Carl Lowenstein wrote:
On 7/14/06, kelsey hudson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Whoa there cowboy! power output != volume output. "twice as loud" is
defined as an increase in sound pressure by 3 dB. It's not a linear
scale by any means; it's logarithmic. The amount of power to go up in
volume by 3 dB is roughly equal to 10 times the amount of power.
Alternatively, you can double the amount of speakers. But, this lowers
the total load impedance (amplifiers designed for a 4 ohm load really
dislike a 2 ohm load).
Psychoacoustics, which describes sensations such as "twice as loud"
disagrees with your terminology. It takes an increase in SPL of 10dB
to make a "twice as loud" sensation.
Mathematics also disagrees with you. A decibel is a logarithmic
measure of power ratio, and thus 3dB represents a doubling of power.
(10 log P1/P0). log(2) = 0.301
If you want to say "it takes 10 times the amount of power to sound
twice as loud" we would be in agreement. But you can't call that a
3dB increase in anything.
I must have had my numbers mixed up. I stand corrected! :) However, if
you follow the inferred logic in my statement above, +3dB would have
meant twice as loud, so even though my numbers were wrong, I had the
right concept. Thanks for reminding me the proper numbers. :)
Unfortunately there seems to be an attitude in popular music that
"louder is better" up to the threshold of pain.
Painful doesn't sound good. I made it my goal in life, when behind the
board, to keep the music at a reasonable level without causing pain. My
average show volume read between 96 and 103 dB on a C-weighted scale,
dependent on the size of the venue, number of people in attendance, and
whether or not the show was outdoors. The outdoor shows were typically a
lot louder, but that was only to achieve the same coverage.
-kelsey
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