Loudness Management (Fletcher-munson?) - Dolby vs Audyssey Dynamic EQ in current generation AVR's

[dlaloum]

I have been recently re-experimenting with using Dolby Volume on my Anthem Pre/Pro. I really did not like the dynamic range compression and stopped using it years ago, but found out relatively recently that you can have the dynamic EQ part active without the dynamic range compression - let's just say the manual and UI where less than fully intuitive . I really quite like it and have now removed/reduced my house curve as this dynamically adjusts the house curve quite nicely as you adjust the volume.

Took some measurements in REW to see what it is doing:

Below is absolute SPL for 5 volume levels from -20db (about the loudest I ever watch movies at) to -40db, a more comfortable casual listening level and more like what I use late night as I am in an open concept basement rec room open to the house. I found I had to reduce the forced room curve boost in bass of around 6db (that is included in the charts as the bass became overwhelming).

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and here is a view of the same charts normalized to lay on top of each other to see easier what they are doing. As expected the bass is boosted and the treble midly dropped as you lower the volume to compensate for your natural hearing curves. Interesting little blip in the 2k to 3k range as well.
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I used to use the Audyssey Dynamic EQ without the Dolby Volume compression (except late at night)... on my previous Audyssey AVR.

I do miss it now that I am on a non-Audyssey AVR... it is the best loudness system I have experienced so far.