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Out of curiosity, I just ran a few cuts from the Flying Cowboys album through Wavelab, and figured out why it probably causes your average amplifier to clip very regularly, as Bob Cordell showed at last year's RMAF Audio workshops.
Ghetto of my Mind, has average level of around -28 to -30dB dBFS, and with the peaks regularly hitting -2dBFS, that's an effective dynamic range of 26-28dB!
When listening at my favourite listening position, because the average volume of the track is so low (ie. 28dB below my CD player's full scale output), I will naturally crank up the volume.
Say I listen at an SPL of 80dB in my favourite listening chair, the peaks are reach 80+28=108dB. Now this happens every bar, (no) thanks to the snare drum.
With average sensitivity speakers (86dB/W), it's no wonder I'll need a 200+wpc amplifier to hit the target of 108dB, without regularly clipping my amplifier and sending distortion sky high. (For my calculations I assume near-wall speaker placement ie.2-4ft, 2 speakers (stereo), seated 8ft away, average listening level 80dB)
It makes a good case to buy a 200+Wpc big-iron amplifier, but is not nearly a representative sample of how most CDs are mastered.
On the same CD, track 7- "Flying Cowobys" the average level is -24dBFS, and the maximum level is a lowly -6dBFS. I wonder who mastered this album, and whether these wild level fluctuations are intentional, or just a result of poor (IMHO) level settings.
I find myself turning the volume up/down too often with this album, and the sudden peaks are just annoying (in a laid back/relaxing song, Rickie Lee will often belt out some loud bars eg. track 9, 10)
Anyway, I just thought this might be of some interest to some people.
Hitting realistic or live-level SPLs has always been an interest to me, and I've never taken an RTA or SPL meter into a concert or club, but I do think that peaks of 110dB are not out of the question. For this, I need either high sensitivity speakers, or high power amplifiers (or both).
I see a nice 200wpc big-iron amplifier in my future... :-)
Ghetto of my Mind, has average level of around -28 to -30dB dBFS, and with the peaks regularly hitting -2dBFS, that's an effective dynamic range of 26-28dB!
When listening at my favourite listening position, because the average volume of the track is so low (ie. 28dB below my CD player's full scale output), I will naturally crank up the volume.
Say I listen at an SPL of 80dB in my favourite listening chair, the peaks are reach 80+28=108dB. Now this happens every bar, (no) thanks to the snare drum.
With average sensitivity speakers (86dB/W), it's no wonder I'll need a 200+wpc amplifier to hit the target of 108dB, without regularly clipping my amplifier and sending distortion sky high. (For my calculations I assume near-wall speaker placement ie.2-4ft, 2 speakers (stereo), seated 8ft away, average listening level 80dB)
It makes a good case to buy a 200+Wpc big-iron amplifier, but is not nearly a representative sample of how most CDs are mastered.
On the same CD, track 7- "Flying Cowobys" the average level is -24dBFS, and the maximum level is a lowly -6dBFS. I wonder who mastered this album, and whether these wild level fluctuations are intentional, or just a result of poor (IMHO) level settings.
I find myself turning the volume up/down too often with this album, and the sudden peaks are just annoying (in a laid back/relaxing song, Rickie Lee will often belt out some loud bars eg. track 9, 10)
Anyway, I just thought this might be of some interest to some people.
Hitting realistic or live-level SPLs has always been an interest to me, and I've never taken an RTA or SPL meter into a concert or club, but I do think that peaks of 110dB are not out of the question. For this, I need either high sensitivity speakers, or high power amplifiers (or both).
I see a nice 200wpc big-iron amplifier in my future... :-)
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