Not a typo. I did say one hundred thirty-three decibels. Considering that 129 dB is where the bottom-most 'signal present' lamps on the power amps just start to flicker, that's the point where the system is just about idling.
I've had a number of people literally run out of here as I crank up the volume to levels well below where I like to listen. Some have complained of difficulty breathing, others of chest pain, some have gotten nauseous during my infrasound demonstrations.
My hearing is not great, but I credit my hearing survival with infrequent use of the sound system at these levels. Sometimes it only takes a minute or three to get my 'fix' and then I feel physically-exhausted and switch to some modern jazz and much lower levels. Also, I disdain music that tires the ears with limited dynamic range and relentless constant loudness. Lots of dynamic aperture, with periods of 'white space' or brief silence between loud percussive transients is less of a strain on my ears and much more enjoyable to listen to. I also have to keep my listening short, because the bass carries literally for miles. Now that I am aware of just how obnoxious it is, it is with a sense of sneakiness that I listen loud and brief, before people get so annoyed as to call the cops.
I can't figure out why people are so terrified of a little bodily vibration. Really, to me it is ecstacy. Put in some ear plugs and enjoy the pounding.. it's like a massage of sorts, only no part of the body goes untreated.
What am I running? For mid-bass, six Electro-Voice 180Bs, driven by a QSC Powerlight 6.0PFC. For sub bass below 20Hz, four Bassmaxx ZR18s, driven by another QSC Powerlight 6.0 PFC. All cabinetry is custom built. Mids and highs are three JBL E120s and three JBL 2403 Ellipticals, driven by three Hafler 500s, bridged mono, with upgraded power supplies. They can swing 350 volts peak to peak across an 8 ohm resistive dummy load, which is about 2,000 watts per speaker channel, so about 6,000 watts of dynamic headroom for the mids and tweets on very efficient drivers. About 16,500 watts of bi-amplified goodness (or, if you use the Richard Burwen rating method, it's the equivalent of about single 66,000 watt amplifier). I've an entire web site devoted to this madness, which has been an obsession since the '60s, and grew to collassal proportions due to some corruptive influences in the 70s.
My early hi-fi gear was all DiY tube stuff.. 8417s, push pull, etc.. in the early 60s, I didn't have the money for a really good output transformer, so I used a bunch of 6AS7s I had from surplus and played with OTL design ideas until I had something that could drive a loudspeaker directly (in that era, that would be my McMurdo Silver electro-dynamic 18" full range speaker). As the need for power grew, I moved to 6L6-Gs in push pull, and then 8417s. Then in the late 70s, I bought the Phase-Linear D-500 and started using pro-sound drivers. I went through my horn-loaded phase again, seeking the ultimate SPLs, but realized that wasn't going to give me ruler-flat frequency response and eventually settled on LLT box designs. I still am not finished, as I bought the Bassmaxx ZR18s, which are vaguely similar to TC Sounds LMS5400 woofers on steroids, and just installed them in cabinets built originally for Altec 3184s. The Bassmaxx need a much larger cabinet, about 38 cu ft, to reach their potential and that's a project on my drawing board when/if the crisis with my house is ever over with.
Back when I had my Olympic console hi-fi, which was made in 1950, had a 12" Emerson speaker, an AM-FM-Phono-Aux master amplifier with ten tubes, a record changer and a television, I found it's sound pleasing, with what sounded like fairly natural bass that was reasonably extended and not terribly colored. But over the years, like a drug addict, the needs for more powerful and earth-shaking bass increased, and so I set to work on "Tsar Bomba" my current sound system.
Another matter is that my room eats bass like a black hole. The system grew and grew, because of the standing waves that cancel most of the energy at my preferred listening position, which is now smack in the center of the room, due to how the layout with the theater setup worked out. Everywhere but the listener gets pummeled with bass. I used the brute force method to overcome much of that. Another project is to set up the back wall with plywood resonant bass traps tuned to 36Hz, one of the room modes. If I can nail that room problem, I would need 1/40th as much power in the lower bass region to get that feeling.
I realize that I am in rarified, if not nonexistent company. My closest proteges are probably the IASCA members who invest heavily in loud sound systems to enter competitions. My goal differs slightly in that I sought to achive high fidelity in addition to the SPL. After all, how realistic is a Saturn V rocket launch if you can't play it at lifelike volume levels?