How loud is too loud?

[richamor]

Huh????

 

[sqlsavior]

I constructed a system capable of 120+ dB (w/o clipping) in my youth. It was silly-loud.

Now, peaks in the 80s are loud to me.

 

[Genov]

IMHO, anything louder (for extended periods) than 85db, should be considered a bad thing.

I am 61, with mild tinnitus, and I listen, on average, between 70-80db. Plenty loud for me, with Air Supply and Barry Manilow

 

[Genov]

1. Late to this thread
2. I've told this story before so if you've seen it.... well.... get over it lol.


Year was 1979. I was 19 years old and assembling my first nice system. I had a Yamaha 100 watt receiver, some AKG headphones and some Electrovoice Interface D's all in my bedroom.

Was going to put an Aerosmith LP on the turntable (or Pioneer CTF 1000 cassette.... I don't recall)

None the less.... I was going to turn it up so, I put the headphones on and cranked away. I was A.M.A.Z.E.D. at what these headphones were doing.... my head, my body, my ROOM was all shaking ....I was gobsmacked at what the headphones were doing.

Suddenly, my red faced, spittle coming out of her mouth mother, barged into my room screaming to me at the top of her lungs

TURNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN THATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT DOWNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

HUH?

Well... I finally figured it out. I did not turn speakers off. So while I was listening to the headphones at a deafening volume, the EV's were pounding the smithereens out of the room and house (they'll do 106 db's at 28Hz so they're shaking all the walls).

I was totally and honestly oblivious that the D's were playing. After all, my head was being jacked around by the headphones and I couldn't hear the D's. I could FEEL them but not knowing they were playing and me being a dumbazz teenager....

Well.... it's not like I could go tell my mother that I didn't know it was that loud. How on earth could you NOT know it was that loud? Uh....because I had my headphones on, trying to keep it respectful of you?

Yeah, try that excuse at 19 years old...

Love ya mom!!

Ha! My little brother was in high school, and came home about 1am, after partying hard one night. He got to his bedroom, put his headphones on, cranked his stereo up, and lay down on his bed to enjoy his drunken tunes. A few seconds later, Dad burst into the room, half asleep, music blaring, thinking WWlll had started. Amazingly, upon seeing that little brother had his headphones on, he understood immediately what had happened. Brother yanked his headphones off, and jumped up to turn it down. Dad didn’t even say anything. He just shook his head, and went back to bed

 

[Gigantic]

1. Late to this thread
2. I've told this story before so if you've seen it.... well.... get over it lol.


Year was 1979. I was 19 years old and assembling my first nice system. I had a Yamaha 100 watt receiver, some AKG headphones and some Electrovoice Interface D's all in my bedroom.

Was going to put an Aerosmith LP on the turntable (or Pioneer CTF 1000 cassette.... I don't recall)

None the less.... I was going to turn it up so, I put the headphones on and cranked away. I was A.M.A.Z.E.D. at what these headphones were doing.... my head, my body, my ROOM was all shaking ....I was gobsmacked at what the headphones were doing.

Suddenly, my red faced, spittle coming out of her mouth mother, barged into my room screaming to me at the top of her lungs

TURNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN THATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT DOWNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

HUH?

Well... I finally figured it out. I did not turn speakers off. So while I was listening to the headphones at a deafening volume, the EV's were pounding the smithereens out of the room and house (they'll do 106 db's at 28Hz so they're shaking all the walls).

I was totally and honestly oblivious that the D's were playing. After all, my head was being jacked around by the headphones and I couldn't hear the D's. I could FEEL them but not knowing they were playing and me being a dumbazz teenager....

Well.... it's not like I could go tell my mother that I didn't know it was that loud. How on earth could you NOT know it was that loud? Uh....because I had my headphones on, trying to keep it respectful of you?

Yeah, try that excuse at 19 years old...

Love ya mom!!

Ha! My little brother was in high school, and came home about 1am, after partying hard one night. He got to his bedroom, put his headphones on, cranked his stereo up, and lay down on his bed to enjoy his drunken tunes. A few seconds later, Dad burst into the room, half asleep, music blaring, thinking WWlll had started. Amazingly, upon seeing that little brother had his headphones on, understood immediately what had happened. Brother yanked his headphones off, and jumped up to turn it down. Dad didn’t even say anything. He just shook his head, and went back to bed

from the opposite perspective, I returned to college after a stint in the army at the age of 23; I got an apartment next to a fraternity house because it was cheap. One night, I was woken by a stereo blaring at full blast next door. I went over and pounded on the door- no answer, no signs of anyone stirring in the house. I tried the door and it was unlocked, so I went in towards the source and found a kid passed out on a sofa with his Kenwood amp and Cerwin Vegas with the Volume dimed. I grabbed him by his shoulders and began screaming at him; mind you, I’m about 6’8” tall and was about 240 pounds at the time, about a year or two out of the service, after the first Gulf War. He came to, to find perhaps the largest man he’d ever seen, screaming in his face to “TURN IT THE **** DOWN!” spittle flying and my visage, livid and red; I think he may have **** himself. At any rate, that never happened again.

