Overtaxed

I'm all new to SQ and I never had a system with the all the possibilities for tuning that I have now. For example, I have different outputs for sub, middle and tweeters and I can set the levels for each. I can also set the high- and low-pass for each from the head unit.







What I found is that it is impossible (?) to have just one setting that works for all kinds of music.







sub LPF - 80 Hz, 6 dB/oct



mid HPF - none (love the Amegas)


mid LPF - 4 kHz, 24 dB/oct



tweeter HPF - 4 kHz, 12 dB/oct







This works fairly well under all circumstances even though changing the slope to 6 dB/oct for the tweeters makes a nice difference for some lighter music.







When I play most kinds of hip-hop I set the output for the sub to +3 dB and dampen the tweeters with as much as -8 dB, or they feel "sharp" (they are optimized for off-axis installation).







Then I shift to some light jazz or for example Jill Scott and then that sounds like crap. Now the sub goes to +0 dB and the tweeter output to -3 dB and on top of that I of course change the EQ curve to fine tune. Ahhh, that sounds nice.





Now say that I want to listen to some rock, eg. Godsmack. Same story, new set-up again.






Is it just me or is this the price you pay for having a system where you hear EVERYTHING?







And don't get me started on the time alignment! It just sucks to listen to music where all the instruments are mixed smack in the middle.







Why did I cross the line? I want to go back to being ignorant of what a good car sound system can sound like.

Mean Gene

I once felt the same way - thought that one EQ/X-over point would cover the whole spectrum of music but ain't no such thing!! Back when cassettes ( remember those or am I dating myself again? ) where the state of art in automobile music reproduction? Their lack of dynamic range & headroom made it ALMOST possible to handle things with 2/3 EQ settings. CD's ruined that - I've got about 10 different settings programmed into my Symmetry ( just for MY music & competition ) & 4 others for my wife's ears. Thankfully, the 12 volt industry created processors with memories!!

Percy

You KNOW you're into the SQ realm when you have to start messing around with different EQ and Xover settings. This is necessary for one reason...EVERY cd is engineered differently. With rap/hip-hop, they compress the vocals, boost the bass by a large margin and also the treble by quite a bit. They're NOT into vocals! Country...they sweeten everything in the mids just a touch, slightly compress the voices and tweak up the treble for the strings. John Williams soundtracks (E.T./Phanton Menace, etc) are kept pretty much flat. If there's any compression, I really don't hear it. VERY wide dynamic range. Sir George Martin engineers very differently than The Hit Factory. Same thing with Lucasfilm versus Sony music Inc. Each and every one is a different beast.

The only three CD's that I'll tune by...
1. Eagles...Hell Freezes Over.
2. Sarah Mclachlin...Mirrorball...live performance DVD transferred onto CD
3. Celine Dion (pick any song...very wide voice range, though many find it annoying!)

Once when these are tuned up, they'll handle 90% of what I listen to. Eagles used for the bass and guitars. Excellent dynamics and is arguably one of the best live recorded music out there. Sarah Mc for her wide vocal range...Celine is used since the vocals hit the 3k region quite nicely. I usually set xover points according to voices.

Old settings...
Sub low pass 100hz/24db oct. The Vels can reproduce a 100hz tone WITHOUT generating the 2nd and 3rd order harmonics, a problem that plagues EVERY OTHER sub on the market. Try that with another sub and you'll get a slight tone at 200hz and 300hz. Most other subs have a difficult time x'd over at 70hz.

Mid High pass. 70hz/24db oct. I'll set it at 100hz if I feel like playing the music loud...also to prevent overexcursion.
Mid low pass...4khz 24db/oct. In actuality, the Dyns have a natural rolloff so a lowpass point really isn't needed. The MW160s naturally roll off at 4khz at 12db/oct!

High high pass. 3.3khz at 24db/oct. I can go as low as 2.5k (and have done it) with some good results. If these were the ESOTAR T330D's they can go down to 1.5k (!) without any sweat, and that's at 6db/oct!

I'll keep the tone controls flat on the head unit while tweaking everything on the parametric side. If it sounds like a "hole" in the system then I'll move xover points and then retweak.

Such fun!

Percy