I think most everyone has jumped into a car before, forgetting that they've left the volume extremely high or never realizing one of their friends/children has cranked the volume up all the way, so that when they start up the car, the radio comes blaring on so loudly that it borders on painful. This also happens frequently with computer speakers. I don't know how many times I've started the computer late at night just to hear the Windows startup sound come screeching out to wake up everyone else in the house. Whoops.
I propose that new volume-control devices be made with a crank that can be twisted infinitely to the right or left, even after maximum/minimum volume levels have been reached (at which point it simply keeps rotating by means of a simple spring system that senses when it has reached the farthest point). Another crank/slider on the speaker/dash/etc. will allow you to set the initial startup volume level between 0 and 100 percent. After the computer/car starts up, the volume will be set to the predefined level, and you can then crank it up or down as desired.
For cars that have digital displays rather than a simple crank this would also be quite feasible; just add a second set of buttons which achieve the same ends.-- Pseudonym #3, Aug 29 2003 Digital Rheostat http://pdfserv.maxi...om/arpdf/DS1669.pdfThis will allow indefinit crankiness. They can make them with a fixed power-up setting. [kbecker, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] Probably better if such a system has a shaft encoder rather than a mechanical volume knob.-- bristolz, Aug 29 2003 Knob! There's the word that was escaping me the whole time I was writing this. My vocabulary fails.-- Pseudonym #3, Aug 29 2003 dare someone to ask RT what the other 13% is..-- po, Aug 29 2003 Not it!
I do approve of the idea. +-- k_sra, Aug 29 2003 Baked i'm afraid, got one in my poor Renault Clio which is approximately 1/3 of the size of your average american juggernaughts.-- cosmocrator, Aug 29 2003 [po] - it's probably "hob".-- PeterSilly, Aug 29 2003 Semi-baked in my Panasonic 5-disc changer. It has a digital jog-wheel and you define the volume the alarm (CD playing) comes on at. This way, I can go to sleep to quiet music (I can set it to 'sleep' to turn off after half an hour), and wake up to much louder music. Or if I wanted (for some weirdo reason), I could do that vice versa!-- jivetalkinrobot, Aug 29 2003 The radio that came standard in my Civic (one of the most common cars on the road in the US) has a nice feature that's a little different but I think better. It ramps up to the previous volume. When you turn on the radio it takes about 5 seconds to reach the volume you had it at when you turned it off. This allows you to reach over and turn it down if it's on it's way to blaringly loud.
What I fear the problem is with the DSV is that someone (other than you) can set the volume to come on much higher than your level of comfort.-- Worldgineer, Aug 29 2003 So, the Renault Clio is 1/3rd the size of a Honda Civic? Do you buy them at a hobby shop?-- bristolz, Aug 29 2003 [Worldgineer] - Quite true. But they can do this already; this at least prevents you from leaving it on extremely high and being blasted when you turn it back on.-- Pseudonym #3, Aug 29 2003 Many Blaupunkt head units come with such a feature. I have the Casablanca CD50, and in the Setup Menu you can specify a "power-up" volume. Yes this is because of a digital volume control with infinite rotation of the volume dial. There are pick-ups along the dial to sense movement and adjust the volume. If your willing to spend around $180 you can get a very nice aftermarket radio that will solve this ISSUE of yours.
Also, the issue Worldgineer brings up about the DSV being set too high could be bypassed by a personalized version of Blaupunkt's "Key Card" that could store such information as power-on volume, audio control settings like bass treble, EQ settings etc. Just think of the possibilities! =0)-- Palace, Oct 22 2003 Baked in all the new Volkswagens I've driven (well, BOTH the new Volkswagens I've driven - a Golf and a Touran)-- kmlabs, Dec 24 2004 random, halfbakery