What's your usual volume?

Clemenza posted:

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.

 

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.

 

Over 85dB sustained for long periods cause hearing damage, progressively more so as levels increase, meaning progressively less exposure if you want to keep hearing all the nuances of music in the future. Right in front of the PA speaker stacks where no-one should be permitted without ear defenders might be 130dB - and that level is INSTANT hearing damage. The level where the audience is is considerably lower.

Innocent Bystander posted:

Clemenza posted:

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.

 

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.

 

Over 85dB sustained for long periods cause hearing damage, progressively more so as levels increase, meaning progressively less exposure if you want to keep hearing all the nuances of music in the future. Right in front of the PA speaker stacks where no-one should be permitted without ear defenders might be 130dB - and that level is INSTANT hearing damage. The level where the audience is is considerably lower.

Back in my youth (late '70s or early '80s), I was at a Motörhead gig in London (The Rainbow or Hammy Odeon I think.) Security was less on the ball those days, and a guy ran down from a frontish row and stuck his head in the bass bin, he recoiled immediately with blood pouring from his ears. Back where I was, it was very loud, but not that damaging. (At 53 my hearing passes the test on my annual checkups, better than normal for my age apparently which given my teenage (and later) metal love is surprising)

Eoink posted:

. 

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.

Most Naim power amps are 29dB gain, including the 250, so I assume the 135 is as well, and would sound exactly the same loudness as one another for the same volume control setting on the preamp, regardless of the power amp's maximum power up to the point where the amp is overloaded and the signal clipped on peaks. However the  Statement power amp gain is 30dB, so it will actually be louder for the same preamp setting - by a whole 1dB, which is about the smallest step increase in volume that you notice. But its mammoth power reserve means instantaneous peaks could be up to 10 dB louder before clipping, unless limited by the speakers. 

8-9 o'clock.

nDAC - 252 - 250 - PMC 20.23,  almost 9 o'clock.  About 34 dB ambient noise, avg 62dB max 74dB at listening position. iphone Decibel 10, just mesured 3 minutes ago listening Monteverdi's Laudate Dominum.

In the 8 zone with the Nait 3 through Proacs of medium efficiency. A bit higher with the LP 12 / Denon DL-103 MC and definitely lower when the madame is present in the room.

Allante93 posted:

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 ..."

Yes, 3 o'clock is at 90 degrees. My Hugo is set to a lowerline  level to sound best with my 252, and some film soundtracks are at quite a low level anyway .. so if enjoying such a film using the Naim and Hugo  and wanting a loud immersive experience, then volume settings between 0 degrees and 90 degrees (3 o'clock) are sometimes used. I personally quite enjoy the extended range of the NAC volume control when used in this manner.

Low 65dB
Medium 70-75dB
High 80dB
Extreme 83dB

If I'm listening to something acoustic, I adjust to roughly what it would sound like to have the musicians in the room. Otherwise, 9-10 o'clock, depending on where we are in the house and how much of a jolt we need.

My other half wears hearing aids, not surprising considering the loudness coming from her hairdryer that is used daily. Glad that I'm bald.   

9:00 usually.  With the Herbie's pieces in the system the feedback is greatly reduced and I love to turn it up to 12:00 or even 1:00 to rock the neighborhood.  This is both with the CD555 and the Superline.  The sound just does not distort with the Herbie's products.   I can stop the TT, put the cartridge on the record, turn it up to 12:00 or higher, and get no feedback when I tap the Fraim.  Footfalls will impact it, so no dancing at this level, but for a listen, it is clean, and awesome.   552>500>Proac D40R. Herbie's all around.  For The Win.  

I would say between 9 and 10 o'clock about 95% of the time. On occasions with people over the dial can be turned down to around 8 for some background. Then there may be a few occasions when home alone a song(s) or album(s) may get cranked up 10+ to the required level to meet the needs of the audience. 

Simon,

what's a 252DR? 

With an SN1 an S-400s I rarely went beyond 8.30 (pm), now with two extra PSUs (not Naim) I can reach 10 before the 400s flourish. I sincerely hated having to keep the pot so low, where it certainly didn't work at his best. I believe that 'normal' level - loud perceived as loud but conversation still possible if reduced to minimum - should be had at around12.

Same as Huge - usually 75 - 80 dB.

It's occurred to me that it may be useful for me to give details relating the volumes at which I listen to the settings on my system, so...

Streamer / Amp: 272 / 300 - so normal Naim amp gain
Speakers Spendor SP2:  88db / 2.83V

Approximate 'Sustained Peak' SPL / setting for classical & older rock recordings at standard transfer level / setting for modern rock recordings at +9dB transfer level

Low:          65dB        / 30 - 36  /  19 - 24
Medium:  70-75dB  /  34 - 44  /  24 - 34
Loud:        80dB       /  40 - 48  /  32 - 36
Extreme:  83dB       /  43 - 50  /  35 - 38

SN2:

with cd, usually about 9 O'clock

with vinyl, usually about 11-12 O'clock

with fm radio, usually about 8-9 O'clock

This can be lower if swmbo is at home.

