In the brevity of testing for imaging (or other things) this is often to listing in half stereo... not even mono. As far as imaging is concerned this raises questions as to include: "How big is the projected sphere (or otherwise) of the sound? "How deep is the sphere(?) Is the sphere foreshortened as predominantly in the foreground or background? In the case of live music such as perhaps Vanguard "The Weavers at Carnegie Hall", is there a layering of those in the audience at variant depths? is the space palatable? (By the way, I've never heard this sound better than on a friends tube gear with a Decca cartridge with a string holding the "needle" in place... what a piece of 'tin can' junk looking device...)
One of the distinctions made between a good system and a poorer one is if a system can maintain acceptable dynamic contrasts of material (by that I mean adding it to my play list) at low listening levels. It seems often the case that sound pressure levels are turned up in many systems to effectively punch through veiled dynamically lossy systems until the distortion levels (as exponentially related to the signal) make up for such dynamic losses from a musical perspective. As an example, I was listening to the sound system of someone playing Bob Marley in the car next to me. It sounded extraordinarily good in capturing the primary beat, heart and excitement of an outdoor reggae concert. Unfortunately he was going a different direction from the stop light.
So this behooves us to define low listening level and a way to easily measure it (using an iphone app or something widely accessible) I usually listen at what I think is a pretty quiet level, but I have no idea what it is numerically, and at what weighting. Someone else offered as a reply "90db" as their preferred level; I've yet to try it measured.
So how does one unravel Fletcher-Munson from a perceived acceptable dynamic contrast - at low (??db, A weighted) listening levels? I assume my aged ears have even more F-M effect than your average teenager. They might need a little "drive" to get them registering what's there - or at least moved toward a more flat pickup of what's being cast out into the room.
The amp I'm currently using has something called dynamic EQ, which I assume can be setup like someone riding the bass/treble with signal level, assuming this to be an auto "de F-M" process someone at TI implemented. That someone would build out such a feature is what makes me wonder about any "veil" imparted by the inherent F-M effect - versus some more subtle property of an amplifier-speaker combo. I'm not even in the arena of being able to set that up in a good way, as I havent even tried it yet.
I'd like the statement to say "When listening to an average 90db (A weighted) SPL, a good system can maintain acceptable dynamic contrast in material for passages reaching down into low listening levels, i.e. something like ??db"
That maybe informs me I'm listening a too low a level to tell if there's any good dynamic contrasting to begin with. Plus it'd give me some ammo against those telling me I'm always listening too loud, which I'm not - "But then I cant hear the dynamic contrasts correctly - which is half the reason for even having a decent sound system!"
This is a hard one to wrap my head around; sorry for the late reply - it's been on my mind though. It's up there with wondering if any system quality would end up sounding musically "congested" in a ordinary room, above a certain listening level.
Wrong. Dead wrong.
You have obviously never been to a classical music concert in your life. All microphones are as Bill described.
Most all other musics are either close miked or direct feed into the sound board.
So I got the "NIOSH" sound level meter from the iTunes store (free). At my seated listening position;
Listening to a noisy Alan Holdworth solo (Fred) at my normal volume, I'm getting between 65-67 dB(A), with LAeq over maybe a minute ~ 65. Jazz Groove stream again LAeq ~65-66 at my normal "enjoyable" listening level. (I wonder what 90 is like?)
Running my Kenmore canister vacuum (with power head attached) set in between my speakers, I get a steady 72 dB(A)...
Noise floor is about 27 - till the fridge kicks on. Are these realistic values? I assume so.
Listening to a noisy Alan Holdworth solo (Fred) at my normal volume, I'm getting between 65-67 dB(A), with LAeq over maybe a minute ~ 65. Jazz Groove stream again LAeq ~65-66 at my normal "enjoyable" listening level. (I wonder what 90 is like?)
Running my Kenmore canister vacuum (with power head attached) set in between my speakers, I get a steady 72 dB(A)...
Noise floor is about 27 - till the fridge kicks on. Are these realistic values? I assume so.
Didn't notice the question mark?
Does depend on speed and weighting, but sounds in the ball part for many of us. Cinemas should use THX standard which is 85dB average and most home users listen between 65 and 75dB.
Note that real music has a crest factor of 10-20dB (usually 12-15 on good music) so you will have peaks around 90dB but the meter will not register those.
So I think you are a normal music lover!
Hi Joe
Average level maybe a meaningless number, depending on the genre of the music you enjoy listening to. And you don’t have to comply with anyone's opinion about both (average listening level, genre of music you enjoy). It’s your preference, at your listening space, through your equipment.
Only for testing, you may read this and then play the track
John Curl's Blowtorch preamplifier part III
George
I've been told about listening "too loud"... though what does that really mean? Normally its a matter of turning it up/down to most enjoy the musical experience. This is adjusted by mood, the kind of music played, and those banging on the walls/ floor. This is the primary object as I'm not selling any material goods.
Issues of variances arise in situations of accommodating other listeners, as in adjusting the volume that someone else can most enjoy the experience. One of my audio friends wants it turned down seemingly as much as 10 to 15dB. At times when he commented it sounded its best was also times when it lacked sufficient dynamics to be acceptable for me. Yet I keep notes on those circuit networks that worked from his listening experience.
My interest isn't necessarily in relation to actual listening levels, rather to question why his listening/enjoyment is at a much lower level, and to question if there is a possibility of creating networks that can accommodate variant listening levels. The conclusion, faulty or otherwise, is that a reduction in losses is necessary for me to accept low listening levels that seemingly is a function of a loss of dynamics because of those losses.
Hi George, I did so. Background was 30dBA, so I set the level to ~45 at the first part of the piece. It went well over 90, watching the "instantaneous" number on the iPhone app... The female voice in the middle of the piece I imagined would have really rung the Altec horns I once owned and it did seem to challenge the Lii F15s. It was a fun, impressive experience listening - will have to do it again (whenever I get the chance - I live with a couple of SPL-phobics - I'm measuring that piano)
I didnt dare set the initial level to 65 -
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