How loud do you listen?

[garyrc]

Does this answer your question?

 

LOL ... love that picture!  Do movies sound louder at home or in a regular movie house?  By a lot or a little?  Is your AVR calibrated to Reference level?  If so, what main volume control setting do you use for movies (on the average)?

[Paducah Home Theater]

LOL ... love that picture!  Do movies sound louder at home or in a regular movie house?  By a lot or a little?  Is your AVR calibrated to Reference level?  If so, what main volume control setting do you use for movies (on the average)?

I haven't been in awhile but according to my wife, my subs can kill a movie theater's output, even with everything turned down and being flat. It apparently don't take much.

[Quiet_Hollow]

I always wondered why some guys with 8 monster subs had tactile transducers.

You and me both.

 

With enough prodding (5-10V), I can get the measly La Scala shaking our foundation, much less putting any significant power to our 12" loaded THT subwoofer.

[Cosmic_surfer]

I'm usually sitting at the -30 to maybe as high as -20. It really depends on if I want to get my wife's attention or not.

[garyrc]

I'm usually sitting at the -30 to maybe as high as -20. It really depends on if I want to get my wife's attention or not.

Do those settings make it sound louder or softer than at your local theater?

[Scrappydue]

Man don't get me wrong but I can't imagine how bored I would get at some of your houses watching at -30 on the volume lol. That so quiet. Hardly worth having surround sound. Definitely don't need to spend money on sub with that kind of volume. There would be no tactile response.

[Paducah Home Theater]

Man don't get me wrong but I can't imagine how bored I would get at some of your houses watching at -30 on the volume lol. That so quiet. Hardly worth having surround sound. Definitely don't need to spend money on sub with that kind of volume. There would be no tactile response.

-30 is too quiet on any material on my setup but a good mix can shake my subs decently at -25. -20 is better for action movies though, its more exciting on effects, and some weak mixes where they mumble a lot such as The Adventures of Tin Tin that we watched last night has to be at -20 in order to understand the dialogue well, but its the equivalent of -25 on other movies. Fire up Maleficent at -20 and you can hear the subs throughout most of the house. -10 with Metallica and I'm rattling dishes 60 feet and a few rooms away.

[garyrc]

I'm usually sitting at the -30 to maybe as high as -20. It really depends on if I want to get my wife's attention or not.

 

My wife enjoys sitting in the center seat, @ -5 dB on the Main Volume (calibrated by Audyssey).  My daughter and her friends also enjoy it at that volume, with their young ears.  While I've a few people marvel at the strong, clean volume, I've never had a complaint.  

 

Even though the industry claims to master all Blu-ray at Reference level, we have all heard seeming exceptions.  Very loud movies include The Grey, Looper, and a variety of action movies.  Very soft movies include Married Life.  Somewhat mush-mouthed movies include The Walker.   Amadeus is beautifully recorded, with little need for the LFE channel (which is there, but used sparingly).

[Cosmic_surfer]

Man don't get me wrong but I can't imagine how bored I would get at some of your houses watching at -30 on the volume lol. That so quiet. Hardly worth having surround sound. Definitely don't need to spend money on sub with that kind of volume. There would be no tactile response.

-30 isn't terrible, my hearing is pretty good scrappy, and I am only sitting about 6 feet away from my rf-7s. At -20 the whole house is shaking, and guests think there is a terrible storm or explosions occurring outside the house (when they are upstairs and not watching the movie). As a reference point I consider what factory sound was like, the speakers I have no sound so much better than what I was stuck with for the majority of my life).

I suppose my view is the same as with alcohal, I don't need it to have fun... I don't need to damage my ears to have fun either. I cam hear a wide dynamic range with -30 decently, and moving towards -20 it is about maxed out for enjoyment.

[Scrappydue]

Oh I have no doubt 30 may be fine for you. I have large speakers as well and I can hear perfectly fine at -30. I was just saying -30 wouldn't be exciting to me. A tornado sure wouldn't sound like a tornado to me. Nor would gun shots sound like a real gun. I mean my parents even come watch movies on occasion and they both enjoy movies at -18 to -15. And that even still seems a tad quieter than a movie theater. Me and my wife watch just about any movie at -12 to -10. And in an action movie I usually crank good scenes to -5. To each their own. I like feeling like I am at the gun fight or in the tornado.

[BigStewMan]

How loud do I listen?  I’m in Southern California … can you hear it now? 

