Turn down the Volume!

Kind of amazed  at this thread. I good system played low is nice but a bad system  has to be played low.  a bad system  when it is turned off your ears feel like oh that's better one if the things I think does that is a bright system.  S great system you can listen  to for eight hours straight  without getting  tired of it with total engagement  the whole time. With a great system you listen to a whole side of an lp or the while cd not just one song sne on to the next. Personally  I don't think it is hi-fi  without transparency.  That is the first thing I listen  for and if it is not at least

least  somewhat transparent  I don't want to hear more than five seconds. Time to leave the room. When the tonal balance is right and when it is transparent  you have the option  of  what volume  you want to listen  to. When those are not right you don't have an option  on what level you want to listen  at the only option is to go turn it off. 

IMHO, each and every room has a "perfect" volume setting.

Find it and enjoy.

This is one of those topics that can get lost in being to general of an approach. Volume is going to sound different to each individual that is a given and I won’t say anymore on that. My comments are more aimed at the quality and what is behind the volume. To often listeners get hung up on watts per channel as the measurement of an amps power. They don’t look further and realize that that is a very small part of what is driving the speakers. There are 500 wpc amps that can’t drive speakers snd then there are 10 wpc amps that can make them sing. They did not name the company “First Watt” as a gimmick, they did because that first watt is the most important. All amps and speakers have their sweet spots where they will sound their best and the “volume” is only the end result and not the cause. Enjoy the music and journey it takes you on!

Just wanted to note that this is one reason trying to compare speakers online on YouTube is at best a crapshoot. Is that honkiness you hear in the midrange or shrillness or grit in the tweeter always present in the speaker or are they overdriving the Hell out of it? How good of a mic are they using? What is its frequency range, distortion, how good was the mic preamp and did they know how to properly use it? Without knowing to what level at 1m the speakers are being driven to there’s no way to do any real comparisons.

Then we have the Fletcher Munson Curve to deal with as we turn the volume down. If you don’t use tone controls or a loudness button (a variable one preferably), there will only be ONE volume for any specific source or recording that ticks all the boxes. Lots of variables (and your room) to consider. But yeah, I love to listen at 60 to 70 dB and still enjoy the music with some dynamics still present.

I rarely go above 92 dB for any length of time, rocking out, anymore. (Not that there is anything wrong with it in moderation for younger ears).

I learned a long time ago.  It is not how loud your system can play, it is how soft your system can play and bring you all the detail and expressions you want.

Good thing I practice that.  In my present living conditions, it is essential.  Or I'll get evicted.

I chuckle to myself when I hear or someone tells me, "It sound better the louder I play it". Sure, it does sound great.  Turn the level down, the bass disappears and image collapses.  Okay.... not for me.