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Went to the Philadelphia Orchestra yesterday to hear the Bartok Violin Concerto no.2 and Stravinsky The Firebird at Marion Anderson Hall. Amazing performances. Nothing better than being there in person. At the end, the audience went wild with applause lasting what seemed like 15 minutes. I also took some SPL readings with my calibrated accessory mic on my iphone. The hall was quite full. I was seated in the orchestra 20 rows back from the stage in the center.

Background level was around 44dB. For the Bartok, when the violin was playing alone, the quiet passages were in the range of the low 50s. The middle levels were in the upper 50s. The more energetic levels were in the mid 60s. With the orchestra accompaniment, the levels were mostly in the 70s, some in the 80s, and a few in the 90s. The highest peak was 103dB.

For the Firebird, quiet passages ran from about 48dB to 60dB. Most of the time, levels were between 60dB and 75dB. A reasonable amount of time, the levels were between 75dB and 85dB. Some of the loud segments without the upright string basses, timpanis, and bass drum were between 85dB and 95dB. With the bass instruments, the highest peak was 105.4dB.

The take away is first that I am lucky to live near such a great orchestra and second, if you want to replicate a facsimile of such performances at home, your system should be capable of this dynamic range. It won’t totally replace being at the concert but you then have the choice of lots of music at your convenience.