On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 11:49:59 +0100, "Dee" wrote:

Many thanks for all the replies. Off work yesterday but read them all this
morning. I've learnt alot again. Oh how I wish I made more attention at
school. Logarithims and noise levels we must have studied it but sure as
hell have forgotten. Well as 43db is 10 times quieter than 52 then the AEG
will be the one

It's not exactly clear what "10 times" means... Almost certainly not that
you could have 10 of them on at the same time and only making the same
amount of noise as 1 of the louder variety. Fwiw (and there are some sound
gurus lurking around here), I believe the average ear can only discern a
change of about 3dB (maybe 2). 10dB is perceived as an approximate doubling
in volume, iirc.

Nevertheless, the quieter machine will be noticeably quieter, but perhaps
not throughout its full cycle. They probably use some averaging algorithm
to quote results.

--
John
Mail john rather than nospam...