Have you ever been told to turn the volume down on you hifi system? What is your best excuse for offending someone else?
The best I have heard came from a friend back in high school. His brother used to play music really loud in his upstairs bedroom. When his mother would ask him to turn it down, he would say, "I can't, I'm recording." His mother bought the excuse every time.
Yea I told my Mom that it was recorded loud! So to get the best playback it had to be played loud! Anything less wouldn't do! She didn't buy it, but she left me alone for the most part.
A few years ago, before I married and bought a house, I lived in an apartment. My neighbors above me were nice people--very quiet and decent. Then they moved out. In moved another couple. They were pretty quiet, too--except when they were copulating, which seemed to happen more regularly than a Seinfeld rerun. And they moved all over the house during their throes--which made escaping the noise all the more difficult. And, man, could they get LOUD. The chick made Maria Callas look like Marianne Faithfull--she could hit some serious peaks. In an attempt to flee this carnal assault, I would crank my stereo--at the time a Tact Millennium, Accustic Arts transport, and pair of Dunlavy Cantatas--which would inevitably piss off the blue-haired spinster next door. I resorted to my old Stax headphones, until they broke and had to be sent back to the factory. It was then that I faced my darkest days: an hour or two of tantric love mewling per day, EVERY day, for the next two months. Caught like a rat, between Pam and Tommy above me and a cane-wielding old battleax beside me. Finally, after about two months, the sonic love barrage stopped--just like that. I later found out that the couple broke up and the chick moved out. Without his little love bunny, the guy shut up and went back to being a relatively normal neighbor. Oh, and the spinster moved out too--leaving me and my stereo to enjoy many high-decibel nights in peace. Until the next couple moved in. But that's a story for another day. :)
I am very fortunate in that all my nieghbors are extremely tolerant of loud music. They are more apt to take offense to the recording, given it is one they dislike and I have played too often for their comfort...like, just once! Something gruesome, say, like Bing Crosby singing Christmas songs.Ella Fitzgerald singing beatles songs. I like it.
My best friend's mother claimed that listening on headphones would lead to marijuana use. So he bought her the LP "Who's Next" for Christmas, and we listened to it as loud as possible in order to quell her worries that we might be slipping into dubious (pun intended) activity.
When she asked, "What is teenage wasteland?" we just shrugged, and said, "We have no idea," and turned the music louder.
Xiekitchen, I agree with with you, some music you just have to play loud. Pink Floyd,"Dark Side Of The Moon",and just about any Led Zeppelin. And many many more. But when I listen to "Sinatra", "Tony Bennett","James Taylor", or "diana Krall" and many more, I listen at a more moderate level.But never softly!.. And then there are some artists when both loud and moterate levels, one that comes to mind is "Bob Seger."
Excitement, plain and simple. I disagree that mediocre equipment sound better loud -- all my experience informs that QUITE the opposite is true. I wanted the capability to play loud and have spent a fortune achieving it, now that I have it I can't use it because my ears will be destroyed -- reason being that it SOUNDS GREAT LOUD! Highs airy and crisply deliniated, mids pure and revealing, mid bass FORCEFUL and dense and bass face-hammering! Never the sense that it is really starting to irritate your ears until you walk away and your head feels unbalanced and misaligned -- with crappy stuff, like a boombox or TV, I start to get the sense of it being too loud before it is anywhere near the output of my system (about 8000 watts).
~~~~I agree with Tim. When you hear a good system the music isn't loud, it's lifelike and accurate. You become aware of the spl's when you leave the room and come back in.
Because when you play the U.K. pressed Bob Marley "Babylon by Bus" Live album, it HAS to be loud. Also, it's kind of hard to play it soft on my JBL L-200's
too see if I can break it or not? too piss off the neighbors because it can do so very well needed an adrenaline rush feel the bass just not hear it only
Years ago when I had some mono-blocks, I used to use earplugs when playing the stereo extremely loud & when asked why I would ever want to turn it up that loud I gave the only possible answer-I was pretending I was at the concert & did they want to join me?
Remind me not to invite you to any parties. B-o-r-i-n-g! :>)
I had a friend in high school who had a hot-rod Plymouth Sebring with a piece of crap stereo. When we would drive around drinking beer he would play it so loud the words would almost be non-identifiable due to the distortion.
Jea48- The opposite is also true of extreme high end, really really good systems can play VERY loud and you have no clue that it is even loud until your talking to a friend in the room and your both yelling and still can't hear each other! It happens to me everytime I have guests over :)
A good audio system, in a good sound environment does not have to be played loud to sound good. Mediocre equipt will sound better if played loud. I think it has something to do with resonance. If you have been in a midfi audio store to listen to a piece of equipt, the first thing the sales person does is crank up the volume. Go into a highend audio dealer, the level is at a more moderate listening level. Now don`t get me wrong! Some people just like their music loud. More Power to them.
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
