Thread: What is your preferred volume level?

For me, around 60 to 70db, maybe less with about 5 db of headroom all the time (I haven't measured), even if I want to "rock out" it stays in that range. I find for my ears that is where I get the most detail and transparency. Sure, my systems can fly well above that and still sound great, but I don't like it.
I can't stand loud volume. All I know is that folks with mild hearing loss struggle to hear my system where I play it.
Audio shows and dealer demos can be rough, so I do not do them too often, if rarely. Yes, my concert days are long behind me. (I used to wear ear plugs to those most of the time).
No, I don't have golden ears, there is no such thing in my opinion. I did not know I would be needing it later in life, but I am glad I had enough forethought to try to protect my hearing. These days, my ears over-compensate for my eyes. I can hear frequencies a tiny bit higher than I should be able to at this point, but I'm glad I did not abuse my ears much when I was younger and I was heavily involved in live music for a good 10 years+.

Interesting and important topic. I strive to follow NIOSH recommendations, which are stricter than OSHA rules *):

Decibel (Loudness) Comparison Chart

Given that, I try to find the best compromise between visceral impact and realism on one hand, and avoidance of excessive stress to my ears on the other.

For rock, which is the most even in loudness and thus the most stressor on the ears, I typically stay in the 83-90 dB range, trying not to exceed the upper limit and on average staying below that. For jazz I am usually at an average of 85 dB, with occasional excursions up to 92 dB, with up to 95 dB as exception.

For orchestral music peaks usually do not exceed 94 dB, with an occasional foray into the 96-97 dB range **); orchestral peaks are usually quite short and average levels of that kind of music are much lower.

I keep chamber music mostly quite loud, as if sitting rather close to the performers. For string quartets for example that means average levels in loud movements of 80-85 dB, with peaks up to 90 dB. Anything above that would be unrealistic anyway, in my view. In a small concert hall for chamber music, when you sit further away from the performers even when in one of the front rows, levels are often lower.

Very long listening sessions usually see some breaks in order to let the ears recover.


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*) NIOSH = National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; OSHA = Occupational Safety & Health Administration

**) My daily-use dB meter, though faster reacting at peaks than my other one, still seems to be a bit slow. Once I played an orchestral piece for someone else and he asked me to turn it down a bit because on his dB meter peaks exceeded 100 dB, while on mine it was around 95 dB. But those 100 dB excursions must be short peaks indeed. It's all about time exposed plus peak levels, not just peak levels themselves. On another symphonic movement his readings were the same as mine, with peaks around 92-93 dB.

I am early 80s and can go to 85db for regular listening. I sometimes listen to orchestral with peaks at 100db or just over but mean is 85db. Heavy rock is around an average of 87db.

Originally Posted by still-one

Am I to assume that everyone has been measuring from their listening position?

Yes, of course. Six feet behind me the levels are already 5 dB down. And directly at the speakers -- don't ask. I've held my dB meter there, but not my ears

I don't have a meter and I don't have a smart phone. I should find a cheap one (amazon is probably my friend on that, it's my friend on lots of stuff). I don't know if it's worth it though because it is something I would most likely use once in my lifetime.

Originally Posted by Audioseduction

You guys should specifie which weight A or C as they provide very different measurements.

I use an A-weighted SPL meter:

http://www.amazon.com/BAFX-Products-.../dp/B00ECCZWWI

The NIOSH recommendations are A-weighted. What is the difference with C-weighting? I believe C-weighting is the objective SPL, but how do the values differ?

Originally Posted by Al M.

The NIOSH recommendations are A-weighted. What is the difference with C-weighting? I believe C-weighting is the objective SPL, but how do the values differ?

O.k, found the answer to my own question:

dBA weighting filter frequency to dBA and dBC dB(A) and dB(C) A weighted sound calculate DIN IEC 651 calculator equal-loudness contours - sengpielaudio Sengpiel Berlin

It appears that at low frequencies dBA readings are much lower, but at high frequencies, where the ear is most vulnerable to hearing loss (?), the curves more or less converge.

Originally Posted by LenWhite

I've previously read sound greater than 90dB can cause hearing damage. I tend to listen to music frequently for fairly long durations, so I use a Radio Shack decibel meter to record the listening volume of every album I own for peaks between 85dB - 90dB.

Dangerous Decibels » How Loud is Too Loud?

That link is useful, but a bit misleading. The recommendations are actually taken from the NIOSH table, which is in dBA, and listed here as dB. Is your Radio Shack decibel meter A-weighted (corresponding to the NIOSH recs) or C-weighted?

Originally Posted by Audiophile bill

I am early 80s and can go to 85db for regular listening. I sometimes listen to orchestral with peaks at 100db or just over but mean is 85db. Heavy rock is around an average of 87db.

Yeah the Mahler we heard exceeded all that and got your cats out of the house. I have told Spirit I am not going to his place unless he lets me crank the volume up. I seriously think if someone finds his system noisy at 85 db levels, his room is seriously bad (provided he doesn't have tinnitus or something).

