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whats your idea of loud music.

ok here' what got me thinking about all of this.

i was in a dealers show room a while back checking out his ar monoblocks(sweet)& he put some smooth jazz on for me,the maggies sounded fantastic & i asked him to turn it up to a loud volume so i could see how the maggies responded.

after he gave me a stupid look he turned it up a notch & then stepped away & covered his ears like they might rupture or something & were talking about the volume being at the point where i could of heard him fart from 5 feet away,i asked him why he wouldnt turn it up loud & he told me that he wasnt sure what i thought loud was but the volume he had was more than enough for anybody.

i also see threads where guys reccomend these low power amps that i have owned with speakers i have owned & they say that the amp speaker combination can obtain listening levels that are not only louder than anybody would care to listen but unsafe levels to boot & when i had the same gear i thought the combination was way under powered & no where near being loud.

i consider loud to be when you can feel as well as hear the music & not from sitting right in front of the rig,i also consider loud to be when things on the walls move & my coffee cup has a little ripple on top of the coffee or when the dog runs for cover,i also consider it to be not loud if somebody in the same room can talk to you from 5 feet away & be heard.

im not looking for a right or wrong answer im just curious as to what other guys consider loud to be defined as.

mike.
128x128bigjoe
jtcedinburgh
10 posts
 
Hmmmm... 8w push pull amp into 89dB 4ohm (3.5min) floorstanders gives me plenty of volume, but I would take quality and musicality of sound over volume any day. In my experience, bigger amps sound a bit dull and sterile at lower volumes, and as I suspect most of my listening is done within the first 1 to 2 watts at a distance of around 3m, I find a smaller amp which is able to use its fuller range of output somewhat preferable. It tells an interesting tale to look at my past amps:

200wpc monoblocks -> 23w stereo DNM amp -> 18w integrated (via 70w pre-power it must be said) -> 8w push-pull.

And you know what? The system has never sounded better. Though I must also add that the particular power amp I am using is reknowned as punching far harder than its paper spec would suggest.

John
donbellphd
205 posts
 
As I recall, studies of people isolated from loud sounds suggest hearing loss is not a normal aging process. In some individuals, there can be calcification of the ossicular chain, but a surgical procedure, a stapedectomy, usually offers good results.

Is it exibitionism that leads so many motorcycle riders to want loud pipes? Many BMW bikes have a mellow sound, and some of the newer Japanese bikes sound pleasantly like a very muted high-reving Formula 1 car. But the dorkcycles blast through town disturbing everything in their wake. That must be exhibitionism. Any why is it the kid in the SUV with the sound cranked way up so its boomy bass can be heard several cars away always has the windows down? Exhibitionism.

I love the sound of a Ferrari V-12, but I don't want to hear blatty or booming exhaust.

db
bigjoe's avatar
bigjoe OP
680 posts
 
Donbellphd

have you ever had a bike go by you that was so damm loud you couldnt hear yourself talk on the cell phone,if so then that guys pipes did what they were designed to do & thats to wake you up.

people driving cars or suv's dont see motorcycle's (why you ask) because their TOO BUSY on their cell phone or TOO BUSY watching a movie or TOO BUSY putting on their make up or TOO BUSY eating or TOO BUSY reading the paper or TOO BUSY blabbing to the person in the passenger seat or TOO BUSY scolding their children or TOO BUSY flippin the radio station & on & on & on,BUSY BUSY BUSY multi tasking while driving,but wait let me guess...........not you right?

ive been riding loud harleys since i was 16 years old (long before they became a cool investment) & i can attest to the fact that people only care about bikers AFTER they blindly run them down (but officer he just came out of nowhere) ive heard that speech while i lay waiting on an ambulance have you ?

i personally take offense to your ignorant & uninformed statement that we are show off's on our dork cycle's,do i want everybody on the road to look at me,yes i do & not becuase i want them to see how cool i am or how tough i look all tattooed up but because i know until they look at me im casper the ghost.

there's an old biker saying that will sum up all your questions about why we have loud pipes "if you have to ask i cant explain"

mike,the show off on the dork cycle.
stevecham
3,298 posts
 
Depends I guess, on the mood I'm in. There are times after work when I sit down in front of the system, to answer email, with a record on the table, and my hearing becomes very sensitive, such that "loud," is no more than 70 dB average SPL.

Other times "loud" doesn't begin to happen, until up into the high 80s. Our most important sound system is prone to "gain adjustments," as befits our mood and state of energy.
alpha_03
39 posts
 
A BIG LOL to Mike the biker and Elizebeth.

Loud wont hurt you until it becomes such that it over powers the ears mechanical abilities to discren frequencies, and this is quite beyond 110dB, thus causing mechanical defect/damage to the working parts ofthe ears and the need for hearing aids- LOUD rarely causes this, most often unchecked bacterial invasion is the culprit.

If the Sound is loud, yet undistorted, more often then not, no hearing function is, or, will be lost. Want proof?
Ask all the ENT doc's whom own Krell systems. Or, some one who has been into Audio for more then 20 years- BTW, I hear just fine, better then most for that matter.
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