What's your usual volume?

With my 252DR/250system... with CDX2 about 8 o'clock, NAT05 about 9 o'clock, my Hugo playing audio PCM/DSD about 10 o'clock, my Hugo playing film audio sound track about 10 o'clock to 1 o'clock depending on content. Settings do vary, but I never go above 3 o'clock on the 252 ...

Simon

45 past.  

Eight-ish on CD. Bit higher on FM. Bit higher again on records. Depends on time of day too.

I've run three different sets of speakers over the last couple of years on the end of my SN2, with claimed sensitivity ranging from 90Db down to 88Db (my current speakers).  With each speaker the sweet spot where everything comes alive and sounds best is around the 10 o'clock mark for me.  It's recording dependent obviously, but most modern recordings would sit around there.  I don't think I've ever gone beyond 12 o'clock...apart from that day when I sat down on the remote.  It got to over 2 o'clock before I realised what was happening managed to intervene.  That was loud, but surprisingly nothing seemed to care, didn't even sound strained really.

With my SN I was between 9-10 most of the time (recording dependent) with forays up to 12-ish for short periods or specific cuts.

On the 272, with no attenuated setup (i.e., factory spec), I run around 50-61, with 70 reserved for those moments when I want to let it loose.

Tinnitus be damned...

20-50 but mostly 30ish, so 10 o'clock in the old money.

As loud as my wife will allow! 

On my Uniti 2 I run at 33 for use with TV and between 40 to 50 for 'proper' listening. I'm not surprised Dr Mark has tinnitus if he's running at 51 to 60 if it correlates to my system for SPL!

This "o'clock" volume gauge is all a bit meaningless,  it depends on speaker sensitivity especially, source volts,  the distance from speaker to listener & the recording played.  i.e.  Air on a G-String will play a lot quieter than  1812 Overture.     Most of us have a tablet of one sort or other & they all have 'free' SPL meters,  not the most accurate it has to be said but a darn sight more meaningful than the volume control clock position with unknown everything else.

Again, it all depends on the cut being played, and the 50-60 is but or two at most - I seldom have time to sit and listen for any extended period. I am also sitting a good 12 feet from the speakers with another 15 feet to the "back wall" behind the listening position.  And I am closer to 15-18 feet if I am doing a guitar play-along session, which is when I go into the mid 60s. (Of course, then I also have the Vox guitar amp in the mix.)  It is a large, open area with an 11.5 foot high ceiling, so that really makes a difference. In my old digs no way would I have been able to go that high.

But I admit that I do like it loud...with my SPL meter (I have a Check-Mate brand) it ranges (frequency dependent) from 75-ish to upper 80s, again, very dependent on the musical content. Ambient room measures around 50-ish with my de-humidifier running, and around  38-44 when it turns off.

Consciousmess posted:

By hearing answers, one can infer typical speaker sensitivity and perhaps the optimal volume level. I suspect the higher the volume (e.g. 12 O'Clock) the worse the speakers.

Then again, too low and one does not engage the bass drivers.

i'm about 8-9 O'Clock.

Speaker sensitivity is nothing to do with how good they sound. Amp setting for a given sound level at the listening position depends not only on speaker sensitivity but the source being ised, the room itself, and more particularly the distance the listening position is from the speakers. And of course everyone is different in terms of the range of listening levels thay like, which can also depend on the paricular music being played, mood and even time of day.

If you want to know people's typical amp setting that is fine, but it tells you nothing about the sound level at their listening position. If you want to know typical sound levels, then what is needed is a decibel measurement at the listening position, though even that needs defining (e.g average or peak?) it could be as crude as using a phone app to measure, but bear in mind that different apps even on the same phone can record 6dB or more different, and there is likely to be some difference between different phones' microphone sensitivity. On the other hand if you want to relate amp setting to loudness, you need both.

An  interesting measurement to make is maximum (peak) sound level, Especially when playing at a high average level - but that is another subject.

There  have been other threads in the past year or so discussing sound levels - a search perhaps for dB, decibel, loudless or sound level should find.

