Loudest major concert. Def Leopard
Loudest musical event: Sitting a short distance away from the bass amp at a blues club in Chicago. I was desperately trying to poke anything in my ears I could find. Didn't have a cell phone back then, but if I had one, I would have tried to shove it in one ear. A couple of hours afterwards, my nose was bleeding.
Overall, my ears didn't stand a chance.
Drag racing. Standing near the starting line was the best place to take in the action. And, the loudest.
Competition car audio. I used to joke that my car made so much bass, I had stretch marks on my trunk lid. In the early days of car audio competition, it actually was about ingenuity and sound quality. The officials mercifully topped SPL at a mere 140 db. Anything above that didn't earn any extra points. Years later, our demo van hit 150db+. We amused spectators by placing a Big Gulp on the roof, cranking up the system and watching it bounce around until it finally feel to the ground. I wanted to put a big graphic on the side that read: "Van Whalen", but never got around to it. We never won a major SPL competition. There was always somebody around who played louder. At 153db we were considered lightweights.
Its no surprise that my hearing loss and tinnitus set in early for me. I initially thought I'd blown a tweeter in my speakers, but an RTA verified that it was my hearing. Tinnitus sucks. Have tried several remedies, and can't recommend anything thus far.
