How important is S/N Ratio....?

Eldaford - Jet plane was a joke but I think you mixing landing and taking off. During landing they are very quiet.

I read once that 120dB was equivalent to standing next to jet engine during take-off (should I say running very fast). To visualize what 120dB level is try to imagine large GE Jet engine at full power in front of your door (neighbors might not care too much for it).

Keep in mind I didn't start the Jet takeoff thing.
I lived near El Toro MCAS and heard F-4 takeoffs which even with them being as easy as possible...no afterburners or aggressive climbouts, you could hear them for several minutes echoing thru the canyons. I was at an airshow and witnessed a flyby of a Concord! Man, that thing was LOUD.

This whole thing needs to be thought thru more thoroughly.
How quiet is your room? 40db at 0-dark-30? Let's say you can play it pretty much as loud as you'd like...not likely but we can dream! Subtract 40 from 120 and you've got 80db range. This is more than Vinyl is capable of and stretches the practical (NOTE: practical, not measureable) CD limits.

Sorry, this is a non-starter and a fine example of wishful thinking and specsmanship taking over!

There are great numbers of Credible Systems which use hi sensitivity speakers coupled to low power amps. These systems en toto draw less than my bedside reading lamp.

Just for those interested I found some info.....

"Ordinarily, when the electrons flow through common conductors such as an electrolyte, a manganese dioxide, an organic semiconductor and so on, non-linear distortions generate corresponding to each conductor (average -100db) as shown in Figure 1 which indicates distortion characteristics. However, in the case of Black Gate, the distortion showed such a surprising low value (-174db) as if no electrons flew. The distortion noise was almost zero. "

excerpt from this link

http://www.acoustic-dimension.com/blackgate/techEcap.htm

Wavetrader - as far as I know electrons don't flow. Electric current is an electromagnetic wave (while electrons move only about 1/2" per second) which is also difficult to explain using example od stacked balls since space between electrons is in order of 100000 time their size. One theory says that electrons emit photons but this doesn't add up if we assume that photons can move in any direction. It is probably better explained here:

http://www.geocities.com/natureoflight/pg4.html

Electron flow = current.....that's what I thought...