That being said, most of you can probably listen louder than you are without hearing loss. You’ve paid a fortune for your systems, so use them!
Here are NOSHA’s (National Occupational Safety & Health Administration) safety standards. A shotgun is bad because your ears don’t have time to react, but your ears can handle constant noise pretty well. Charts vary, but basically, here are the standards:
90db. 8 hours
95db 4 hours
100db 2 hours
105db 1 hour
110db 30 minutes
115db 15 minutes
Remember the volume doubles every 7 db, so 95db is twice as loud as 87db.
Protect your hearing, yes! But, if your favorite song comes on, crank it up. If you want a real movie experience, 100db peaks are no problem - as long you enjoy it.
I’ve played more 4 hour bar gigs in the 100-120db range than you can imagine. Too frequently with no hearing protection. I’m 53 next month, and my hearing is okay - not perfect, but not too much loss in hearing tests (it’s been a while, but some high frequency 15db losses). Watching loud movies at home on your killler system is going to be fine.