paranoid listener-damaging speakers?


I am one of those guys who is always wondering if he is listening too loud for his speakers capability. my system briefly consists of a prima luna prologue 2 integrated, custom eton 2 way speakers with a silk dome tweeter and 8 inch midrange, with a mhdt labs constantine dac. my room is 15x12 feet roughly. i listen about 6 feet away.
I like to listen at a level where i can feel the bass and midbass and feel that the speakers are loud enough to recreate their original acoustic on the recording. is there a rough guide to know if i am listening too loud without a meter? i will occasinally think i hear some distortion on loud passages, but it may be on the recording, i may just be paranoid? advice please? thanks.
djwilbourn
Shadorne - With the amount of money some people spend on audio pursuit every year it might be cheaper to hire symphony orchestra for home performances - nothing beats real thing.
guys, i really appreciate your input so far. i am surmising that 1. i need an spl meter and 2. i am hearing the distortion in the tweeter so maybe i am clipping the amp a bit, although i thought 40 watts of tube power would be more than enough to drive this fairly simple two way. feel free to continue the discussion and advice.
Djwilbourn said: " although i thought 40 watts of tube power would be more than enough..."
That, my friend, is why you need a SPL meter. Everything is just conjecture and speculation until you get a solid reference point for your particular flavor of "loud."

If you're trying to push 110 dB of chest-thumping bass and window-rattling volume from speakers of currently unknown efficiency, the odds of that are not on your side with 40 watts.

If 85 or 90 dB meets your definition of "loud" then chances are a lot better that your power is sufficient if your speakers are medium efficiency or better.

You've been given a wealth of information to work with. But now the ball is in your court and you've got some legwork to do.
At the end of the day it's your ears that determine the level of loudness they can take although measurements can be taken with an SPL meter on the range of dB you are getting. Everybody's tolerance towards loudness may not be similar. I would concur with advice from several folks in protecting your ears from potential damage, more so since you mentioned you like to listen to your music at high volume levels. Prolonged exposure to loud music may lead to tinnitus. Your ears are more valuable than the speakers, so don't worry too much about damaging the speakers. Just listen at a comfortable zone -your ears should be able to let you know.

I used to be like you listening at high volume levels but have toned down a lot after visiting the ENT specialist last year due to suspected tinnitus(vibration to my right ear). Fortunately I was told that I may be suffering from hyperacusis which was caused by listening to music at insane levels, not tinnitus. I was advised not to listen to music at insane levels to prevent recurrence of this "vibration".