Listening Volume - What is your preference?

Origami

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Probably been asked before but I thought I would ask anyway, how loud or quiet do you normally listen to music on your system?

I have always liked to listen at a fairly loud volume, not because I’m antisocial but simply because the system doesn’t sound right until you get everything “under load” so to speak. I have never seen the point of having a system that can blow the balls off a charging rhino at 100 paces if you don’t ever give it “some welly”.

So, how loud do you have your system for your normal listening pleasure?
 
If I'm in on my own, fairly loud, but not too loud that I can't enjoy it. If my mrs or little one are in, its whatever they turn it down too, neither like loud music :(
 
It depends on my mood and the music but generally louder rather than quieter. I agree with your sentiment about getting the system 'under load'. For me there is a sweet spot for every album some need to be louder than others.
 
Louder...

My preference to get the sound I like is -30db to -40db indicated on the amp. When the need for quitet arises then -50db is about as low as I'm willing to go (-75db is mute).

Also depends on source. The CD player is louder then the streamer at the same indicated volume.
 
90% of the time my speakers only get a blast when it’s just me listening as wife doesn’t like it loud. I like to hear every detail and like to feel a little bass if it’s electronic music. Either way if the music gets played in the lounge via the floor standers. Then they get played loud. I’f friends are around it’ll be played low for back ground music... otherwise headphones are your friend. 😉
kitchen and bedrooms are squeezebox booms so not that loud.
ps I’m lucky enough to have detached house so can turn it up when required... but not often enough in my opinion... but that’s life.
 
90% of the time my speakers only get a blast when it’s just me listening as wife doesn’t like it loud. I like to hear every detail and like to feel a little bass if it’s electronic music. Either way if the music gets played in the lounge via the floor standers. Then they get played loud. I’f friends are around it’ll be played low for back ground music... otherwise headphones are your friend. 😉
kitchen and bedrooms are squeezebox booms so not that loud.
ps I’m lucky enough to have detached house so can turn it up when required... but not often enough in my opinion... but that’s life.

I’m very similar to your situation. I play it loud when alone but simply don’t bother when Mrs is home as she hates my excellent music taste and the volume. I like to hear the details too but I found that without a sub the bass response just isn’t there at lower volumes. I have started using a sub recently as I was offered one for peanuts and thought it would be worth a try. I like it but it hasn’t cured my preference to play it loud. I will probably upgrade to a decent sub now I have convinced myself of its value to the overall experience. I also live detached so I am lucky that I can have loud time without disturbing the neighbours.
 
Loud.
My system has oodles of power and goes very loud. I don't do very loud. Just loud.
 
60-65dB for background, 75-80dB with room for 90dB peaks for critical listening. That's plently loud for clarity, any louder than that then distortion from room modes sets in, and I really can't be a*sed with fannying about with room treatments, acoustic panels, etc.
 
60-65dB for background, 75-80dB with room for 90dB peaks for critical listening. That's plently loud for clarity, any louder than that then distortion from room modes sets in, and I really can't be a*sed with fannying about with room treatments, acoustic panels, etc.

As others have mentioned there is definitely a sweet spot where everything just sounds right. Probably on the louder side if anything.
 
As others have mentioned there is definitely a sweet spot where everything just sounds right. Probably on the louder side if anything.
On the louder side of what? What is louder? Loud for you may not be loud for someone else. I think it also depends very much on the kind of music being played.
 
True, my loud is way too loud for the Mrs and kids.. and it can go loud, but sweet spot is just sort of loud... unfortunately I can’t measure the volume.... guess that’s why they called loud speakers.

I know it’s too loud when I’m walking around the house and it’s loud in every room..😅

I did watch a lot of bands and go out to clubs when I was younger.. so hearing is selective... I mean poor. (just incase my wife reads this) 😁
 
On the louder side of what? What is louder? Loud for you may not be loud for someone else. I think it also depends very much on the kind of music being played.

Well, if you have been to a festival lately, they are waaaayyyy tooo loud for me so definitely not that loud. Not so loud that your ears are ringing afterwards. Probably loud enough that you can't here the phone ringing or the doorbell. But it does depend on the music. For example when my wife plays what she describes as music I really just want to turn it down so that I cannot hear it or preferably off...
 
True, my loud is way too loud for the Mrs and kids.. and it can go loud, but sweet spot is just sort of loud... unfortunately I can’t measure the volume.... guess that’s why they called loud speakers.

