBC, etc. This ignores woofer cal to 115dB, of course, but that's not about loudness anyway.

 

[chaluga]

Not everyone here is invested as you for stats. Its called a ballpark figure . It is interesting to me. If someone says they listen at -30 db and another at -10 db I can guarantee the latter is a lot louder. By exactly how much , not important since I am not changing my habits to match others. Go ahead start another measurement thread.

 

[avengineer]

There is a 10dB differential just between peak and average. There can be about that much between a dbA and dbC measurement as well. I would think reducing a potential 10 to 20 dB measurement error would be of use to anyone.

I would call a 10dB - 20dB measurement disagreement on the same signal a pretty big ballpark!

When somebody says they are listening at -30 or -10 they are referring to the volume setting on their AVR. That's arbitrary, and unless calibrated, has very little meaning when it comes to actual loudness in the room.

I really don't care about stats, but if we're going to ask "how loud do you listen" and come up with 30dB differences, that points to not everyone even using the same figures. Now we aren't in the same ballpark. We're not even playing the same sport.

And that's just dumb.

 

[chaluga]

Think I will turn it up

 

[avengineer]

Think I will turn it up

I think your pre-edit post was more interesting. And yes, you definitely need an SPL meter, or at least google to learn what one is used for.

 

[MidnightSensi2]

Mostly music I listen around 75.

Movies I listen at reference, so, peaks can hit 115dB, but, average is much lower (guessing mid 80s, except for action movies).

Highest I've measured in room on a tripod was 120dB. I took some tiles off the shower down the hall. lol. I used hearing protection, but, was fun.

 

[fuzz092888]

That's definitely something I find amusing. Pop the earplugs in and put the ear muffs on as well, then turn things up to about +10 and see what shakes loose

Mostly music I listen around 75.

Movies I listen at reference, so, peaks can hit 115dB, but, average is much lower (guessing mid 80s, except for action movies).

Highest I've measured in room on a tripod was 120dB. I took some tiles off the shower down the hall. lol. I used hearing protection, but, was fun.

 

[MidnightSensi2]

That's definitely something I find amusing. Pop the earplugs in and put the ear muffs on as well, then turn things up to about +10 and see what shakes loose

This world will eat you up and spit you out, gotta have some fun in the meantime.

Shower tiles off was the best. Since my room is all concrete block (requires a lot of bass traps) its easy to pressurize, so another fun thing is if you leave the door halfway open and play something even at levels you can tolerate, the door shuts for you. My doors are all solid wood too heh.

 

[3db]

With the wife between 75-80 db but I should check this,
without the wife, 85 - 90 on a few occasions include movies and listening to music. However, I genrally keep it between 80 and 85db as I want to keep my hearing.

 

[fuzz092888]

This world will eat you up and spit you out, gotta have some fun in the meantime.

Shower tiles off was the best. Since my room is all concrete block (requires a lot of bass traps) its easy to pressurize, so another fun thing is if you leave the door halfway open and play something even at levels you can tolerate, the door shuts for you. My doors are all solid wood too heh.

Agreed

My space is a b!tch to pressurize, but it can get pretty good with the volume high enough and with the right scene. That's sweet, I wish I could close stuff with subwoofers. One can dream............

 

[Bachtoven]

I listen almost entirely to classical music these days--probably around 80-85 tops. I spent too many years attending 125db+ metal shows--gotta give my ears a rest! Probably the loudest concert was Jimi Hendrix in 1970 when I was a young teen--my ears rang for nearly a week! He did warn us, though: "This is going to be loud, but dig it." It was. We did. When I think back it was foolish to attend those shows without earplugs. Deep Purple, Rainbow, and Black Sabbath were freakin' loud, too!

 

[Grador]

Been meaning to post for a while, but have been to lazy to bust out the SPL meter. Looks like for casual listening I keep it at around 65 db. When I'm going for a more dedicated listening experience I bump it up to a whopping 75. 85 is getting very loud for me.

 

[MidnightSensi2]

Been meaning to post for a while, but have been to lazy to bust out the SPL meter. Looks like for casual listening I keep it at around 65 db. When I'm going for a more dedicated listening experience I bump it up to a whopping 75. 85 is getting very loud for me.

For at my desk, I'd say I'm at 65 too. For listening all day, that's a good level, provided your in a quiet room. The other thing easy to forget is if you lower your noise floor (A/C, road noise, people, whatever is around your listening area), you may also listen at a lower volume.

Best example is airplanes with regular headphones: On the ground, your iPod (or whatever) might be at 3/10, then in air...it's like 7/10, but feels like its the same volume.