Dynamics/Hard Limiter threshold not enforced — audio exceeds or ignores set limiter threshold

Premiere Pro version: v26.3

OS: Windows 11

Summary:
The Limiter within the Dynamics effect (and the standalone Hard Limiter) does not correctly enforce the threshold I set. When I set the limiter threshold to -6 dB, the output does not limit to -6 dB as expected — the metered level shows around -10 to -15 dB instead, and the limiter appears to either over-attenuate the entire signal or not respond to the threshold value correctly.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Create a new project and import an audio/video clip with dialogue.
2. Apply the Dynamics effect (or Hard Limiter) to the clip.
3. Enable the Limiter section and set the threshold to -6 dB.
4. Play back the timeline and observe the audio meters.

Expected result:
Audio peaks should be limited to the set threshold (-6 dB) and not exceed it, while the rest of the signal remains unaffected.

Actual result:
The output level does not correspond to the threshold. Peaks read significantly lower than expected (around -10 to -15 dB), as if the entire signal is being attenuated rather than only the peaks being limited. Changing the threshold does not produce the expected proportional change in output level.

Additional notes:

• The issue occurs regardless of whether the effect is applied to the clip, the track, or the master.
• Effect chain order was verified (limiter placed last in the signal chain).
• The same source audio, when processed in FL Studio with FabFilter Pro-C 2 and Pro-L 2, behaves correctly and predictably, which suggests the issue is specific to Premiere's limiter implementation rather than the source file.

Impact:
This makes Premiere's built-in limiter unreliable for controlling output levels, forcing a workaround via external DAWs.