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How loud do you listen to your music?

Today I decided to take my RS SPL meter and see just how loud my system when I was listening to levels that I perceive to be pretty loud. To my surprise, the nominal SPL was only 70db with peaks going as high as 82db. I had expected the SPL reading to be much higher especially since I thought I had my system cranked up pretty loud. When I put the volume back to where I mainly listen, the SPL was only in the 50-60db range. For whatever reason, this number seemed too low but I do not really have a good sense for what decibels really mean in terms of how loud things are in the real world. Is 60db loud? Is 70db excessive?

So my question is, how loud do you normally listen to your music?
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Showing 1 response by fatparrot

fatparrot
1,314 posts
 
Where is everyone measuring from, YOUR LISTENING CHAIR, I HOPE! Otherwise, the measurements are meaningless!

I infrequently like to crank it with peaks [C weighted, fast response, on the Rat-Shack Digital Meter] at about 95-97 dB. Having used and abused my hearing at concerts and working in radio, I usually hit peaks of 85-87 dB, softer later on at night. Again, these are PEAK levels, not RMS levels.
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