Have you ever played your system "really" loud?

No, because my 30 Watts amp and the not so efficient speakers deconstruct the music quite early and besides, I never fancied sharing my music with the coyotes in the back yard.

Playing that loud at home is just plain daft. The same with deliberate rock concerts.

Damage to the ears is irreversible - the little hairs in the cochlea get bent over and never straighten, leading to a loss of the high frequencies and tinnitus, both of which are no aid to enjoying music playback in the home for the future.

Ray

DB, my thoughts exactly! Every album has a volume at which my system delivers an optimum sound for my ears. This is loud enough for me although I know it will go much louder. I see little point in going louder just for the sake of it.

It can be interesting to listen above and below this perceived optimum too. I am sure that my mood and all sorts of non hi fi related factors also come into play.

Stu

Innocent Bystander posted:

Of coorse, for the ultimate, there’s Disaster Area...  (Hitchiker’s Guide to the Universe)

To The Galaxy.

I do enjoy the occasional blast, it really depends on what I'm listening to. Realistic levels for a Chopin etude are rather different from The Who.

I listen to it loud(ish) all the time, the system makes me do it as it just sounds so good! 

My wife sometimes intervenes and tells me to turn it down to an acceptable volume, to which I generally have to oblige.  Most of the time it's at a reasonable volume, and occasionally I will really crank it up when i'm in the mood.  I've had both fans on my Nap 135's running during an 'enthusiastic' listening session (no neighbors here either).

thebigfredc posted:

Playing that loud at home is just plain daft. The same with deliberate rock concerts.

Damage to the ears is irreversible - the little hairs in the cochlea get bent over and never straighten, leading to a loss of the high frequencies and tinnitus, both of which are no aid to enjoying music playback in the home for the future.

Ray

Daftness of any activity providing enjoyment has never been a universal guide to human activity, otherwise no-one would participate in many things they enjoy doing. And more specifically rock music would not exist!  The important thing is for people to be aware of the risks and decide on appropriate limits. The first live concert of any sort that I attended was Deep Purple: I was about 15ft from the stage, it was very, very loud, and hugely enjoyable -  an amazing immersive experience that I remember so clearly 48 years and many hundreds of live gigs later. The responses on here that refer to playing at similar levels at home seem to indicate only limited/occasional ‘blasts’.

Alba1320 posted:

stuart.ashen posted:

DB, my thoughts exactly! Every album has a volume at which my system delivers an optimum sound for my ears. This is loud enough for me although I know it will go much louder. I see little point in going louder just for the sake of it.

It can be interesting to listen above and below this perceived optimum too. I am sure that my mood and all sorts of non hi fi related factors also come into play.

Stu

I believe that the late, great Peter J. Walker is credited with saying that (something along the lines of) each recording has its optimum (maybe even 'correct'?) volume setting?

Probably -  and with some music that can be very loud. (However this may well vary from person to person.) I just play at the level that sounds right at the time, whic includes my mood. This of course is quite different from any concept that the system has an optimum level, which to me it hasn’t.

I like listening loud once in a while and I believe that loudspeakers, no matter how many hours or years they have been playing will never be fully broken in if the woofers are not pushed to their near limit of maximum excursion (Xmax) for a few minutes. This loosen edge surround and the spider as it should.

By the way, one of my favorite tunes for suspension loosening is Magic Bus from Live at Leeds. That bass riff from John Entwistle will do the job perfectly! 

At my age, I never drive over 35 mph, so I guess my answer to the o.p. would be "No". 

No cos I value my tweeters!

Jeff Anderson posted:

At my age, I never drive over 35 mph, so I guess my answer to the o.p. would be "No". 

Don’t worry, as you proceed with your driving lessons confidence will come and your instructor will take you higher, then in a couple of years once you no longer a probationary driver you'll be allowed to go over 50.  

Yes. Since moving to a detached house and getting a pair of Briks 

Good clean power from a hefty amp and they just sound amazing. When the bottoms of your trousers start moving in the air from the bass driver, your starting to get somewhere.  

I only do this briefly before turning it down to about 75-80db for an extended listen. 

Problem is some music was made to be listened to at 11 on the dial. 

Some albums are recorded, mixed, rerecorded, remixed, overdubbed and cut as such, that they only make sense when replayed at high saturated volume.   Loveless only gets an occasional play when I know all the neighbours are out.

Hi Toby,

Spot on your comments with Loveless - They should have a sticker on it with This album should be played at a high volume.Have seen Motorhead a few times but My Bloody Valentine where easily as Loud,no question.

