In order to reveal the relationship between system time domain model parameters and system frequency response functions, new magnitude bounds of frequency response functions for nonlinear Volterra systems described by NARX model are established. The magnitude bound of the nth-order aeneralized frequency response function (GFRF) can be expressed as a simple n-degree polynomial function of the magnitude of the first order GFRF, whose coefficients are functions of the model parameters and frequency variables. Thus the system output spectrum can also be bounded by a polynomial function of the magnitude of the first order GFRF. These results demonstrate explicitly the analytical relationship between model parameters and system frequency response functions, and provide a significant insight into the magnitude based analysis and synthesis of nonlinear systems in the frequency domain. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.