Turn down the Volume!
One topic that seems rarely discussed is volume. If you listen to mixing engineers, it’s their most feared aspect of how their work is measured, since it’s out of their control. This leads to things like loudness wars (assume the worst). As my system has improved, my main takeaway is I can be engaged with 60db peaks, where when I hear other systems you often have to turn it up to 90db peaks for it to sound decent. I’m pretty sure it all has to do with bass and room energy, but wonder if others have a similar experience. Side note that reviews or any subjective ‘better’ statements about gear rarely indicate how loud they are listening. since all we can perceive if volume it is puzzling. I will say if it sounds good with 110 db peaks then that is impressive.
I received some great audio advice early in my 20’s from a 75 year old, tone deaf, audio store owner who built his own speakers. In his store, he had an LED watt meter so when we cranked the music, we could see how many watts we were really listening to. We were amazed at how loud 1-2 watts could be! His advice was to turn the music lower and save our ears, they are the only ones we get. As a result, I’ve always had a preference for low wattage gear. |
To me, one of the most important subjective measure of a system is how it sounds at low volume. As a system improves, one can enjoy the sound at lower and lower volume levels--it still sounds vibrant and rich and seems to fill the entire listening room. High efficiency systems, particularly horn systems seem to do this better than other kinds of speakers. That might explain why Japanese audiophiles have huge horn systems in their tiny apartment rooms (being culturally polite, they would not play the system so loud as to disturb neighbors). It is, to me, wrong headed to seek a large horn system because that size suggests high volume capability--that may be the case, but, I still prefer horns that sing at quite low volume. I have recently heard multi-way systems built around a wide-range driver (e.g., Cube Audio Nenuphar Basis) and even some single-driver systems that pull this off successfully (e.g., Charney Audio Companion). |
as with everything in hifi (and life in general), the key is finding the right balance, the correct degree of moderation, avoid excess for me, low level sound quality is important, but we of course understand how we hear, and the fletcher munson effect, so we need to realize low level listening has its own challenges - still we live in domestic environments, and so low level listening for many is a must, so their systems better to tuned to sound good at levels they listen at otoh, reproduced music can and should take on a scale and impact somewhat approximating a live performance... so to experience that, one needs to have the volume to a level where a piano sounds like a real piano, a real bass has the body and weight of a real bass, and so on... this requires a decent level of spl’s for me, i do try to listen in the range of 80-85 db peaks, and do alot to try to preserve, and protect my hearing, which is obviously essential to our continuing to enjoy the hobby |
@larryi +1 As my system has gotten better, less and less volume is required. I am sure there is more than a couple reasons. But the first most obvious is the noise floor. Less expensive and old systems like in my youth had very high noise floors. Often it takes experience to “hear” this…. It is the jacked up quality to the sound and pressure on your ear drums. So, turning up the volume you are looking to increase the dynamics… the contrast. This also increases the noise floor. Good systems tend to have a place where they sound best, balancing noise and dynamics. Great systems sound great at all volumes. This I one of the marks of a great system. They are engaging at a whisper and 90db. I remember being impressed going to a high end audio store in 1980 and achieving 110 db. The salesmen and I were really psyched at what we had done… but my ears were practically ringing. It was the incredible volume of the stuff in between the notes.
There are other reasons, faster bass transients…. And greater articulation. Decade after decade as my systems improved the volume required the music sound great and dynamic has come down. While I used to play in the 90db range in the 1980s… now in the low 60’s to 70’s db. The music is completely satisfying.
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