The first really decent stereo audio system I owned had a pushbutton on the front panel called "loudness." I pushed it. I decided the audio sounded better so I left it pushed in; never changed it. OK, occasionally I would push it to the off position; nope, sounded better on. Thinking back, I really didn't care what it was for. I left it pushed ON because it made the system sound better, so I continued to concentrate on my video career. All the while, my stereo system "sounded good."
Here I am writing about that pushbutton. That pushbutton recently created considerable flurry here at Extron. Since the inclusion of much more audio support in our products, that loudness pushbutton finally crept into a prototype product. Someone in Product Management pushed it, but it didn't do what it was supposed to do: make the system "sound good." That launched an investigation into the real intent of the loudness control function and a bit of re-evaluation by those individuals designing audio products.
We learned something. Different people and different companies have different design philosophies toward functionality of the loudness control. So, when you push it, what should the loudness control do? Let's begin answering that question with a look at the historical basis for the loudness control and why it should make an audio system "sound good."
No comments:
Post a Comment