How loud in DB, Is "cranking it"

frozentundra - 
My seated distance to speakers is similar to yours.  
Loud to me is 85 - 90 dB; over 90 db seems very loud.
Normal listening levels are in the range of 80 - 85 db using a Radio Shack SPL Meter set to Slow response and  'C' weighting.  See link for anyone unfamiliar with it.

http://support.radioshack.com/support_audio/doc72/72441.pdf

30 Watts in class A. 
I bet it goes to AB past that.

I don't like to play games so for me normal level is 93db or so and a typical Fri/Sat night jam session runs up to 110-112db on peaks. I'd go higher if I thought I could get away with the neighbors not knocking on the door. They should probably be thankful I have not purchased a sub just for that reason.

I'm guessing that those who are able to enjoy listening at under 80db must have a very quiet noise floor in the room to begin with or have very sensitive hearing.

The noise floor in my room is quite high though in general. Using REW I measure a constant 50-55db at all times without a peep from anything else taking place. 116yr old house, no insulation, about 30ft off a a busy street.

Amplifier to speaker power is a lot more complicated than rated power output vs listening dB. The trick is amplifying the entire audio band. Even a low power consumer receiver will crank out 90 plus db but if you place a spectrum analyzer you will find the lower end of the Thiel's frequency band to be way lower than the spec'd +/-3dB.

Put a Krell or a Levinson monster on a Thiel and match the output and you will immediately hear a profound difference at the same listening dB as the lower frequencies are brought to life.

100db is cranking at my house and definatley ringing ears,which isnt good for an ole fart like me there already beat of from being a musician ..120 db is painful and very damaging like ac/dc front row next to the pa lol usually 60-80 ish  ...