I feel like my shaker 500 gets loud and low by itself
am i hearing things or has this been a problem

 

You may be referring to the feature that adjusts the volume based on acceleration or something or another. It's in the manual, if you scroll thru the menu you'll see the feature I'm talking about.

 

No your not hearing things, it's this that you are hearing

Speed sensitive volume: Radio volume changes automatically and
slightly with vehicle speed to compensate for road and wind noise.
Recommended level is 1–3. Level 0 turns the feature off and level 7 is
the maximum setting.
Press MENU to access and use / / SEEK to adjust the
volume setting. The level will appear in the display.

 

That feature was turned all the way up to 7 on my Shaker 1000 at first. I had to play with it to get it the way I wanted it. It certainly got my attention the first time I put on a cd while driving the car.

 

yep I turned mine on by accident and then though I was going crazy. Finally read the manual and realized what it was and turned it off.

 

Seems to me it is only useful for listening to something at a low volume. I had it on 1, and if I had the volume up, it just got too loud around 50+. I've since turned it off. I also tried 2 or 3, and it was just waaaaay too much.