Ayre V-Kxe and Thiel 2.4s

Could be; I can certainly and easily get it well above 100 dB, the 95 is a nominal figure and I am sure that even on the rat shack meter, the actual peaks are 100+ dB.

High end aspirations...now there's an interesting concept.

Hi Unsound,
I`d agree that is an arbitrary standard for sure. I sse no correlation with sound quality and volume level ability. Many systems can be built to play loud(quite loud) and yet sound rather poor. If someone has normal hearing ability and has put together a system that emphasizes natural sound with good resolution, 70-80db levels(on average) with peaks to low 90s is plenty for 'most'.

Again this is 'strictly' a personal decision and one must consider what levels are risky to their long term hearing.It seems the more a system`s resolution and noise floor are addressed/improved the more lively and involving it becomes at lower listening levels. This seems to lessen the need to crank it up in order to be satisfied.Of course YMMV.

Charles1dad, my post was a direct response to a question Stevecham asked in the previous posts. The ability to reach a certain volume level is no way the only, or the most important criterion. One can listen to such volume levels with some frequency, so long as the duration is not too long, without fear of hearing damage. Greater volume levels happen quite often during some live unamplified live musical performances. In that most of us listen in very different environments than live venues, not achieving actual potential live volume levels is probably not called for most us, but a reasonable proximity is not too much to ask for.

Unsound, I think we`re in agreement,determining reasonable proximity is subjective and as stated earlier an arbitrrary standard.

Interesting action over hear folks. Thanks for all the comments. I almost bought the last 250.5 that was on here, but it was in Canada and I didn't want to pay to import it... so I'm still considering the other options.