What is the proper loudness for listening?

Large room or small, the music sounds best to me when the measured peaks are coming in over 85 and under 90db. Loud enough for realism but not so loud that damage to hearing is a real concern. A sound meter app on your smartphone like decibel app is your friend both for determining good listening levels and frequency response aberrations from room acoustics, which in many rooms is quite significant, left unaddressed.

@laynes that could be odd order harmonic distortion that makes the treble hard to handle at higher volumes. It’s an artifact of many older SS amps. Tube amps and most modern Class D amps are less prone to that issue. @atmasphere talks about that all the time here if you search out his posts.

It is completely dependent on the system, room, and your tastes. I have noticed that the better my system has gotten the lower the volume sounds best to me. Typically I listen at ~ 75db. Most of the experience audiophiles with good systems have seemed to converge on this volume. My system is shown.

Your spouse will let you know, don't worry.😲

@kota1 Wrote:

Your spouse will let you know, don't worry.😲

You got that right. LOL 😁

Mike