Have you ever played your system "really" loud?

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Seriously however the ear will protect itself within limits and will compress the sound ... it’s like a form of natural dynamic distortion...

If you're referring to the tensor tympani innervation it is a response evolved to reduce internal noises during chewing when the jaw is tense, or for relatively sustained loud noises like thunder claps. It doesn't protect from immediate noises such as gunshots and won't save you from long-term listening to loud music where damage to the stereocilia will occur and result in hearing loss, especially for higher frequencies.

Minh Nguyen posted:

I normally listen at around 85-95 dB, but for an immersive experience, the volume can easily exceed 105 dB for about 45 minutes. It is my preference to staturate the entire room with resonance: in a way I'm listening with my ears whilst my body is being massaged at the molecular level. 

Minh,

you probably know what you're doing, but 105dB for 45 minutes over an extended period of time (years) might develop tinnitus.

Beware, and take care of yourself.

Max

Massimo Bertola posted:

Minh Nguyen posted:

I normally listen at around 85-95 dB, but for an immersive experience, the volume can easily exceed 105 dB for about 45 minutes. It is my preference to saturate the entire room with resonance: in a way I'm listening with my ears whilst my body is being massaged at the molecular level. 

Minh,

you probably know what you're doing, but 105dB for 45 minutes over an extended period of time (years) might develop tinnitus.

Beware, and take care of yourself.

Max

Max, Thank you for your concern. I understand that prolonged periods of listening may have a detrimental impact on my ears but l am also an acupuncturist and there are many ways to treat tinnitus. It may come as a surprise to you but my hearing is pretty good eventhough I have enjoyed listening at loud volumes for the past 30 years. The ears are directly related to the health of the kidneys. Form and function is an expression of our essence. When the kidneys are in good health, the ears will receive the five sounds. ATB Minh

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

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 ?

Simon, apologies for my bad sense of humor

But, hang on, maybe I have, after too many years  listening to fine music (, and drinking too much fine wine/whiskey).

From my experience, I have found that loud harsh music is much worse than loud enjoyable music.

With a bit of distortion the same volume can be unbearable. I went to a concert of Steve Reich music where they amplified a bunch of percussion instruments with a woefully inadiquate PA that was well into clipping, I wished I'd taken ear plugs or wasn't in the middle of a row. I was quite concerned for my hearing.

joerand posted:

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Seriously however the ear will protect itself within limits and will compress the sound ... it’s like a form of natural dynamic distortion...

If you're referring to the tensor tympani innervation it is a response evolved to reduce internal noises during chewing when the jaw is tense, or for relatively sustained loud noises like thunder claps. It doesn't protect from immediate noises such as gunshots and won't save you from long-term listening to loud music where damage to the stereocilia will occur and result in hearing loss, especially for higher frequencies.

Absolutely... and the way one’s hearing is distorted through excessive loudness is interesting... and I seem to remember the compression/distortion varies with frequency... I don’t have access to my previous references on this right now so can’t cross check... it was also the degree of auditory non linear distortion and the creation of CDT distortion in our auditory system the papers were describing which could vary possibly between person to person. Ie some people potentially hear a purer more clean sound with less artefacts than others.

Out of interest measured what I was listening to last night (not a calibrated thing - just my phone).  Max was 85dB, min was 21 dB (mainly, I suspect, the fan of the network switch).  That was at about 10 O'clock on the volume control.   Not sure I would want it louder than that, really...

You have an wxceedingly quiet home - or the app reads low. A silent recording studio, well damped, would only be expecrted to be about 20dB, while 30 is often quoted as typical level for a quiet bedroom at night (no snoring!). Or were those tge radi gs above background?

Innocent Bystander posted:

You have an wxceedingly quiet home - or the app reads low. A silent recording studio, well damped, would only be expecrted to be about 20dB, while 30 is often quoted as typical level for a quiet bedroom at night (no snoring!). Or were those tge radi gs above background?

It is exceedingly quiet at home.  No traffic (nearest road is a quarter of a mile away, and there is virtually no traffic on it at all), no wind, the sheep were quiet.  I might try another app to see whether it is different - but it is extremely quiet subjectively.  The 2960 was the only fan running, and I have that behind some foam to try to reduce the noise (not very successful, though - still hear it. It's about 6 or 7 feet away behind all the hifi kit).  The birds had gone to sleep.

