What is better for playing music? Home Theater? Shelf System?

[Rubycon]

Instruments in a live performance are going to be loud. Anyone that's had a brass lineup behind them knows this. Drums are very loud too.

Capturing these dynamics is challenging and reproducing them faithfully even more so. Often to reproduce the crash of cymbals and snap of the snare drum without compression takes kilowatts of power. These brief bursts do not damage hearing. Long exposure times to continuous sound levels over 90dBA will though.

Listening to 5dB crest factor heavy metal at 120 dB in a motorcar every day for an hour is a good way to ruin your ears too.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: KoolAidKid

Originally posted by: orion23
I'm not a quality freak.

What I want, is a system that is VERY LOUD. I listen to Heavy Metal and I really love to hear heavy chords and a thick base or drum sound.

I basically have blown 2 Home Theater system from playing very loud music. This would be my 3rd.

I went from a 500W to a 600w and now I went all out with a 1200W.

(yes, I can still hear)

I can pretty much guarantee that you have measurable hearing loss at this point.

Maybe he should invest in an SPL meter before he hurts himself

With the kind of stuff he's describing, as long as he isn't in a very small room, he's probably not going to do much damage to himself if any at all.

Also, most of the times it's maybe a few 30 minute sessions at most of loud music, at least that's how it is for me.

Well if he's listening now at levels that have destroyed two cheap systems, I'm just worried that if he actually gets something that can play louder without self-destructing that he might be in trouble. If he abuses it and is not careful, the volume knob could keep creeping up as he listens and before he knows it, he's in trouble.

http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp...w_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=9736

Yeah, he'd have to be at a constant 110dB for your half an hour duration time to be in trouble according to OSHA, but I don't know what his listening habits are like. It's just going to be a lot easier to get to dangerous levels with some proper equipment vs. POS HTIB sets.