Low volume output

I've had my empeg since the close out, and it took me a while to realize this, I thought it was an ecoding thing, but now I don't think so.

I have a aftermarket indash and the empeg. The empeg plugs into the aux of my headunit (through an adapter cable) The headunit does nothing much except the switching and radio and volume control. From there, the audio goes to a door speaker amp, and my sub amps.

When I'm listening to the radio, all is well. When I switch to the empeg, I have to bump the volume up a bit. When I switch back, I've got to lower it.

I have the empeg volume locked at 0 (no overdrive)

Is this a problem with my MP3s (no normalization) or my head unit, or a known problem with the empegs?

Thanks

Which pair of outputs do you have connected to the aux-in of this other stereo? Do you have the fader set correctly (centered)?

And by the way, the radio will always be louder than CDs or MP3s because the radio stations put a compressor/limiter on the output before it goes on the air. A proper comparison would be to play a CD in your stereo and see how that compares to the volume of the empeg.

In reply to:

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the radio will always be louder than CDs or MP3s because the radio stations put a compressor/limiter

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I wouldn't say always Tony. Have you had a look (and listen) at some of the modern CDs out there? They have almost no dynamic range at all because of the hard limiting used. A lot of it is probably more extreme than even what broadcasters use to prevent overmodulation.

Stu

I have noticed this as well...the CD's played through my second head unit ALWAYS sound louder...and richer...than when using the Rio as the source....with the sony i can only turn it up half volume..with the Rio almost full volume...and i have the Sony fed into the AUX in on the Rio

....not for nothing...but CD's sound sooooooooo much better than MP3's at 128 kps..or even WMA at 160 kps

Just turn up the "loudness" control on the Empeg..

that will tweak it a bit...but after listening to encoded cd's for such a long time...then playing the source CD...i am amazed at how much better the CD sounds

this 128kps being CD quality is not true...

i know this topic has been covered, but i really wonder how high a bit rate you need to make the difference in sound indiscernable...which then begs the question of how much storage space you need...i have my WMA's at 160....CD's sound richer...thus doubling the bit rate..if that is posible...allows only half as much stored on the same hard drive....in the end it seems one is giving up sound quality for convenience..quite a large convenience i will admit....but all the same not for audiophile ears...IMHO

Well, the CD and the Radio are signifigantly louder.
My stereo (Kenwood) goes up to 35. With my setup 17 beats out the road niose, 25 has some punch, 30 will cause pain and ringing after a while and 35 can be heard in most other cars and homes. 75w door, 12000w subs (600/ea, 12"))

I'm talking about taking the empeg volume from 25 to 30 to get a radio or CD's 25 level out of it.

My loudness is off. Loudness I thought was just some bass-boosting. But my whole system is pass-through except for some pre-amp stuff, which only really adjusts the kick of the subs. My amps have crossovers that control them. So everything should be sounding the same level. (As I see it anyway)

i have my WMA's at 160....CD's sound richer...thus doubling the bit rate

Huh? Uncompressed WAVs are more than 1400kbps. That's like nine times the bitrate.

Anyway, just do side-by-side comparisons. There's probably some point at which your mp3s or WMAs will sound as good as the source, even if you do have to pump them up to double the bitrate, 320kbps, the max for mp3 -- not sure about WMA.

WMA 9 will do lossless compression at around 700-800 kps.

Stu

So you're better off doing FLAC. Or will be when a stable empeg 3.0 comes out.

Hmm. We're beginning to see a proliferation of head units with 8V line outs. I wonder if their line ins are also 8V. Since the empeg is 4V line out I'd expect it to be quieter if this were the case.

Nope, Not that at all. "Loudness" just made it Muddy in the bass area.
Adjusting the voume to "overdrive" levels over 3db results in clipping, and is till too low.

Mine is a 4.5v unit.

Eclipse I think were the first with a 8v line, which is good b/c all the interfereence in cars.

Any otyher guesses? Is there a pot on the board or software setting that I can change?

Have you tried a 0 dBFS 1 kHz test tone on the Empeg to see how that compares to the radio volume?

Stu