Background noise.

@dpop

I have also been lucky enough to experience quiet. I used to explore caves and underground mines. Frequently alone… hmm, having said that, I am thinking in retrospect that was not that safe… I did this stuff a lot. Anyway, I have always been surprised at the quiet… but that in confined areas how you can sense the walls… in big caverns the noise floor drops away. You have to hold your breath and listen of course.

I worked for high tech companies. Our office in Germany had an anechoic chamber… yeah, now that is quiet.

Even if you don’t have any SPL meters, it’s really as simple as just sitting in your listening room sweet spot, and for a few moments, listening; with no music playing. If you hear your refrigerator running, or your furnace running, or neighbors outside, or even audio equipment transformer mechanical hum; this background noise, in essence, is raising your *perceived* listening room noise floor. You may tune it out when music is playing, but it’s still there. You may find (I know I do) your listening experience, better, or improved, by trying to lower the ambient noise level in your listening area. It goes without saying that so much about achieving and reaching audio system performance nirvana is about listening - buzzes, hums, wall reflections, dead acoustics, cold acoustics, the difference in cable choices, etc. (keeping the good, while eliminating the bad). In my particular situation, my furnace and refrigerator are the loudest in my home. If I’m in a serious listening mood, and want a really quiet listening environment, I will temporarily turn them off.

We should demand our rights for late night listening freedom 🙂

trying to have my listening sessions from 23hrs till ...power amp gets...warm enough.

Drawback is the volume, you want more.

Ambient noise is the bane of audio listening sessions. It's why, in my crappy second floor apartment, I rarely listen in the summer when the AC is on. It's a wall unit and shares the same space as my stereo making it impossible to fully appreciate the music.

There are times when I'll go as along as two weeks without listening as it frustrates the living hell out of me. Then, when I can turn it on, the event is  almost an epiphany.

I can imagine and appreciate what a junkie goes through to get that fix.

All the best,
Nonoise

I have two background noise sources: the (low noise) fans on my LabGruppen amp, and a slight hiss coming from the EV horns that’s due to their 111dB sensitivity and being coupled directly to a Belles SA30 amp (such that noise down stream is exposed) - that is, sans any passive cross-over components in between to filter noise. Both noise sources are barely audible from the listening position, and being very low in nature and once the music (or movie) is playing, I don’t notice it. That is until I switch off my amps and music server so that the setup effectively comes to rest, and now I suddenly notice the silence (...).

I’m guessing these noise sources have some impact on my listening experience, but to which degree is up in the air; again, I’m not consciously burdened by it. One thing I can’t (or don’t want to) do anything about is the slight hissing noise coming form the horns. I could filter some noise with a capacitor in between, while also protecting the compression driver to some extend in case of a malfunction down stream, but it would also defeat the purpose of avoiding passive cross-over components to begin with (I know: dangerous living). The other noise source though from the LabGruppen amp I could potentially ameliorate with even lower noise fans. That I’m actually looking into.

At the end of the day and at present I find the background noise level from my setup to be fully acceptable, but as I outlined above some effort can be made to bring it down even further. It will be interesting to see the outcome of it.