Music volume? What about your sound level?

Here's a link to what Shure says about listening levels. It includes OSHA recommended limits on exposure to loud sounds. Tinnitus commences at 127dB. 130dB is the level reached at very loud rock concerts. 140dB levels can cause hearing loss no matter how short the time exposure. Nausea is experienced after only a few minutes listening that loud.

Bigjoe, Quest makes meters that are rated to 140dB.

spl readings dont tell the truth from my listening chair,i measure spl's at 3ft but i sit at 20ft,still its as loud as a concert.

thanks for the tip hwy,i read a blog somewhere where a guy took some crazy rig up to about 150 spl for an entire song & got sick & had to lay down for the rest of the day,now that's too loud.

i blast it out real good but im carefull not to listen like that for extended periods.

Bigjoe, no amount of care will save you if you really hit 120+ db spl. Think of "realistic levels" within the context of your room and try to limit the musical peaks (short loud passage) to a MAXIMUM of ~100db spl at yr listening position.

my RS meter is reading low 80's db range (81-84 db, measured from my listening position) for my normal high volume level. My normal background listening levels are probably in the 70-74db range. I haven't tested it, but I think for the few albums that I MUST listen to loud, it probably approaches 95db, but I doubt I go any louder than that.

This is actually a little surprising to me. I would have guessed my normal levels were in the 90's