Poll of the Day > Does anyone here know anything about EQ'ing a car stereo?

(+) Yeah! (+)

About two months ago I finally put in the subwoofer/speakers that me and my wife bought before she passed away, (working on my car and doing to it what we planned helps me feel close to her). It sounds absolutely great, but it isn't perfect. They are two 5" in the front and two 6.5" subwoofers in the back (back passenger, not the trunk speakers) and then whatever stupid 3.5" came stock with the car in the trunk. Here are screenshots of my current EQ and subwoofer filter.

https://i62.servimg.com/u/f62/18/63/32/77/eq110.jpg
https://i62.servimg.com/u/f62/18/63/32/77/eq210.jpg

The receiver/blue tooth App doesn't change in real time as I move the dials, (which would make this a lot easier to do by ear), you have to save it, and then it skips a second and then updates. It sounds pretty good a lot of the time, but there is a slight hiss as if I was listening to a very slightly bad radio signal instead of a store bought CD. I have subwoofer set to "Level 1" out of "0-5", and Bass Boost off for CD, but on for Aux because I don't want to damage the subwoofers. I just want solid punch bass with the vocals/cymbals/guitars to be clear and crisp. I feel like I'm "almost" there, but I don't know what to tweak. I don't have a lot of experience EQing in the first place to know where to "start."
---

:(

I suppose I could register on a music or audio equipment forum and ask. But that's just... so many steps. And I'm just really lazy right now.
---

Well, there are apps you could get for a phone that would help with this. Although, I would recommend buying at least a cheap sound pressure level meter, they should even have some in the auto section at Walmart. They aren't fantastic, but they would probably be calibrated somewhat better than just the mic on your phone.

Other than that, download a tone generator and use it to create whatever sound you'd like within the constraints of your EQ. I'd suggest first aiming for flat, find the quietest band of your EQ and reduce the rest until they match. Then adjust it for your own listening preferences.

I wouldn't mess with it... I mean in my experience, eq settings just make thinhs sound worse or different than how the original artist intended them to sound (tons of post processing is already applied to that shit)

I mean, I liken eq settings to something you should be using if you just recorded your own music and wanted to get the sound just right

As to the slight hiss - I get that with my setup if my iPod or smartphone are plugged into the charger. Seems to get some sort of feedback or something from being plugged in. If your battery has a decent charge you might want to try unplugging it and running through Bluetooth only
---

Red_Frog posted...

Well, there are apps you could get for a phone that would help with this. Although, I would recommend buying at least a cheap sound pressure level meter, they should even have some in the auto section at Walmart. They aren't fantastic, but they would probably be calibrated somewhat better than just the mic on your phone.

Other than that, download a tone generator and use it to create whatever sound you'd like within the constraints of your EQ. I'd suggest first aiming for flat, find the quietest band of your EQ and reduce the rest until they match. Then adjust it for your own listening preferences.

That's actually a pretty good idea. Thank you.

ReggieTheReckless posted...

I wouldn't mess with it... I mean in my experience, eq settings just make thinhs sound worse or different than how the original artist intended them to sound (tons of post processing is already applied to that shit)

I mean, I liken eq settings to something you should be using if you just recorded your own music and wanted to get the sound just right

I have to respectfully disagree. I've never heard a proper stereo that was flatlined sound even decent.
---

I can't help with the specific bands but if you bump the bottom and the high end of the top a bit, then adjust the gain you should get what you're looking for. For more specific details on the bands listen to the music through a program and you should get those bars moving up and down, like pay attention to the parts that have a lot of cymbals and just figure out where it is.

The hiss is probably some noise being added in, you might just need to live with it if you want to have all of that stuff on the system (figuring that out is hell on wheels though). If you do figure out where the noise is from, add it to the end before the speakers themselves so the boost doesn't get the static boosted ad well.

As for making the different instruments more crisp... you're kinda screwed for that. That has to do with how the band recorded/mixed the song. You can make them louder and adjust the base and everything, but you can't mess with the crispness that would take going into the file itself and fucking with the song.

shadowsword87 posted...

I can't help with the specific bands but if you bump the bottom and the high end of the top a bit, then adjust the gain you should get what you're looking for. For more specific details on the bands listen to the music through a program and you should get those bars moving up and down, like pay attention to the parts that have a lot of cymbals and just figure out where it is.

The hiss is probably some noise being added in, you might just need to live with it if you want to have all of that stuff on the system (figuring that out is hell on wheels though). If you do figure out where the noise is from, add it to the end before the speakers themselves so the boost doesn't get the static boosted ad well.

As for making the different instruments more crisp... you're kinda screwed for that. That has to do with how the band recorded/mixed the song. You can make them louder and adjust the base and everything, but you can't mess with the crispness that would take going into the file itself and fucking with the song.

Thank you, brother.
---