I was setting the levels on my Klipsch speakers the other day, and using the John Fogerty concert DVD to test 'em out.

I ran the sub, with "no" input, up to the 100 mark on the Receiver, which is the maximum detent (receiver rated at 130W). The whole house pretty much started to shake, and the pine armoire that holds my equipment... well, you could hear the wood creaking at the joints. BTW, the sub is rated at 440W and the volume on it is set to about 75%.

With the Fogerty DVD playing, I slowly cranked the receiver up to 90 on the dial, which appears to be about my own physical limit for volume in a fairly small room (!). The sound remained pure and unsullied throughout the entire range.

Has anyone else been able to test their equipment to this level of volume, and how did it sound to ya'll? ... Mike

I was only able to test mine once, before the neighbor was over and very upset.

I tested it with Matrix Lobby Shooting Spree

System:
Klipsch Tower Mains and Center
Polk FX500 Bi-Pole Rears
Yamaha RXV1000
Carver THX 2ch Amp to Mains
Mits 55" Diamond Widescreen
and my little devil sub

Velodyne HGS15 Servo rated at 1200 Watts RMS 3000 Peak

My sub is only set at level 3 on the back it has so much power

At half volume on the Yamaha, the meters on the Carver are only about Halfway over hitting about 150Watts gunshots and explosions were shaking everthing in my house and apparently in my neighbors also. The guests I was demonstrating to were equally impressed, sadly I don't think I will do it again until I move to a new house that I can build a more insulated home theater room into.

Matt

Matt: Quite the powerful system you have there. I live in a garden home/condo and neighbours on both sides were away the night I blew up the house. Sadly as well, that may have been the only chance I'll get for a while.

Onkyo TX-DS989
Klipsch Reference Mains and Bi-Pole Sides
Energy Take 5 Rears
Klipsch 12" rated 440W
RCA MM36100 36" HD-ready TV

We also tried out U571; the depth-charge scene was a real blast... ... Mike

Sheesh! I can get myself evicted from my apartment block with my lowly 100 watt Paradigm PDR-10, which I have to keep turned down.

You guys must rattle the BUSES that pass by, nevermind the other way around!

I had the opportunity to test my system in a very nice 20'x35' room. Took it about 70% of the way before I couldn't stand it anymore. I have no idea how high the volume goes but I am assuming it is 100 because I couldn't take it after about 70-72!

I ran through the opening scene in Blade, three gunfights, the flashback guitar scene and the explosion from Desperado (GREAT disc for demo'ing 5.1) ,The Matrix rescuing scene, Jurassic Park T-Rex scenes, the fighter scenes in ID4, and then some Dave Matthews. It was awesome-the whole house was rocking!! No clipping, very clean and natural and the amp was working effortlessly-it was just warm to the touch after running for about 2 hours!

Thankfully, at least for the next 7mths, I live in a pretty rural area so the volume level is only hindered by what my ears can take.

I am running:
Rotel RTC965 Pre/Pro
Rotel RB 985MKII THX Ultra 5 channel amp
Paradigm Monitor 7 Front
Paradigm MiniMonitor Rear
Paradigm CC370 Center
Paradigm PS-1000 Sub
Panssonic 36" Superflat TV
Panasonic A110 DVD
H/K CD FL5550 (I think that's the model number)

While I was running through these passages I decided to see what the actual db level was. I got out my dB meter and I was slightly above THX levels, I topped out at 110dB (Desperado gunfight scene in the bar) and was averaging about 100dB

Hmmmmmmmmm....... very, very nice combination in that Rotel amp and those Paradigms.

Paradigms with Rotel just seem to sound so sweet!

Don't they though? I love this combo and (barring any unforseen situations) will stay with Paradigm and Rotel. I have never been as happy with any products as I have been with these.

I had the cops come over from the set-up below, I have some very prissy neighbors.

Marantz AV9000
Marantz DV7010
Carver AV-705X
JBL 4408A fronts
Near 20MV center
NHT SW2Pi sub
NHT SuperZero rears

need to upgrade my rears to fuller range with my new pre/pro. Anyone looking for an older Carver C20?

Shakes the walls and really disturbs the neighbors. Haven't heard a speaker as smooth as the JBL's yet!!

JVC 9000VBK reciever (nice for multi room support)
Paradigm Monitor 9 fronts
Paradigm Mini Monitor rears
Paradigm CC370 Center
Paradigm PS-1000 Sub

JVC 32D201 TV
JVC XV-M565BK DVD

I have had this setup up to 100 watts, clean sound and extremely loud. Some people don't care for JVC, but hey, it's affordable and I like it just fine.

It is unfortunate that it costs so much money to get your system to a point where it really is a wonder to listen to. I figure I have had four or five "serious" sound set-ups (ie, different receiver/speaker combos) since I started this passion. It wasn't until I got an Integra receiver that I really could say "Wow. Listen to that".

I had been satisfied with the sound of earlier units for different reasons: either they were a big step up from the previous one at a great price deal, or they added some new whiz-bang functionality (like ProLogic, then DD5.1).

Finally, with the current system, the sound is so pure that I often think of chucking the whole lifestyle thing and just moving me and my equipment into a cave somewhere... far away from everything and everyone, except of course a DVD/music store... and wasting my life bathing in surround sound with Hi-Def video. ... Mike (PS: Ain't Life grand?)

Mike: Shouldn't your PS say: "Ain't life about 10 grand at a time!" ;-)

Make sure you put lots of sound deadning in the cave, I hear the echos will kill ya :)

Greg, Matt: ROFLing!!!

Hi All! I live in a condo with a very nice younger couple on one side and a very unhappy young divorcee [to be read B----] on the other side. I didn`t want to tick off my neighbors so when I got the new system a while back I asked the couple if I could listen to see how loud it was when I had it Really cranked. To make the story short, I had a friend over for the DTS version of Private Ryan and he just loved the Beach and Tank scenes. The next morning the unhappy one had put a note on the door about the loudness.By the way she moved a few months later.I was soooo sorry to see her go. Yeah Right!
My System:
Denon AVR5700
Denon DVD3000
Energy 3+2`s L/R
Energy AC300 Center
Energy RVSS Surrounds
MK 125KMkII Sub
I`ll have to dB the system to see how loud it gets before my ears Bleed.
Yeah Baby!
Chris

I did that to impress friends and broke plates that were on my china hutch... they fell on the floor.
Next my neibor came to see if something went wrong at the house.

Denon AVR 5800 at +15db
2 JBL S412p (build in 200w RMS amp w/12" in each)
4 JBL S38 (set as large)
1 Infinity HPS 1000 sub (15" 1000w RMS w/2 passive radiarots)
1 Acoustic Research ARS500 sub (15" 500w RMS)

I could hardly hear anything after that for about 30 minutes...

Luckily my wife was not at home.