El Cajon, CA Noise Ordinances: Amplified Music & Outdoor Sound (2026)

010, with an exception for research, industrial, construction, or repair activity in properly zoned areas. The section lists specific amplified-sound violations without limiting the ordinance to only those examples: using a radio, loudspeaker, or sound amplifier cast upon the streets to advertise or draw attention to a building (subsection A), and operating a radio, phonograph, or other sound-reproducing device in a way that disturbs neighboring inhabitants or business establishments, expressly naming restaurants and drive-ins (subsection D). 020 separately defines "loud and raucous noise" and, in subsection C, extends the ban to "the human voice or any record or recording thereof when amplified by any device, whether electrical or mechanical or otherwise," along with any other sound of such volume or carrying power that it interferes with the peace and quiet of people on public or private property, or with users of streets and highways.

Neither section sets a numeric decibel ceiling for general amplified sound; the standard is whether the sound disturbs persons of reasonable sensibilities or neighboring occupants, applied case by case. 94 covers sound-amplifying equipment mounted on "sound trucks" operated for advertising or public address purposes, with its own registration, hours, and a 65-decibel limit measured at 50 feet, but that chapter governs mobile sound-truck broadcasting rather than fixed-location amplified music.