What is your ambient room spl level?

ACHiPo

Well-Known Member
Feb 22, 2015
518
309
310
Pleasanton, CA
25db A
34db C
Both via Decibel X on an iPhone

It helps that all the equipment except for the projector is in an adjacent isolated room, and, that the projector is in a well engineered hush box.
46 dB-C
32 dB-A
 

Armkreuz

Member
Feb 22, 2022
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3
8
41
I see some (too) impressive mesurement here.
You have to realize that phone, by default are very off. The apps needs to be calibrated.
My room is in the basement, fully built to be sound proof ( as much as budget and space allows it) in a very quiet neiborhood.

Using REW + UMIK-1, during the day, i can only go as low as:

33db A
40db C

Using my phone, uncalibrated, I was at:
25db A
30db C

Phones, can give an idea of the noise, but the value are to be taken with a (big) grain of salt.
 

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
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Beverly Hills, CA

Gunnar

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Mar 24, 2021
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Grand Est France
I had never thought of measuring the “no sound level” but did so. Used my Samsung phone and a downloaded app.

Started. Showed 30 db for a minute or so. Then my wife started our dishwasher. Went up to 35 db. And then the church bell started…. Over 40 db…. Then a bike passed through… That’s something different.

In the evenings when listening the background noise is about 30 Db

My Conclusions. 30 db seems to be a very OK quite level and it’s important not to use dishwashers etc when listening even if all our white goods are Miele and Liebherr and selected not just for quality and performance but also for being silent.

The church bells I accept without complaining,

Gunnar
 

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tony22

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Nov 4, 2019
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26.6 dBA in my recently completed sound room. Neighborhood sounds do intrude on occasion, though.
 

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
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Beverly Hills, CA
I had never thought of measuring the “no sound level” but did so. Used my Samsung phone and a downloaded app.

Started. Showed 30 db for a minute or so. Then my wife started our dishwasher. Went up to 35 db. And then the church bell started…. Over 40 db…. Then a bike passed through… That’s something different.

In the evenings when listening the background noise is about 30 Db

My Conclusions. 30 db seems to be a very OK quite level and it’s important not to use dishwashers etc when listening even if all our white goods are Miele and Liebherr and selected not just for quality and performance but also for being silent.

The church bells I accept without complaining,

Gunnar

Did you have the app set to A weighting or C weighting?
 

marslo

VIP/Donor
May 2, 2014
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Poland

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Gunnar

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Mar 24, 2021
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Did you have the app set to A weighting or C weighting?
My app doesn’t have A nor C weighting. What is it? It has just “start”.
 

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
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Kjetil

Well-Known Member
Oct 28, 2022
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Hamar, Norway
28 dB (A)
31 dB (468)
Decibel X app on Iphone 12 Mini.
For reference my typical average listening level is 73 dB (468) measured with the same device. A good Mahler recording will then peak at say 106 dB (468), and there is passages down in the 30s (468). Good stuff, Mahler.
 

microstrip

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May 30, 2010
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I see some (too) impressive mesurement here.
You have to realize that phone, by default are very off. The apps needs to be calibrated.
My room is in the basement, fully built to be sound proof ( as much as budget and space allows it) in a very quiet neiborhood.

Using REW + UMIK-1, during the day, i can only go as low as:

33db A
40db C

Using my phone, uncalibrated, I was at:
25db A
30db C

Phones, can give an idea of the noise, but the value are to be taken with a (big) grain of salt.

Do you have the low level spike problem at multiples of 1 KHz with your UMK-1? Although it does not affect common frequency response measurements taken at average of high levels it can affect room back ground noise measurements.

I know some people opened the microphone and fixed this issue with a few resistors and capacitors, but never did it with mine, as I also have an ECM8000.
 

tony22

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Nov 4, 2019
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microstrip

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May 30, 2010
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I wonder if they fixed this with the UMIK-2?
Probably they fixed this issue, but I have read from people complaining about problems with the early UMIK-2 units and need for firmware upgrades.
 

Gunnar

VIP/Donor
Mar 24, 2021
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Grand Est France
Thanks,
I have an Omni microphone I bought when I wanted to measure my room. Never got it to work with REW. Failed already in the calibration phase. But what I will do is to buy an adapter IPad to USB. Then I guess the measurements will be more reliable.
Never the less. We live in a quite area.
 

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