Do you get Ringing in the Ears from your hi-fi?

Rasta is right about the condition described as a constant ringing "in the ears," as is Mint604. I've had it for 7 years, and sometimes it will all but disappear while other times it's constant and troublesome. My wife has it, too, and she has never been a loud-music person; nor have I, actually. I'm now using tubes (Almarro), high-sensitive speakers, listen to both CDs and SACDs, have once again started listening somewhat exclusively to instruments, whether classical or contemp acoustic, as well as jazz. I still like some vocals (Peter Gabriel on SACD is quite nice, in fact, as is the "Gaucho" by Steely Dan, and even have 400-500 vocal CDs), but I never did try to blast down walls with any kind of music, even though I've generally had the equipment to do so. My tinnitus probably didn't result from loud music, though I can't know this, but it is a med condition that has existed for centuries, perhaps for 1000s of years. I can barely notice it as I type this, in fact. Well, back to the music.

Ringing in the ears, chances are you have done permanent damage to your hearing. Sounds above 85db for a prolong period can be harmful to the hearing.
When I listen to my system the average sound db level is around 75db with short peaks into the 80s db range, measured from my listening seat. I have to admit in my 20s, 30s,and even mid 40s I listened to music way to loud.

Speakers that hurt my ears to listen to very long at a moderate to high levels. One that comes to mind is the Dunlavy loud speakers. Nice sounding speaker, but listener fatigue came early with the Dulavy 3 speakers.

Hear is just one of many sites I found on Google about hearing loss.

http://www.ata.org/about_tinnitus/consumer/healthy_hearing1.html

Buy a bunch of those soft, foamy earplugs and learn to get them into the cannals of your ears. Wear every night when you've got them deep seated. If not in properly they don't do much good. You know when they are in as you can feel them expanding and causing pressure, and the aural world slowly disappears. Or, go to an audiologist and get custom fit ones.

I had tinnitus about 5-6 years ago that got to a level of great botheration. Ear doctor told me to wear earplugs everynight and on every airline flight. Also said to only use car windows for ventilation when first entering, then roll up and use A/C. I did all these things and I now have to concentrate to notice the ear ringing.

It use to intrude on music listening, now I never notice it.

There are certainly other causes of tinnitus than sound exposure, and if you have a continuing experience you should get to a otologist or at least a good ENT guy who could refer you to an otologist for appropriate evaluation. These guys will likely have your hearing sensitivity checked by an audiologist, but it should be more than that to eliminate other potential causes, e.g. tinnitus can be a symptom of a tumor which if caught in time can be operable.

By all means, do protect your hearing by listening at reasonable levels. Rock concerts can damage your hearing, so don't try to recreate anything near such perceived levels in your home. I think distinguishing between the effects of ported, air-suspension, or infinite baffle speakers is just more of the smoke and mirror stuff so common on Audiogon forums. It's high sound pressure levels, aka high dB SPLs, that get you.

db

Only when I turn it past 3 o'clock.