whats your idea of loud music.

An interesting fact is that the human ear perceives "Loud" by when distortion occurs. In other words, a system overloading at 85dB will sound louder than clean sound at 95dB. (Don't quote me on the exact numbers).

Some music needs to be felt as well as heard. In my case this is organ and sometimes massed choral, but I recon that pop would also apply. My system includes, in the front, three 12" and three 15" drivers working in conjunction with three MG1.6, with six 600 wpc amps powering the whole mess. The surround channels are only four 7" drivers and 450 wpc. With the right recording, I can just begin to feel a real pipe organ at work. If you doubt this, consider for one moment the "drivers" that the organ uses!

Sometimes I realize that I am playing the music too loud. The way I notice this is by focusing on a soloist, for example a violin or vocalist. I know how loud a single violin can play, and if the reproduced violin is louder than that I turn the volume down. Unfortunately this depends on how the recording has been mixed. Many times the soloist is boosted relative to the orchestra, so that if the soloist is right the total sound is too quiet. (One advantage of multichannel is that, if the mix puts the soloist in the center channel, which is usual practice, you can rebalance a recording with overemphasis on the soloist by turning down the center channel).

Finally, I do have tools to measure SPL. IMHO, over 95dB, neglecting brief peaks, is too loud.

HAHA.. Good thread. I listen at moderate to moderately loud levels but the mood strikes I love to crank it up and "feel" the music.

I do have this buddy who runs a Cary SLI-50 (30WPC) and runs a pair of Tyler Linbrooks. He listens to stuff LOUD period. It always amazes me how loud and clean his stuff will play without strain.

My idea of Loud?

The Foo Fighters Concert at the 930 club here in DC last month. My ears rang for days...

Chris

I have Marantz Reference Sm-17 amps bridged for 200watts/channel running moderately sensitive PSB Stratus Bronzes. I have never turned them up much past 1/4 turn and try to run them below an SPL of 85 dB to preserve hearing, but that is usually plenty loud enough. I do like having the reserve power or headroom, though.
John

I agree, and years ago posted something here on realistic sound levels. My contention was based on a statement by a top-notch record producer (I think that's what he was, can’t remember his name) who said that for every recording there is only one correct volume level. From this I asked why a system had never been devised whereby some index would be put on recordings and the volume level adjusted to that level. This could be done automatically, so I guess it would require some sort of precise microphone at the listening position and some sort of circuitry in the equipment, to set it that level taking into account the room and the other associated equipment. Well you guessed it: the responses were unevenly split with most people who fancy themselves true audiophiles braying that this was a blatant objectivist's plot to take away their freedom to set the volume by ear and to their liking. Pointing out at the outset that the listener could override such a system did not seem to sway them. A number of people believed that my idea made sense. I still think it does, but with the almost total absence of standards for recording, it will be a very long while before we see anything like this. I know that most m/c video receivers do have something like that now, but, again, there is nothing indexing the correct volume level in the recording.

My other, often made point, is the very low level at which most high-end shops (the others simply like playing noises very loud to impress the general public) play music when demonstrating equipment. Historically, the prototypical demo of this kind was the Linn dealers of yore who, to a man, had an LP12, low powered amp (usually Naim) and small box speakers. Voice or very small ensembles were the featured musical fare, punctuated by snide remarks about Japanese equipment and power ratings to woever asked for the system to be played louder.

To this day I still wonder if a person with a limited budget should go for sensibly priced equipment with gumption, or the teeny-tiny-weenie school of audio systems.

BTW I hate acoustic guitars that sound like King Kong; I hate large ensembles that sound like you are listening from a balcony outside the venue through a small window.

So, I say, volume where necessary, but not necessarily volume!

For me it depends upon the type of music and the time of day. I can't stand louder more raucous music early in the morning. Maybe my ears just need to be warmed up first. I can also listen to smooth jazz louder than most other types of music. It might be the distortion/compression used in the engineering or broadcasting of the radio signal. My wife and I always have a volume knob battle because she likes music in the background and I like to actually listen to it. Dan