Sensible SPL for partying? (my ears hurt!)

[Shaun]

Last night I attended a party, and had to bail out early, because I feared my hearing would get damaged! The music was so damn loud, I had difficulty enjoying it.

So, I'm asking: What is a good SPL to be playing party music at? I mean, without discomforting the partygoers, while yet maintaining the party feel.

[Cal Weldon]

That's dependant on a number of things.

How close you are to the speaker.

The response of the speaker ie: amount of bass vs treble.

How much distortion is produced by the system as a whole.

How drunk you are. (not joking)

Off the top of my head, if you were listening to a speaker that's producing 100 dB at 1 meter and you are three meters away, that's quite loud, unless you're drunk and suddenly it's not loud enough. Too many factors to give you an accurate answer. On top of that, everyone's different. ie: my loud might not be loud by your standards.

[Enzo]

There is the OSHA answer and there is the real answer. You can go to OSHA and look up what they consider safe exposure to sound. It is a combination of loudness and duration of exposure.

But the real world answer is akin to how cold should it be in the shop. If it is too freakin' loud, then it is too loud. If I feel cold and you don't , I still feel cold. So regardless of how much someone else is digging the noise, if you don't, then you don't, and it is too loud.

[xplod1236]

Originally posted by Cal Weldon
Off the top of my head, if you were listening to a speaker that's producing 100 dB at 1 meter and you are three meters away, that's quite loud, unless you're drunk and suddenly it's not loud enough.

I'm sitting ~0.5 m away from my "computer speakers," and at this position I'm hitting peaks of 100 dB (hp at 80hz), and that is loud. With the sub connected, it hits 110 dB (measured with a radio shack spl meter), (and I have the sub balanced with the rest).

So I'm thinking somewhere around 100 dB would be good for parties.