DrMark posted:

On the 272, with no attenuated setup (i.e., factory spec), I run around 50-61, with 70 reserved for those moments when I want to let it loose.

Holy cr@p!  My regular listening is 25-35.

45 is ear-bleeding, so 50-70 must be like being at a live Metallica gig!

Consciousmess posted:

By hearing answers, one can infer typical speaker sensitivity and perhaps the optimal volume level. I suspect the higher the volume (e.g. 12 O'Clock) the worse the speakers.

Then again, too low and one does not engage the bass drivers.

i'm about 8-9 O'Clock.

Cdx2>282>HCDR> Tri-Amped Briks 

About the same depending on CD! 

Xrcd 2, 24, etc... a bit lower when kicking and showing out, about 9 o'clock , Regular nice recordings about 10 o'clock.

But for short periods of time, when I'm really trying to impress, and get someone leaving my pad with Briks on the Brain! 

I push it up to 1100 o'clock, even eleven point three! , and wow!!!!!!!! 

But Simon, please help me with 3:00 o'clock: 

"With my 252DR/250system... with CDX2 about 8 o'clock, NAT05 about 9 o'clock, my Hugo playing audio PCM/DSD about 10 o'clock, my Hugo playing film audio sound track about 10 o'clock to 1 o'clock depending on content. Settings do vary, but I never goabove 3 o'clock on the 252 ..."

Simon

Allante93! 

intothevoid posted:

DrMark posted:

On the 272, with no attenuated setup (i.e., factory spec), I run around 50-61, with 70 reserved for those moments when I want to let it loose.

Holy cr@p!  My regular listening is 25-35.

45 is ear-bleeding, so 50-70 must be like being at a live Metallica gig!

 

If that is setting on the dial, then it gives no indication of sound level because of all the factors at play as in my last post, 

if it is a measurement of decibels then either you listen extremely quietly, or there is something amiss with your measurements. 25-30 equates typically to a very quiet room, with no music playing. A study library might be around 40dB. Background music in a restaurant maybe 60dB. A common level for music at home, other than quiet background music, is not uncommonly in the 70s, and loud might be more like 80. 

intothevoid posted:

DrMark posted:

On the 272, with no attenuated setup (i.e., factory spec), I run around 50-61, with 70 reserved for those moments when I want to let it loose.

Holy cr@p!  My regular listening is 25-35.

45 is ear-bleeding, so 50-70 must be like being at a live Metallica gig!

 

Normal listening range is in the 32-38 and just past 40 for a little more thumping. I've never gotten past 45 on the dial. Speakers are firing along the length of a double room, 10' wide by 24' length, sitting about 10' from the speakers. 

intothevoid posted:

DrMark posted:

On the 272, with no attenuated setup (i.e., factory spec), I run around 50-61, with 70 reserved for those moments when I want to let it loose.

Holy cr@p!  My regular listening is 25-35.

45 is ear-bleeding, so 50-70 must be like being at a live Metallica gig!

 

I was thinking the same, for me between 30-40 on my 272/XP5XS/100 into Proac Tab 10 and towards 40 is loud but depends on the album playing.

~ 70 dBA at listening position, as measured using Decibel 10 on my iPhone 7.

Volume level is like looking through an old SLR camera, that adjustment where the mesh clicks in focus - too low or too high, to just right in focus.  Critical listening can vary in this sense as some recordings are more fussy and others not so.

I always loved that note on the back of an album - " This record has been cut to sound at its best turned up loud."

This thread has been reassuring to me, despite all the caveats above, in that from my streamer, FM, and CD my 282's volume, going to 300DR, is usually between 8:30 and 9, a bit higher for critical listening, and at about 10 when the source is TT.  It's good to know that seems sort of "normal."

As for my bedroom system, for background music I find 22-24 on the 272 into 250DR nice for background, 36 to 38 for attentive listening.

TOBYJUG posted:

Volume level is like looking through an old SLR camera, that adjustment where the mesh clicks in focus - too low or too high, to just right in focus.  Critical listening can vary in this sense as some recordings are more fussy and others not so.

