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How loud is loud?

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.
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billbartuska
83 posts
 
The "correct" loud is how loud it was when it was originally performed live for recording since that's what the performers intended.

As for digitally produced stuff (Boomba Boomba music!)....who cares!
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,838 posts
 
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.
audiolabyrinth's avatar
audiolabyrinth
4,555 posts
 
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!
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,394 posts
 
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.
mulveling's avatar
mulveling
1,774 posts
 
Zavato, I agree with your assessment of loud. And I DO enjoy lots of music approaching those levels, or just below; that's where a good system can reproduce the energy of a live performance. I ensure that I'm not disturbing anyone, and carefully limit my exposure to such levels (I'm not a high-hours daily listener). And music rapidly becomes very unappealing as you push beyond this level.

My problem with systems that do low levels well is that they're usually the result of a modified response curve that complements our own hearing's non-flat response curve at those levels -- the Fletcher-Munson curves are oft-referenced here (though they may not be very accurate). That's not a route that I prefer; I like gear that yields fantastic realism at loud levels and is completely non-fatiguing -- so in most cases bright sounding gear doesn't gel with me.
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