Level Restrictions?

I too am in college, but I live in a blue-collar apt. complex. I go to class in the morning and am mostly restricted to loud levels in the afternoon before the neighbors get home. I know what cars my neighbors drive, so I just have to peak out my window to see if it is all clear. For a couple weeks now though, this strange military, chain-smopking guy who lives below me has not left the house. Now I am making myself nervous.

I am a bit lucky that my system can play at low volumes without changing its character, but I would love the freedom to turn it up. I dream of owning a sightly secluted house with a nice listening room as the best listening is late at night.

i am very conscious of not annoying my neighbors too much as my apartment is part of a complex of three. i can certainly heard the bass thumps coming from their stereo system. most of the time i listen at low volumes anyway. but i look forward to the day when i can afford a big house, well away from others, with a dedicated audio room.

How about having apartment neighbors with mass produced home theaters who's subwoofers play havok with delicate solo passages being produced on my side?

(I've found that the 'right' volume for my rig, that is, the one that seems to be most in synch with the room accoustics, is unfortunately about 1/20th of a turn too loud on the dial for night time listening.)

I have noticed the same thing, Raguirre. The level I want is slightly too loud for night time, but not so bad during the day. Thankfully I don't have annoying neighbors with cheap "home theaters in a box" to deal with. My real problem is that I don't really know the potential of my system. I can't really put my system under stress to see where it's breaking point is. (Not that I really want to, but the louder it is, the more realistic things will sound, usually.) I haven't experienced clipping with my amplifiers, simply because it would be too loud for everyone around me. I can image all of you with Krell mono blocks or something similar can reach very high listening levels. You all must live in houses where neighbors aren't much of an issue.