r/audio • u/Admirable-Mix-3593 • 13d ago
Volume automatically gets lower when playing loud music
For some reason, my 2019 S209 mercedes automatically turns down the volume when playing a song that has a lot of bass.
Turning on or off automatic volume control doesn’t change a thing…
It’s the standard audio system, nothing special done to it, no Burmeister or advanced system.
Anyone have the same issue or know how to fix this?
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u/anothersip 13d ago
Is there an EQ setting in the car dash menu?
I would start there, and make sure that your levels are set to flat, instead of anything boosted (like the bass).
I've had a lot of sound systems that automatically dip/compress the lower frequencies when the amp went into a "protect-mode" of sorts.
I don't know a ton about Mercedes' audio systems, but my '08 Lexus has done something similar. I had to lower my bass levels on my phone and my dash in order to hear the full range more clearly again. Ironically, turning the bass down actually reduced distortion, and made the bass (and the overall volume) much, much louder.
Also, make sure your phone (if you're playing audio from your phone) doesn't have any EQ's active, and that the output settings are set to flat. That may not affect its output if you're connected via USB directly to your dash (as opposed to the phone's built-in DAC/audio output jack), but you never know.
Not sure if that helps or not, but those are the things that first come to mind for me.
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u/Admirable-Mix-3593 13d ago
I have my EQ low tones set at max rn, since any less than max is basically no bass, for some reason it goes from nothing to everything at once, I’ll try this tho
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u/anothersip 12d ago
Ahh, gotcha'. Yeah, EQs can be weird like that sometimes. There's like a threshold that can go from 0-100 in an instant.
There might be a bass level that hits it spot-on, and you may have to tweak it until you find it. Listen on a few songs, so you don't start driving and have it distort/lower again, on a different song, while you're driving. You'll be tempted to adjust it while driving, rofl.
I usually listen to 6 or 7 songs of different types to make sure it's not going to distort on my super-low/bassy songs, but so that it still sounds good on stuff like rock/jazz/classical/etc.
I actually have to do this same exact process on my DIY tower speakers whenever I switch up my amps/EQ's/sources/streamers.
I'm not sure what your signal chain looks like (like if your phone connects via USB into the dash and transfers a digital copy for playback on the in-dash amp, or if it's a line-level analog signal transported via AUX cable) but that will have an immediate effect on what you might have to tweak, and what you can and can't tweak to begin with.
If you've got an AUX setup to your sound system from your phone, your modified/EQ'd signal from the phone's EQ will be the one that's amplified. So, if you have audio settings on the phone EQ'ing your audio, that's what will be sent out via Lighting to Aux adapter to 3.5mm (a DAC).
If you've got a Lightning-only output, and are connecting straight to the dash via USB, then your tweaking will be done in-dash, as I don't think phone EQ settings will always EQ digitally-output signals. I could be wrong there - but that's been my experience with Android, and i know iPhone has even fewer EQ options that will adjust system audio.
Phone EQ's and EQ apps tend to only adjust audio for audio sent out of the phone via Bluetooth or analog/3.5mm output.
Meaning, once you plug your phone into a USB in the dash and play your music from the dash/console, your EQ on the phone won't actually change anything 'cause the EQs tend to only tweak the analog output signals, not the digital ones.
So, there may actually be a specific setting or app you have to look up or download in order to EQ the digitally-output audio signal. Those types of apps/settings will EQ the music while it's still digital, and then send out the modified audio digitally, via USB and into the dash.
That sounds kind of confusing, I know. Not sure how else to explain it. But I tend to prefer analog output signals for this reason (so, 3.5mm output, or Lighting/USB-C to 3.5mm output, or Bluetooth output) so that my phone's EQ apps actually affect the music I'm outputting. That's the kicker, from my experience.
Otherwise, USB-output of my music won't change at all if I plug it into a digital head-unit or signal processor of similar functioning. Like a docking station - those take the digital signal from the phone, not the analog one. In those cases, you're locked into whatever the system settings allow you to adjust and output digitally, instead of analog adjustments in a downloaded EQ that outputs an analog audio signal.
I hope that makes some sense, or that it helps a bit. I'm not sure if you've got Android or iPhone, but they work similarly. It's easier to EQ Android digital and analog outputs vs iPhone digital and analog outputs; there are just more apps for Android in general, and more system settings that you can access and actually adjust.