 

[Genov]

from the opposite perspective, I returned to college after a stint in the army at the age of 23; I got an apartment next to a fraternity house because it was cheap. One night, I was woken by a stereo blaring at full blast next door. I went over and pounded on the door- no answer, no signs of anyone stirring in the house. I tried the door and it was unlocked, so I went in towards the source and found a kid passed out on a sofa with his Kenwood amp and Cerwin Vegas at full blast. I grabbed him by his shoulders and began screaming at him; mind you, I’m about 6’8” tall and was about 240 pounds at the time, about a year or two out of the service. He came to, to find perhaps the largest man he’d ever seen, screaming in his face spittle flying and my visage, livid and red; I think he may have **** himself. At any rate, that never happened again.

 

[sKiZo]

It's all about the environment - a well voice room should be able to handle most anything you throw at it. You can bump the db's up a bunch if you minimize any shrill highs and boomers down below. I typically run at 90+ peaks with no apparent issues.

 

[C Hart]

This thread took off like a nitro dragster. I recognize it's a week old now but it was very interesting so I figured I'd wake it up.

I've been working on my setup and as part of it tested max volume with my 125 watt receiver and 89dB sensitivity speakers. I turned it up until I lost my nerve. At that point the A weighted cheap SPL meter read 98dB peak. It was way too loud standing 1 meter away.

Hearing loss is a concern for me especially now that I'm back into audio. As an occasional drummer I was surprised that, although I have mild tinnitus, I can hear 12KHz. 17KHz+ is only audible by teenagers according to several sources e.g. https://decibelhearing.com/hearing-loss-overview/high-frequency-hearing-loss/

Great info sharing, all. Many thanks.

 

[Semanon]

It’s like sugar or tobacco or alcohol or trans fats or any of those things that we are told are bad for us. A little bit now and then will be tolerated. Too much too often and bad things will happen over time.

 

[Semanon]

"If it's too loud, you're too old" - Ted Nugent

Ted Nugent…”is deaf in his left ear

Ted Nugent can only hear out of his right ear. He says his hearing loss is due to playing music very loudly for so many years and from shooting guns with no ear protection.

"I always wanted to play loud because I loved the way the guitar fed back. I was playing so loud and getting so close to the amp, that I would stick cigarette butts from the other guys in my right ear. In order to get the feedback, I would kneel down right there in front of the speakers... I have also been shooting guns for as long as I've been playing guitar. We didn't wear hearing protection back in the day."”

But that was predictable.

 

[C Hart]

Bet his right ear isn’t so great either.

Guns without hearing protection? Can playing music too loud cause brain damage?

 

[RunOutGroove]

Ted Nugent…”is deaf in his left ear

Ted Nugent can only hear out of his right ear. He says his hearing loss is due to playing music very loudly for so many years and from shooting guns with no ear protection.

"I always wanted to play loud because I loved the way the guitar fed back. I was playing so loud and getting so close to the amp, that I would stick cigarette butts from the other guys in my right ear. In order to get the feedback, I would kneel down right there in front of the speakers... I have also been shooting guns for as long as I've been playing guitar. We didn't wear hearing protection back in the day."”

But that was predictable.

Ted Nugent is notoriously straight edge, but if given the choice I'd rather be someone who's a moderate weed smoker and drinker rather than someone who's deaf. I see folks like he and Frank Zappa (who I admire otherwise) who was also anti-drug but a big smoker, who died of cancer, as being ones who spent their lives worrying about the wrong things...

 

[reddodge053]

cat scratch fever!!!

 

[Doug G.]

Maserati.

 

[pkaustin]

I never wore hearing protection while riding a motorcycle. Despite the warnings to the contrary, I never considered the noise to be loud enough for injury. I wear hearing protection while shooting, because guns are not like in TV and movies; they're LOUD.

https://motorbikewriter.com/loud-motorcycle-helmet/

 

[idf.bts]

In a previous life we had a retail customer that was known for very loud in-store music. They walked the floor with an SPL meter to make sure the music was as close to 84dBA as possible throughout the store without going over.

https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.95

Without going over. What happened early in that guy's life...

 

[nailer]

When your ears start bleeding. (Apologies to anyone who's may have already made this point.)

 

[Ohgeo83]

Depends on your living arrangements, and what pair(s) your driving. Under the parents roof it was headphones or hell. Late teens rooming w/homies, well you have to hear the ladies talk, right?! First wife did not care for my Mach II's. 2nd wife's window glazing did not like my Mach ll's (driven w/JVC RX 703 and JVC CD player) My 3rd made them disappear..those were the days..until now. Single. Live alone. Self supporting. Half a block off street and a rekindled love of hi/mid/low-fi. I've found alot of vintage gear at less than a tenth of what it cost new. I'm learning how to restore, rejuvenate and repurpose gear, parts, drivers and clean up diamonds in the rough. I run 12.2 stereo with 3 Daisy chained amps or receivers, AVR's or Integrated's. Sansui if I could come across them, plenty of Pioneer's(couple that rate 150wpc) but my love is JVC. I switch out speakers and amps alot, looking for that combo that's got 'it". You know, I thought it would be louder, but peaks of 92 to 93 on a downloaded SPL app is what it reads, but to sit in the sweet spot and FEEL the music go thru me is the drug. Love it!! So off to work I go. Till I come across the next..