How come there is no universal volume standard?

[Clippy]

I got to thinking, in my regular car the optimal volume I choose is 30. It's just the right volume for me. But my rental car 30 didn't cut it, I have acute hearing and determined that 43 in the Chev is equivalent to 30 in the Hynudai

And then you got TV remotes and computer volumes and etc

But none of the numbers sync up with other devices.

How come this hasn't been unified across all things so 30 is 30 on any possible sound making thing??

And does anyone know how to do conversions?

 

[wilKO]

If we can't even have a universal unit for measurements (we do America, it's called the metric system, wake up!) then I think we are a long way off a universal unit for car volume.

 

[Clippy]

If we can't even have a universal unit for measurements (we do America, it's called the metric system, wake up!) then I think we are a long way off a universal unit for car volume.

I'm from Canada where things are measured right.

When you cross the border into Canada on the highway the border areas say speed limit 100 Kilometers

And calls out KILOMETERS

Drive 100 KILOMETERS NOT MILES!!!!

Growing up I never realized just how fast the time travel car in back to the Future really had to go - almost 140 KM

 

[HunterSdVa29]

even worse, you'd think AVRs for home theaters would have a more standard volume range

Nope, my Yamaha is on -29....yes negative. Positive would like bring the house down

 

[wilKO]

I'm from Canada where things are measured right.

When you cross the border into Canada on the highway the border areas say speed limit 100 Kilometers

And calls out KILOMETERS

Drive 100 KILOMETERS NOT MILES!!!!

Growing up I never realized just how fast the time travel car in back to the Future really had to go - almost 140 KM

It just makes so much sense. I wonder what volume unit the Deloreon used...

 

[ajccoming]

It could also be the size and the acoustics in the cars as well. Different interiors in a car will either absorb the sound and make it seem quieter or make the sound bounce around and make it seem louder. The same principle applies to smaller and bigger vehicles

 

[HunterSdVa29]

most cars have pretty shitty head units too, I have a 7" touchscreen in my Fiesta but I've tried to find the wattage output online, everywhere and it's apparently a state secret

I highly doubt it pushing say 45x4 or 50x4 like even the base after market head unit

 

[chrisdiaz]

There are sound level guidelines and laws were passed recently so that commercials in america (not america lite) would be the same volume.

It is the broadcasters who choose to boost up volume levels to unbareable levels. Even this has gone away to some extent. Some Tv's also have built in amplifying levelers and I use them quite often to keep sound levels even.

https://tech.ebu.ch/docs/techreview/trev_297-spikofski_klar.pdf

http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=131327

 

[ralphc1]

I got to thinking, in my regular car the optimal volume I choose is 30. It's just the right volume for me. But my rental car 30 didn't cut it, I have acute hearing and determined that 43 in the Chev is equivalent to 30 in the Hynudai

And then you got TV remotes and computer volumes and etc

But none of the numbers sync up with other devices.

How come this hasn't been unified across all things so 30 is 30 on any possible sound making thing??

And does anyone know how to do conversions?

There is a standard unit of sound called the Decibel. Getting manufacturers to set up the system would be the problem. Some televisions have automatic volume control and it should be possible to do it in vehicles but the televisions don't use the standard decibel as a user reference. I have a decibel meter that I use to report the channels that have their commercials louder than the regular program. I use a Bose system on my cable box and it doesn't control the volume. Neither does the audio out on my television.

Time to start contacting manufacturers and suggest it. Chevys are notorious for having bad speakers. Maybe one of them is bad.

 

[The Diplomat]

I got to thinking, in my regular car the optimal volume I choose is 30. It's just the right volume for me. But my rental car 30 didn't cut it, I have acute hearing and determined that 43 in the Chev is equivalent to 30 in the Hynudai

And then you got TV remotes and computer volumes and etc

But none of the numbers sync up with other devices.

How come this hasn't been unified across all things so 30 is 30 on any possible sound making thing??

And does anyone know how to do conversions?

Different quality of speakers.

 

[ralphc1]

even worse, you'd think AVRs for home theaters would have a more standard volume range

Nope, my Yamaha is on -29....yes negative. Positive would like bring the house down

The decibel scale does go into the negative. One decibel unit is supposed to be the smallest difference that human ears can detect. Let's lobby the manufacturers to use the decibel scale and have a sensor near the dome light to monitor it.

 

[Rhood]

PAL vs NTSC
Who wins?

 

[Kanuck99]

Volume should be measured by age (years). Just enter how old you are and the volume adjusts accordingly.

We really shouldn't have a choice in the matter, its too dangerous.

 

[is normal]

The number on the volume control correlates to what's happening with the gain of the internal amplification.

There are too many variables to match that to actual measured acoustic output:
-Sensitivity and impedance curve of the attached speaker

-as aj mentioned, environment, which includes reflections refractions, absorbtions and resonances and phase problems which cause destructive and constructive wave interferences, also interaural time and volume difference due to pathlength differences in cars.

-differences in source material

-huge difference in the amps themselves making number comparisons even more arbitrary.

- the nature of music is highly dynamic, and not reflected by a static number

What you would need is constant real-time analysis of the signal, which looks like a higher resolution version of 'spectrum analyzers' you see, except those analyze source input, while you would need to analyze microphone input from a measurement mic. The trouble with that is this works best measuring specific signals while mounted directly in front of the speaker. When mounted at "head position" the measurements vary widely even moving the mic an inch;
Binaural headphone mounted mics work best for this like the jbl ms8 used.
Even with advanced digital signal processing it's difficult to overcome the environmental challenges in a car to get any consistency between cars

 

[CWMMA]

If we can't even have a universal unit for measurements (we do America, it's called the metric system, wake up!) then I think we are a long way off a universal unit for car volume.

There are two types of countries in this world. Countries who use the metric system. And countries who have put people on the moon.

 

[rj144]

I'm from Canada where things are measured right.

When you cross the border into Canada on the highway the border areas say speed limit 100 Kilometers

And calls out KILOMETERS

Drive 100 KILOMETERS NOT MILES!!!!

Growing up I never realized just how fast the time travel car in back to the Future really had to go - almost 140 KM

140 km isn't a speed.

 

[Clippy]

140 km isn't a speed.

...

 

[Goodfella86]

If we can't even have a universal unit for measurements (we do America, it's called the metric system, wake up!) then I think we are a long way off a universal unit for car volume.

We don't have an..... ounce of consideration for any shithole country that uses the metric system.

 

[Grrrr]

140 km isn't a speed.

Discussing speed and distance in one thread.......you are going to give @Clippy a seizure.

 

[mushishi]

They have this thing called db but it's logarithmic so no one knows what the heck it is.