35-45 depending on recording..... ideal is 42  with 272, +2 points with cd2x

Bloody hell - so I regard the pre must be transparent, regardless, so turning the nob past 10 O'Clock is introducing unwanted electronics to the sound.

Hence I hypothesise sensitive speakers being more audiophile. Disagree? Come on, if the Statement has 730W, the 500 140W etc. Is the logic not quite obvious?

Max_B posted:

Simon,

what's a 252DR? 

Hi a 252DR is a 252 with its power supply as DR - as the 252 must and only use the SuperCap - it kind of narrows it down.

Consciousmess posted:

Bloody hell - so I regard the pre must be transparent, regardless, so turning the nob past 10 O'Clock is introducing unwanted electronics to the sound.

Hence I hypothesise sensitive speakers being more audiophile. Disagree? Come on, if the Statement has 730W, the 500 140W etc. Is the logic not quite obvious?

Sorry, that makes no sense at all.

1   The only time you have less electronics in the sound is when the volume is turned down to zero.

2   Amplifier power and amplifier sound quality are two unrelated factors as are speaker sensitivity and speaker sound quality (otherwise a 1000W stadium PA system would always sound a lot better than a 140W NAP500!).

Anything between 15 and 60, dependant upon mood, circumstance (alone, company, background or truly listening), type of music, etc. So many variables in fact as to render both question and answers pretty much pointless and meaningless - in fact, I really don't know why I bothered to type this. Doh!!

43 is well suited for jazz and acoustic music.  40 if the recording is too compressed. 

47 for classical for a better feeling of the ample dynamic range. 

peaks around 83 dba, depending on the dynamic, oscillating between 55 dba to 80 dba.

This is with n272+nap 300+sopra 2.  My room is 15'x24'.  speakers 10 feet apart and listening position 12 feet away.

Huge posted:

Low 65dB
Medium 70-75dB
High 80dB
Extreme 83dB

24 hours = 1 day

1000 grams = 1 Kg

Is there some relationship between decimals and standard knob time position?

I know it depends on manufacture, but in general.

Many moons ago, I was explained to me that all amps clip, especially at twelve o'clock.

However, the finer, or better amps clips smoother.

In the Realm of Naim, is 83 decimals equivalent to eleven o'clock?

Volume on my emotiva dac is decimals.

Volume on my Primare Pre-30 is numbers.

25 is pretty loud with Arcam P1 Mono Blocks, and Veinna Baby Grands.

Just Curious.

Allante93!

Consciousmess posted:

Bloody hell - so I regard the pre must be transparent, regardless, so turning the nob past 10 O'Clock is introducing unwanted electronics to the sound.

Hence I hypothesise sensitive speakers being more audiophile. Disagree? Come on, if the Statement has 730W, the 500 140W etc. Is the logic not quite obvious?

Taking this to an extreme. horn speakers have a sensitivity around 105dB/W at 1m. That is 15-20dB greater sensitivity compared to a typical 85-90dB/W commonly encountered in other speaker designs - or in other words between 1/30th and 1/100th of the amp power is required for the same sound level. In general that can make amplifier design less demanding as lower power is needed for both an adequate sound level and to cope with any peaks, with a 5 or 10w amp enough for almost anything. Amps also need to be much lower gain, not only to allow usable volume control movement, but also because that very feint hum/buzz/hiss you might hear if you put your ear right up by the speaker is also 15-20dB louder and potentially a significant issue.

Does that make horn loudspeakers the best, or "more audiophile"? By your logic tha answer is yes - so time to go out hunting for a pair to replace your MAs with their paltry 90dB sensitivity...

Huge is quite right in his response, and in this example the answer, as with any speaker, is it depends on how they sound, and different ones can sound far better or worse than other speakers, whether horn or any other design, and the suitability of the amp plays its part.

Allante93 posted:

Huge posted:

Low 65dB
Medium 70-75dB
High 80dB
Extreme 83dB

24 hours = 1 day

1000 grams = 1 Kg

Is there some relationship between decimals and standard knob time position?

I know it depends on manufacture, but in general.

Many moons ago, I was explained to me that all amps clip, especially at twelve o'clock.

However, the finer, or better amps clips smoother.

In the Realm of Naim, is 83 decimals equivalent to eleven o'clock?

Volume on my emotiva dac is decimals.

Volume on my Primare Pre-30 is numbers.

25 is pretty loud with Arcam P1 Mono Blocks, and Veinna Baby Grands.

Just Curious.

Allante93!

The answer is no, for all the reasons I listed in a previous post. 

To say that all amps will clip above volume control at (or from) 12o'clock is a fallacy - clipping depends on the power the amp is putting out, which depends on input signal and speaker impedance. It may well be true for some amps running at rated input into a typical loudspeaker with nominal impedance matching the amp's design load, however I don't have enough information to comment on whether that might apply to a majority.