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Re: Brighter as volume goes up ???

Posted by Duke (D) on March 5, 2007 at 08:08:33

In Reply to: Brighter as volume goes up ??? posted by greg7 on March 5, 2007 at 07:26:40:

Three possibilities come to mind.

One is that your tweeter has less power compression than your woofer. For instance, suppose you turn the volume up by 10 dB (on your preamp, not actual measured SPL increase). Your tweeter may give you nearly 10 dB more output for that tenfold increase in amplifier power, but your woofer may be only giving you 8 or 9 dB so the result is a tonal imbalance. If your system also sounds dull at very low volume levels, then this would be my guess.

Another possibility is that your ears are responding non-linearly to a linear distortion, perhaps diffracion. Diffraction effects are inaudible at low sound pressure levels, but become audible and objectionable at high sound pressure levels because of the ear's non-linear response to that type of distortion. Strong, distinct room reflections could probably have the same effect.

Finally, it's possible that something in the electronic chain (amplifier perhaps) is generating more odd-order distortion at high power levels, which would make things sound brighter.

Duke

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