How loud should you listen to classical music?

[Infinitoid]

I listen to everything quietly. Rarely more than 90dB...

I am constrained by the people in my home plus my neighbor not to play my music loud. Over time I have collected units to make near field listening a pleasure.

90dB is quiet? Betcha reggaenaut would disagree on that. I'm listening nearfield @ 75dB as I write this and wish I were out in the room with the spekers 10 feet away. Sorry, R, but nearfield is almost a pleasure, but not quite, at least to me. Unless my head is in a vise the image is totally unstable. And it's difficult to blend the tweeter/woofer at 30 inches. And I might be using the wrong speaker for the application.

Greg, who's
Grateful to have no constraints

 

[davidro]

When I attend an orchestral concert (which is pretty much all I care for), I get my seat either on the front row at centre (cheapest) or the middle row at centre (most expensive). I don't care for the upstairs or the choir seats. Been there and didn't like'em.

Whilst the middle row at centre delivers the best experiences (naturally) the front row at centre ain't too bad and in fact you get louder volume (but unbalanced) which is strong especially with concerto pieces.

I didn't use to like, for example, Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique when I was sitting the front row. When I took the middle row on the next occasion however I was overwhelmed by the sheer pleasure of enjoying the orchestral genius and appreciated Berlioz like I never did before.

But when I was at Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue concert I was sitting in the front seat and really enjoyed the crazy display of masterful pianism happening right in front of me whilst my friend who was sitting upstairs complained how she was unable to hear much of the piano.

I try to translate these experiences to my home-audio and adjust the volume accordingly. From my experiences the real concert sound is very, very wide (which is impossible to reproduce unless you have a concert hall to yourself) and kind of surrounding.

To achieve these effects the volume has to be high enough and the woofer usually has to be big enough. In my living room that requires around 10 o'clock or thereabout depending on the external noises.

With chamber music, I generally like them to be played in a small city hall or an equivalent rather than a proper concert hall because the volume is not big enough to make most of a concert hall performance in my opinion.

By the way, if a recording makes me feel as if I'm sitting in the middle row at centre that recording in my book is very well recorded. Many times I find recordings from 70's and before are usually good at achieving this which is why I like orchestral music on vinyl. Newer recordings often make me feel as if I'm a conductor but I find it a little too overwhelming. I notice however the latest trend is to stick with the old approach.

I found for example Simone Young's relatively recent Bruckner Symphony CD to be following such 'old school' trend. I understand this involves smaller number of microphones and good skills and experiences on the engineer's part.

 

[pmsummer]

My standard choice is to listen at concert levels, and that applies also to chamber music, lieder and piano or solo instruments. If the level is too high, I feel unconfortable very soon, and if it is very low many sounds remain hidden.

That's certainly my approach... live performance levels. That's pretty much true for me across the genres.

 

[mashaffer]

I try to play it at the level that is appropriate for the music. A string quartet would not be as loud as say the 1812. If you play it that loud it doesn't sound natural. Now when it comes to a swinging Back prelude and fugue the limit is determined by the adhesion of the plaster on the walls.

mike

 

[Mr. Lin]

I listen to everything quietly. Rarely more than 90db and in the nearfield now. With Harbeth speakers you can hear all of the detail in the quiet passages even when played very quietly.

This works for me too, but I listen to small-scale chamber music more than anything. My system is not capable of closely mimicking live music at full volume, so I don't try to make it do so.

 

[GreatTone]

Great topic, but I find it almost more intriguing that your 7-year-old would request Einstein on the Beach. I bought the Tomato 3-album set in NYC back in the 70s, after I walked into a record store and heard the end of side 1 playing, where everything just goes nuts. Later I sold the set to a friend, but last year I found the same set for a few bucks at the used record store, so I grabbed it. After I got home, I realized there were 2 copies of disc 2, and no disc 3, but I suspect the original owners had never noticed.

One day I was cranking up side 1, when my family staged a revolt and demanded I take it off -- and they were all outside working in the yard! I will say though that on a long car trip when my kids were quite a bit younger, I played all of A Love Supreme. About halfway through I asked them if they wanted me to take it off, and they both said no, leave it on, and they continued listening quietly to the whole CD.

