How loud have you pushed your speakers?

skky

I was sitting here and was lost in thought, when I remembered that one time where I pushed my lsim 703 to 90 db 5-6 feet away and could no longer handle it.I figured this would be a interesting topic considering alot of u guys have 10x the listen experience that I do.The moment I hit 90 I was afraid for my speakers first and foremost then next came my hearing lol.

fyi-Very curious on how loud these bookshelf can go,surely some of u guys out there have push them to their very limits.

treitz3

Um....it wasn't me.....but I thought the woofers were going to shoot out of the speakers and go straight through my body, then the wall.....and then I wised up.

Er, uh...what I meant to say was that the guy who owned the system turned it down a bit so that his ears were preserved.

Wasn't me. Nobody saw it. Can't prove a thing. *zips lips*

Tom

skky

treitz3 wrote: »

Um....it wasn't me.....but I thought the woofers were going to shoot out of the speakers and go through my body and then the wall.....and then I wised up.

Er, uh...what I meant to say was that the guy who owned the system turned it down a bit so that his ears were preserved.

Wasn't me. Nobody saw it. Can't prove a thing. *zips lips*

Tom

lawl,you didn't get a measurement of the db level?Must have been intense for..'that guy'lol.

BlueFox

One night I had a few to many beers, and the volume got louder and louder. The pre was in the mid 70s and I was sitting in my chair with my jaw on the floor not believing how incredibly loud, and still sounding good, it was. Then BAM, the power shut down. The over current breaker in the Shunyata Triton tripped. I'm surprised the speakers didn't melt. I haven't come anywhere near that level since.

treitz3

skky wrote: »

lawl,you didn't get a measurement of the db level?Must have been intense for..'that guy'lol.

No measurement other than the pressure level and Db level so intense that "the other guy" thought that the electrical grid would collapse under the stress of powering said system.

There is a lesson to be learned with all things. Extreme excess is not good and there is a fine line toward excellence with everything. Moderation is good, pushing the limits can be equally good. So long as it it done in good taste and the end result as to hits ones ears does not damage the listening palette for the rest of their lives.

Tom

polk500

Well I pushed my 7's till I blew the tweeters and fried some of resistors in the crossovers.

The good thing was I had VR3 mod the crossovers for me and Polk replaced the tweeters.

So I learned a lesson cost me a few bills well spent I might add. and now I don't go anywhere close to that stupid Loud anymore.
Cheers
Roger

treitz3

This reminds me of a time where I was at an audio event. The Telarc 1812 Overture was playing where the full, uncut or not reduced cannon blasts were to be present in the recording on vinyl. This was powered by two mono amplifiers known to arc weld metal when shorted and keep going like the Energizer bunny....The cannons came and you could clearly see through the speaker grill cloth ALL of the frequency waves the cannon produced. From the front of the speaker all of the way to the back of the speaker. The grill cloth moved about 2" in and out as the frequencies changed all up and down the speaker.

Then there was the time when the song we call "Chucky" was played.....never mind. I'll keep that memory to myself.

Value your hearing. Cherish it. There are many here and many that have stopped posting that have lost some, part or much of their hearing. Enjoy the music, not the SPL's.

Tom

F1nut

Peaked my SDA's at 117dB at about 11:30 on the volume knob, smooth as silk with gas left in the tank.

I remembered that one time where I pushed my lsim 703 to 90 db 5-6 feet away and could no longer handle it.

Wimp!

J/K......a lot will depend on what you are driving and what you are driving them with. I normally listen in the 90's and my hearing is still amazing. If the sound is hurting your ears at higher volume levels it's most likely because whatever you are using for power has run out of gas.

nooshinjohn

I had puffs of smoke coming out of the power ports on my old LSi-15's and did not damage the drivers in any way, but the crossovers were fried pretty good. That's what 1200 watts of Sunfire Signature can do. My SDA-SRS 1.2TL's after the mods are easily capable of running at 115 db on my Carver's and still have plenty left to give. I also value my hearing enough to not find out how much more I can get out of them...

jbooker82

108 db with my VR3 modded RTi A7's and Carver A-753x 250 watt x 3 amp. The meters were on the amp were straight up.

leftwinger57

You all have heard this one before. I just got my Yamaha rx-v665 90wpc w/ Klipsch smalls and went up or down to-9 on the avr and it shut down like a switch was turned off.I just wanted to "air them out a bit" the avr clipped into protecto mode. Thankfully after saying I wouldn't never ever do that again it powered up and all was well w/ the world. Now for music or tv it usually stays around -27/28.With the Adcom at the 10/11pos on the pre it gets way to loud w/ any of my sets and can't risk losing any of them.Now my old Criterions 100s they were blown out at a party when Let It Bleed was playing about 20x in the dorm.

drumminman

For two channel I like listening at realistic levels. Don't have a meter so I can't measure. It's so clean and clear that it's difficult to realize how loud it is until the person sitting next to me on the couch initiates a conversation. My clever reply is typically, "what?"

