Is there a "right" volume????

[Tonto Yoder]

I asked this once on another forum, but I was wondering about this again. My preamp (BAT VK-3i) has the optional remote control so I can easily adjust from 0-99 from the listening position. I find that there's a fairly narrow range of volume where the sonics snap into place--tone seems optimal, imaging best etc. It's whatever volume that I'm guessing is "natural"--i.e. how loud a human voice would sound in my room, how loud an acoustic bass would be etc. Do others find this to be true??????

I ask this here because there seems to be some emphasis on volume (as in lots of it): there were a few comments about the Lux amps I sold THOR that seemed to equate 300 watts/channel with mere loudness (which the amps are capable of) rather than subtlety and refinement (which the amps are capable of).

TY
BTW, the 0-99 of my volume indicator is seemingly arbitrary---it's not equatable with decibels or any other objective standard. I just swapped speaker cables and had to bump up the pre settings for the same subjective volume.

 

[Robh3606]

Good Question!

I find that to be true to but not always. Depends on the music I am playing, how it was mixed and mic. Some stuff does not sound right loud and I agree with you that it needs to be at a natural level or its not right. Now a live recording of Yes you can really get the neighbors pi**ed with and still sound great providing you speakers are up to it.

Rob2

 

[Rob]

Interconnects - here we go again

Originally posted by Tonto Yoder


TY
BTW, the 0-99 of my volume indicator is seemingly arbitrary---it's not equatable with decibels or any other objective standard. I just swapped speaker cables and had to bump up the pre settings for the same subjective volume.

TY,

Doesn't this tell you that your new speaker cables ( sorry, I guess since you are swapping them you must mean interconnects) have more insertion loss than your previously used ones? You have placed a higher value (and I don't mean value measured in $$$) resistor between your amp and speakers. This turns amplifier watts into heat instead of sound. It also reduces the amplifier's ability to damp unwanted cone movements after the sound has stopped.

If this is such a good thing (and I gotta tell you I'm very skeptical)maybe the lamp cord gang could benefit from switching to 'resistive lamp cord', an invention used with old table radios in the 30's and 40's. Wow, what an idea! I'm gonna be rich, ...or not.

There is a far easier way to adjust the volume on your stereo that swapping speaker interconnects.
It is called a V o l u m e C o n t r o l.

I'm not picking on you TY. I'm using your observation as a chance to poke fun at the whole silly Interconnect nonsense thing.

Rob

 

[Tonto Yoder]

Rob,
Thanks for your technical explanation. It's typical of the anti-cable group.
First, you divert attention into semantics--as if anyone calls them "speaker interconnects." Then you construct a straw man--that I'm attempting to control volume somehow with speaker cable.
You DID forget to mention quality of sound through the different speaker cables.

All of this is off-topic anyway: I was merely asking about the "right" volume. Apparently, you had nothing to contribute, so you stuck the same tired cable argument into the thread. If I had been interested in that argument, I would have gone back to rec.audio.high.end.
With due respect,
TY

 

[gonefishin]

What volume should music be played at?

It should be played at the loudness that suits your ears, your mood and others that may be affected by the music. Only you can decide.


That is rather obvious...and I'm sure you knew that already. Is there a certain volume which music should be played at? no...whatever makes you happy.

Is there a certain db that music should be played at to recreate "live" music? in my opinion, few speakers can reproduce with low distortion the dynamics and the volume of live music (and you don't need tons of watts)...and the ones that do come close...are just that...close...but not all the way there. That's what makes live music so cool...it's the actual thing we try to recreate.


something to think about...the human singing voice can reach up to 105db...man, that darn wind instrument we have attached to us just amazes me.


overall...I wouldn't worry about a thing...just play the music at a level that suits you for that given time...and enjoy!

 

[MikE]

System dependant

Some would say 86db is the magic level where your (typical) system comes alive. My experience is that when I had LESSER systems I needed more volume to make the illusion become more real (but still far from it). As I found (curiously) in the last three years, as I improved the dynamics and reduced the noise-floor I could and enjoyed listening at lower levels. Like in the 50-60db range. No, listening at that level didn't convince me that I was lhearing to Hendrix live but still made the magic happen; that it suspended disbelief I was listening to a facimile. I listen in the 60>75db range mostly.

MikE

 

[THOR]

I say when the volume knob reaches 11

 

[Tonto Yoder]

THOR,
but my "volume" knob goes to 99!!

Spinal Tap would be so proud o' me.
TY

BTW,
my remote volume control has a button labeled "Unity Gain"--which means the full signal from the source is passed to the amp.
Somehow, I don't think "unity gain" would have been quite so funny as Tap's amps going to "11."

