Vista, CA Noise from Specific Sources: Low-Frequency Bass Limits (2026)

010(B) is written to catch bass-heavy sound systems around the clock. It defines a prima facie violation as operating any sound amplifier, at any time of day or night, which is part of, or connected to, any radio, stereo, receiver, compact disc player, cassette tape player or other similar device, when it is both plainly audible at 50 feet and loud enough to cause a person to be aware of vibration accompanying the sound at a distance of 50 feet from the source. The vibration test is what separates this clause from the general daytime/nighttime noise rule in subsection (A): a system can be quiet enough not to violate the audibility standard and still trip subsection (B) if a neighbor 50 feet away can feel the thump.

020 lets any peace officer who personally encounters the vibration or audibility threshold issue a citation without first measuring decibels with a meter. 010, and lets the city attorney or prosecutor ask the court to order the confiscation and destruction of the amplifying or transmitting equipment on top of any fine. Each day the vibration continues is charged as a separate offense.