Thread: Optimal settings

The x-overs depend on the speakers and your preferences. During the tuning process I would turn off the rear speakers and only listen to the fronts. I'd find some music with good midbass kick in it and turn off the sub, set the HPF (your mids cutoff freq.) to about 160hz. Then turn up the volume to a fairly loud level. Is the bass from the mids keeping up and sounding clear? Do you hear any distortion? If everything sounds fine, then lower the freq a little (like 120hz) and listen again. The more bass they play the less volume they will play, so if you like your music loud a higher cutoff point is better. If they can play bass down to 90hz at fairly high volume and they sound fine, then stop there. No point in tempting fate or damaging your speaker.

On to the sub. Set the LPF to about 120hz. At this point only adjust the gain on the sub amp. Turn it up or down to the level it suits you for normal listening. Listen to a variety of songs that have different bass beats or whatever you listen to the most. Adjust the gain to the best compromise. Once the amp gain is set, play around with the cutoff freq. Raising it to 160hz will increase the output some, but also draw the image to the back of the car. You don't want to hear vocals and such comming from the rear so find a freq that makes the music sound most natural. You'll just have to experiment.

Do you know the slopes on your x-overs? Usually they will be about 12dB down per octave. If that's the case you may want to have the low pass set no higher than 120hz or so. Most folks prefer 60-80hz for that low bass sound that keeps the image up front. If you do try a lower freq like 60 or 80 you may need to increase the gain to maintain the overall volume of the bass. Just see what sounds best to you.

About the EQ, a 9 band unit doesn't allow for much flexability. We'll have to look at things as broadly as possible and not so much the 1/3 octave measurements. I would highly recommend one with more adjustability, but I'll try and see what can be done with what you have.

The big swing from 63hz to 80hz is pretty wierd. Are you sure you have the mids playing down to 90 and the sub playing up to 160? It looks more like they are reversed with the sub starting to roll off about 80-90hz plus your midbass seems pretty weak like the mids are not playing very much below 160Hz. Are you sure they are overlapping because it seems like you have a gap there.

On the windows up.
If you have a band at 250hz and 500hz, I would raise them both up by 4-5db. I don't want to suggest anything on your band at around 125 untill we get the x-over settings confirmed.
If you have a 4K band, raise it 4-5 db and see how you like it. If the mids are too high pitched or harsh at loud volumes then tone down that band until it doesn't sound harsh anymore.
Raise the 8k band to 6 or 7db.
Then play with the 16K band to suit you. Start around 6 or 7 db like the previous band and see if you get any hiss. If not, then you might raise it some more. You don't seem to have much output on the top end, where are your tweeters located and aimed?

On the windows down.
I doubt your only 3db down at 160hz. Must be a fluke, it's probably around 10-13 at minimum. I'd stick to the same adjustments as above. The windows being up or down is mostly going to effect the bass and it's usually not that much. I could have a preset for that, but I don't. It's just not worth the trouble.

Edit: What EQ do you have, is the Q adjustable? I first thought you had a regular 9 band EQ, not parametric or quasi parametric. Once I know what you have I'll revise what I said. Keep in mind I don't have a lot of experience with parametrics, so I'll suggest a few things and then you'll need to go back and measure the response around that area to what the effect is. I'm sure we can smooth it out and get it sounding better.

OK, you have a quasi parametric instead of a true parametric. The width of frequencies effected on both the left and right of the center frequency is known as the Q. A wide Q would effect a lot of frequencies near it and a narrow Q would only focus on the few right at the center frequency. Yours must a have a fixed Q. A 45* angle means nothing. There should be some info on your model about what the Q is. Maybe there is an online manual for it.

Did you check the x-over freqs? Does your system sound weak in the midbass area?
Also, what source material are you using to measure those earlier responses?
If you don't think your x-overs need any tweaking, then try this.

Band 1 to 50hz and cut it 3 dB.
Band 2 to 125 and raise it 4 dB.
Band 3 to 250 and raise it 3 dB.
Band 4 to 500hz and raise it 4 dB.
Band 5 leave it flat.
Band 6 leave it flat.
Band 7 to 3.5kHz and raise it 3 - 4 dB.
Band 8 to 8kHz and raise it maybe 4 - 5 dB
Band 9 to 14kHz and raise it around 7 - 8 dB

Bands 8 and 9 are mainly the tweeter so depending on where they are mounted and aimed you may need to add more or less. Sometimes the SPL meters don't pick them up too well if your tweets are very directional. So just play with the levels on bands 8 and 9 so that you can hear the highs,but you don't want them to sound tinny or harsh or too overbearing. You don't really need good reponse out to 20kHz, 16kHz is more realistic for actual listening so if the response rolls off on the very top it's no big deal. We can move the center freq of band 7 closer to 5kHz if you think the sound should have more bite or sharpness to it, otherwise the 3.5kHz center freq should sound a bit more mellow.

Crank up the volume and see how it sounds. Do you have any high end recordings from Telarc, Sheffield or anything known to be accurate and have good tonal response without being compressed? That's what you need to listen to to check the tonal balance. Voices in particular need to sound realistic like they are from a real person standing nearby.

What kind of music are you going to be listening to most of the time?

If it sounds better, then plot out the response again using your SPL meter and we'll see what the adjustments did. We'll look to see if the dips and the peaks are better or still there.