“Turn it down, it’s too loud.”
It is a familiar moment for many of us, yet as an industry we still tend to talk about “reference level” as if it were a fixed, universal target that every residential cinema should reach and routinely operate at. For decades, that idea has been inherited from commercial cinema, where a clearly defined reference playback level ensures consistency between dubbing stages, screening rooms, and theatres around the world.
But the homes we design, and the content our clients watch, do not live in that same tightly controlled ecosystem. This disconnect is exactly why CEDIA has published the new technical white paper, Reference Audio Level and SPL Capabilities.
Its purpose is not to discard cinema standards, but to clarify what they really mean in a residential context and, just as importantly, what they do not mean.
In commercial exhibition, reference level is well defined and carefully maintained. In residential environments, the situation is very different.
Much of today’s content is never mixed for theatrical release at all. Streaming-first series, made-for-TV films, and many direct-to-consumer productions are created in smaller rooms, monitored at lower listening levels, and optimised for a wide variety of playback systems. Even when a film does have a theatrical mix, the version delivered on disc or via streaming is often a dedicated home-entertainment mix, rebalanced for domestic spaces.
The white paper demonstrates that the same scene can appear at noticeably different overall levels depending on whether it is played from disc or from a streaming service. The creative intent may be the same, but the absolute level is not. This alone challenges the idea that there is a single “correct” volume setting for all content in the home.
Another long-standing source of confusion is the difference between what a system can do and what it should be used to do.
CEDIA RP22 defines four performance levels, from Level 1 systems suitable for family living rooms through to Level 4 rooms that rival the very best commercial cinemas. At the higher levels, the standards quite deliberately require systems to have the capability to reproduce the full dynamics of theatrical soundtracks, cleanly and without strain.
What RP22 does not say is that every client must listen at those levels all the time, or even most of the time. Capability is about headroom, linearity, and freedom from distortion. It is about ensuring that when a soundtrack demands impact, the system can deliver it without sounding harsh, compressed, or stressed.
For a Level 1 or Level 2 space, insisting on full theatrical peak levels would be unnecessary and, in many cases, counterproductive. For a Level 3 or Level 4 room, having that capability is essential, even if the client chooses to listen a little lower for most day-to-day viewing.
The paper also addresses a point that every integrator intuitively understands but is not always easy to explain to clients: measured sound level and perceived loudness are not the same thing.
Room size, acoustics, screen size, system quality, and personal sensitivity all influence how loud something feels. A level that is comfortable and exciting in a large, well-treated cinema can feel overwhelming in a small living room. Likewise, a system that is operating well within its limits will sound cleaner and less fatiguing than one being pushed to its edge, even at the same measured level.
This is why the white paper places such emphasis on headroom and low distortion. A system with adequate reserves will sound effortless and controlled. One without them will quickly be described as “too loud”, even when the volume control is not set particularly high.
The enduring misconception is that “reference level” is a single number that every residential system should be calibrated to and routinely played at, regardless of room, content, or client preference.
The reality is more nuanced:
Reference Audio Level and SPL Capabilities brings all of this together in a clear, practical way. It explains:
For CEDIA members, this is not just an academic discussion. It directly supports better design decisions, clearer communication, and more realistic expectations about what “reference” really means in the home.
If you have ever been asked why a cinema-calibrated system sounds different in a living room, or why two sources of the same movie do not line up at the same volume setting, this paper provides the answers.
I would strongly encourage all members involved in immersive audio design to download a copy from the CEDIA website and add it to their professional toolkit. It clears up a long-standing area of confusion and helps us move the conversation from rigid numbers to meaningful performance and listener experience.
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