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.
@dain +1 on jjss49. I suspect what you heard was superior micro dynamics of horn system at low volumes. Extreme high efficiency of many horns makes them come alive at much lower volumes with extremely low power amps. Amps in sweet zone at amazingly low wattage, and easily moved diaphragms at this same amazingly low wattage in horn drivers are reason for this. My Klipschorns and SET amps excel by leaps and bounds over my acoustic suspension speakers with same amps, in this regard. |
Since my home is situated on a 1/3 acre property and there are copious amounts of insulation in the walls and ceiling, I am fortunate enough to need not worry about bothering the neighbors with my music. This was, of course, by design. When I’m busy with other things, background levels are fine, as lower volumes don’t pull my attention away from whatever task is at hand. But when I’m relaxing in my listening chair and focused on my music, I prefer an average SPL in my room that produces a lifelike representation of the recorded instruments and vocals. The graphic below is a frame grab of a jazz piece played back at my usual "focused" listening level using Z-weighting (essentially unweighted, so a more accurate reflection of the actual overall volume in the room without compensation for the nonlinearities human hearing). A-weighting would have resulted in values about 20 dB lower.
The dynamic range is indicated by the difference between the Lmin and Lmax values |