The loudest I have listened to my Supernait 2 and SF Venere 2.0 speakers (87db, 6 0hms), is with the volume at 10 o'clock on the volume dial. In my 3 x 4.5 meter listening room, it is plenty loud. I have not felt the need to play my system any louder. 

For critical listening I like to get into the low 90's dB on peaks for it to really sound good.  

tonym posted:

I recently had an old colleague from work over for a vinyl-listening session. He's been a drummer in various groups since he were a lad, so most of the stuff he bought over had oodles of percussion. I made the mistake of passing him the remote, with the instruction to turn up the volume as much as he liked. So Genesis' "Seconds Out" side four, with lots of drums, went up SO INCREDIBLY LOUD THINGS WERE MOVING AROUND IN THE HOUSE. A crash when an ornament fell off a shelf somewhere...I was really expecting serious damage; plumes of smoke spiralling out from behind the amps. Speakers firing their drivers out like guided missiles and embedding themselves in the walls. At the very least blown tweeters.

Remarkably, the system just dished it out unharmed, and when a deafening silence finally fell it just squatted there impassively, waiting for the next aural assault. I should have deployed the decibel meter app. I've got on my iPad, but in all honesty I was paralysed with shock.

Tony, can you tell at what position the volume control was set? 2o clock or even further beyond ..?

Franz K posted:

tonym posted:

I recently had an old colleague from work over for a vinyl-listening session. He's been a drummer in various groups since he were a lad, so most of the stuff he bought over had oodles of percussion. I made the mistake of passing him the remote, with the instruction to turn up the volume as much as he liked. So Genesis' "Seconds Out" side four, with lots of drums, went up SO INCREDIBLY LOUD THINGS WERE MOVING AROUND IN THE HOUSE. A crash when an ornament fell off a shelf somewhere...I was really expecting serious damage; plumes of smoke spiralling out from behind the amps. Speakers firing their drivers out like guided missiles and embedding themselves in the walls. At the very least blown tweeters.

Remarkably, the system just dished it out unharmed, and when a deafening silence finally fell it just squatted there impassively, waiting for the next aural assault. I should have deployed the decibel meter app. I've got on my iPad, but in all honesty I was paralysed with shock.

Tony, can you tell at what position the volume control was set? 2o clock or even further beyond ..?

Sorry Franz, I didn't look, but I'd guess it must have been thereabouts. Of course the position will vary, depending on the source output.

All of my systems over the years, current set up very much included, sound pretty boring, and actually a bit rubbish at low volume.  Loud is good.  Not 105Db loud for me, but peaks in the mid to late nineties suits.  That's enough for me and is also normal listening level.

I have always been wondering why my system never sounds loud, even when I turn it up full blast, but somehow the guy next door could hear it, even his bed room is about 200 yards away from my listening room?

I had a friend who lived a few houses down the road from me. He called me on the phone " hey listen to this"

Next thing I knew.  Babies were crying. Police cars were scrambling. Local councillors pens getting ready..   He thought it was a good idea to try out some vintage Tannoy PA set up in the garden fed from a Sony Walkman.

TOBYJUG posted:

I had a friend who lived a few houses down the road from me. He called me on the phone " hey listen to this"

Next thing I knew.  Babies were crying. Police cars were scrambling. Local councillors pens getting ready..   He thought it was a good idea to try out some vintage Tannoy PA set up in the garden fed from a Sony Walkman.

And did you learn sign language after that or did your friendship drift apart?

Yes.  Up until my early thirties my main concern regarding hifi was how loud will it go without breaking up and degrading the sound.  My Nad c370 used to go pretty loud although it would clip if pushed too hard. 

A couple of Christmas eves back my other half blew a pair of Guru QM 10's playing fairytale of New York much too loud,  apparently according to the manufacturer they don't like being pushed to party levels in rooms with high ceilings???

Frank Yang posted:

I have always been wondering why my system never sounds loud, even when I turn it up full blast, but somehow the guy next door could hear it, even his bed room is about 200 yards away from my listening room?

You have developed a hearing impairment ?

Seriously however the ear will protect itself within limits and will compress the sound ... it’s like a form of natural dynamic distortion... so playing music above a certain loudness to the listener is counter productive in terms of music fidelity unless we are after that compressed effect our brains hear ... and it it is not mastered into the recording.. (as usual the AES has some interesting documents on this)

Last time I had serious pressure on my ears (sign of too high volume) was after a Christmas concert of a local brass band. That is harmful.