Does It have to be loud?

I agree with Kumakahn, I like to evaluate a system at low levels. If you need to crank it to get the frequency extremities its not for me as I listen at low levels. One thing I do notice about low level listening is the room plays less of a role as does vibration, so the effectiveness of feet etc. However, tweaks or cable changes etc seem harder to distinguish.

Speaking of loud. I remember back in the 80’s.. I lived in the ’hippie punk 20something part of town. On a Saturday someone was playing something rather loud (Enough so they are at least a block away, and I could hear the music)
So I decided to crank up MY music.. Opened the windows and turned up the Figaro aria of ’Barber of Seville’ to as high as it would go..
I naturally had to plug my own ears..
I can say the entire neighborhood heard that aria with no distortion.
(From my then Infinity RSIIa powered by a pair of Carver amps.)

Then the day a next door neighbor was annoying me.. I turned up the volume to 11 and started a rock record.. The first hard hits caused my building manager (who lived directly above me) to jump up from a nap while thinking a truck had hit the apartment building. (That related to me later on while we both laughed, we were all young)

Now I am old and do not want to disturb the neighbors at all. If I want loud I listen via headphones

It needs to be as loud as you need it to be, no more and no less. I'm also in the camp that says each type of music and recording can determine what that level should be.

Every recording was mixed and mastered at a certain volume. Good engineers will then check and make sure that the end product holds up at different volumes. That is not always the case, though. To get it to sound right often you need to match the levels used during the mixing and mastering process.

However, in spite of everything, in the end the sweet spot is were the music hits you as right. For me it is usually 80 through 110. Rock and pop is generally louder, jazz in between and folk or singer song writer lower. 

Elizabeth,

In those days (80’s), I would drool over SAE amps driving large Infinity speakers!

That was an awesome system you had back then even by today’s standard - what happened? Where did you go wrong? How can you say you prefer headphones over your own main system?

I can’t say what dB level I consider to be loud, but I am pretty sure it would not exceed 90 dB. 

A lot lot of my listening is done after the kids are in bed and with a small house loud volumes are not an option. 

One thing that that I have really enjoyed with my new Pathos Classic One mkiii over my previous Yaqin MC-30L or even my Integra 50.1 (with a subwoofer) is the low volume level dynamics. The realism of a kick drum or tympani is fantastic even at low levels with an excellent recording. It’s great at higher volumes as well, of course.