Any of you guys ever measure what levels you listen at?? I always have been a little paranoid about my hearing. My trusty Radio Shack SPL meter died about 4 months ago. I bit the bullit and got an auto ranging digital one. Holly Cow what a difference. For the first time I got to really see what kind of dynamic swings I was getting. The older meter was analog and way to slow. I set this one up fast with C weighed and wow. I was averaging in the mid 80's but the peaks were up around 110Db!!!! Highest one was 108 and change. Was not even loud!!! I was listenning to Steely Dan, Every Thing Must Go, the drum snaps are as dynamic as they sound. What really surprised me was even with drivers sensitivities from 96 to 101 db and 100 watts on each driver I am coming close to eating all my available headroom with an average level in the mid 80's. If I was running drivers/speakers with 90Db sensitivity I would be clipping on every one of those peaks. I would need a Kilo Watt to be clean on them. Amazing how much power you actually need to get the short duration peaks.
Rob