Pottstown, PA Noise from Specific Sources: Low-Frequency Bass Limits (2026)

Most vehicle noise ordinances measure a violation by whether words or music are recognizable at a set distance, which lets a system that produces only low-frequency bass, felt more than heard as distinct notes, escape enforcement. Pottstown closed that gap in Chapter 6, Part 3, § 303, its 1994 vehicle sound amplification ordinance. ' That second definition folds directly into the operative rule in § 303: it is unlawful to operate a vehicle's sound system so that it is 'audible' 25 feet or more from the vehicle on a Borough street, highway, alley, parking lot or driveway.

Because 'audible' expressly reaches bass reverberations, an officer does not need to identify a song or make out words to establish a violation; a heavy, low-frequency thump carrying 25 feet from a parked or moving vehicle satisfies the definition on its own. The same six exceptions that apply to the general vehicle sound rule, emergency vehicles, Borough and utility vehicles on official business, approved public events, and theft alarms, apply equally here; there is no separate bass-specific penalty.