Hi-Fi Has A Sweet Spot In Volume

[Snooker]

Do you agree Hi-Fi has a sweet spot when it comes to volume to get maximum impact, without it sounding uncomfortable or distorted of course

My sweet spot is around 68 - 74 dba

 

[Deleted member 201267]

Do you agree Hi-Fi has a sweet spot when it comes to volume to get maximum impact, without it sounding uncomfortable or distorted of course

My sweet spot is around 68 - 74 dba

Simple answer YES !

 

[matthewpianist]

Yes, and it depends very much on your speakers, amp and room and how they interact with each other. Obviously it varies from one recording to another also.

 

[plastic penguin]

I think the sweet spot is having the speakers in the correct position, therefore should hear the sweet spot throughout the decibel range.

Of course, amps tend to come alive at a certain volume level as well as @matthewpianist mentioned how good or bad the recording is. There are other issues that make it sound alive, but speaker position is more important than volume levels IMHO.

 

[WayneKerr]

Definitely. My volume sweet-spot is also dependent on mood.

 

[WayneKerr]

Definitely. My volume sweet-spot is also dependent on mood.

And neighbours of course 🙂

 

[Snooker]

Yes I agree it depends very much on the quality of the recording, and what mood I am in also to select a given volume

 

[davidf]

Same as movies, which are mixed at a certain level (Reference Level). You can play a film at varying volumes and it can sound ok, even excellent, but on a properly calibrated system, turn that processor to 0dB and it just comes alive.

For audio, we all have a comfortable listening level.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Depends upon the type of music too. I'd actually say that many songs/pieces have their own sweet spot, rather than my system itself.

 

[Deleted member 201267]

Depends upon the type of music too. I'd actually say that many songs/pieces have their own sweet spot, rather than my system itself.

For me a lot of music sounds best with no volume at all !

 

[Witterings]

And neighbours of course 🙂

Play it loud enough and you can't hear if they complain 🤣 🤣 🤣

 

[Al ears]

Play it loud enough and you can't hear if they complain 🤣 🤣 🤣

Fortunately my neighbours are far enough away for me not to annoy them without deafening myself first..... 🙂

 

[twinkletoes]

depends when/if and when the wife is out to how loud I can take it

Generally though because of the speakers design I only have to nudge it off 6 o’clock to get a room filling sound.

 

[AJM1981]

Decibel levels are definitely a thing. “Not eardrum shattering loud but loud enough to have the music being present”. I am lucky to live in a soundproof home.

Toeing in the loudspeakers does something, and is a necessity for ribbon or AMT tweeters which seem almost “laser like” But any other more conventional speakers with hard or soft dome tweeters don’t really seem to have any noticeable directional properties. Not toeing them in even seems to slightly improve the horizontal soundstage. That’s why my Dentons are facing straight and the Evo 4.2s with AMT tweeter are toed in.

Another thing I can enjoy are Upright bass lines in classic Jazz with an active sub woofer. Unfortunately, the subwoofer’s history is too short and not everything is mixed and mastered with a subwoofer in mind. That is why it sounds great at one song and leaky in those frequencies in another. It gets annoying if a subwoofer thumps along with a kick drum in a dance track. Some more modern producers hard cut some frequencies which solves that issue.

 

[aversaurus]

Quarter to if you know you know