Great discussion here.

Having been to rock concerts where especially the opening act is TOO LOUD, and we have walked out until the featured performers get on stage, my own gauge of too loud is, does it hurt my ears, are they about to be ringing afterward? If so, get out, put earplugs in, etc.I apply the same criteria to listening at home. I.E. don't play at levels that blow my eardrums out. GEt's reward at much lower levels.

I value my hearing great music too much to keep assaulting my ears with stuff that will damage my hearing.

With GEt's, there's SO much music available that played at ear friendly levels is, well, just mesmerizing.

It does depend on the music genre. But my money's on the GEt's delivering that SQ at less than ear damaging levels.

Rick

GDHAL, agreed. I have used those charts to see if I was in the ballpark. But when I had a 20 dB discrepancy between two different meters, I knew something was wrong. And how hard it is to know who's right without calibration.

Rick, I completely agree about the GETs ability to play clearly at lower levels. Sometimes I'm amazed. I can turn the volume up or down and it sounds like the same orchestra is moving closer or farther. At all times perfectly clear.