How loud do you listen to your music?

I get to listen to live jazz, classical, & choral music in our university's music department several times a week, and I tell you this: live music of all kinds is LOUD. it takes a lot of power to even come close to recreating a live event. Now admittedly, our performing spaces are not the size of large commercial performance venues, but even in our largest theaters the SPL's of the jazz & classical ensembles make you wince at times. I need to take my db. meter with me to work & see what levels we're listening at. I'm not sure how this has been resolved, but when the European Union implemented new noise in the workplace rules, the standards proposed would make it illegal for musicians in the orchestra to be exposed to the db. levels they experience. Some sort of compromise legislation was in the works last I read.

Shadorne, my apologies for the tone in my prior response – that was uncalled for.

I have heard a couple of amps drop the lowest level detail from recordings that other amps are quite capable of reproducing at the same volume. It is one of my pet peeves and cannot think of much that annoys me so much … maybe the ex calling me and telling me how wonderful her new @#$% husband is?

Whenever you audition amps, you’ll do yourself a big favor if you also listen to them at very low volume levels. Many so called good amplifier fail miserably.

Regards
Paul

Photon46,

I get to listen to live jazz, classical, & choral music in our university's music department several times a week, and I tell you this: live music of all kinds is LOUD

That has always been my experience...rarely have I heard a concert or instrument played at "conversational" or 60 db SPL level. If you have the best seats in the house then there is simply no way you can have a comfortable conversation even with a string quintet (wind, percussion and piano are usually much louder).

Hearing damage limits are often set very low intentionally. This is because prolonged exposure 8 hours a day (day in and day out) to continuous machinery appears to damage hearing at much lower levels than musical instruments (which are dynamic, less repetitive and usually involve less extended exposure periods).

Onemug I have not listened to a parallel SE/SET amp at any length to really comment. I have listened to a parallel 2A3 on an unfamiliar system but it did sound very good and very natural.

Not an amp where you would need 100db of sound pressure to hear all the details :)

Photon,

Except for very high levels, gun shots for example, hearing loss tends to be induced by fairly continuous exposure. I wouldn't be surprised if some musicians do suffer hearing loss, espcially those who play at rock concerts. The danger of noise exposure is adaptation: It needs to be louder and louder to seem loud.

Set your meter to slow trajectory on the C scale (essentially flat) with 0 dB reference (the middle of the meter range) set at 80 dB SPL, and sit in your customary seat. If the meter runs off scale often (which i doubt it will), move the range up or down as needed. You may be surprised the level is not as high as you imagined.

I've attended lots of recitals of two to five musicians at Stanford, and should attend those at the Music Academy of the West here in Montecito, where they run a master program with noted artists helping advanced students. It's a good way to calibrate yourself.

db