Ok, i’m not the best person to ask--I have 75% hearing loss in my right ear; and 50% - 60% in my left ear -- nothing is too loud for me anymore.  When i take out my hearing aids, i can’t even hear an alarm clock unless it’s right next to my pillow…i had to buy one of those super loud alarm clocks. I will soon be checking into a service dog -- some are trained to alert a person when the phone rings, alarm goes off, knock at the door, etc… Maybe the sound of vehicles too (i hope) as i was struck by a truck while walking across the street a few years ago…and i never even heard it coming (days before I got hearing aids).

[Paducah Home Theater]

Oh I have no doubt 30 may be fine for you. I have large speakers as well and I can hear perfectly fine at -30. I was just saying -30 wouldn't be exciting to me. A tornado sure wouldn't sound like a tornado to me. Nor would gun shots sound like a real gun.

I like feeling like I am at the gun fight

So it would sound like a real gun at reference level?  Sorry, but anybody who thinks their home theater sounds like real gunfire needs to go shooting more often. It's just not the same, even if you are at reference level. To me, whether its -20, -10, or reference, it doesn't really add any realism to gunfire, it all sounds fake, its just louder and hurts my ears more at least after awhile. If I want realism I'll enter a 3-gun meet.  Regardless of the realism of the tone and whatnot its still nowhere near as loud. 

Actually its not even the gunfire that hurts, its everything else at that level. Gunfire sounds pretty stupid through a home theater, its hardly anything I look forward to. They can't even record it directly, its artificially embellished, often with too much subwoofer action and always not enough violent concussion.  I actually think it sounds worse up loud due to the typical fake subwoofer material. "Three Days To Kill" was really bad about this.  Anybody who wants to know the difference is welcome to come over. Bring ammo.

I actually have permanent hearing damage from gunshots. Even if it were possible, why in the hell anybody would want to mimic what it really sounds like, on a regular basis with no hearing protection, for fun, then brag about it, is beyond me. I seriously doubt many people here like to shoot much more than I do yet reproducing gunfire in a realistic manner is hardly on my to-do list.

 

Because of all this I actually like fake guns more than real ones.  I really enjoyed Edge of Tomorrow's gatlin guns.  It's not realistic at all but it's way cool, probably because they didn't try to be.  Whoever recorded the pistol shots on Three Days to Kill ought to be banned from the movie world. 

Edited January 4, 2015 by MetropolisLakeOutfitters

[garyrc]

I am only sitting about 6 feet away from my rf-7s.

 

Your 6 feet away would be 3 or 4 dB different than my 12 feet away in a room, according to an article by PWK in Dope from Hope (he found that 3 doubling of distances was about a 9 or 10 dB difference, averaged over the Khorn bandwidth, in a room at Klipsch that was about 25 feet long and 16 feet wide, as I remember).  So your - 30 would be about my - 26, and your -20 would be about my -16.  Yet I play at about 5 dB below Reference, and most movies sound about as loud as they do at the local Cinems(s).  So there still is a considerable discrepency.

[garyrc]

They can't even record it directly, its artificially embellished, often with too much subwoofer action and always not enough violent concussion

 

 

I agree. Real gunfire pins the microphone diaphram against the back plate, unless it is at a great distance.  This would make a "pop" sound, so cinema gunfire is simulated.

 

The simulated gunfire in Looper sounds subjectively real, even though it is neither real nor nearly a loud as real.

Edited January 4, 2015 by Garyrc

[JJkizak]

After an endless amount of tweeking I ended up at -28 for crystal clear voicing at about 75 to 80 SPL on the local FM HD station with the sound stage that I prefer using PLC-IIZ. Most of the voices are properly centered. This is with the side and rear speakers set to -12 on the tone levels to reduce the "congestion" of syllabies near the 4KHZ points. The front and center speakers have the graphic equalizers set to -5db at 4KHZ and -4db at 8KHZ points. However if I select 7.1 the center becomes very weak and the fronts very loud. This is with all the tone controls in the flat position. The Bluray player works well with the DTS 5.1 but the old CD player had to go to the NEO-Dolby something or other to sound decent. This one still in the tweeking mode.

JJK

[Scrappydue]

I am only sitting about 6 feet away from my rf-7s.

Your 6 feet away would be 3 or 4 dB different than my 12 feet away in a room, according to an article by PWK in Dope from Hope (he found that 3 doubling of distances was about a 9 or 10 dB difference, averaged over the Khorn bandwidth, in a room at Klipsch that was about 25 feet long and 16 feet wide, as I remember). So your - 30 would be about my - 26, and your -20 would be about my -16. Yet I play at about 5 dB below Reference, and most movies sound about as loud as they do at the local Cinems(s). So there still is a considerable discrepency.

i get what your sayin Gary but if both systems are calibrated with the same avr but different speakers and different distances, at the same level on receiver they should be the same spl. Key word there is should of course

[Scrappydue]

Oh I have no doubt 30 may be fine for you. I have large speakers as well and I can hear perfectly fine at -30. I was just saying -30 wouldn't be exciting to me. A tornado sure wouldn't sound like a tornado to me. Nor would gun shots sound like a real gun.

