Yamaha Loudness Knob

Yashu

you speak of death as the ultimate perfection. That is more than a little odd.

It is very simple and explained within the laws of thermodynamics, that forces will naturally move towards equilibrium. Living is merely maintaining an imbalance of force, or, as I said, fighting entropy. "Life" goes well beyond current accepted taxonomy.

Life is, quite frankly, a paradox, and it is this notion that I do not dismiss spirituality altogether. While I don't believe in an objective deity, the fact that there is order in the universe at all, let alone, energy (we are all made of matter, matter is a form of energy), and the very thing the universe is made from can change and modify itself, the fact that there might be free will within a strict system of natural order... it would be silly to say that there is nothing beyond the windows of our eyes.

I have only seen what I have seen... and even though reverse engineering of my own brain through meditative states has only given me a little bit more insight. I know that the current accepted concept of "time" is wrong (though science is just beginning to touch on this), I know enough about the process of storing and recalling memory along with other thought processes (again, science is beginning to confirm), and I also know that the human brain has evolved to arbitrarily place boundaries in order to objectify the world, when these boundaries don't truly exist, at least not in the way we evolved to think and feel. I know many more things, but I wish to not speak of them. I do not think we are supposed to be acutely aware of certain things, so the less I speak of them the better.

I have a question... I have a preamp with an adjustable gain pre out, and I want to know if reducing the level on the pre out will help or hurt lower volume listening. For example, I can plug it directly into my amp, or I can use the adjustable output that goes from 0 to -12db. Would changing this setting give me better lower volume listening? Anyone have experience with this control, and if so, what are you using it for? I would like to have better lower volume listening, but I don't want it to emphasize the treble.

rskarvan

Ok, I'm convinced. Where is my grape Kool-aide?

Many very good pre-amps are resistive/passive. I'd recommend setting the gain of the amp reasonably high (some are adjustable) and using the pre-amp to attenuate the signal to lower volumes. Preamps are nothing more than switching devices with volume controls. Experiment a little and report back which method you find works best. (Assuming you don't perfect yourself first).

Systems

rskarvan wrote: »

Yashu, you seem like a reasonably intelligent fellow. In this spirit, I sincerely ask you: what outside assurances do you have that you are not self-deluded?

WAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

hearingimpared

Yashu,

You don't live on the East Coast of the USA do you? If you do I'm moving, you are one scary dude.

mhardy6647

Why isn't it called the "Quiet" knob since it is primarily used for listening to music at lower volumes? Hmmm

because the effect of correcting for frequency response "nonlinearities" of the human auditory system at low sound levels became known as 'loudness compensation' a long long time ago.

Yashu

Preamps are nothing more than switching devices with volume controls.

It has a class A gain stage... I know it's not a lot of gain, but it is some. I always wondered if I turn the knob to -12, would I be able to use more of the glass A gain stage per gain of my a/b amp? Like... it is a ratio? Or, does that knob just attenuate the sensitivity of the main volume knob, so in the end, it is drawing the same amount of current either way from the little opamps.

reeltrouble1

blah blah blah

Yashu

Go blah yourself.

cubdog

This is one for the time capsule. Oh yeah, I have a CR-2020.

cubdog

chickenninja

Hey guys, I just got a Yamaha av-33 with a loudness knob, the knob was THE deciding feature in me getting this amp. Music to me is more of a social experience, one that I enjoy interacting with tactilely, I enjoy reaching out and touching my stereo, fine tuning dials free of any arbitrary digitized increments for a truly analog experience like working the edges of fresh pair of skis. I got this amp used at "Di" which is like a Mormon goodwill in Salt Lake City. It has a 7 point equalizer, dolby surround, independent rear speaker volume control and 4 channels in total, so this is some of that first gen dolby surround, before subwoofers and center channels. I already have an Amp with 7.1 surround and subs pro-logic 2 and all that noise ( he he ) but what this amp has that those don't, is that I can fiddle with the knobs, and really feel a connection with the amp. The Amp and the sound it projects becomes the centerpiece of my living room, and my social life; rather than a home theater box which is shoved under a cabinet so I can watch movies by my lonesome self. The difference in social use is profound. This amp is slightly better than my previous setup which was a kenwood pre-amp equalizer, and a super analog Sony tuner/amp with bass and treble knobs and a 7 inch long horizontal volume slider, and a loudness switch . My pre-amp also had subsonic filter which along with ultrasonic filters are two features I still wish I had. depending on the song, the mood, the setting I will push and pull equalizer sliders and all the bells and whistles to make the sound just perfect that moment, in that space, with those people, at that time, but more often than not I find myself listening without any features leaving all that up to the artist, and her creative discernment. But every song is unique and sometimes one will come along that could use a little help on your system, so with all these glorious knobs we can quickly, and in real time find a more conducive electronic environment to reproduce the songs authentic energy. Say there is a poorly mic-ed kick drum that needs to be remastered a lil bit, or that there is one frequency that is so strong and rampant that it disharmonies your woofer preventing longer waves from propagating correctly resulting in inaccurate reproduction, or simply filtering the subsonic waves so that the neighbors windows don't rattle...as much .

Anyway, I have always liked loudness as I have found it complementary to low level listening, a discovery I made in the early days while not even knowing it was designed for such use. My discovery came from curiosity, and open minded experimentation. It was from this exploration, this openness that made me truly appreciate and understand the truth of loudness. The same kind of openness and thoughtful exploration that I see Yashu embodying in this thread, even as others tear him down for simply being thoughtful and inquisitive. Further, we should not be ignorant to the fact that Yashu has been CARING enough to actually share his beliefs so others may possibly find value in them, while these other cowards throw mud at him without bringing anything to talk about other than their hateful remarks. It's as though Yashu has come to a bookclub, well read, and ready to talk about the finer points of each and every book, only to find the book club is a book-burning club. I found Yashus ideas, clear, concise and well thought out, I don't share them as I have my own ideas, but he thinks for himself and thats much more than I can say for his detractors who have yet to share one independent thought between the lot of them. All of this is what makes Yashu beautiful music, and them, noise in his signal.

PolkieMan

The last post chickenninja was in March of 2008, I've done that before.
But yes each to there own...whatever makes you happy....we all share and agree on the main thing, audio equipment.

mhardy6647

PolkieMan wrote: »

The last post chickenninja was in March of 2008, I've done that before...

Yeah, but he was clearly saving up verbiage between posts! ;-)

You know, I miss paragraphs. I really do.

I think the gist of this thread is that the OP likes Yamaha's variable loudness. There's certainly something to be said for adjustable loudness compensation.

ratster

Some of these old threads are entertaining as hell.

mhardy6647

whoa, I had no idea of the provenance and deep philosophical resonance of this particular thread!
It even contains one of the forum's most quoted quotes...

F1nut wrote: »

JC approves....he told me so.

...and some pretty snarky comments from yrs. trly., even considering the source! :-(

kevhed72

Deep Thoughts with chickenninja.....