By contrast, where I am now (an office in Exeter in a relatively quiet area), it is running at about 45dB

Beachcomber posted:

Innocent Bystander posted:

You have an wxceedingly quiet home - or the app reads low. A silent recording studio, well damped, would only be expecrted to be about 20dB, while 30 is often quoted as typical level for a quiet bedroom at night (no snoring!). Or were those tge radi gs above background?

It is exceedingly quiet at home.  No traffic (nearest road is a quarter of a mile away, and there is virtually no traffic on it at all), no wind, the sheep were quiet.  I might try another app to see whether it is different - but it is extremely quiet subjectively.  The 2960 was the only fan running, and I have that behind some foam to try to reduce the noise (not very successful, though - still hear it. It's about 6 or 7 feet away behind all the hifi kit).  The birds had gone to sleep.

Window wide open here and cacophony of bird song... and the washing machine on spin softly in the distance....  but interrupted twice this afternoon by an earth shattering loud army helicopter fly over at only a few hundred feet

tonym posted:

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.

Very good point Tony. Different demands. Also, even just considering The Who it’s about context. I’ll wager Live at Leeds goes on a bit higher than most of the studio albums..? 

kevin J Carden posted:

tonym posted:

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.

Very good point Tony. Different demands. Also, even just considering The Who it’s about context. I’ll wager Live at Leeds goes on a bit higher than most of the studio albums..? 

Apart, perhaps, from Won’t Get Fooled Again, from Who’s Next!

Clive B posted:

kevin J Carden posted:

tonym posted:

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.

Very good point Tony. Different demands. Also, even just considering The Who it’s about context. I’ll wager Live at Leeds goes on a bit higher than most of the studio albums..? 

Apart, perhaps, from Won’t Get Fooled Again, from Who’s Next!

It was actually Baba O’Riley that had me thinking about the validity of my own observation..

For me, the who track that has to go loudest is Won’t get fooled again, so if the rest of Who’s Next wasn’t wasn’t up enough, that track gets more... 

I’m afraid the Who aren’t even at the table

https://louderthanwar.com/top-...e-high-decibel-king/

Actually surprised the Who are on that list and not Sabbath or Zep.   

Not seen Led Zep but as much as I enjoy them, Sabbath are not all that loud

Motorhead in more recent years are nowhere near as loud as in the eighties, seen people passing out and coming out not knowing where or who they are

certainly the loudest band I’ve ever seen closely followed by ACDC, Angus once said the only band louder than us is Motörhead 

Aussie rockers Airbourne are pretty well up the list as is Lamb of God

lyndon

Possibly the loudest gig I remember was Gillan in London in around 1980, I seem to remember it made Thames News on TV the following day.

Eoink posted:

Possibly the loudest gig I remember was Gillan in London in around 1980, I seem to remember it made Thames News on TV the following day.

I don’t know which gig that was,, but one I remember vividly was the first time with the new line-up with Bernie Torme and John McCoy, at the Marquee club, 1979 I think, and around the time of some IRA bombings in England. It started with thunderflashes, and for a few moments into Secret of the Dance the audience was visible stunned, and I wonder how many others had had the first thought that there had been a bomb very close, before realinsing what it was...  I did like that incarnation, with Torme’s very Hendrix-like playing, and Big John McCoy pogoing Round the stage!

I can’t possibly pick out a single gig as loudest -after one or two I recall my ears still ringing nextbmorning, though I don’t remember which ones, and they really probably were too loud. Of course, and measure depends on where measured, and some of the figures I saw when I googled were very clearly not in the audience otherwise numerous people would have instantly suffered permanent and severe hearing damage, if not worse, so I guess ,easured somewhere close to speakers on big PA rigs. 

I had the opposite experience, during the Brixton riots of 1981, trouble flared up in other parts of London as well. I came out of a gig at the Rainbow, I think it might have been Hawkwind but wouldn't swear to it, and there had been a mini-riot on the road outside, there were various half bricks and other debris, and a couple of burnt-out cars still smouldering. It had been loud enough inside nobody had heard the sirens or the bangs.

Yes of course, weekly. Why bother with such system otherwise?

I think listening to music loud on a decent hifi is much less hazardous to your ears than on something of heinous quality, as the sound is clear and delivered wonderfully, meaning that it is not harsh or shrill, therefore being less damaging to ones ears.  

Is the resulting tinnitus of higher quality I wonder?