Topic: How loud?

[Tim]

So how loud does it get at your listening position?

I've taken to really letting my system rip during the day, I'd really like to get a meter and test how loud it gets.

I'd imagine with some of the systems I see on here you guys are really pushing some heavy db's.

[Tim]

how sensitive Mike?

[Tim]

I think mine are 88db efficient but I was never entirely clear on how to interpret that.

[Tim]

yes that's right... I vaguely remember that from the Yamaha sound reinforcement handbook.

gotcha...

[Tim]

Todd and I talked about the "uncomfortably loud" thing a few times.

Basically I don't even realize how loud they are sometimes. The speakers still sound clean and smooth, even when cranked and don't fatigue or cause strain. Really, until someone else comes over I sometimes forget how loud the stereo is.

[utahtaper]

bottomline in all that is they sound really nice without being uncomfortably loud. (and Baroque :happylove: doesnt sound right all cranked up)

What speakers are you running to get those results?

[Tim]

Rumored to be very tube friendly. They love my 175 watts of solid state!

 

[scervin]

At my listening position I'm at 85-90 dB most of the time.  

[Nick's Picks]

I tend to stay in that 80-95db range most of the time for my personal listening...but with a toddler in the house, it often stays lower than that, like 65-75db range

[Tim]

thanks guys, that's interesting,

I think a friend has a db meter, I may bring it over for a few days and measure my listening position.

[JeffK]

Hrm... I should get a meter.  I generally listen at levels where I can still comfortably talk to the person next to me.  It 'can' play fairly loud though

[Lee]

when I had the maggies, I stayed somewhere between 90-95 most of the time (just 'cause I was in a dorm and that's what it took to kill the ambient noise)

[Tim]

Lee - did you have a meter?

They have cheap ones at rat shack that would work fine but I don't need to own one, I just want to take a few readings out of curiosity.

[Lee]

it was one of the cheap rat shack meters that probably hasn't been calibrated in a decade.  That number's probably not accurate at all.  Measured ambient noise was 38dB, and I know without a doubt it's louder than that.

[Tim]

thanks Lee!