I know it’s too loud when I’m walking around the house and it’s loud in every room..😅

I did watch a lot of bands and go out to clubs when I was younger.. so hearing is selective... I mean poor. (just incase my wife reads this) 😁

Sadly my years of driving around the country with my music way too loud in the car has taken its toll so I like everything loud now. It drives my wife crackers because she thinks I'm clinically deaf but it is just the upper frequencies that have been impacted for my hearing, I had it tested and they confirmed what I thought. And yet I still love HiFi even when I can't hear it properly anymore. I think when the time comes, I will go to my maker with a custom sound system inside the coffin playing at an antisocially loud volume 🤣
 
For other reasons, I tested the output of my Stereo to get a sense of the Volume -

Here is the Volume Level I got for various positions of the Volume Control -

9 o'clock = 75dB
10 o'clock = 85db
11 o'clock = 90db
12 o'clock = 94db
1 o'clock = 98db

This is using my Turntable as a Source.

I think I typically play in the 10 o'clock position. For a party, in the 11 o'clock position. On nights when the booze and smoke were flowing, then 12 o'clock position. On very rare occasions, the 1 o'clock position but typically for just one song. The 1 o'clock is really too loud in the average room. People start to leave and move to rooms where the sound is less intense.

Just so we are clear, these are (more or less) Average Levels. Peaks can go much higher.

Though not really relevant to the current Discussion, if you want to read the thread where I made the tests, you can find it here - (data from post# 13) -


Of course, this is with an Analog Volume Control, Digital Volume Controls have thrown this way off. On a scale of 100, I'm typically in the 50 to 80 range with most music in the roughly 70 to 75 range.

FYI

Steve/Bluewizard
 
Well, if you have been to a festival lately, they are waaaayyyy tooo loud for me so definitely not that loud.

At home I tend to listen moderately loud whilst working with the occasional burst when the mood takes me, however I have set my system up so that it will not go too loud (active speakers set so that my preamp is around half way for normal listening which is only about 1/4 of the pot on the rear of the speakers so lots more headroom, they will go to 115dB/1m continuous if needs be!!!). But a lot of the time I have music on infinitesimally quiet (i.e. off), and this seems to correspond to when SWMBO is around as she hates my type of music and I like to keep the peace/bits of my anatomy/letters form lawyers dropping on the door mat.

Interesting point about festivals, I try and listen live music as often as I could (or did), and have found over the past 5 years the volume has significantly dropped inside venues due to the H&S laws now in place for them. An unscientific phone app measurement has most now around 90d(A) in the middle of the room so a bit louder at the front and a bit quieter at the back. At 92dB(A) you have a 2 1/2 hour listening window before you break the action limits which is consistent with what I have seen/heard i.e. those at the upper end of this scale leave a slight muffle/ring but it is gone overnight. And to be hones it is all the better for it, more definition to the sound and some bands have almost been like listening to a live CD but with the crowd noise and atmosphere, best example was Tesseract at the Shepherds Bush Empire, great band, great mixing, great venue.

Finally, surprisingly for someone in middle age and having frequented many loud gigs in the past and played for many years in a brass band I can still hear past 14kHz (just).

So, I think "how loud" is very dependent on anatomy (hearing range), history (abuse/damage), situation (neighbours/family) and mood and to some extent the quality of the recording and what it is being played on.
 
For other reasons, I tested the output of my Stereo to get a sense of the Volume -

Here is the Volume Level I got for various positions of the Volume Control -

9 o'clock = 75dB
10 o'clock = 85db
11 o'clock = 90db
12 o'clock = 94db
1 o'clock = 98db

This is using my Turntable as a Source.

I think I typically play in the 10 o'clock position. For a party, in the 11 o'clock position. On nights when the booze and smoke were flowing, then 12 o'clock position. On very rare occasions, the 1 o'clock position but typically for just one song. The 1 o'clock is really too loud in the average room. People start to leave and move to rooms where the sound is less intense.

Just so we are clear, these are (more or less) Average Levels. Peaks can go much higher.

Though not really relevant to the current Discussion, if you want to read the thread where I made the tests, you can find it here - (data from post# 13) -


Of course, this is with an Analog Volume Control, Digital Volume Controls have thrown this way off. On a scale of 100, I'm typically in the 50 to 80 range with most music in the roughly 70 to 75 range.

