Does It have to be loud?

@gdhal 

In a subsequent post you made in this thread, dated 03-04-2018 8:57am, you wrote "....people admit listening at levels up to 100 or more dba at the listening position. I’m not sure how they measure, but believe me, most speakers won’t even go that loud, or if they do, they will distort tremendously...."

I took that to mean that you are now stating that most speakers cannot achieve 100 db without tremendous distortion, irrespective of the listening position. And this is simply not true, despite the Soundstage measurements submitted by shadorne as evidence. 

You added the word "irrespective". I'm sure you do understand that this is the key here. 100 dba at 2 feet, or 100 dba at -for example- 20 feet DOES differ, and so does the distortion. 

Anyway, your speakers seem to be able to go extremely loud (as you claim up to "approximately 125 dba, (however you also agree to take that with a grain of salt), for which you would need a lot of power (possibly 2 Kw or so). I have no reason to doubt that, as you certainly must know better about your speakers. All I can say that I don't think my speakers (partially shown in my profile picture...) even come close to producing such levels, at least not at the listening position, and certainly not undistorted. I even have no intention to try it out as well..... But I can live with that. They provide me with enough listening pleasure, at much lower levels. 

@onhwy61 

I agree, but make that "flat down to 35 Hz" 


@nonoise 

100% true.


Happy listening

@gdhal

You will find few if any speakers that Soundstage found capable of true high fidelity at 95 dB and above. We agree on that point.

That said the Vivid Giya G2 performs well - this is an example of high fidelity at higher SPL

https://www.soundstage.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=685:nrc-measurements...

As far the definition of Decibel you found it. Sound intensity or volume indeed doubles for roughly each 3dB in SPL which is a mathematical certainty due to the formula. Doubling to the perception of the listener  is whatever it may be. Perception isn’t what you get from SPL measurements using a sound meter.

@shadorne 

You will find few if any speakers that Soundstage found capable of true high fidelity at 95 dB and above. We agree on that point. 

Absolutely, well said. Related to this discussion, purposely I had my system up to 98 dba last weekend, and even though it sounded (thundered) still good, everything was shaking in my room and I became somewhat frightened ;) By the way, I used a cd with organ music for that purpose, frequencies possibly as low as 25Hz or so.

So MAYBE, my speaker system can do it, in my room, with the many acoustic corrections done. It's just that I don't think it is necessary for me to go that loud. So yes, maybe my speakers are capable of producing SPL of up to or even over 100 dba at the listening position, it just doesn't make sense.

You added the word "irrespective". I’m sure you do understand that this is the key here. 100 dba at 2 feet, or 100 dba at -for example- 20 feet DOES differ, and so does the distortion.

Hello @han_n

Not to belabor this, and frankly at this pointy I’m looking to conclude the matter, but you do realize that I didn’t add the word irrespective to your quotation. I used that word in my statement.

Secondly, I agree with you and understand that 100 dba at 2 feet, or 100 dba at 20 feet differs, however, in our examples herein it differs on account of the spl the speaker is producing,  which is typically (manufacturer specs) measured 1 meter from it. So in order to achieve the same db further from the speaker, the speaker needs to be playing louder (emanating more sound pressure). And of course, distortion will increase as the spl increases.

You will find few if any speakers that Soundstage found capable of true high fidelity at 95 dB and above. We agree on that point.

Hello @shadorne

No, we do not agree. I suspect this boils down to what you and I consider "true high fidelity". It seems to me you believe true high fidelity is "scientifically perfect sound reproduction as measured with the most precise device known" as opposed to "this sounds fantastic, authentic and enjoyable".