volume vs presence

You know..., I thought that we had two different questions here; but now I'm not so sure, I thought one was presence and the other was percussive attack. Presence sometimes means different things to different people. To me it means that the Vocalists or Instruments sound like they are in the room with you, or you are there with them. I believe this to be anywhere in the 2kHz-6kHz, but commonly referred to as the 2kHz-4kHz range as Cdc suggests.

I took Percussive Attack to mean; leading edge transient attack of the Music, such as; Rhythm Section, Bass Guitar, Kick Drum, and Lower Brass or generally speaking the Bass Region, 60Hz-250Hz. However, these Instruments' Harmonics, may also extend into the presence range.

So, I would like to ask the OP; Are you looking for "More Liveness (or presence)? or, Are you looking for a better rhythm section, with a more solid foundation and drive to the Music, that has more energy with greater Dynamics? or, Do You Want It All.....?

One thing I can tell you is that a Larger Speaker will definitely fill your room better, without destroying your hearing.

Rich

If you purchase a Sterophile test disc, you already have the necessary SPL meter, you can get a general idea what is going on with your system and your room.

I think I am going to wait and save up for my next system which will match the new listening room I will be looking for when I purchase/rent my next house.

Going along with Jax's post, I have just been doing a lot of reading up on acoustics and rooms for listening, and it seems that its the most important thing before you start buying components. I read that spending money on getting your room acoustically set up yields far greater results than focusing on gear alone. And when you have the room set up right, the components are able to realise their full listening potential. Which makes sense, because my system have sounded different in the couple of houses I have used them in.

I am reluctant for obvious reasons to go out and spend huge amounts of money on cables. I can't really see for the value for money in exotic cables sorry. Can you really hear that much difference for the money spent?

Hey Rich, I was thinking about what I was missing, and its the intial attack of the front, upwards curve of the sound. I can hear the guitar being played, but I want to feel the pluck on the string before the note sounds. The twang and percussive effect of the double bass player digging into a string.

Just want to thank everyone for their detailed responses too.

Shadorne, thanks for the link. I am required to have my hearing tested yearly where I'm employed, but the results given are not very informative. The results of this test really shows where the losses are. My loss started right at 500hz, with a gradual increase up to -12dB at 30 hz. What suprised me the most was how it stayed level when I increased the frequencies until I got to 6khz, which only went up one level, then again at 12khz one level. But at 16khz, I had to jump up to -6dB. !!! Great test!

What you describe sounds normal - you hear best (most sensitively) around 500 Hz upwards and you hear least sensitively in the bass. This is a normal "loudness contour" of hearing sensitivity.

Jaffa: Did you set your SPL meter to "fast?" If so, the music you listen to is not that dynamic. 85 dB average is loud, but not BLARING. It shouldn't be causing ringing in your ears unless you're listening for hours at a time. Very dynamic music could have peaks going well into the 90s at listening position while averaging 80 dB or less.

Presence, dynamics and transients are all different, but somewhat related.

-Presence is the impression of how close or far something sounds. Closer microphoning will sound more present and have stronger transients.

-Dynamics are the the range of loud to soft.

-Transients are the very short spikes on the attack. These can be very, very loud, but so short that we don't hear them as LOUD. They give us the impact of live music. Even on the "fast" setting those $50 SPL meters can't respond fast enough to show how loud they really are.