How loud is loud, What DB is actually loud?

Bullot ,

Like your setup ...........

regards,

I dont know who the nutter is who had 135db in the car, but I suspect the figure is wrong. More like 95db... Or he is deaf or dead.

I seem to remember the space shuttle taking off is 135db several miles away!

A quad will not get you rocking. Maybe a big sound lab could if you like ESLs. A big magnepan if you like that ESL sound will get you closer and will be cheaper. But you will need a lot of power to keep it controlled. ICE power will do it for reasonable money.

Real men (and real women for that matter) listen at no less than 120 db, for hours. It may seem loud at first, but don't worry, after a few months it won't, and, as a side benefit, neither will anything else. But on a serious note, if you want volume try either (a) horns - for more than one person and mid field or (b) large studio monitors and near field listening. The efficiency of the horns will do away with a need for a lot of power - try to find something with a horn loaded bass as well as the mid and high.

chadeffect, 135db in a car is pretty easy to do with subwoofers. i use to compete with my car about 9 years ago and only had 1 12" subwoofer and would score 136db any day. these competitions are bass only, and usually people use simple test tones to hit one frequency. there are vehicles now that score well over 170db in these competitions.

Right now on my Radio Shack meter at my chair, 50dB average "C" rated. Listening to Teleman Oboe concertos. Sound is wonderful, and my neighbors don't get bothered in the early A.M.
So I would say 50dB is the bottom end of real listening, any lower and it just gets to be background noise (my frig is pretty noisey... 30/35dB is a guess.
Anyway I listen up to the mid 70dB range, with peaks up to 82dB, and this is all quiet in apartment/not disturbe the other little old ladies (I am one of them now) next door.
So for the average old fart 80dB is loud.
Now when "I" was young, I could crank the stereo up too. I did not have a ratshack meter then, but would guess 90 to 95dB was the tops.
So 100dB+ would probably ALWAYS get the cops called.
in the 90s would if it was later in the evening, and the 80dB range in the early AM is cop /ticket territory.
For "Little old lady next door" listening, that lowers the level a LOT, thus max 85dB midday, 77dB evening, and NO dB after 11PM to about 7AM. The silence here in my 'over 55" apts is wonderful at night. (compared to the last place, with gunshots, hallway fights, arguing by drunken fools at 3AM etc.. the folks above coming home at 2Am and cranking up the stereo. a cheap boombox, bye the way. the place had gradually gone to Hell over the 17 years I lived there..) Now I can hear the mile away trains. (And I am only about a mile from my old place.)
This is my opinion.
Anything over high 80dB is gonna ruin your ears anyway.
AND consistent low level listening allows your ears to become accustomed to low level listening, and it then becomes as enjoyable, or even MORE enjoyable than listening at high volumes. (one also needs equipment that SOUNDS good at low volumes..)