Seems like a rhetorical question, but I'm curious what other folks think is "ok, now that's loud"
For me, if something's hitting 100dB as measured from where I'm seated while listening, and not just for a brief moments, but with some regularity, that's loud.
I used to listen at higher average volume than I do these days. Typically, I'm finding that at the right volume, the recording is more nuanced then when it's running full throttle.
If I'm not mistaken, the late Peter Walker observed that every recording has it's one correct or optimum playback level. I think generally he was correct, though once we are willing to forge optimum there's a range of acceptable.
I blew Aerial 10t woofer with Dead Kennedies all the way cranked. I wasn't sure how far did it go in terms of db/distance. Still love to crank some hard-core punk.
Being a live concertgoer, I like to be able to enjoy fully at lifelike volume levels. How loud that is may vary, but do not want to be limited. Most of the time though, I will not go that loud though. Sometimes, background music levels suffice.
I once put two pairs of 8ohm speakers on a Krell 700 cx stereo amp on the Bi-amp speaker connections, man, If I did not know any better, It seemed the amp droped down to 2ohms or something crazy like that, Till this day, That was the loudest home stereo I have ever heard, in this case, run from!, till I came to my sinces and turned it down, and un-hooked all the speakers, I felt like the maxell tape comercial, LOL!
It depends on the recording. Constant high level will numb your ears and reduce dynamics. Rock bands often start at lower volume adding more later. Once I attended concert that was so loud that I could not open my mouth because my lungs were vibrating. I don't want that at home (not to mention my neighbors) and I don't want to be deaf.
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