How loud do you demo your system to others?

Sherardp

reference (0) is just too loud for me, I usually do about -16 to -20. Anything louder than that is probably way too much for my ears or others.

TennesseeOutlaw

I use my own ears and listen for the first slightest hint of distortion; I turn it down 1 or 2 notches from there..

danger boy

I have never driven my home speaker to distortion.. either I don't have enough amp power. or it's so loud already.. honestly, it's to loud to ever push my speakers to distortion..

dorokusai

I play it loud enough so that they leave.

Holydoc

My system is primarily for HT purposes. If it is too loud, you miss the nuisance of the sound coming from the sides and the rear. Blaring speakers only tend to blend all the sound into a single sphere. Having the sound at a good level allows you to easily distinguish when subtle action happens from the sides and the rear.

When I was just starting out in this hobby, I would crank it up and "Wow" them with the volume (i.e. amount of encompassing effect) of sound coming from all the speakers. Now I like to "Wow" them with the distribution of sound through each of the speakers. It is always cool to watch their heads turn during a movie with a thunderstorm wondering if it is raining outside.

So I balance it where if there is an explosion of action, your chest vibrates but where there is a faucet dripping, you know that it is behind you and to the right. This is usually about -15 to -10 under reference.

Now when I play two-channel music, step back! Crank it tell you can't hear them say stop.

Larry Chanin

McLoki wrote:

I was just wondering how loud (over typical listening volumes) do you usually demo your system to others? I usually end up 5-10 db louder than I would normally sit and listen to a movie.

Just wondering where you guys demo at. (do you like your ears ringing after a demo - or do you just sit and watch a movie with someone and ask what did you think?)

Michael

Hi Michael,

The holy grail for a high-end dedicated home theater is to be able to play at reference levels (0 dB on the master volume) without it being fatiguing or sounding too loud to the audience. Ringing ears is always sign of hearing damage, so obviously that is too loud. Hopefully the ringing goes away and the damage is not permanent.

Unfortunately, it usually costs in upwards of six figures to design and construct a reference theater. Therefore, we mere mortals must settle for a lower listening level than reference.

Getting back to your question, I frequently have guests over to watch movies in my theater. It is well designed, has decent equipment and acoustic treatments, etc., but it isn't a reference level theater. (Click on the link in my signature for a detailed description.)

I set the volume for guests the same as I listen to movies, that is as close to reference as I can get it without it sounding faguing or too loud. For standard DVD it usually falls in the range of -15dB to -10dB below reference. I haven't actually measured it, but an educated guess would be that the dialog is set at about 80-85 dB. Action scenes can momentarily peak at 115 dB and higher, especially in the front row.

This of course varies greately by the movie, chick flicks are mixed differently than action movies, and HD DVDs are sometimes mixed lower than DVDs. (I know that some HD DVD players have experienced problems by playing at low levels. I am not referring to problematic players. I am referring to the fact that because HD DVDs have a greater dynamic range than DVDs, some HD DVD titles have their dialog levels mixed lower in order to accommodate the higher available levels in action sequences.)

I have only recently been playing HD DVDs and many seem mixed at level about the same as the standard DVD. However, some titles appear to be mixed much lower in which case the volume could be set at -5 dB.

Larry

Holydoc

Love your HT look and the work you put into it, Larry. I bet it is quite exciting to watch a movie in there.

dudeinaroom

depends, if they listen to music I play it at a moderate level (so you can hear everything that is going on in the piece without fatigue between 8 O'clock on the pre) and if they listen to metal, well then the pre gets kicked up to about 9-10 O'clock and the neighbors pound on the walls. (seven O'clock is all the way down see sig for equipment if that helps)

Larry Chanin

Holydoc wrote:

Love your HT look and the work you put into it, Larry. I bet it is quite exciting to watch a movie in there.

Hi,

Thanks for the kind words.

Yes, it really is. Yesterday was the first time I got to show off my new HD DVD player to some of our friends. It's a lot of fun having folks over for dinner followed by a movie.

Where abouts are you located in Florida? If you're nearby and interested, a few of us in the Sarasota-Bradenton area are trying to get a local home theater group going. I'll be having a get together at my place soon.

Larry

Holydoc

I am up in the Panhandle, about 9 hours from you.

Would love to do something like you did but since it is just me in this house, I cannot justify it. Since I basically just live in 3 rooms (not counting the occassional visit to the restroom. hehe), buying a house with a dedicated HT room does not currently make sense in my situation. So I turned the open living room into my HT. Not quite the impact nor "majesty" of yours, but it does not stop me from still seeking HT nirvana.

ben62670

I had a girl over today(shes about 40). We went to the beach, and when we came back she wanted to come in and listen to some music. I put on some Alison Krause, and she loved it. So I put in Pink Floyd DSOTM and turned it up. I had my Home Grown speakers (the custom SDA's I've been working on)cranked up pretty loud, and she loved it. I turned it down, and she asked me if I could turn it back up. She loved my 6 foot tall SDA's. She was thrilled that she could feel the vibrations through the cloth couch. She wants to come back again to listen to some music. I kinda didn't want to show her the speaks. I thought she would give the typical WAF response. Anyways we were at 110 DBL.

danger boy

ben62670 wrote:

I had a girl over today(shes about 40). We went to the beach, and when we came back she wanted to come in and listen to some music. I put on some Alison Krause, and she loved it. So I put in Pink Floyd DSOTM and turned it up. I had my Home Grown speakers (the custom SDA's I've been working on)cranked up pretty loud, and she loved it. I turned it down, and she asked me if I could turn it back up. She loved my 6 foot tall SDA's. She was thrilled that she could feel the vibrations through the cloth couch. She wants to come back again to listen to some music. I kinda didn't want to show her the speaks. I thought she would give the typical WAF response. Anyways we were at 110 DBL.

you smooth operator...

bassaholic

Loud enough to kill my CS400i.....demoed the system last night now I go to watch a movie today and the damn thing just died...Oh well.

Holydoc

ben62670 wrote:

I had a girl over today(shes about 40). We went to the beach, and when we came back she wanted to come in and listen to some music. I put on some Alison Krause, and she loved it. So I put in Pink Floyd DSOTM and turned it up. I had my Home Grown speakers (the custom SDA's I've been working on)cranked up pretty loud, and she loved it. I turned it down, and she asked me if I could turn it back up. She loved my 6 foot tall SDA's. She was thrilled that she could feel the vibrations through the cloth couch. She wants to come back again to listen to some music. I kinda didn't want to show her the speaks. I thought she would give the typical WAF response. Anyways we were at 110 DBL.

I love this girl! She have a sister? :eek:

ben62670

Holydoc wrote:

I love this girl! She have a sister? :eek:

Yep, but I haven't met her yet.

Holydoc

ben62670 wrote:

Yep, but I haven't met her yet.

Ben, that's my woman you are talking about. Have some respect!

ben62670

Its kinda sad that I am SO addicted to the sound of my speakers that I place huge emphasis that one of the quality's a women must posses is she has to love my speakers. Oh yeah she also LOVES my kids

Holydoc

ben62670 wrote:

Its kinda sad that I am SO addicted to the sound of my speakers that I place huge emphasis that one of the quality's a women must posses is she has to love my speakers. Oh yeah she also LOVES my kids

Bah. Anyone can have kids. Now a good sound system... that takes work!