if my stereo has treble and bass knobs and I set the bass at 9 and the treble at 8, how is that different then if I set the bass at 10 and the treble at 9?

Question

if my stereo has treble and bass knobs and I set the bass at 9 and the treble at 8, how is that different then if I set the bass at 10 and the treble at 9?

In: 1

Answer 1

Since how it’s exactly implemented varies from stereo to stereo, let’s just think of each knob as going from min 0% to max 100% for each frequency range they control.
– 9 bass 8 treble would be like 90% of max bass and 80% of max treble
– 10 bass 9 treble would be like 100% of max bass and 90% of max treble

What you hear is the “summation” of your setting for treble and bass and not necessarily the difference between treble and bass.

Another way to visualize it would be like having ‘coins’ for treble and bass. 9 bass coins and 8 treble coins is not the same as having 10 bass coins and 9 treble coins. You can ‘buy’ up to 10 of each bass or treble, but your preference will dictate how much of each (and not necessarily the difference between them) you actually want.