How close to the real thing?

"I completely agree that the wink link is the recording. Good Listening, Tim"

The recording being the weak link is where a good audiphile wants to be. That is one thing that is not in his/her control.

Hi Timlub,A lot of musicians have been aware of themselves being at risk for hearing loss.Schools of music teach them about this also.The headphones and plugs I was referring to,were the passive ones that they can hear what they need to,without amplified headphones,or plugs.It depend on the situation as you most likely know dealing with recording,or mixing for amplified music.A violin can reach 110 db at their ear.Wind instruments can get high also,plus a lot of others.It depends on the instruments too.But instruments used for concerts are the ones that are chosen for volume, along with their sound quality.There are some that say some of the lesser wanted instruments,may sound better, but just can't produce any volume,to qualify for a concert quality piece do to this.Some wear those plugs with holes in them(I think),that claim to let enough frequencies through for them to perform correctly.A couple of links for sound pressures.I'm guessing the music schools might have accurate info on this,plus Google.I like live music,we need it for our recordings,but we can do fairly good at home listening,for great enjoyment also.The last one may be conservative for db ratings in certain cases.Links.[http://www.hear-it.org/page.dsp?page=1662][http://www.sengpielaudio.com/TableOfSoundPressureLevels.htm][http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html]

Well Hifihvn, you just enlightened me, I didn't even consider the violin at the ear, nor am I experienced with any large scale concert type instruments.
and yes, we have headphones that allow some hearing. We do have a sound chamber that drummers can use(we tend to allow the drums on stage), it uses speakers as monitors and the drums are mic'd and sealed from the outside world, so the drums are completely by mix. Thanks for the info, i'll check it out. Tim

Timlub,Only the one link shows 110 db for the violin.There's a lot for over 100 db.Maybe the players/owners of those pricey pieces don't want to be bothered with measuring it. Just playing them might be their priority.Still,over 100 db can be bad.I think it was a Michigan State band director that said they get over 120db at 100 foot during practice(I think).
I was Googling Musicians and hearing loss,plus decibels for instruments,when I ran across that one.

Michigan State???? Thats a whole bunch of musicians playing as loud as they can, but 120db...@ 100 foot back??? 121db is our threshold of pain. 100 ft back?... it would have to be near 130db at the instruments.... I would have to question that one. In the past, I was a sanctioned IASCA judge(car stereo), I've owned my own store and have built several VERY loud systems, (160db) I remember being in a vehicle that hit 154. I wore ear plugs and sound deadening headphones over those. It moved so much air that it sucked the air out of your lungs. Ok another story. I just can't see non amplified instruments getting that loud in an open area. Never say never, I'm not questioning you, I'm sure that you read it, but I have to question the validity of the source. If you had 100 players of various instruments all playing @ 100 db, the total encompased sound pressure level would be 121db @ the instruments..... I have no idea of what that would be 100 feet away.