As to the original question, I too try to approximate true performance levels, at least with classical and jazz. One thing I don't like is turning up a quartet, say, louder than it would be in person. But violins are surprisingly loud.

I recently measured the SPL at my typical listening level -- I normally set the volume about 11 o'clock, which seems pretty loud to me. I was kind of surprised to see it was only about 80-85dB. I was happy too, because you can listen to that all day and not damage your ears. One o'clock is the highest I ever go, and that is about 90dB.

I play music professionally (acoustic and electric guitar), and I know the drums are well above 90dB. But I wear earplugs then, which is not something I would want to do listening to my stereo. In other words, even when I listen to rock I crank it up, but not to truly realistic levels.

 

[Scuzzer]

Great topic, but I find it almost more intriguing that your 7-year-old would request Einstein on the Beach.

To get psyched up for his early Sat. morning tackle football games we crank some tunes while driving to the field. Normally he requests Cat People and Bound By Blood by Danzig and then Barracuda by The Bad Plus. If we have enough time left he requests Knee 1. Whichever brain disorder is responsible for me liking Einstein on the Beach it appears to be hereditary since both my son and daughter like it. I think they like the weird one,two,three rhythmic counting overlaid by the deadpan New York phone book reading.

My wife will absolutely positively kill small furry animals if she's anywhere in the vicinity though.

One day I was cranking up side 1, when my family staged a revolt and demanded I take it off -- and they were all outside working in the yard!

I had a college roommate that liked that album but everyone else actively dislikes it (turn that sh%t off! type responses). My best friend from high school actually gets mild panic attacks listening to it.

Back on topic. I've never been to a Philip Glass concert so I have no idea how loud it should be played. It doesn't sound bad at high volume here though.

 

[JohnVF]

90dB is quiet? Betcha reggaenaut would disagree on that. I'm listening nearfield @ 75dB as I write this and wish I were out in the room with the spekers 10 feet away. Sorry, R, but nearfield is almost a pleasure, but not quite, at least to me. Unless my head is in a vise the image is totally unstable. And it's difficult to blend the tweeter/woofer at 30 inches. And I might be using the wrong speaker for the application.

Greg, who's
Grateful to have no constraints

The only time nearfield has worked for me is with these new (old) coaxial monitors I've acquired. 6.5" and coaxial tweeter. They're pro monitors specifically designed for near-field listening but are very musical and detailed. Other than these speakers, I can not stand to listen to music right on top of my speakers. Even at home I feel I'm too close, being about 6' away from them when I really would prefer about 9' (and the speakers are actually designed to time-align perfectly at 9', I just can't do that the way my room is). But I've heard Harbeth P3esrs and could imagine that they really do sound fantastic right up close. I didn't like them in a big room, for obvious reasons, but they were a totally different speaker when matched to a room and closer up to them.

As for volume for classical for me, I like it 'loud enough'. On SACD especially, the difference between quiet and loud passages can be pretty startling (especially Mahler) and I actually like sort of being jarred by it. I don't need to feel it in my chest but hearing the quiet parts on an SACD can result in a different volume level than on CD. The quiet parts are much more quiet in comparison to the loudest parts, at least that is the experience I've had with the few SACDs I have recently acquired. So I need to turn it up..and then when it gets loud it gets LOUD. It's extremely involving. I always tend to sit farther away at the symphony (for financial reasons) so my stereo is sometimes a more involving experience for me than it is live. Which is a shame..I should really start investing more into the real life, no?

 

[PickyEars81]

Usually just loud enough that it is hard to talk over. That way I get to listen without interruptions

I enjoy something like Ravel's Bolero, too, which starts very quiet, I crank up the volume a bit, and by the end the house is rockin' a bit. Same thing with a good copy of the 1812 overture - starts out with some choirs low and finishes up with cannons!

 

[GreatTone]

I had a college roommate that liked that album but everyone else actively dislikes it (turn that sh%t off! type responses). My best friend from high school actually gets mild panic attacks listening to it.

Back on topic. I've never been to a Philip Glass concert so I have no idea how loud it should be played. It doesn't sound bad at high volume here though.

I think with Einstein on the Beach, there is no indifferent reaction, and most people hate it. I think it's pretty great. But I also like Henry Cow, Robert Wyatt and Albert Ayler. My vinyl copy has excellent sound quality, and sounds great turned up pretty loud.

