Volume considerations

I think finding the "best" volume for each recording really matters to my enjoyment. I find that the volume can control the apparent size of the middle of the soundstage, be it vocal or, say, saxophone. If I don't want a 15 ft. vocalist, I need to turn it down a little. When things sound proportionate in size, I think the volume is close to right.

I also think my room (medium-small) can only play so loud - at least musically. After that point is reached, it feels like there is a "compression" of sorts that is created. One of the things about my recent move to horn speakers is that it sounds good - dynamic enough - at lower volumes, than my Magnepans did, for example. 

Yeah RV... to much volume, it to much...plus you don't want the neighbors saying turn that down...

Friend 

I second dtorc's comments on finding the right volume for each recording.  This is introduces a rabbit hole because each recording and its recording particulars will be different.  This is where a remote volume control can be wonderful tool!  

Regarding your comment of preferring the volume high - that will also be an interesting factor depending on preferred genre as some bands play very loud at venues while others from other genre's do not.

At the end of the day - if you have the system that can play loud and still produce the enjoyment factor - all is well.

The better the stereo, the less volume is needed to feel the performance.

Yet, the performance will never seem completely realistic, if the volume is too low (the band does not play at low volume).  Rock singers do not belt out their vocals at low volume.

My preference is loud enough to pressurize the room, but not too loud to distort the room, or cause amps to clip, or cause speakers to stop being pistonc (which will lead to distortion, perhaps unnoticed, but will still be fatiguing).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2pvz6RDBCE

Another problem is that countless songs are poorly mixed and mastered.  We might want to feel the drums, but the incompetent studio personnel dialed them down to a whisper.  So we turn up the volume to get some umph out of the recording, which, unfortunately, hurts our ears due to everything else in the recording now playing too loud.

I find myself adjusting the volume for nearly every song, and often during a song.

For example: Grand Funk Railroad's "Paranoid":

A so-so quality job done by the studio personnel.  So you turn up the volume.  But then at the 4:19 time mark, some imbecile in the studio turned up the gain on Mark Farner's guitar to "rip your ear drums" level.  So knowing that assault is coming, I turn the volume down (and I am confident that most others do, too).

Volume is a battle with not only your room, and your own equipment's design, but also with the incompetent studio personnel.

They are not all incompetent.  There's great stuff out there.  The battle is with the ones that screwed up hit songs.

I listen to rock and reggae, but I always have it below 70db, just because I like it better like that than than louder; I've never liked blasting hi-fi systems; not trying to reproduce a live gig.