Erik Tracy

2 clicks below 'stupid loud' :cheesygrin:

All was safe, birds began to chirp again, and the neighborhood children resumed playing....

skky

It's very weird.With my old logitech,I can barely stand cranking it up even mildly.Never really knew what 'clean' sound is before and I can't wait to get a amp as I've never tried a real one before.Through a lot of these responses I can clearly see audio being a journey in itself that may last throughout one's life time(overly dramatic lol).Alot of very memorable and funny situations.

Lastly,how accurate is the iphone spl meter?I considering getting a real one but am not really sure if I need one,or if the iphone ones are just fine/

drummer86

My little Totems don't do "loud" very well but I pushed the bejesus out of my old Monitor 60s. I've never gone past +2 on the volume dial. DSOTM on SACD was pretty spectacular at that volume but the Monitors' tweeters had a tendency to make the ears bleed a bit.

drummer86

skky wrote: »

Lastly,how accurate is the iphone spl meter?I considering getting a real one but am not really sure if I need one,or if the iphone ones are just fine/

The one on my phone seems to do OK but it never goes above 90dB which I know can't be accurate. Gotta figure the microphone on a smartphone can't really handle much volume in the first place before it just craps out.

F1nut

It's simple really, don't use emo gear.

drummer86

nbrowser wrote: »

hrm according to a couple of mobile phones with apps, seems the consensus is right around 105Db with more room to go...if I dare push further...

The app I have says the same thing but like I mentioned, I've never been able to spike it above 90dB, even in a small room when giving the drum set a proper smacking.

Inspector 24

Radio Shack meter, slow response, c weighting.

A9's on Parasound HCA-2003 220wpc, maximum they sounded good was 95db with comfortable listening about 75-80db depending on music.

With the HCA-3500 I can comfortably listen 80-85db for extended periods they sound good up around 100-102db, past that sound degrades quickly.

Of course I seem to be more sensitive to loudness, usually covering ears, putting in earplugs before most people around me. Or I'm just smarter, dunno.

Mikey081057

Had my VR3 LSi 9's peaking at 105.5 on the spl connected to may Yamaha M80 at about 10:30 on the pre vol. pot. Meters on the yamaha peaked at app 170 watts.

I have also had my monitor 5's at 102.+ connected to my Marantz 2252B at like 10:00 on the pot.

Room is only like 18x11x7.

I can also Frankenrig everything including my tube amp, and run all 3 sets of speakers and crank em up... I bet i could easily hit 130, but would be crazy to do that and would need some hearing protection. heck 105 is painful.

soundfreak1

Not me but a friend of mine actually blew out a window in his livingroom driving 4/ 15" vintage JBL drivers . Blew the glass right out of the window.

skky

nbrowser wrote: »

hrm according to a couple of mobile phones with apps, seems the consensus is right around 105Db with more room to go...if I dare push further...

Yikes you been listening to 105?I think the consensus here is some of you here broke the sound barrier and have never realized lawl.

F1nut

skky, what are you driving your speakers with?

F1nut

I think the consensus here is some of you here broke the sound barrier and have never realized lawl.

LOL....and I can still tell the difference in sound between a 0.62 ohm and a 0.5 ohm resistor in a high frequency circuit, which I seriously doubt Kurt could, if he even knows what a resistor is, where it goes, what it does, etc.

skky

F1nut wrote: »

LOL....and I can still tell the difference in sound between a 0.62 ohm and a 0.5 ohm resistor in a high frequency circuit, which I seriously doubt Kurt could, if he even knows what a resistor is, where it goes, what it does, etc.

lol sounds complicated.Also I'm driving my lsim 703 with a denon x4000,I know it's not the perfect way to go but I can't afford an amp right now.I spurge on the submersive which took all my toy fund away for at least half the year.

Edit-When I do get my amp though,I'll either go with parasound or outlaw as I heard good things about both amps and outlaw is local.

txcoastal1

Romped some Black Sabbath @108db out of my LSi 25's had my hands over my ears wasn't pleasant

F1nut

Also I'm driving my lsim 703 with a denon x4000,I know it's not the perfect way to go but I can't afford an amp right now.

Very good, sir. All I was suggesting is a possible reason why you could no longer handle it, as you put it. As an amp or in your case an AVR reaches its limits the sound gets compressed/distorted and the high frequencies get shrill, which is what will hurt the ears.

Really good amps allow one to obtain high SPL's without sounding loud. As drumminman alluded to, it can be difficult to judge how loud it really is until you try to have a conversation with someone in the room.

mantis

I've had my Mythos ST's and as a theater system up damn loud. The thing about the Mythos series is they can down right scare the Hell out of you when dynamic passes happen in scary movies or High intense Action scenes. Well, into Reference levels.

F1nut

Passages, Dan, passages.

Inspector 24

F1nut wrote: »

As drumminman alluded to, it can be difficult to judge how loud it really is until you try to have a conversation with someone in the room.

This is a great subjective parameter I've used to demonstrate the difference between loud and good sounding. People
Come listen, say it sounds good but isn't that loud, I play the track again and ask them to try to have a conversation. Works every time.

tonyb

F1nut wrote: »

As an amp or in your case an AVR reaches its limits the sound gets compressed/distorted and the high frequencies get shrill, which is what will hurt the ears.

Really good amps allow one to obtain high SPL's without sounding loud. .

This says boat loads right here.....^^^^