Why magic at 80 db?

Looking back at my post above, occurs to me that I may have stumbled into an old chicken and egg conundrum: do things sound best at just above 80db because they were mastered at that level to sound their best, or are things mastered at 80db because that's just inherently where things sound their best to the human ear over a prolonged period? Dunno, but I suspect ultimately a mix of both. But, either way, seems like a known factor.

To support Mezmo's observation: (http://www.digido.com/honor-roll.html) Also- some systems take more power, before they, "come alive" than others. How many hours do have on your speakers(are they a recent acquisition)? Most driver compliances take time to break in/loosen up, before they sound their best and most dynamic.

80 db IS background level.....;-}}

Shakey

So between 80 to 85 is where I mainly listen. From a hearing protection standpoint, am I still at safe levels?

According to this -- the first plausible link from a google search -- yes:

http://www.hearnet.com/at_risk/risk_aboutloss.shtml

Personally, I'd have guessed no; 85db seems pretty loud to me, and I'd fatigue pretty quickly at that level. I'd be curious to hear what more expert people say.

John

IMHO I don't agree with the Fletecher and Munson or Robinson-Dadson effects suggested but I do agree with the possible effects of your drivers not being broken in & your amp-speaker interface.
Additionally, I believe that the sensitivity of the drivers used in your speaker could also be an issue. the drivers are likely not very senstive to very low music signals meaning that you don't get much pistonic action hence not much output SPL from them. 2ndly, even if the drivers themselves were sensitive to low music signal, the cross-over circuit could be attenuating that low level music signal & preventing it from reaching the drivers.
it's quite an art-form in speaker design to make a cone driver speaker responsive to low music signals; most of the speakers in the market simple do not make this grade.
This is where electrostatic, ribbon & planar speakers win big time - the mass of the driver is much, much less than the mass of a cone driver hence the responsiveness of planar speakers (due to sloth I'm clubbing all 3 categories into "planar" speakers) is well-known by almost all in the user community.
FWIW.