How important is S/N Ratio....?

http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/Dave/Multimedia/node271.html

This article claims 96db range....from dead quiet to loudest.
other articles claim up to 120db. 'Pain Threshold' is usually quoted at about 135db. I don't know what OSHA says, but I'll go out on a limb here and say that an accurately reproduced Jet takeoff at 120db will, if repeated monthly, take the edge off your HF hearing within a year or less.
At that PEAK level, the sound of a car door slamming or a gunshot would be enough to hear next door.
At this point, 'ya gotta wonder if your speakers are up to it! A 120db slam is pretty ambitious and even if your speakers CAN do that (What kinds CAN do that?) I rather suspect you would need your own substation to power the multiple kilowatts of amp necessary to keep up.
I haven't done the math, but you'd need speaker of fairly high sensitivity and power handling capacity with huge dynamic limits.
I tend to agree with those saying damping factor is not that important after a certain minimal value, but that bein said, nobody has mentioned the other half of the equation, that being speaker 'Q'. A critically damped speaker (Q=.707) coupled with a reasonable damping factor may actually produce thin bass.....Is this the opposite of what the fans of 'bloom' hint at? I'm not clear on that point.

Anyway, good luck, all you fans of accurate jet take offs and I'll be sure to buy stock in a hearing aid company. soon.

There is no "standard" dB level for a jet plane. Some business jets are so quiet that we don't know they have arrived at our little local airport until they taxi up to the terminal. On the other hand, I have had occasion to work with an F15 fighter in a flight testing project. Let me tell you, a full afterburner takeoff from a couple of hundred feet beside the runway is an awesome experience. We were required to wear ear plugs, but even so it was loud. I believe that even one unprotected event would do damage.

Wavetrader - that's good!

Clio09 - more headroom is always better if you can afford it. If you have let say $1k to buy an amp would you be better with mediocre 1kW amp or great 100W amp. 1kW amp should be twice louder but not always. Amps are rated for nominal power and 100W amp might have very large peak power being designed by good conservative company. 1kW amp that cost the same as 100W one will have most likely worse parts since power supply, case and heatsinks have to be 10x larger and something has to make-up for their cost.

Much worse if you choose SS amp over tube amp that you like only because of 200W over 100W (and 200W tube is too expensive). Another example might be selling 50W class A amp to get 100W class AB amp etc. There is a very little difference in sound level between 100W and 200W.

You guys are funny....jet plane takeoffs...

Eldaford - Jet plane was a joke but I think you mixing landing and taking off. During landing they are very quiet.

I read once that 120dB was equivalent to standing next to jet engine during take-off (should I say running very fast). To visualize what 120dB level is try to imagine large GE Jet engine at full power in front of your door (neighbors might not care too much for it).