Whenever I hear amps clipping past the bleeding edge, a couple of things come to mind.
First, the rider's ear's have injuriously tuned out the distortion, much like people's ears tune out a extraneous noise in a room full of people talking. Their hearing acuity becomes dulled, probably irreversibly. What sound's like a raspy public address speaker to the rest of us would sadly seem "normal" to the rider. Add to that those throaty after-market pipes that are the most sought after don't help the situation, either.
Second, many people's sensitivity to upper midrange to high frequency content has diminished due to abuse, so the amp is cranked well into clipping in order to compensate. So up goes the treble control exposing bad recordings and strident colorations in the electronics. A vicious motor cycle
Still, people are always going to be exposed to "BIG" sounds whether they encounter it from Lexus IS 250 "Droptop" with it's premium sound system to a wake board boat pumping out jigawatts down by the lake, or whatever. Or OzzFest Day in Somerset. Add to this every bike equipped with a mediocre sound system which seem prevalent these days.
I myself wouldn't want to hear distorted music, unless it add "flavor" to the accordion solo's in my Polka collection.
So anyway, mobile tunes out loud are already an accepted part of the American Culture, (for better or worse). A decent motorcycle sound external speaker system really ain't all that bad when done right.
OK, I'll get off my boombox now (pun intended).