FYI

Steve/Bluewizard

That’s really interesting. That 10db kick you get at 9 o’clock to 10 o’clock makes me think you have a valve amp as that is a characteristic of these and then they struggle to gain much after that initial kick. Having said that a lot of amps seem to reach peak volume with lots of volume knob movement still available. I did blow a tweeter once by going too loud so I try to be sympathetic to my equipment.
 
That’s really interesting. That 10db kick you get at 9 o’clock to 10 o’clock makes me think you have a valve amp as that is a characteristic of these and then they struggle to gain much after that initial kick. Having said that a lot of amps seem to reach peak volume with lots of volume knob movement still available. I did blow a tweeter once by going too loud so I try to be sympathetic to my equipment.

This was with a Yamaha RX-797 Stereo Receiver (100w/ch). At the link provided is a photo of my system.

9 o'clock is pretty soft, that would be for very casual background listening. Most often I'm in the 10 o'clock range.

Also, most analog volume controls use what I think might be a Reverse Audio Taper. The control is scaled to put most of the gain in the beginning, and less on the end of the control where fast gain could be dangerous.

My Analog Control Amp was quiet but usable at 9 o'clock. My Digital Control Amp comes on at 45 on a scale of 100, and is just barely audible, and as mentioned, I typically play music in the 70's and movies just touching and slightly into the 80's. But it makes me nervous, because I don't have much room to go on the dial, and the Power is going to ramp up massively in those last 20 units of volume dial.

I much preferred the Analog Volume Controls, but the world is changing and we have no choice but to change with it.

Steve/bluewizard
 
This was with a Yamaha RX-797 Stereo Receiver (100w/ch). At the link provided is a photo of my system.

9 o'clock is pretty soft, that would be for very casual background listening. Most often I'm in the 10 o'clock range.

Also, most analog volume controls use what I think might be a Reverse Audio Taper. The control is scaled to put most of the gain in the beginning, and less on the end of the control where fast gain could be dangerous.

My Analog Control Amp was quiet but usable at 9 o'clock. My Digital Control Amp comes on at 45 on a scale of 100, and is just barely audible, and as mentioned, I typically play music in the 70's and movies just touching and slightly into the 80's. But it makes me nervous, because I don't have much room to go on the dial, and the Power is going to ramp up massively in those last 20 units of volume dial.

I much preferred the Analog Volume Controls, but the world is changing and we have no choice but to change with it.

Steve/bluewizard

I guess with AV amps the digital volume route is the only direction of travel. I still play vinyl mainly through a Cambridge CXA60 into Dali Zensor 5’s which as far as I can ascertain has analogue volume control. TBH I have no idea how far round I have the dial turned because it isn’t marked and there isn’t a display. I just turn it up til it sounds right. My son complained the other day and he has a dB app on his phone he measured 94 dB at about 2 meters I don’t know how accurate that is but it seemed a fair assessment. I did feel a bit guilty but I was playing Permanent Waves by Rush so I had to do it. When your son complains you know it’s loud.
 
I... TBH I have no idea how far round I have the dial turned because it isn’t marked and there isn’t a display. I just turn it up til it sounds right....

If the Volume Controls has Stops on the high and low end, it is a Analog Control. However, if the volume control spins freely without ever reaching the end, it is a Digital Volume Control.

For what it is worth.

Steve/bluewizard
 
Loud enough until someone tells me to turn it down :thumbsup:

@BlueWizard ....or a voltage control (Lyngdorf amps)
 
Big thread resurrection here but a search revealed the info I was interested in.

No one to disturb until my wife gets home so I do like the volume high watching movies but at what point do I risk doing damage to equipment? (I'm guessing it would be my speakers?)

I downloaded a few dB meter apps for my Huawei p30 pro but the readings varied between apps.

Is there a 'go to' app for accuracy?

Thank you
 
(I'm guessing it would be my speakers?)
More likely your hearing. Anything above 80dB for prolonged periods could be dangerous.

If your amp is under powered for the speakers then driving the amp at too high a volume could actually damage both. If you're getting distortion, clipping or chuffing you're into troubled waters.
 
More likely your hearing. Anything above 80dB for prolonged periods could be dangerous.

If your amp is under powered for the speakers then driving the amp at too high a volume could actually damage both. If you're getting distortion, clipping or chuffing you're into troubled waters.

Thanks Gibbsy, I always appreciate your advice.

I have never had distortion, even at peaks of the loudest movies.

It would be interesting to know the level I am listening at though.
The difference in measurements between apps was around 30db watching same clip.
 

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