 

[Thatch_Ear]

I was at a dealer is highend gear ( the amps were Conrad Johnson 845s) and I was farting around with the volume a bit and then settled down into a chair to listen and he picked up an SPL meter and measured how loud I was listening at which was 83 db. I asked and he told me that most of the people that came in would (like I did) play around with the volume to test things out a bit but when they relly settled down to listen and evaluate the gear as something that they might want to live with that typically the listening level was inthe 80s with 87,88,89 being the most common.
I don't have a sound level meter but if I am just listening for background I would guess around 75. After that it really depends on the music and if I have introduced any chemicals into my body like wine or cannibus.
Dark Side of the Moon and a toke = LOUD or about 100 db. I doubt that I listen much over 100 db and that would be just a loud passage in Holst or something like that.
Most often loud for me would be less than 95, usually louder than that it is just irritating.

 

[THOR]

I think I like it best at 120db or so

Thatch I picked up some toob gear and you never even commented, I'm hurt

 

[Tonto Yoder]

Thatch,
was volume controlled via remote???? Since getting the current preamp (w/ remote), I find myself fiddling with volume much more, changing it from track to track even. Not in an attempt to make it louder/softer, but to make it "righter" sonically.

I've never measured dB's or anything scientifically, but try to hit something subjectively "right." This seems easier with acoustic material since it's hard to say just how loud Hendrix should be(that's THOR's turf ).
TY

 

[THOR]

Hendrix??? More like Judas Priest!

I'm your turbo loverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[THOR]

Tonto is a "cables" guy and his speaker cables are as thick as tug of war rope

 

[steamshooter]

Thor's volume control for Judas Priest:
EVERTHING LOUDER THAN EVERYTHING ELSE!!!
Rocka Rolla dude!
Brad

 

[grumpy]

Hes just a Victim of Changes !

 

[Tonto Yoder]

Jay/THOR,
yes, I DO believe cables can make a difference (for better or worse). Just for the record, I swapped some Discovery 1-2-3 biwire for two short runs of AQ midnight (oriignally 10 ft single wire cut in half and re-terminated). The Midnight appears to be big, honkin' cable but the center is a nylon? rope slightly less than the size of one's little finger. Fourteen wires of VARYING gauge are spiraled around the core and "garden hose" dielectric is added. Each wire has its particular attributes that are appealing, so I swap now and then.

I've been planning to try the DIY Chris Venhaus Cat 5 recipe--lots of very small gauge wire braided to cancel out refluction or transconductance . I'm part way there on the braiding but my fingers keep going numb.
TY

 

[ckelly]

I think it depends on what music you listen to, I try to listen to music at a "natural level" (the volume a human voice would sound) but some things merit "Stupid lud levels" such as Jimi Hendrix live or Black Sabbath.

Chris

 

[THOR]

I listen at tinnitus levels but have yet to achieve the ringing sensation I used to have when waking up the next morning back in the early 90's after a night spent at the Motley Crue "Dr. Feelgood" tour

P.S. I'm playing Tho that did happen, many times, different concerts : , I do not try to achieve the ringing in the ears thing, so no lectures

P.P.S I do try to move funiture with the use of a volume knob tho

 

[Thatch_Ear]

I can't remember if there was a remote or even a preamp. I think there was a preamp but after a bit of listening to the overpriced stuff I kind of just blocked it out. The listening space wasn't real good and all in all I wasn't getting as much out of it as I was some SE 6BQ5s that had just volume pots, a cheap CD player and my 20+ year old Shahinians at home.
What I remember most was the great disappiontment I felt in the 845s having 6 times the power of the 6BQ5s but didn't sound any better. Sure you could turn them up more, but getting/building higher efficiency speakers makes more sense to me than that balancing act with a tube made for transmitting.
That and the guy's Radio Shack toy.
When I finally get my drivers and get my new speakers built I will start using my better DIY cables more. They are 16 strand braids of 24 AWG OLD,really OLD Western Electric telephone wire in Celonese insulation. Since the Shahinians have old binding posts I doubt that any difference in cableing would really show. Listening to the cables in the past hasn't shown much improvement over the old Monster that came with the speakers. Weakest link etc.
120 decibles is above the pain level for humans and causes brain damage in all living things including ones without hearing.

 

[bully]

Dunno. With my stereo, the magic is there at any volume level I choose for listening.
600-plus watts RMS per side really opens up a pair of speakers, and it doesn't need to be loud.
No remotes for any of my stereos.
I like fiddlin' with nicely machined, nicely weighted knobs and switches. He gets up, he sits down. He gets up, he sits down. Oh, time to flip the record ...