I think it was you, if I'm not mistaken, who pointed out in a past thread that recorded music really is very different than live music. That fact does affect my volume choices. Though last night, listening to Gil Melle on a Music Matters reissue, there was a part where just a chime is hit a few times, and it could easily have been there in the room. But even the best recording of anything more complex, like a snare, just doesn't compare to the real thing.

 

[Infinitoid]

I always tend to sit farther away at the symphony (for financial reasons) so my stereo is sometimes a more involving experience for me than it is live. Which is a shame..I should really start investing more into the real life, no?

You'll never get to enough concerts to equal what you can hear and what you've learned and appreciated in your collection of recordings. I'm lucky to get to one concert a year. Just one short century ago live music was all there was.

My seats for the upcoming Mahler 5 performance by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra are 2nd balcony, center. It's what we could afford. And the sound is very good there. I know. We have the same seats (pure coincidence) that we did for Mahler 2 last May. The sound is not like the dress circle or main floor where stereophonic effects are a given. And nowhere near as loud. And basically monophonic with good hall acoustics. But none of that should diminish the quality and effect of the performance. I expect to be "moved".

I prefer my classical music at "conductor volume", up close, personal, and often very loud.

 

[elcoholic]

I've only been to a few classical music concerts and those were at the LA Music Center . Evan as a kid I was struck by the dynamics and the power of an orchestra. I play my few classical records loud enough to open up my speakers so I can get off on those dynamics. Background music is for grocery stores and makes me hungry.
I definitely listen louder than my shop vac*.








* Then again I have a very expensive and quiet Fein vac - 58 dB

 

[Mowgli]

Yeah, I'm late to the conversation but...

I play classical at whatever level sounds best.
I'm usually up many hours later than my wife in a different part of the house so I can rock it if I feel like it.
I sit about 6' from the speakers, in a medium-small quiet room, so it doesn't need much volume.
If it hurts my ears then it's too loud, the room is too small for 1000+ musicians & singers to do Mahler right anyway.

A long time ago my GF's dad used to crank classical at PAINFUL listening levels in the basement while he was woodworking.
Oh, woodworking you say. No wonder.
Nope. Making shaker furniture with hand tools and it rocked the house different strokes.

 

[Junknewbian]

A long time ago when I listened to Iron Maiden loud, I read that classical music is responsible for WAAAAAAY more blown speakers than Rock and Roll. I didn't believe it and I did my best to destroy my speakers, not to be outdone by mere classical. Now that I have discovered the pleasures of classical and have better speakers, I stick close to that volume knob when I'm playing Wellington's March or the 1812 Overture. Those are speaker blowers.

 

[Wally Swift]

I try to play it at the level that is appropriate for the music. A string quartet would not be as loud as say the 1812. If you play it that loud it doesn't sound natural. Now when it comes to a swinging Back prelude and fugue the limit is determined by the adhesion of the plaster on the walls.

mike

I agree. Well stated.

 

[ifsixwasni9e]

I try to listen to instrumental (string quartets, guitar) at a level resembling the actual instruments to get the proper effect and emotion.

 

[dewdude]

I dated a symphony musician for just over a year. I was frequenting the Meyerhoff up in Baltimore almost every week.

Having been to a LOT of BSO performances, at various seats, I know how loud that place can get.

So, when I'm listening to classical, I find the loudest passage, set that to what level it should be if no ones home, and go from there. If people are home, then I find a moderate volume.

 

[js1138]

I normally listen to classical music late at night when everyone here is asleep so it's typically at very low volume. Today my 7 year old son requested I play Knee 1 off of Einstein at the Beach at high volume and I enjoyed it so much I've been listening to a bunch of different stuff at or above concert level (Mrs. Scuzzer is out of town). Just curious if other folks find classical to be something to crank.

Saint-Saëns Organ symphony will crank if your system can handle it. Not all recordings of it are created equal. It has a high WAF.

 

[JDub]

I choose the music depending on the volume I want to play at, and the volume is proportional to the number of instruments/voices. So if I want background music I might put on a chamber quartet. If I'm home alone with time to sit back and put my feet up, then I crank up the volume and put on a Beethoven symphony or the Mozart requiem mass or something similar.