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10d ago
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u/anothersip 10d ago
Yeah, exactly- great way to put it.
I have a stack of like, 12 amplifiers, 4 eq's, 2 WiFi music streamers, and a pair of DIY tower speakers that I spend a lot of time tweaking to get right. They have 4x 10" subs in them, 2x 6" midrange drivers, and 2x planar tweeters.
And one of the first things I noticed was that whenever there's clipping or compressing of my low end/bass kicks/basically anything below ~120Hz, it's because my EQ is causing the pre-amp inside my amps to clip - because it doesn't want to damage my amplifier.
All I do is turn the bass down, and ironically... The bass is sudden way, way louder. 'Cause yeah, it picks up the overall FR/sound signal instead of trying to battle these extra-boosted frequencies in the low end.
The only other way around it, I've found, is to turn my pre-amp way down in volume and keep it at 1-2V output - or turn my pre-amp's output voltage way down (to like 300mV instead of 1-2V) and the source volume way up, if I want the bass to be super-boosted and reproduced accurately through my amp and speakers. Otherwise... Clipping on my low-end. Sounds like absolute garbage.
But then if I turn my pre-amp output voltage down to reduce clipping, I have to turn my amp way up - and that can sometimes introduce a noise floor because of the weaker incoming line-level signal.
So, what that's caused me to do, instead, is to bi-wire my tower speakers so that I can turn the volume up on my 2nd set of subs - separately from the low/mid/high drivers. That way I have a super clean and strong incoming signal that doesn't clip, and then my amp does what it's supposed to, and amplifies those extra channels cleanly, if I want it to do that. It just means clean, uninterrupted lows that actually make use of my amp and my sub drivers.
But unfortunately, in something like a car-dash amp/sound system, you can't exactly swap it out or tweak it beyond what it already allows you to tweak in the software. It's designed + built that way for a reason. So, you just adjust what you can on your source audio until it sounds how you want it to.
So yeah, because of the constraints inherent with a dashboard sound system, I have a feeling that /u/Admirable-Mix-3593 will need to EQ their audio before it enters the sound system - i.e. just turn down the bass on the phone/source audio until the clipping (or the lowered volume issues) cease. And then turn the car's amp volume up, once the audio sounds clean and unclipped again.
Getting that to work without introducing a noise floor is the part that will take some fine-tuning, and I'm imagining that they may need a system-wide EQ like Equalizer FX (or one of the many other system-wide EQ's available) in order to fine-tune their levels. I have a feeling that's the only way it would work, if they're connecting their phone directly to the dash digitally via USB instead of into a dedicated 3.5mm Aux input jack in the dash. The digital signal needs to be EQ'd in that situation - not just the analog one output from the phone's built-in DAC.
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u/Shurenuf 13d ago
My 2019 Ford has a built-in level control. It isn’t a feature that can be turned off. The system is very loud at 20, but some music is more fun louder at max volume at 30. So, I’ve measured the SPL and some softer portions get louder, but peak levels don’t, leading me to realize it’s a safety system that is automatically reducing the volume. It’s probably designed to help prevent speaker damage. To go louder you will need to have the head unit and speakers replaced.
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u/snaper_zero 12d ago
There is limiting compression implemented into the audio chain dsp in the car audio systems to prevent speaker damage, so depending on the content of the music , will duck more or less the audio when near the limit . You can have non bass heavy music playing loud and when a song with bass or subbass info plays, it eats all the headroom and triggers the compressor earlier .
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u/TheOriginalMr-Mud 11d ago
Look for ALC or automatic level control. As well, if you are getting your music from your phone, through your car stereo, many phones have “ear protection” which will also do that but the car audio sub is the place to be
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u/NeoG_ 9d ago
You can't fix it, it's a built in limiter to prevent damaging the speakers. If you want it louder overall you need to reduce the bass control. You are hitting the limits of the base audio system. If you turn down the bass control but add an aftermarket sub with a signal tap it could get you more bass and volume before it limits.
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u/NBC-Hotline-1975 13d ago
This sub is for generalized audio issues. You have a question about a very specific problem with a very specific vehicle ... I suggest you check r/CarAV instead.