I love this thread, and especially the side conversation(s)
126 db is HUGE, for example we are db limited at EDC to 120 db at (I forget the distance, probably FOH) and 120, a true 120 db is knock you over loud. I mean your clothes are fluttering, and you are vibrating from the audio waves. When you speak, the spl causes cavitation in your speech. I've never measured anything over 110 in my home(s), I have been listening LOUD lately because I'm trying to track down, eliminate anything in my signal path causing noise or distortion, which requires a lot of loud music due to my finally aquiring of a pair of Magnplaner true ribbons
Loud as hell in my house is 86-94 db right now, multiple craptacular cell phone mics. My 'normal' listening volume is much lower, 65-75db on average.
I've been a crazy fan of The Alan Parsons Project since I picked up a spanish release of 'Tales of Imagination' on cassette when I was looking for the then current pop track'Eye in the Sky', but really for the opening, Sirius, although I didn't know it then. (I've been a fan of Poe since childhood, both his stories and especially his poetry, They were written as much for the 'feel' of the words as the intent of the words, iow very musical)
I carried around and listened to side one of that cassette everywhere, all the time. I'd owned it for over a year (this is my early teens) before I listened to side B. I was raised on classical music, and actually sort of expected to become a professional (Classical, of course) Pianist, so had no interest in hearing anything remotely classical sounding....
One night in our underground fortress, (we'd dug it six feet down in the desert, threw over a playwood flat someone scored, installed a couch, all the skin mags we could find in teh desert, etc, and it became a regular hang out. Anyway, that night we'd been drinking 'suicide' (iow a mixture from every liqour bottle in nicks grandparents house iirc) and I finally played side B all the way through as we burned a joint.
Talk about mind blown!
from that moment on I became a rabid fan, and early on acquired every studio album, and every subsequent album and have never since that day been without some version.
But Tales of Mystery and Imagination, I sought out original vinyl pressings to get the best sound quality I could, and longed for a cd release for years. Imagine my surprise, (and chagrin) to hear how he'd re-recorded and remixed what he didn't re-record and tore the 'heart' out of it......(I could pontificate for a very long time here on the different sound qualities of every pressing and since the digital revolution, every remaster, and every single cd release of this album, but I'll hold of for now.) suffice to say the MoFi release first on Vinyl, then Cd is THE one to own, no question about it.
So, I have used Alan Parsons Project tracks for demoing every speaker I've ever owned, or been around, and is one of the key ways I measure and value a system for its ability to reproduce... music.
Speaking of which, I do believe it's time to spin that entire album (digitally, of course) on my new speakers at average db of ~90 now.
...well, slap my heinie and call me sam, I've just clipped my Carver PM 350 for the first time, and I mean the clip light came on pretty much steady.... That's a first. These speakers are power hogs from hell! MG 2.5R and the Raven at ~85-90 average db.
I haven't sent it into protection, and I don't plan to, but damn! that was drawing solid 10 amp peaks from my power supply
I've only ever even seen that clip light blink at ultra high db levels with my Rens, and that was stupid loud, far louder then I listen.
I swapped from my PM 1.5 to the PM 350 because these ribbons let me hear some 'deficiencies' in the treble reproduction vs another amp I have in the system, with an A/B switch.
Now I'm going to have to bridge my two PM 350s and see what that results in.....(evil laughter and wringing of hands ensues)
Let's say I want to test the system and play Zep at 100dB. Or let's say I already did, and there was trivial heat as a result. What's the worst that can happen? People say "you'll fry your amp" but 1) it hasn't happened and 2) the amp is cheap anyway. Is there some other specific risk?
