How loud is too loud? Apparently NOT 120 decibels, according to Todd Whitworth, who has a large barn full of classic cars and a stereo system that pushes out more that 6,000 watts. Whitworth uses the barn to relieve stress, saying “I go to my car barn, crank the music as loud as I can and wax my cars. No matter what happens with my work, that drowns out everything else. It’s my escape… I want the music so loud I can feel it.”
And feel it, he undoubtedly does. This decibel comparison chart shows that 115dB is roughly equal to a loud rock concert, while 125dB is the point that “pain begins.” Whitworth’s system nestles in comfortably between “rock concert” and “pain” at 120dB.
The acceptable limit for listening to noise at 115 decibels is 15 minutes, although “Whitworth cranks the sound for hours at a time at about 120 decibels,” says Electronic House.
The equipment was installed by I.C.E. Systems of North Carolina, who had to replace consumer speakers with professional ones after the off-the-shelf ones kept blowing out. The goods include six JBL Pro speakers with compression horn tweeters and 12- to 15-inch woofers, plus two giant subwoofers, roughly the size of mini-fridges, each with a 12-inch upper frequency driver and 18-inch lower frequency driver.
The whole setup is driven by three amplifiers; one 5,000 watts, one 800 watts, and one 600 watts for a grand total of 6,400. There’s also a 65-inch Sharp LCD TV and a Samsung Blu-ray player. Whitworth explains that when there’s a football game on the TV “it sounds like you’re there… People go in and stand in front of the subwoofers, and their clothes are flapping.”
[via Electronic House]