Dumb question here

[rplace]

I know all things factor in here, room, speakers, power of equipment, etc. However, I typically watch/listen to movies in the -45 to -40 settings with my wife. Any louder and she leaves the room. Alone I find -40 to -35 very commercial-movie-theater-like and on the verge of too loud. I know I am getting older at 39, but still like things very, very loud. I cant imagine you guys who are hitting the -20 to -10 range.

Do I have more power then the typical HT guy out there or am I just getting soft? BTW I am running 225 in every channel via three Carver TFM-25s into a Sunfire Theater Grand IV. Speakers below in signature.

Who was it that said: If it is too loud you are too old?

Unrelated or maybe related question. When calibrating you speakers (via SPL meter or ear method) with test tones do you guys set the Loudest or most efficient speaker to 0db then bump up your others in the +db range. Or do you put your quieter speakers to 0db and bring your louder speakers into the db values?

Is there any advantage one way or another? My guess is that you are using the SPL meter to bring all speakers to the same level so as long as you are not overdriving your amp it does not matter. Then I started to think if you have an 8db difference between a khorn main and a heresy surround (my left khorn is set to 0 and my left heresy to + 8) then you might be overdriving the one heresy amp channelbut I dont hear any issues. I could probably set the heresy to 0 and bring down the khorn in negative range till it matches the reading on the spl meter.

[Colin]

I too am confused by the -20db rating on receivers, because it seems to indicate a real world SPL, but includes nothing about the loudspeakers. So what if 0 on the dial indicates the full nominal power of the receiver? First, nominal barely means anything to me in the full power measurement. Second, how can the SPL be -20db down, if the SPL at full is not given. What is the full power SPL? How does the manufacturer know? Is this for a specified nominal speaker impedance? In a anechoic chamber? What if the loudspeakers create 104dB at only 1 watt? Or if maximum output is only 100dB, regardless of the amplifier power? The how is -20dB actually relevant? Actual wattage generated, like the blue MacIntosh needles, would be useful, when used with a SPL meter in the room. The you would know the SPL of the system at a particular wattage

[Olorin]

I can see the confusion. The thing is that it DOESN'T indicate a real world SPL, so you have to start by chucking that premise.

I'm going to oversimplify, so please don't anybody jump me on the details unless you think I'm completely off the rails. You know that if it takes 50W to make a speaker do X dB SPL, it takes 100W to make the speaker do X+3 dB SPL. I use X to illustrate that your SPL is arbitrary, and its value is a function of the speaker sensitivity. Maximum output power, however, is NOT arbitrary (for the purposes of this explanation anyway), and speaker sensitivity does not affect it (disclaimer again). It makes 100W into an 88 dB speaker just like it makes 100W into a 97 dB speaker.

Instead, think of the dB level on the meter as having to do with how many more times you can double the AMPLIFIER POWER output -- how many more times can you get 3 more db out of the speaker from the SPL you have HERE. The amplifier doesn't know where HERE is, and it neither needs to know, nor cares. HERE is a function of your speaker sensitivity, and HERE is arbitrary.

I sit about seven feet from a pair of Chorus IIs, so HERE on my system is typically -49.

[Spkrdctr]

You guys pretty much figured it out. The 0db is when the volume is normally all the way up. Going into positive numbers is probably more marketing than anything. If you are at or even near 0db on your volume, you will have massive clipping from just about any normal music/movie you can come up with. To give yourself a lot of headroom, I recommend not going above 50 to 60% on the volume knob. Of course, nothing can keep all material from clipping, but you would still have a lot of headroom. If your at 80% or higher, you know you will be clipping a lot. There realy isn't much you can do except get more power if you have to go to 80% on the volume knob with efficient Klipsch speakers.

[skonopa]

I found that I typically listen to CD's at the -25 range, and watch movies in the -20 to -15 range on my system (B&K Ref 200.7 fronted by a Denon AVR3802 reciever).

I've had friends tell me that the -20 was to loud with movies, but to really get the full impact, and to better bring out the quieter passages, I found I enjoyed it more at around that setting. Anything above -15 was just getting to friggan loud with movies, and anything above -20 was getting to loud with CDs.

Just for S&G's, I did actually crank my system up as far as the dial would go on the Denon just to "see what it could do". Talk about friggan LOUD! I was pegging the needle on the Rat-Shack meter! I ended up leaving the house, and even in the front yard, it was too damn loud! The funny thing, though, it was completely drowning out the dude's car that was thumping the rap-crap next door. One of my neighbers came out of his house with that "what the hell is that?" look on his face! The interesint thing was that the system did not show any signs of distortion or stress! That B&K probably had even more it could've dished out if the dial went up even higher.

Needless to say, I've never did that again!