Since this topic is continuing and I have nothing better to do before the
Vision channel starts on cable at 4am, I'll post this from my Wharfedale
speaker manual: [anything in square brackets like this is my own "witty"
comments].
Very Faint:
0dB- threshold of hearing
6dB- human breathing [assuming you don't wheeze]
10dB- rustle of leaves in breeze [not breaking branches in hurricane]
20dB- average whisper
Faint:
30dB- Average domestic background level- no music playing
40dB- Very soft radio music playing in house
Moderate:
50dB- Average office [presumably one where eveyone isn't chatting]
60dB- River or streamside, running water [no not Niagara Falls]
Loud:
70dB- Typewriter or computer print room [obviously not inkjet / laser]
80dB- School playground or cafateria at break time
Very Loud:
90dB- Noisy factory or noisy urban street with lorries [should use rail]
100dB- Car horn at 10 feet way [3 meters]
Deafening:
110dB- Accelerating motorcycle at 10 feet away, avaerage discotheque
120dB- Threshold of feeling. Rock concert.
130dB- Threshold of pain
140dB- Near jet engine during power take-off [distance not specified]
People at home listen to classical music at an average level of 80-85dB,
rock music at 90-95dB, and most parties start at around 80dB and run up
to 110dB beyond which they attract police attention.
They go on to mention most speakers produce a sound level of 88dB from
1W at 1 meter, and doubling the distance to 2m requires twice the power
so 1W would give 85dB at that distance. It then mentions the "smallest
increase in loudness" takes 3dB or twice the power, and to increase the
loudness two-fold takes 10 times the power, and goes on to warn how and
why an over-driven low power amp will destroy your speakers much quicker
than an amp with plenty of watts driving the speakers to, or even beyond
their rating provided the signal isn't clipped.
I do care about my ears and worry that I sustained a level that must have
been 105dB average at my listening distance for over half an hour when the
workers next door were hammering and drilling on the wall. I know it's not
clever, I just wanted to drown out the noise. At least there was no perceptible
distortion so the workers got reasonable quality sound (given a wall 'tween
us :-)
Cheers,
PrinceGaz -- "Hey, I've got free 0800 net connection via X-Stream, the banner
has crashed so I might be able to stay on all weekend! Yahoo!!! No, not the
freebie email provider. Anyway I'm gonna watch Vision on cable and fill my
head full of religious 'goo' as someone said :-)"
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Website: http://website.lineone.net/~princegaz/
ICQ: 36892193
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