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Do you use loudness?

Do you use loudness modifier?

  • Definetly yes!

  • Hell no!

  • It depends...

Results are only viewable after voting.
I don't but if you like the sound with it engaged by all means use it. Myself I have Treble at twelve O clock and my Bass at two O clock because that's what sound right to me. Everybody hears differently so play with those controls until it sounds good to you.
 
In my rig, and in my room, no. My preamp has no loudness, and no tone controls. When I decided I needed more bass, and higher SPLs, I got new speakers to compensate. Not the most practical route, but it worked for me.
 
teal'c said:
I get by with two tens in the car, but my main home speakers have been and always will be fifteens. They take a lot of room, but so worth it.
'Til death do we part.
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Gotta try that window-shaking-shelve-topping-power in my small living room one day... are your 15's homemade or what brand/model?
 
Deep bass is more than just deep bass Boom. True low end response adds so much ambiance to the recording. Deep bass, in a live recording, allows the room acoustics to sound so much more natural, and present. You can hear the hall sound with it. With out it, the soundstage shrinks, and so much reverb is lost. Hard to achieve, and even harder to forget, once experienced.
 
teal'c said:
I get by with two tens in the car, but my main home speakers have been and always will be fifteens. They take a lot of room, but so worth it.
'Til death do we part.
Click to expand...

Owning 4 pair of JBLs with the big white 12" woofers, I know what you mean, but then I have Infinity Kappa 9's with 4 12" IMG woofers and Maggie 3.6R's that are 6' X 2' panels with a 60" ribbon tweeter, so no need for 15's--that and the two 10" subs running on 850 wpc--controlled by a DBX 120 subharmonic synthesizer.
 
savatage1973 said:
Owning 4 pair of JBLs with the big white 12" woofers, I know what you mean, but then I have Infinity Kappa 9's with 4 12" IMG woofers and Maggie 3.6R's that are 6' X 2' panels with a 60" ribbon tweeter, so no need for 15's--that and the two 10" subs running on 850 wpc--controlled by a DBX 120 subharmonic synthesizer.
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I sure wish I could hear your systems. I can't find anyone near me with a set of 3.6's
 
StimpyWan said:
Deep bass is more than just deep bass Boom. True low end response adds so much ambiance to the recording. Deep bass, in a live recording, allows the room acoustics to sound so much more natural, and present. You can hear the hall sound with it. With out it, the soundstage shrinks, and so much reverb is lost. Hard to achieve, and even harder to forget, once experienced.
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This is true!

cramej said:
:eek: is right! With a SX-828 and either JBL L26's or Klipsch KG4's I'm at 70-ish db with loudness on or off and volume at 9:00. 12:00 volume would blow windows out of my 10x10 office - not to mention my eardrums.o_O

The loudness circuit boosts certain frequencies in a way that the tone controls cannot. It's always on for me with tone controls straight up.
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Being unable to turn the volume much past 9 O'clock is one of the main reasons a variable loudness control is IMO better. The reason for loudness controls is to make low level listening sound more full. At the maximum volume one listens loudness compensation shouldn't be needed. With a variable loudness control you set the maximum volume with the volume control and use the loudness control to lower the volume from maximum. 9 O'clock on the volume knob for maximum volume is actually quite low and the loudness control is adding a significant amount of boost.
 
Not sure why this discussion always turns into some complicated thing as though using a loudness control is some sort of ethical or moral dilemma. Like it's the "forbidden fruit" of the audio world.

Scenario #1: turn loudness on. "Hey, that sounds great!" Leave loudness on.

Scenario #2: turn loudness on. "Nope. Liked it better without." Turn loudness off.

Scenario #3: I don't have a loudness control so I'm SOL.
 
StimpyWan said:
Deep bass is more than just deep bass Boom. True low end response adds so much ambiance to the recording. Deep bass, in a live recording, allows the room acoustics to sound so much more natural, and present. You can hear the hall sound with it. With out it, the soundstage shrinks, and so much reverb is lost. Hard to achieve, and even harder to forget, once experienced.
Click to expand...

It's official, I have to get a subwoofer just for the sake of experiencing it, the only drawback is shelling out another $200 or $300... meh!!

willyrover said:
Not sure why this discussion always turns into some complicated thing as though using a loudness control is some sort of ethical or moral dilemma. Like it's the "forbidden fruit" of the audio world.

Scenario #1: turn loudness on. "Hey, that sounds great!" Leave loudness on.

Scenario #2: turn loudness on. "Nope. Liked it better without." Turn loudness off.

Scenario #3: I don't have a loudness control so I'm SOL.
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Of course that is what it amounts to in the end, my objective was to listen to real experiences and motives, people use it for different reasons and by the voting percentages it is not a black and white matter, it seems to be very grey, most guys use it according to the situation.

Thanks for all your inputs.
 
My main system preamps have no tone controls or loudness, would muddy things up I think as they sound very good without..on good recordings:)
One exception is my good ole Mac 4100 receiver in the bedroom. It has a variable loudness and I do use it and like it. Running Kef 103/3s with no cube it is needed along with some eq which the 4100 has 5 band.
 
there are loudness controls that can be synchronized with the volume control that are unnoticeable in use but maintain the needed increased bass and treble at low levels. most receivers and preamps that have 'loudness' controls do not have that ability.
 
Definetly yes!
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willyrover said:
Not sure why this discussion always turns into some complicated thing as though using a loudness control is some sort of ethical or moral dilemma. Like it's the "forbidden fruit" of the audio world.
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Well, because it is an ethical and moral dilemma. It alters the signal coming from the source (as does everything else in the electrical path...). If a person could use their tongue as a stylus and hear music in their head, I'm sure lots of people would. Hey, maybe that's not such a bad idea. No need to clean your records since it gets cleaned every time you play it :idea:

Edit: Hmm, my attempt at fake sarcasm tags actually made everything strikethrough text. Amazing how quickly you can forget html.
 
Sieb Mulder said:
On a good system at normal listening volume it should never be necessary to use the loudness switch. It is meant to compensate the human hearing sensitivity at very low volumes (reinforce bass quite a lot, treble a bit less). My amp Revox B750 MkII has a special volume potentiometer that automatically reduces the loudness effect when you turn the volume up. I only use the loudness occasionally when listening to YouTube music videos with poor sound recording to boost the dynamics.
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Hey Sieb, We have a few components in common. I have a ReVox B795 from around 1985, a ReVox A77mk4 from 1978 and a ReVox B77 from 1979.

I rarely use the loudness contour. Even at reasonably low volume levels (65-75) dB(c) from my listening position I'm very pleased with the balance my system reproduces.
 
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Longaevus said:
It's official, I have to get a subwoofer just for the sake of experiencing it, the only drawback is shelling out another $200 or $300... meh!!



Of course that is what it amounts to in the end, my objective was to listen to real experiences and motives, people use it for different reasons and by the voting percentages it is not a black and white matter, it seems to be very grey, most guys use it according to the situation.

Thanks for all your inputs.
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Depends. If you just want to play, PartsExpress sells a few decent powered subwoofers that are quite reasonably priced. They're more for "boom & thunder" home theatre use, but if dialed in judiciously (lowest possible crossover and sound level) they can actually augment. Room acoustics can be a large factor in success with very low frequency sound reproduction, though.

http://www.parts-express.com/cat/powered-subwoofers/95
 
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