Should you use Fletcher-Munson loudness compensation?

[livinon2wheels]

@livinon2wheels it whose and is implemented as two shelving filters low and high self Q 0.71 (Butterwort) first and more important is bass one at 105 Hz and that is a knew frequency. High self one is much more mild and isn't needed until you get to relatively low listening levels. What most folks don't get is that you can't make woofer stop and get back to it's base line fast enough when the boost under the knee is big. This produces nus effect of boost up to 1 KHz and leak of the bass in mids. You only can fix this addressing it physically making crossover point above the knee (120 Hz) so that it stays on sub's but then you need 2.2 setup as from 80~90 Hz it becomes directional. Variation of even 2 dB in low bass makes a big difference in how we perceive it. As long as you have SPL meter and single free PEQ (supporting low self filter) you can play with it and even make cuple pressets you can quickly change to the mood and usual for you listening SPL. Bass slope goes inverted above calibration point (88 dB SPL stereo white noise).
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Im not following everything you said, but I understood enough to probably be dangerous I typically when I can listen to music or movies at a high enough level I don't need much correction but there are times when I can't and its those times I would appreciate having an easily accessible preset of some kind that I could use to modify the curve. Thanks for your explanation. I'll play with creating another preset for lower level listening and see how I like it.

 

[XDM]

One very confusing thing in Denon/Marantz AVRs is that Dolby content has a "Loudness Management" switch which is not loudness compensation. Denon and Marantz enable this by default (it's under Audio - Surround Parameter), even if you've already have Audyssey Dynamic EQ applied. But it supposedly only compresses TrueHD and Atmos content https://manuals.denon.com/avrx5200w/NA/EN/GFNFSYvdfworfs.php

Apart for that there's a technology called Dolby Volume. An ASR user has measured its effect.
Strangely it seems to decrease the treble at lower volumes. Not sure what kind of curve Dolby took this 'wisdom' from https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...in-current-generation-avrs.30545/post-1429481

In its current iteration Dolby Volume is 1) rarely implemented (some Arcam and Anthem AVRs seem to have it?) and 2) also a dynamic range compressor in addition to it being a loudness compensator (https://professional.dolby.com/tv/dolby-volume-for-volume-control/), which is super confusing.

Audyssey Dynamic EQ boosts the surround speakers excessively (although it seems it's possible to turn that off as the A1 Evo YouTube videos mention that).

at 1:26 "Dynamic EQ Option with removed surround boost" with no explanation on how to only use that specific tweak.

Explained by Serko70 (OCA) https://www.avsforum.com/threads/au...97198/page-525?post_id=63445207#post-63445207

(...) Equal Loudness Contours have evolved over time, and it's unclear which specific version Dynamic EQ uses.
Audyssey claims that sound direction also affects required volume levels. This leads to increased boost for surround and height speakers in their implementation. This theory isn't widely confirmed in other literature. Many users are dissatisfied with the extra boost to surrounds and heights.
Evo removes the extra surround/height boosts from Dynamic EQ at -15dB volume level. However, relative volumes still change differently for various speakers above and below this level.
Correct speaker levels are crucial for Dolby Atmos object placement. Audyssey hasn't updated Dynamic EQ when Atmos was introduced, despite DEQ predating Atmos significantly.
Still, DEQ remains important for low volume listening, as there are no alternatives and the sad fact is that actual listening experience of consumers is never a priority in the current business model

EDIT: Denon finally gave an update to turn the surround boost off (Surround Level Compensation), but only for AVR/AVC-X3800H and up: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...m-with-audyssey-dynamic-eq.36483/post-2354788

Yamaha has YPAO which seems to be required to enable YPAO Volume loudness compensation (some measurements here https://simplehomecinema.com/2017/08/05/loudness-correction-and-yamaha-ypao-volume/), but there's apparently no way to limit YPAO to just the subwoofer or only below a certain frequency.
And I'm not sure I believe it's only cutting some problematic frequencies like it says here https://hub.yamaha.com/audio/music/how-ypao-works-in-yamaha-hi-fi-receivers/

Then finally, there's THX Loudness Plus.
Seems promising. But. It's only available on the https://onkyo.com/emea/home-cinema-2/tx-nr6100 and up and as page 117 of the manual states, Loudness Plus only works in a THX listening mode

This enables users to experience the true impact of soundtracks regardless of the volume setting. THX Loudness Plus is automatically applied when listening
in any THX listening mode. In the newly developed THX Cinema, THX Music and THX Games modes, the optimum THX Loudness Plus setting is applied
according to the type of content.

And these THX listening modes don't work for Atmos and DTS:X content as shown elsewhere in the manual. Still interesting to try this feature.
Anything I missing any way to get loudness compensation in terms or retail products for regular homes?

 

[krabapple]

One very confusing thing in Denon/Marantz AVRs is that Dolby content has a "Loudness Management" switch which is not loudness compensation. Denon and Marantz enable this by default (it's under Audio - Surround Parameter), even if you've already have Audyssey Dynamic EQ applied. But it supposedly only compresses TrueHD and Atmos content https://manuals.denon.com/avrx5200w/NA/EN/GFNFSYvdfworfs.php


etc....

Thanks. What an unholy mess, eh?

 

[Sal1950]

Thanks. What an unholy mess, eh?

Some would praise it's configuration options.

 

[krabapple]

Well he's talking about several 'its' there. Some to do with Dolby, some with Denon, some with Yamaha, some with Onkyo, some with Audyssey, some with YPAO, some with THX...