How loud is loud, What DB is actually loud?

I suspect you've already damaged your hearing. 135 dB is above the threshold of pain.

I have a friend that listens to his musics very loud at times. In high school he put in ear plugs in his car to "feel" bass and actually got a nose bleed out of the deal. When we shared an apartment he had the system in his room cranked up so loud that a lady from the next building (about a 30 foot air gap) came over to complain. I requested that she wait while I got him since he wouldn't believe the complaint if he didn't hear it from her. In any case, we used a dB meter once to check the listening volume because he wanted to see how it compared to OSHA recommendations for hearing damage. I don't think he even exceeded 95 dB (probably not the loudest he ever turned it up) on the meter. We were both surprised as we expected a higher number. Concert volume is stupid in my opinion.

Mceljo,

Correct , 95 db in a domestic environment is very, very loud, even on crescendos.

Viggen900 , agree , most high sensitivity speakers suffer from uneven and exaggerated bandwidth IMO and most balanced speakers tend to be in the high 80's 88-89 being very good.

I wouldn't let sensitivity be the criteria for looking...

Bullot ,

Like your setup ...........

regards,

I dont know who the nutter is who had 135db in the car, but I suspect the figure is wrong. More like 95db... Or he is deaf or dead.

I seem to remember the space shuttle taking off is 135db several miles away!

A quad will not get you rocking. Maybe a big sound lab could if you like ESLs. A big magnepan if you like that ESL sound will get you closer and will be cheaper. But you will need a lot of power to keep it controlled. ICE power will do it for reasonable money.