For the older Outlaws, do you remember when receivers had a "loudness" button or dial for low level listening. I can't remember the name for it, but there is name for the way human hearing is effected by low volume music, (can't detect the highs and lows so well). Hence the reason for the loudness compensation, it boosts the treble and bass at low listening. So why has it disappeared? We have dolby digital compression for desired listening levels, so why not Loudness compensation for music? Just curious why it went by the wayside.

Who listens at low levels nowadays?

Know any feature films whose soundtracks cry out for "nice, soft, and gentle?"

I went to see Springsteen a few months ago. My ears hurt for days after that.

There's a restaurant in (Old) Montreal called Mod-A-Vie. It has a great three piece combo jazz band. You can sit at a table 10 feet away and still carry on an intimate conversation with your guests. Gotta be the last place in the world like it. (Best rack of lamb in the world as well!)

'Nuff said

Jeff Mackwood

My Elite receiver has a Loudness and a "midnight" mode.

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Play it LoUd!!

I imagine that like actual tone controls (with real knobs), this feature is fading away. Most people probably never grasped the theory behind loudness compensation anyway.

I'm hanging on to my old B&O system from 1975. It has a Loudness button that works great.

I use it in my computer room with the XM Radio. And it has the added benefit that Soundhound thinks that the receiver looks like a bunch of slide rules.

Ah Ha!! Just for kicks, how many of you out there have actually used a slide rule??

Guilty as charged. For 2 years I was in Chemical Engineering before changing majors. Long story. But I used one many, many times. Only Computer at school was the main one and you had to book times to run programs for my COBOL class. Of couse I am as my title says, an Old (fill in the blanks)

Just as CAD has taken the pencils out of the designer's hands, the use of calculators has diminished many peoples understanding of simple concepts that are fundamental to sound and it's reproduction.

Proportional methods of analysis such as Logarithmic Scale and the slide rule give us a direct physical experience which helps us in our fundamental understanding of both pitch and volume... frequency and sound pressure.

The same can be applied to other waveforms such as light energy and frequency (color)... I would prefer that all students learn the miracles of the slide rule (adding exponents of common bases) in algebra class like most of us codgers did in high school. Teach a class with a prism, a guitar and a slide rule, and the world would be a better place.

I can't help feeling old when I try to explain to young University students or recent grads about how 'the chip' has both improved our lives, and also made for a less enlightened and enriched understanding of our world.

Then I just push this button over here... and anyone in the world with access to a computer can read what one person (in still blacked out city of Washington, DC) mused about late one night, just to stay connected...

Wooooooooooo... what greater meaning would there be to those who had a tube and relay CPU. It is not such a far fetched thought as it first might seem.

[This message has been edited by AGAssarsson (edited September 23, 2003).]

I too would like to see a Loudness button - to increase the high treble and low bass at low to medium listening levels. My last 2 processors / receivers had it, and when listening to CDs through the Home Theatre it makes a favorable improvement.

You're making me feel old this morning! I've still have my slide rule and an old Luxman intergrated amp with loudness control and various other switches no longer found on equipment.


[This message has been edited by jgambino (edited September 23, 2003).]