volume vs presence

I just bought an analogue sound meter today. It looks like my from the needle moving around that lowest levels are around 80db and highest levels peaking around 90db. Average listing levels is probably around 85db.

Is this too loud?

No, not really. That is relative though...my wife thinks it's loud. It's pretty much how loud I enjoy music as well. When it goes to 100db and up that is ear-damaging territory, especially if it's staying in that region for very long.

Now that you have a sound meter you can check how your room might be affecting the sound. You'll have to get a test disc or some other device that generates a fixed frequency spectrum from low to high. Put your sound meter in the sweet spot where you listen...if possible fix it there on a tripod or some other fixed support. Go through the frequency range on your cd player and take note of the volume of each frequency from that point. You will note that there are many dips and peaks. This is entirely normal, but you can look for extremes where variances are more than, say, 6db. If you really want to get technical you can then plot out a graph of the room response and then repeat when you make changes to see how that response graph changes. In this way you might isolate specific problems...for instance, you may find that in order to listen to your midrange at a given volume that you are pushing the highs way louder than that. Or, as was suggested above, that there is a suckout in the vocal region that causes you to push the volume up higher (same idea).

This is just one approach, which does not invalidate the other theories of what might be going on, but it's a good start and very useful information in understanding your room interface (which is VERY much a part of your system).

You know..., I thought that we had two different questions here; but now I'm not so sure, I thought one was presence and the other was percussive attack. Presence sometimes means different things to different people. To me it means that the Vocalists or Instruments sound like they are in the room with you, or you are there with them. I believe this to be anywhere in the 2kHz-6kHz, but commonly referred to as the 2kHz-4kHz range as Cdc suggests.

I took Percussive Attack to mean; leading edge transient attack of the Music, such as; Rhythm Section, Bass Guitar, Kick Drum, and Lower Brass or generally speaking the Bass Region, 60Hz-250Hz. However, these Instruments' Harmonics, may also extend into the presence range.

So, I would like to ask the OP; Are you looking for "More Liveness (or presence)? or, Are you looking for a better rhythm section, with a more solid foundation and drive to the Music, that has more energy with greater Dynamics? or, Do You Want It All.....?

One thing I can tell you is that a Larger Speaker will definitely fill your room better, without destroying your hearing.

Rich

If you purchase a Sterophile test disc, you already have the necessary SPL meter, you can get a general idea what is going on with your system and your room.

I think I am going to wait and save up for my next system which will match the new listening room I will be looking for when I purchase/rent my next house.

Going along with Jax's post, I have just been doing a lot of reading up on acoustics and rooms for listening, and it seems that its the most important thing before you start buying components. I read that spending money on getting your room acoustically set up yields far greater results than focusing on gear alone. And when you have the room set up right, the components are able to realise their full listening potential. Which makes sense, because my system have sounded different in the couple of houses I have used them in.

I am reluctant for obvious reasons to go out and spend huge amounts of money on cables. I can't really see for the value for money in exotic cables sorry. Can you really hear that much difference for the money spent?

Hey Rich, I was thinking about what I was missing, and its the intial attack of the front, upwards curve of the sound. I can hear the guitar being played, but I want to feel the pluck on the string before the note sounds. The twang and percussive effect of the double bass player digging into a string.

Just want to thank everyone for their detailed responses too.

Shadorne, thanks for the link. I am required to have my hearing tested yearly where I'm employed, but the results given are not very informative. The results of this test really shows where the losses are. My loss started right at 500hz, with a gradual increase up to -12dB at 30 hz. What suprised me the most was how it stayed level when I increased the frequencies until I got to 6khz, which only went up one level, then again at 12khz one level. But at 16khz, I had to jump up to -6dB. !!! Great test!

What you describe sounds normal - you hear best (most sensitively) around 500 Hz upwards and you hear least sensitively in the bass. This is a normal "loudness contour" of hearing sensitivity.