a few weeks ago i bought the Godfather Collection; the Coppola Restoration on Blu-ray.

i think it's a first class restoration, particularly the first movie that's much better looking than when i used to watch it on DVD, and the sound is also better.

i was again very surprised that the playback level for all 3 movies are not at Reference Level, but 3 dB higher.
i don't understand why.

Sugar Plum Fairy by P.Tchaikovsky - Glass Harp LIVE (HD)

I want some of those big glasses.

Thanks, CV, I liked that.

EXCLUSIVE EP PREMIERE: 'STONE DARLING,' STONE DARLING (Interview Magazine)

You can stream their entire EP here. Glad to see it's finally finished. Fingers crossed that I'll get my physical copy before long.

And I'm still enjoying the new Cœur de Pirate album a lot. My coworker said she liked it, too. I got her into Regina and Marina, too.

here's another one about playback levels on movies.
those are supposed to be standardized at 0 on the volume dial...

i started to watch LOTR Extended Edition on Blu-ray and Oh surprise! the normal playback level is -2.5 dB
if you try it at 0 level, the woman's voice at the beginning is very boomy (Kate Blanchett's) and everything else is too loud.

i guess it's still better with a standard than none, like with music CD's where it can vary all over, by about 15 dB's.

Wouldn't this depend on room acoustics, the size of the room, and your distance from the speakers? I don't think 0 on the volume dial is a one size fits all.

It also depends if your amps go to eleven.

Jeesh, Charles, for someone who always appears to be dateless, if I've done my math right, you've got, like, a potential 4-way goin' on there. You dawg!

i may be wrong, but i think that if it depended on the room acoustics and its size and my distance from the speakers, the difference re. the normal level would always be the same, because my room and its acoustics are always the same, no variation.

let's say if my room was very live, i would have to always use lower levels so as not to be overwhelmed with harsh and muddy sounds.

as it is, my room is somewhat live in the back end, with diffusers;
the whole front wall has absorbing panels and a tight weave drape over them;
the left side wall in between the speaker and the MLP is also treated with sound absorbing panels and draperies.
the right side is a window, so i shut down the venetian blind and there is a double layer of tightly woven drape over it.
the ceiling is not treated, but its reflections are taken care of by my putting a piece of absorbing panel on top of the speaker and jutting it forward a certain distance so as to absorb whatever sound would go towards the ceiling and reflect back down to my MLP; an easy solution.

so, in effect, i don't think it's the room acoustics.
if it was bad room acoustics, i would never be able to listen to music in a way that the speakers and the walls disappear in such a way that i'm transported to the hall where the sound was recorded (the recording's acoustics).
this is the main thing that tells me my setup is good.

maybe if someone had a well treated room and the same films, then that person could check if the result is the same as mine:
LOTR Extended Edition/Bluray: -2.5
The Godfather, the Coppola restoration/Blu-ray: +3

the majority of my movies do play as they should at the normal 0 level,
like, Hanna, Saving Private Ryan, Inglourious Basterds...

any ideas anyone?

Murph, i don't know what you mean by "eleven".