In yesterday's post Common MythsI encouraged people to think of the volume control on their stereo systems as a brake rather than a gas pedal and release as much of it as they could. Several of you were kind enough to point out one little thing I neglected in writing this advice: loudness. To be clear, when releasing the brakes on your volume control, be mindful of loudness for a couple of reasons: you don't get good benefit from pushing a power amplifier too hard and there's a perfect level for every system and piece of music.
The take away on the level control setting sounding best at its highest, is one that has to be tempered with good practices and common sense: don't exceed or even get close to pushing your power amplifier or loudspeaker too hard. Worry about pushing your drivers too hard. Never listen too loudly for your ears. Remember that each system, room and piece of music has a perfect volume level: too low or too high is just simply wrong.
Let's cover that in detail tomorrow.
