Tips on tuning a sound system?

[Schnitzer318is]

Late to the game, but glad you got it sounding the way you want it. Luke is most helpful, and helped me quite a bit during my install as well. LOL which I will be ripping out again to go back to sealed enclosure. Anyway, wanted to say that I agree with Luke. I NEVER use the EQ on the deck, no matter how good the deck is. I have a $600 Kenwood in my car with all kinds of gizmos and gadgets... and the only one I need is "pass through" or "bypass". LOL as long as it has 5v preout minimum and a decent display that's all a deck has to do. I miss the old Kenwood Xcelon chameleons that had 8v preouts and NO internal amp. Those were hawtness.

[Turf1600]

What the fuck...150 posts and 2 hours on the fucking phone and all you have to say is "it sounds terrific"?


FY, YFF.

No, seriously, get some fucking pictures up or I send Guido to your house to tear up your shrubs and kick your dog.



SRS!

Luke

I wanna clean up the wiring before I post pics. It all just needs to be trimmed up - plus the interior isnt all back together yet.

I wanna do your products some justice. I'm choosing the time to post my pics wisely. Seriouely though - it's very very impressive. I love that I have the option to make the sub go crazy loud.

[StereoInstaller1]

Got it fixed - sounds awesome.

What the fuck...150 posts and 2 hours on the fucking phone and all you have to say is "it sounds terrific"?


FY, YFF.

No, seriously, get some fucking pictures up or I send Guido to your house to tear up your shrubs and kick your dog.



SRS!

Luke

[Turf1600]

Got it fixed - sounds awesome.

[Jean]

Lawl

[StereoInstaller1]

You want the bass to stun low flying ducks when you play your system.

fix'd

[Jean]

Luke and others pretty much covered everything, I've also done tri amp systems with 6channels and all active crossovers and that's fun to tune :)

Anyway, start simple. You want the best sound up-front. Like others already said turn any of the "loudness" and "eq" stuff on the deck OFF. Then tune just the front speakers, keep in mind that if your deck goes to 30 on volume you don't want that to be your theoretical limit, maybe 20-25 before it starts distoring it's signal that the amp(s) will amplify.

So, deck on all flat settings, now start with the crossover on the amplifier at the lower setting, maybe 60hz or so and play some good quality material (pink floyd - money, sorrow) and listen carefully. You are now trying to get the most sound before they start to distort, your deck should not be maxed out to the full volume but maybe at 3/4 of it's way. This all really depends on the equipment though, so it might be too loud for you or your speakers might not handle the power at such a low highpass setting so try 70-80. You don't want to high pass them at 100-200 and lose all of midbass though. Once you have the front dialed in, where you have good sound that can be loud but still CLEAR w/o any audible distortion (speakers bottoming out on bass or tweeters distoring on highs or voices are just plain bad/horrible) then move on to rear speakers and/or sub.

Honestly, I would get the rear speakers just loud enough and clear for you to notice the change in sound in the car (fullness) but not to the point where it's so loud from the back that you can't really tell what's coming from the front....

Then the sub, boost on 0, gain at 0 and crossover as low as possible (if you set it too high it will BOOM and play some of the midbass as well, something a SUB can't do well). You want the bass to blend in, not overpower your system.

[Dozyproductions]

It is not wrong. The bullshit sloppy EQ settings found in decks sucks, and they cause piss poor clarity. Just exactly how much circuitry do you think can be packed in a deck?

"Most car audio enthusiasts use the deck because its easier" tells me it is bullshit, too. Just how fucking hard it is to adjust it on the amp? Damn near everything in life that is "easier" is bullshit or band-aids.

Deck EQs suck, and the crossovers are rarely worth a shit. They sound like ass, and they are a band-aid. Use them for final tweaking AFTER you know what you are doing.

He will be far better off to do it the way I suggested, using the amps crossovers. He does not need EQ at this point. He needs training.


Yeah, I am sure Patrick has a DVM (we are measuring voltage, right?) and a bunch of test tones on disk, right? I am sure this self admitted "car audio newbie" will be comfortable in setting that up...

Actually, the CORRECT way to adjust gains is using a reference disk and an oscilloscope to analyze the waveforms looking for clipping...but Patrick is not equipped for that, either.


Since I have installed about 30 of these amps (I am the ONLY dealer in Oregon) I think I can make my recommendations pretty accurately. In some cars that are "bass challenged" like an E30, you should dial in the bass first, then midrange, then lose the bass before bringing in the tweeters, THEN add the bass back in.


Oh yeah, Patrick, if the bass sounds a bit "tubby", try lowering the low pass on the bass amp. A tiny bit should do it, like 80Hz or so.

Luke

DMM works just fine.

Well we all have to start from somewhere. It took me at least a year trolling a car audio forum before I even wanted to replace stock speakers and unit :(

[NC325iC]

well id still use it on a quality system, less crap to buy to make it sound "goog enough for me"

[StereoInstaller1]

i like bandaids, it helps that i have 2 mismatched shitty under powered amps and only 2 speakers and a sub is a too small box, but my head unit has a 16 channel bandaid

See, that is what a band-aid is for, not trying to do a base tune on a high quality system.

[NC325iC]

i like bandaids, it helps that i have 2 mismatched shitty under powered amps and only 2 speakers and a sub is a too small box, but my head unit has a 16 channel bandaid

[Turf1600]

Patrick, I have used 3000 feet of that same wire this year. I use it in my own car...I assure you, it is fine. You have something else wrong...go find it!

How is the sound overall so far?

Good - but I'll have a fuller sound once I get that side figured out. the thing is I've traced it - the problem is between the input side of the 4 channel amp and the speaker. It's not likely the crossover - and the only thing that is different from the other side is the speaker wire. It's possible that I may have sliced it somewhere or something but neither the tweeter now the mid sound good on that side.

[StereoInstaller1]

Patrick, I have used 3000 feet of that same wire this year. I use it in my own car...I assure you, it is fine. You have something else wrong...go find it!

How is the sound overall so far?

[Turf1600]

Maybe you can shed some light then - I used the blue (18ga?) wire you sent on the drivers side. that side sounds like garbage. I used 14ga kicker wire on the pass side and it sounds phenominal.

I switched the inputs on the amp and the left side still sounded like balls.

IIRC the problem with the wire you sent is that it was in two long pieces that when cut in half weren't long enough.

[StereoInstaller1]

Dewd, I sent e3nough wire to do your car easily...where did it go?

Speaker wire of the caliber you are using is fine...normal 16 gauge is great.

Kimber 4TC is about $7.50/ft, that is a real upgrade in wire. Anything by Bruce Brysson is the shit, but expect $20/ft minimum. I call typical hot rod speaker wire "Audio Jewlery: as it does absolutely nothing for performance, but is profitable as hell, so all the salsmen in the world want to sell it. 99.99% bullshit, but 200% profit, minimum.

Luke