loud setting on head units?

what is the deal with the loud setting on head units ?1974 ford pinto 4 15" punch Z power punch bd 1001 pioneer DEH-6700

Its designed to enhance bass and treble at lower volumes

heres some more info on it http://www.bcae1.com/loudness.htm

I personally have mine turned off on both of my cars

--Skold

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From my experiance it only enhances the crap sounds at low volumes.Nik

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Check it out.

It's for old people.  People over 80!Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.

i have mine off as well !!!!joe

I've found that the better a system gets, the less eq-ing the sound helps. the LOUD button is kinda like pre-programmed response curves for like "rock" and "jazz" and "classic" that come programmed into so many decks.... after a stereo reaches a certain level.. those selections just destroy the carefully tuned sound of a high end system. Anyone with a good system ever use those preprogrammed curves?"I'm finished!" - Daniel Plainview

Loudness always seems to introduce more distortion at moderate to higher level volumes. I don't like those preset EQ's but I do like my built in parametric EQ on my deck.

Yes, the Loud or Loudness button is exclusively for low to moderate volume levels. The science behind it is that the ear becomes less & less sensitive to the frequency extremes at lower volumes. So, they have a preprogrammed an easy to use bass/treble boost built into a button for when you turn the volume down. Of course, that's not how most people actually use it. They keep it on all the time, & the sound distorts because the radio is driven into clipping due to excessive signal. However, considering that we're in a stereo forum, I'm doubting that many of us listens to their stereo all that quiet anyhow. So, you'd be best off not using it & keeping the source sound clean.What is normal anyway???

Similar for sure. It is nothing more than an EQ, though the approach is better. It automatically adjusts depending on the music source. Truely though, it's just not needed if you have a good ear & an EQ. You would definitely lose you points if you were competing. I've never seen too many processors that could replace a good ear & an EQ (except sound alignment, that can do wonders). But I think that I'm getting off subject. Anyhow, I wouldn't let such "features" determine your buying (Alpine is good enough to buy without a Media Expander). Better to get a solid reliable Source that is easy to use & puts out good clean signal. Change it afterwards if you're serious about sound.What is normal anyway???