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How loud to "feel" the music?


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How loud do you play your rig, to get to feel the music?

One thing that always strikes me when I go to hear live music is -- it FEELS loud, but it really isn't.. not in the cheap seats anyway.

I keep peaks below 90 for the most part. At 80 this thing's allready thumping me pretty good.. most of the material comes out at around 70 peaks to 80, 'super peaks' (kettledrums, etc) to 90.

Wasn't always like that, even with the same speakers.. I had to go up past 90 and beyond to get the same effect. When I had really craptacular stuff I had to approach 100.. now, a harpsichord or trumpet at 70 is *LOUD*. As it should be. 3.gif

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I have a problem with live music venues especially in little rock. I think that alot depends on the sound man and mic placement. I heard a band that played great music but the sound system or the sound man was screwed. The distortion and lack of ability to discern the individual instruments was so bad that I went to the front to see what kind of equipment I was being abused with and it said EV on the side. Then I noticed that the band sounded great up front because I was hearing everything through their monitors. Is it really that hard for a club to have a good sound system?

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What you really need to feel the music is a subwoofer. It seems that a lot of the feeling in the music comes from the low frequency harmonics. Even at lower volumes, having a sub that blends well with a system does a lot to involve you in the music and allow you to feel it.

P.S. I usually listen with peaks of 85dB or so, or even lower, but I have exquisitely sensitive hearing so 85dB sounds pretty loud to me.

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"P.S. I usually listen with peaks of 85dB or so, or even lower, but I have exquisitely sensitive hearing so 85dB sounds pretty loud to me."

meuge,

That made me chuckle. All I could think of is one of your patients picking up your stethoscope and saying "CAN YOU HEAR ME DOC?"6.gif9.gif

Rick

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On 1/5/2005 3:09:18 PM DeanG wrote:

My hearing isn't very sensitive. I routinely listen at 160db. It doesn't sound very loud though.
"<a
http://forums.klipsch.com/idealbb/images/smilies/9.gif">

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wow man do you have neighbors? At that point does the music levitate you?

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My idea is to have maybe about 8 k-horns each fitted with about 4 tweeters and 4 midrange, run them at mild volumes and then you have the Ka-Boom stuff because you are moving tons of air just like a live band does. I am of the belief that when a drummer strikes a cymbal you need about 10 or fifteen tweeters to give you the same feel as the live band. Figure it out: a cymbal is about 18" in diameter and you have 18 bad *** Inches vibrating the air instead of a 1" tweeter. You would need about 18 tweeters in a K-horn to duplicate the sound.

JJK

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I find myself generally listening in the 85dB RMS range (peaks probably go as high as 95dB or so). Ironically, 85dB is the range at which our hearing is most linear according to the 'Fletcher-Munson equal-loudness contour curves'.

For just one song per listening session I like to listen around 100-105dB. Any louder and my room overloads. My ears tire quickly when listening louder than 95dB so I don't often listen at these volumes.

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When playing a well recorded pipe organ CD at "full organ" with 32' pedal stops drawn, producing low bass at 35Hz and lower (when I had my DIY 15" subwoofer powered by 1000 watts), 80dB was about the minimum level on my bro's SPL meter and I could still "feel" the low bass fundamentals that were also vibrating the doors and windows in the room. Naturally, the higher the level, the more I could "feel" the air in the room being stirred by those low frequencies generated by the 32' pedal reeds and Diapasons. Amplification was derived from my SS McIntosh amps and my Carver amp(s) driving the sub.

With my present 300B SE amp driving the Cornwalls (and no subwoofer), the same recording will probably still reach the minimum 80dB level in order to "feel" the music's bass content (as slight as this may be). But without the powered sub to produce the lowest bottom octave, the total air movement throughout the room is all but virtually eliminated...I do miss that!

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On 1/5/2005 6:22:59 PM JJKIZAK wrote:

My idea is to have maybe about 8 k-horns each fitted with about 4 tweeters and 4 midrange, run them at mild volumes and then you have the Ka-Boom stuff because you are moving tons of air just like a live band does. I am of the belief that when a drummer strikes a cymbal you need about 10 or fifteen tweeters to give you the same feel as the live band. Figure it out: a cymbal is about 18" in diameter and you have 18 bad *** Inches vibrating the air instead of a 1" tweeter. You would need about 18 tweeters in a K-horn to duplicate the sound.

JJK

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I don't mean to be negative, but I think you're on the wrong track here.

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On 1/5/2005 3:03:27 PM 3dzapper wrote:

meuge,

That made me chuckle. All I could think of is one of your patients picking up your stethoscope and saying "CAN YOU HEAR ME DOC?"
6.gif9.gif

Rick

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Actually, that's not far from reality.

It is very uncomfortable when my patients decide to talk to me while my stethoscope is over their lungs... depending on the person's voice it can get quite loud. A couple of times I had unconsciously pulled away and freaked the patient out.

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Its great to be able to crank it to 120dbs for a rush but music can sound very nice even at 60dbs too.I listen at between 70 and 90 most often.As equipment quality increases the volume can go down and still be very dynamic.

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On 1/5/2005 9:34:46 PM Allan Songer wrote:

CAN YOU HEAR ME?

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Dead Kennedy's what a great punk band insane funny lyrics....

M.T.V - Get Off The Air

Fun Fun Fun in the fluffy chair

Flame up the herb

Woof down the beer

Hi

I'm your video DJ

I always talk like I'm wigged out on quaaludes

I wear a satin baseball jacket everywhere I go

My job is to help destroy

What's left of your imagination

By feeding you endless doses

Of sugar-coated mindless garbage

So don't create

Be sedate

Be a vegetable at home

And thwack on that dial

If we have our way even you will believe

This is the future of rock and roll

How far will you go

How low will you stoop

To tranquilize our minds with your sugar-coated swill

You've turned rock and roll rebellion

Into Pat Boone sedation

Making sure nothing's left to the imagination

M.T.V. Get off the

M.T.V. Get off the

M.T.V. Get off the air

Get off the air

See the latest rejects from the muppet show

Wag their **** and their dicks

As they lip-synch on screen

There's something I don't like

About a band who always smiles

Another tax write-off

For some schmuck who doesn't care

M.T.V. Get off the

M.T.V. Get off the

M.T.V. Get off the air

Get off the air

And so it was

Our beloved corporate gods

Claimed they created rock video

Allowing it to sink as low in one year

As commercial TV has in 25

"It's the new frontier," they say

It's wide open, anything can happen

But you've got a lot of nerve

To call yourself a pioneer

When you're too gd-damn conservative

To take real chances.

Tin-eared

Graph-paper brained accountants

Instead of music fans

Call all the shots at giant record companies now

The lowest common denominator rules

Forget honesty

Forget creativity

The dumbest buy the mostest

That's the name of the game

But sales are slumping

And no one will say why

Could it be they put out one too many lousy records?!?

M.T.V. - Get off the air!

NOW!

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This is only kind of related...

I've heard so much, especially on this forum about live music sounding so good on heritage speakers with the right amplification.

On my Khorns, with numerous different powers amps (all SS, mind you) I have yet to encounter a good "Live" feel on any concert recording.

Is it just me? I love the way music sounds on most studio tracks, but I have yet to find a live track that sounds realistic. And trust me, I've heard a ton of them, so it can't be just the recording.

-F

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