Originally Posted by LenWhite

I use the C-weighting because I recall reading an article (Stereophile I believe) stating that was the correct method of measuring audio sound levels in your listening room.

That is probably correct, but since the NIOSH guideline that you follow are A-weighted, you might want to have a dBA meter in house as well. If I'm not mistaken, the readings should be a bit lower especially on rock, since the A-weighting gives less weight to the bass frequencies dominant in that genre, so you may be able to crank it up a bit more.

BTW, I adjust my SPL levels for rock just as you do, for the same reasons. For orchestral I go higher, since peaks are much shorter than the fairly constant level of rock that is unrelenting on the ears.

Originally Posted by bonzo

Yeah the Mahler we heard exceeded all that and got your cats out of the house. I have told Spirit I am not going to his place unless he lets me crank the volume up. I seriously think if someone finds his system noisy at 85 db levels, his room is seriously bad (provided he doesn't have tinnitus or something).

Ha. True. My cats are a good barometer of how loud I am playing. They don't like more than 85db and don't like big dynamic swings with crashes of cymbals and tympani. They are particularly partial to a violin concerto on a Decca SXL I have found.

60-68 on average. Up into the mid 70's on some days.

That said, throw on some good metal and I'll have no problems taking things to the 95ish range. At least for a track or two.

Originally Posted by GaryProtein

For recordings of small groups of musicians, I prefer to have it sound like they are in my room. For large groups like orchestras, I like it to sound like I am in the concert hall.

I have had string quartets perform in my living room. It's surprisingly loud -- 95+ dB at times.

My daughter's flute playing can be 95 dB. When she practices the flute and especially the piccolo, she often wears ear protection because the volume next to the instrument at her ear can be very loud.

Those SPL numbers don't surprise me at all, Gary.

I once went with Peter A. to a chamber concert in a large living room, sonatas for cello and piano, and we both estimated that peaks from just these two instruments hit around 100 dB. It was just really loud, even though not in any way subjectively uncomfortable to the ears.

Last year I went to a concert of modern avantgarde at 'The Lilipad' in Cambridge, Mass., a small venue with 90 seats and relatively low ceiling; I sat rather close to the musicians. A woodwind quartet (flute, oboe, bassoon and clarinet, I believe) playing there hit easily 100 dB peaks as well. String quartet music in the same concert hit estimated peaks of 90 dB, which is the level I listen to at home (with an 80-85 dB average in loud movements). I would assume that in a living room a string quartet could hit peaks of 95+ dB indeed.

Even in a regular small concert hall where you sit a bit further away from the stage I would expect a string quartet to be playing in the 70-80 dB range. High 60s to mid 70s, as BlueFox's listening levels are for that music, seems really low; you would have to sit quite far away for that.

Originally Posted by still-one

I am stunned at the levels some of you listen at. I would worry about hearing loss/ringing if I listened at those levels.

I have walked out of movie theaters and left rooms when attending demos in peoples homes and in stores when they decide to show off.

I find it kind of funny that some here with very large speakers report such low listening levels, while I seem to 'blast away', comparatively speaking, with my mini-monitor/subwoofer system (see my post on thread p. 1 for levels) -- good acoustic room treatment helps for clean sound at these levels. And no, I am not worried about hearing loss under my circumstances, given that I strictly follow NIOSH recommendations. I wish I had treated my ears so well all my life, they would be in better shape now, even though I do quite well compared to average. These days I also protect my ears during vacuuming and during long trans-atlantic flights; while I did not do this in the past I did manage to be smart enough to wear earplugs in dance clubs. I may have incurred some damage during a few sporadic rock concerts though; these days I avoid these stupid ear-killers altogether.

Originally Posted by still-one

I am stunned at the levels some of you listen at. I would worry about hearing loss/ringing if I listened at those levels.

I have walked out of movie theaters and left rooms when attending demos in peoples homes and in stores when they decide to show off.

Same here, plenty of times.
You should also realize the levels some listen with headphones or in ear monitors at, it's even more frightening.

Originally Posted by slowgeezr

This conversation has sparked me to download an app in order to start measuring at what levels I listen at. So, while listening to Coltrane at a satisfying level for me at the moment, the meter is displaying minimum values at 62dB, average at 68dB and peaks at 76 dB. Now, at a sound level I consider to be loud, but still enjoyable, the same corresponding values are 55 (must have started reading between tracks), 71 and 79dB.

Apps on a smartphone may not be as accurate as a dedicated SPL meter.

Originally Posted by mep

Instead of the title "What is your preferred volume level?," should there have been a caveat along the lines of "If your wife would let you." Or, should the thread simply said how loud will your wife, mother, or landlord let you listen to music and for how long and how late?

Fortunately I am unrestrained by outside demands, it's just me and my ears -- and the dogs, but they don't have a say in it.

Cubic inches; the whole cubic centimeter thing is confusing to me. I guess its what I grew up with.

Gary it's like teeth, measured in cubic foot when wrong!��