How "FRFR" is your hearing?

stratos

stratos

Inspired
Read a lot about FRFR in Amps and Cabs...great post BTW...
My question is: How many of us can really hear the top end of what our rigs are producing?
I pulled out a test CD yesterday, and ran it on my FRFR home system.
Man it all went away just above 5K @ -10dB! :eek:ops Wifey could hear it fine!
Were both mid 50's, so a certain amount of loss is a given.
I had my system up over half way, still heard "silence" on everything over 5K!
Haven't tried the test CD on my rig yet. Still pondering the Matrix boxes when they become available.
 
Haven't had my hearing checked in ages but when I was working on a project a few years back, I was irritated to hell by a 14KHz ringing on the snare. I can also hear most of the freqs with the dog whistle app on my iPhone. I do have some mild tinnitus going, though.
 
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I have a test cd from Mix Magazine. I should probably try this. I recently listened to an 18k sample and heard nothing (something sub 20 year olds are supposed to be able to hear), but then I am over 50 myself so I imagine there is a lot below that I am not hearing or hearing less than clearly. I'll report back!

The reason I went to FRFR is that I wanted to be sure whatever I am hearing is accurate to what the Axe Fx is putting out. I was a bit skeptical when I got the Fx and I wanted to be sure I was critiquing as close to fairly as a subjective ear can be. At that time FAS were also selling Atomics on their site, so I went that way on the assumption that if Fractal thought it was accurate, it probably was.

Now in my second year and having moved from the Ultra I came to love, to the II that I love even more, I am still using FRFR cabinets and enjoying it even with my less than FRFR hearing!!
 
I can hear 12Khz but not 14 - 50 year old with moderate tinnitus (some loud concerts in the late 70s / early 80s did it to me I'm sure).

Despite this I love my FRFR rig since it's flat over the frequencies I can hear and brings out the differences in the AxeFx Cab models (amp models tend to sound very generic through my Marshalls).
 
And the results...

Reporting back. Using several test tones and Sony MDR-7506 headphones, my hearing tops out at somewhere between 14 and 15 khz, the 12-13.5 sweep I hear well, but it gets very much sketchier after that. I am 52, and a veteran of the 70s Marshall Stack era so I am fairly happy to find I am still hearing decently for my age. At least all of the fundamental musical frequencies are still there, although it does appear some of the harmonic upper stuff is beyond my hearing now.

I have to wonder though, with the POUNDING bass many kids are listening to these days (I can hear it clearly enough in my home, 600 feet from the roadway, to follow pitch) if many of them will not have significant hearing loss before they ever reach 20.

By the way, there are some useless sound tests on line. :) It takes some searching to find anything reasonably reliable.
 
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42 years old - 16hz, and i've taken great care to protect my hearing over the years, obviously not enough.
 
Although I've always preferred a low cab position on stage so I don't get the highs in backline only gigs, I've had 20+ years of monster of rock size cymbals predominately in my left ear on small stages. I have tinnitus in my left ear more than right as a consequence - so my right ear goes to 14KHz but left ear around 12KHz.

Guitar speaker sound pegs out around 7K anyway .... so it's still rock'n'roll.

A vocalist I've played with for much of those years has rampant tinnitus and has to sleep with the window open so he has traffic noise to distract him from the buzz - too much monitor (and cymbals).

I asked our drummer was he not affected by the cymbals and he said "No thanks I better not - I'm driving"
 
maxdown said:
I asked our drummer was he not affected by the cymbals and he said "No thanks I better not - I'm driving"
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That's hilarious, and probably (sadly) true.

Our bassist swears he has heard a constant ringing in his left ear ever since taking a point-blank china cymbal crash one night at an outdoor gig. From inside the kit, it has to be deafening.
 
I'm 50 years old and can't hear jack above 8K. It's so frustrating and makes a joke of the the FRFR thing since I have to crank the high end out of any system I use to compensate. That's why I don't get too excited about things being flat any more as my point of reference is screwed, I have to take an educated guess at how things should be set up.
 
Online freq. tests will only work if the monitors you're listening to are FR themselves. I guess that rules out most computer speakers.
 
yek said:
Online freq. tests will only work if the monitors you're listening to are FR themselves. I guess that rules out most computer speakers.
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I personally used good headphones that "supposedly" are 20-20k. who knows about really flat. I guess a real hearing test is in order sometime.
 
On my MacBook I could hear 10khz, could sort of feel 12khz. I'm 43, use to use to use two Marshall stacks and worked in a machine shop from ages 11 to 34.
 
dpeterson said:
42 years old - 16hz, and i've taken great care to protect my hearing over the years, obviously not enough.
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this. PROTECT YOUR HEARING!!!!

I ALWAYS wear earplugs whenever there's something loud - even when I pound with a hammer, if it's loud, I protect my hearing!

I'll be 30 this year :'( , and I could still hear the 19K pretty clear thru my macbook speakers, even tho they might not be frfr. I could barely hear the 20K, I'll try it on a frfr tomorrow. I have mentioned several times that I have fairly sensitive hearing (much to the criticism of other of course - it's a guitar forum, that should be expected! :lol )

I attribute most of hearing what I do to PROTECTING MY EARS!!!! Friends would laugh at me in concerts, but they now can't hear past 15-16K, and some even worse :/

people - the damage is PERMANENT!!! you will not get back your hearing!!! PROTECT YOUR EARS!!!!!!!!!
 
At 46 I'm surprised that I can actually hear 17K but that is through cranked studio monitors. I have trashed my hearing over the years.

EDIT: What part of useful musical content happens above 12K? I listened to all of the test tones and then it dawned on me my guitar doesn't make any sounds that go this high and listing to cymbals crash hurts and is very uninspiring:lol.
 
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I'm also over 50 with loss above about 14KHz.

No excuses, but bear in mind that 10KHz to 20KHZ is only a single octave. A young person can hear at best 10 octaves from 20Hz to 20KHz, but for practical purposes, 9 octaves is probably more realistic. And yes, us oldies will lose typically the top octave over time.

Fortunately for me, I like strong, rich mids and don't like much above about 5KHz for electric guitar.
 
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