Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Loudness - What is it for?

In reply to:

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I recall going to parties in the 1970s where someone with a cheap Pioneer receiver would have the thing blasting a couple of smallish speakers that were obviously distorting because the loudness control was on.

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Hmmm, sounds like when my roomates blew my old RS minimus 7's (or something akin to them) during a party while I was gone for a weekend. This was twenty years ago and even then, I had a Vega non-powered sub, but they somehow mistook that "full sound" as meaning that the speakers were as capable as floorstanders.

Grrrrrrr.......

A brief illustration and discussion of the equal loudness curves first developed through the work of Fletcher and Munson can be found here . Their work was refined by Robinson and Dadson with better equipment in the 1950s and research still continues in the matter.

It's unlikely that a simple on/off loudness button would provide a very sophisticated compensation. It might be worthwhile to use it when listening at a very low background music level.