Music Only vs. Home Theater use SPL and Build Specs?
Dec 29, 2023 11:12:17 GMT -7
Post by harrisnacho on Dec 29, 2023 11:12:17 GMT -7
Hi Again! I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on some drivers, DSP and amplification as I plan my build. For info on my build see my thread "IB Manifold for Living Room in Converted Church" in the My Project section. So I have two questions: 1) my System Spec and 2) Hearing Damage.
System Spec:
As I've researched here and other places it has appeared to me that the vast majority of IB builds are for Home Theater applications and getting very deep bass/infra bass (so let's say below 30 Hz, even down into the single digits) with very high transient SPLs for (e.g. explosions, rumbles, etc). Going lower and louder gets exponentially more expensive and the engineering gets more serious. Music is different. There's basically no material below 30Hz, with the exception of a pipe organ and electronic synthesizer and while getting down to 20Hz seems intuitively appealing to me, for the few brief seconds of material that I basically never play loudly there, it's not a deal breaker. So for my own needs, I think I'd be 99% percent satisfied getting down to 30 Hz. Now, looking at the Fletcher-Munson/ISO 223:2003 curve, let's say I completely max out at 90 phons (transients at 95dB at 1000Hz). So, for my music specification, I look at the midpoint between 80 and 100 phons and I slide over to 30Hz and I find 115dB at 30Hz. Yeah, so when rocking out, that means that the really low notes have to get peak around 115dB for me to perceive those notes as loud as the more "normal" midrange humans listen to. So: The recommendation here was for four 18" drivers for my 8,000 cu ft space. (BTW: It's the same as what Parts Express recommended) I'm considering the Dayton UM18-24 or SI HT18 V3 (other inexpensive recommendations appreciated). But before I proceed, I'm wondering if that isn't overkill for music only listening. To be clear: 80-90% of my listening is at 60dB. About 1% of the time, rocking out, I'm at 90-93dB with transients at maybe 95-97db. And honestly, that's pretty ridiculous for me. The question is: do I stay put regardless or go for a lower spec for the drivers? What would that lower spec look like?
Low Frequency Hearing Damage:
Okay, so the ISO 223:2003 low frequency SPL numbers are insane. But maybe not. So let's say you watch movies at 80phons and your system can go to 120db for your transients. That's suuuper loud, but actually not that bad for hearing because the peaks are brief. Or maybe they ARE insane. Playing music at 80phons, which is a completely reasonable fun loud level, a system capable of producing 120dB say, something like EDM that actually has sub 30Hz material, a properly adjusted system would consistently and repetitively reproduce some downright dangerous levels of SPLs in the music without actually seeming that loud. So, for someone like me who wants to preserve his hearing, should I not actually spec this system down? Or are those really low frequencies not dangerous to the human ear? I have found no research at all on this. Any thoughts here? Thanks so much!
Aaron
System Spec:
As I've researched here and other places it has appeared to me that the vast majority of IB builds are for Home Theater applications and getting very deep bass/infra bass (so let's say below 30 Hz, even down into the single digits) with very high transient SPLs for (e.g. explosions, rumbles, etc). Going lower and louder gets exponentially more expensive and the engineering gets more serious. Music is different. There's basically no material below 30Hz, with the exception of a pipe organ and electronic synthesizer and while getting down to 20Hz seems intuitively appealing to me, for the few brief seconds of material that I basically never play loudly there, it's not a deal breaker. So for my own needs, I think I'd be 99% percent satisfied getting down to 30 Hz. Now, looking at the Fletcher-Munson/ISO 223:2003 curve, let's say I completely max out at 90 phons (transients at 95dB at 1000Hz). So, for my music specification, I look at the midpoint between 80 and 100 phons and I slide over to 30Hz and I find 115dB at 30Hz. Yeah, so when rocking out, that means that the really low notes have to get peak around 115dB for me to perceive those notes as loud as the more "normal" midrange humans listen to. So: The recommendation here was for four 18" drivers for my 8,000 cu ft space. (BTW: It's the same as what Parts Express recommended) I'm considering the Dayton UM18-24 or SI HT18 V3 (other inexpensive recommendations appreciated). But before I proceed, I'm wondering if that isn't overkill for music only listening. To be clear: 80-90% of my listening is at 60dB. About 1% of the time, rocking out, I'm at 90-93dB with transients at maybe 95-97db. And honestly, that's pretty ridiculous for me. The question is: do I stay put regardless or go for a lower spec for the drivers? What would that lower spec look like?
Low Frequency Hearing Damage:
Okay, so the ISO 223:2003 low frequency SPL numbers are insane. But maybe not. So let's say you watch movies at 80phons and your system can go to 120db for your transients. That's suuuper loud, but actually not that bad for hearing because the peaks are brief. Or maybe they ARE insane. Playing music at 80phons, which is a completely reasonable fun loud level, a system capable of producing 120dB say, something like EDM that actually has sub 30Hz material, a properly adjusted system would consistently and repetitively reproduce some downright dangerous levels of SPLs in the music without actually seeming that loud. So, for someone like me who wants to preserve his hearing, should I not actually spec this system down? Or are those really low frequencies not dangerous to the human ear? I have found no research at all on this. Any thoughts here? Thanks so much!
Aaron
