Noise floors


I'd like to address an issue that every single audiophile experiences, that being inherent/ambient steady state noise floors. Here we spend so much effort and money on our equipment in order to lower noise floor and increase resolution, transparency, only to lose some percentage of it on relatively high ambient noise floors. By this I mean the noise generated internally by home, hvac systems and so much more, add to that external, outside the home generated noise. Measuring over many years, over large variables, lowest readings of mid 20db to highest mid 50db in my dedicated listening room, these are steady state readings, any particular system in house may activate and or outdoor generated noises, which are even more variable, may kick in raising if from here.

And so, while we can address both these internal and external generated noise floors to some extent, we can't rid ourselves entirely of them. I presume there are widely varying levels of these noise floors for each of us, and it should be accounted for in reviews or evaluations of equipment. And could be reason for trusting only long term reviews, with varying noise floor levels within one's listening room, short term listening could have taken place during time of best or worse case room noise floor.

But mostly what bothers me is, here all this effort and money spent on equipment in attempt to lower noise floor, and so much of that lost by relatively ridiculous levels of steady state and/or ambient noise. Makes one think about getting closed back headphones, or moving out to extremely remote area to home with minimal internally generated noise. To think how much better  the very system I presently have would sound in that environment!


sns
We live a half mile from the freeway and those idiots produce so much noice it is unbelievable.


Yeah, you may want to consider the wisdom of living so close to the freeway if you wanted quiet. 
Step One:  Install AC filter chokes in your components.  Plitron makes great chokes if you want to go all out.

Happy Listening.
I no longer experience noise. Whisper quiet split AC unit verses central air duct. Triple pane 4" thick windows. 3" thick solid wood door, sound proof walls and ceiling construction on concrete floor. I see the outdoors but never hear it. Even construction trucks passing by 50 feet away. Without music playing it can get spooky. I even recently had to add a screen door because the room is so sealed I have to aerate it a half hour once a day because the C02 levels get out of whack at the end of each listening session. It's always something.
Room geometry also matters to one's perception of noise. No, I don't know why, but that's what I experience: the HT is just as quiet as the listening room, but it's a different sonic space. It's quite obvious the moment you enter.
I live in a quiet area & my music room is in the basement of our house. It is absolutely quiet until my wife flushing the toilet. She does that a lot.