I always loved that note on the back of an album - " This record has been cut to sound at its best turned up loud."

So much depends on the music itself and on what I feel like - and some music certainly sounds best loud (at least to me), say 80dB+ (I recall something similar on some albums e.g "play loud"!)

I

Tallan posted:

This thread has been reassuring to me, despite all the caveats above, in that from my streamer, FM, and CD my 282's volume, going to 300DR, is usually between 8:30 and 9, a bit higher for critical listening, and at about 10 when the source is TT.  It's good to know that seems sort of "normal."

As for my bedroom system, for background music I find 22-24 on the 272 into 250DR nice for background, 36 to 38 for attentive listening.

It would be better to have a two stage volume control (or a separate control adjusting the power amp's gain) to give a more sensible usable volume control gain, as using a rotary knob with a rotation of only a quarter of a turn or from minimum to the highest you want is go is not ideal. 

Reckon I'm usually about 75 litres. Just had a rather large Sunday roast dinner so possibly 76 just now.

Willy.

Rock concerts are usually around 110dB, with large stadiums hitting 130dB, or the equivalent of a jet engine at takeoff. The average car is 70dB at highway speeds with the radio off and if you have the radio on and are hearing the dynamic range of even compressed music over that floor, you are playing at 85-90 in the car. A subway train comes in at around 90dB on average.

Can you tell I love playing with the decibel meter on my phone? It's really enlightening - er, ear opening? - to actually measure the environments I'm in. Ambient noise in daily life is often way, way louder than what I think is loud in my listening room.

My house is sometimes as quiet as 35-40dB with everything turned off. It usually takes a power failure to get this house and our neighborhood that quiet. The front porch, at night, with all the neighbors in bed and the cicadas doing their thing in the summer, is over 65dB. Think about that! Camping, at night, in the summer, in Virginia is over 65dB! All. Night. Long.

When the air handler for the heat pump cuts on in the room I listen to music in, the noise floor rises to 55dB. If you are listening to music at 60dB in this room with the air handler on, you aren't hearing much. The cicadas outside will be drowning it out. You certainly won't be hearing differences in cables.

I find that in this environment, if I let myself find a level that is lively, dynamically expressive and not so loud that I can't listen for hours, and then measure it, I find that most of my listening occurs in a dynamic range that spans from 70-90dB, with quieter passages down around 70 and crescendos peaking at 90. At first, this freaked me out. But then I realized that I spend more time each day in louder environments outdoors just traveling to work. A city street in daytime is louder. Me singing in the shower is louder. A child practicing a saxophone or piano is often louder.

A sustained 90 or higher to me is rocking out level. I'll certainly get there when drinking and You Shook Me All Night Long comes on, but I can't listen above 90 for long periods. It's fun for short blasts, but beyond about 20 minutes, it gets tiresome.

Those of you listening at 70dB and finding insightful listening at those volumes have some excellent hearing. I gotta ask, how do you venture out of the house? The outside world must be deafening to you!

On my 82, the volume knob is around 7.30-8.00 for the NDX, and about 9.30-10.00 for the turntable, I sit about 4m from the speakers. Checking the currently playing Borodin symphonies on an IPhone sound meter, the NDX at that level is around 80db at a crescendo, so well below concert hall levels. 

I assume that the power amp must have an effect, replacing my 135s with Statements at about 10 times the peak power would presumably leave me with about one degree of travel on the volume knob.

Using Smart Tools Sound Meter on a Lenovo tablet, ten feet from the speakers in a twentyfour by eleven ten room, volume control at 10:30 I have just got, using the whole of each track _

Ambient noise 34dB

Solidarity from Black Uhuru Anthem minimum 66, maximum 83, average 77

Black Coffee from Ella Fitzgerald Let No Man Write My Epitaph 52, 85, 71

Spem in alium Harry Christophers: the Sixteen 55, 75, 66

The spread across the frequency spectrum is of course totally different,  unfortunately I couldn't get screen grabs from the Frequensee app to share