Average Encounters

So I got into a bit of an argument the other night and I'm kind of curious.

What are you guys average encounters in comparison to APL? I know paizo says APL=CR for average but frankly neither in 3.5 or in pathfinder have I ever had a combat where the CR=APL.

The lowest I've ever seen is APL+1=CR. How bout you guys? Your averages?

For my group? Probably APL + 2 with us capping out at probably APL + 5

I am similar to Elamdri. We play in a 3 person party and its too easy if the monster isn't 3-5 CR higher than the APL.

The only issue I have had is with the APL+5 monsters having too high of an AC. I generally reduce is and increase their health pools.

I think the issue is that the CRB APL guide assumes a dungeon crawl with a number of fights and rather average characters.

If you take rather experienced players with open-ended campaigns, then you have to bump up the difficulty level to make things work.