I like feeling like I am at the gun fight

So it would sound like a real gun at reference level? Sorry, but anybody who thinks their home theater sounds like real gunfire needs to go shooting more often. It's just not the same, even if you are at reference level. To me, whether its -20, -10, or reference, it doesn't really add any realism to gunfire, it all sounds fake, its just louder and hurts my ears more at least after awhile. If I want realism I'll enter a 3-gun meet. Regardless of the realism of the tone and whatnot its still nowhere near as loud.

Actually its not even the gunfire that hurts, its everything else at that level. Gunfire sounds pretty stupid through a home theater, its hardly anything I look forward to. They can't even record it directly, its artificially embellished, often with too much subwoofer action and always not enough violent concussion. I actually think it sounds worse up loud due to the typical fake subwoofer material. "Three Days To Kill" was really bad about this. Anybody who wants to know the difference is welcome to come over. Bring ammo.

I actually have permanent hearing damage from gunshots. Even if it were possible, why in the hell anybody would want to mimic what it really sounds like, on a regular basis with no hearing protection, for fun, then brag about it, is beyond me. I seriously doubt many people here like to shoot much more than I do yet reproducing gunfire in a realistic manner is hardly on my to-do list.

Because of all this I actually like fake guns more than real ones. I really enjoyed Edge of Tomorrow's gatlin guns. It's not realistic at all but it's way cool, probably because they didn't try to be. Whoever recorded the pistol shots on Three Days to Kill ought to be banned from the movie world.

oh jeeze here we go metro. So sorry you took this so literally. Yes gun shots are fake sounding compared to real life. When I Go shoot a shotgun or AR they have no subwoofers built into them that shake my house. However when I turn my volume up on MY system on a scene like in book of Eli or the shooting scene in open range the gun shots are every bit as loud as shooting my ***** with my 870 with no hearing protection on. That is of course only if I am demoing my system for someone who wants to see what it can really do. That is not bumping subs up at all but volumes of say +10 over reference. And ask cinema head as he OWNED the exact same speakers you have now and the exact speakers I have now. My speakers are on a completely different level. I imagine if you love Klipsch as much as me and you are a dealer you will one day hear the cinema products then you will know where I am coming from.

So demoing once in a while for people at +10 on CERTAIN gun scenes loud and obnoxious? Yep

Bad for my hearing? Yep probably so.

Do I need to shoot more? Eh maybe. But I am a redneck boy in a country town in Missouri so I'm thinking I shoot more than you think i do metro. ;-)

By the way always wanted to try a three gun competition. Think it would be fun. Have a buddy that is into it BIG TIME. He has a ton of sponsors and is crazy good. I really don't even like shooting with him cause he just shows up, shows off, then splits lol.

[Ski Bum]

 

Hi fidelity for me is a nearfield setup where the room is more removed from the equation and there is more detail in the mix.  It does not have to be at concert level.  I guess we all have our own definition of HiFi which is OK.

I like your philosophy Derrick!  ... (lots of experience with CWs, and LaScalas for nearfield, however, and both are amazing).

 

Maynard

 

I like it too.  Near field gives the source content with minimal coloration from local acoustics, which are the single most significant bottleneck/influence on the sound.  Horns likewise can help minimize the room's influence, and can pull off the same tricks when things are not quite so near-field (my fortes do need a bit more room than my relatively tiny JBL lsr monitors!). 

 

Back on the "how loud" topic, and my definition of hi-fi as it relates...sure, I have the amps, and a pair of fortes with gobs of power can do quite impressive, seemingly effortless nightclub / live marching band type spls and dynamics.  But that's just painfully loud, even if that's how loud some things are in real life.  Per the REW measurements, I listen 75-80 on average, peaks mid 90's and on rare occasions past 100db.  In my situation, that seems plenty to become thoroughly absorbed into the music.    

[Youthman]

I can get the measly La Scala shaking our foundation

I fee my LaScalas 200 watts each and there's no way they are going to come close to shaking my foundation.  They simply roll off too high (around 70Hz I believe)

[Scrappydue]

I can get the measly La Scala shaking our foundation

I fee my LaScalas 200 watts each and there's no way they are going to come close to shaking my foundation. They simply roll off too high (around 70Hz I believe)

yeah I didn't think that sounded right either.