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#1 |
diyAudio Member
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Car Audio Myths
I received an email the other day that read: "I suggest on the page about wiring a car audio system, that you mention the importance of keeping the length of speaker wire between paired Left and Right speakers nearly the same length. This can be done to help keep the left and right channels in phase." Basically that says that electricity travels so slowly that differences in the length of speaker wire can throw off the phasing of the speaker system. Now there are several things that will throw off a system's phase but speaker wire length is not one of them. After pressing the author for the source of the information I was informed that he was given that information by a "senior" car stereo installer (whatever that is). After explaining that this was not the case I got to thinking about other good car audio myths I've heard. I think you'll find them entertaining and also educational. Feel free to send me your own favorites. I'd be glad to add them to my list. Top Ten Favorite Car Audio Myths (in no particular order) 1. Amplifiers should be grounded at the battery Generally the battery is the worst place to ground an amplifier. The battery is where all of the electrical noise from the vehicle's various parts ends up. Like a noise garbage disposal. Connecting your audio components to this noise hub is a bad idea. 2. Adding a second battery to the vehicle will ease the load on the alternator A second battery will increase the load on the alternator, not decrease it. With the vehicle running the second battery becomes another load for the alternator to charge. Second batteries are only good for engine off listening time. 3. Ground all of your audio components at the same place Sometimes this works and sometimes it makes the problem worse. When you ground any current carrying component to the vehicle you create a circular field at that point. Poorly designed audio components could pick up this field and introduce it as noise into the system. When this is the case it's a good idea to separate your components by six inches or more. The higher the current (large amps), the more space I recommend. 4. Routing power cables on the opposite side of the signal cables will prevent noise Maybe. It will prevent the signal cables from picking up noise inductively from the power cables. But it won't prevent them from picking up noise from the vehicle's chassis or from other electronic components along their path. It's a good practice but doesn't guarantee noise pickup. 5. A high output alternator will reduce the chance of noise Actually it's the opposite. The larger the alternator the greater the noise output. The noise increases with the power output of the alternator. 6. Power capacitors should be fused Bad idea. The purpose of a car audio capacitor is to deliver large amounts of current very quickly (faster than a battery is capable of). Adding a fuse, which is just a short length of very small wire, will slow down this current delivery. And because capacitors can discharge so quickly the fuse wouldn't blow before the capacitor discharged. 7. Adding more speakers will increase the sound quality Volume, maybe. Sound quality, no. The more speakers you add to a system the greater the problems you will have due to speaker interaction. Each speaker is a little wave producer and when the waves from one speaker meet those of another speaker the results are peaks and dips in the response. Generally less is more when looking for sound quality. Look to the car audio competition finals winners and you'll see that they use a small number of high quality speakers. 8. Turning up all of the frequencies on an equalizer will increase the system volume The system volume is based on many factors including system power and speaker sensitivity. The purpose of an equalizer is to compensate for vehicle specific problems and not as a general volume control. Boosting all of the frequencies won't make your system louder, only more distorted. 9. Tweeters should be placed as high up as possible Tweeters should be placed as near to the midrange/woofer as possible. The tweeter and the midrange/woofer are a matched pair and shouldn't be separated. Imagine an electric guitar which has a wide acoustical range. If the guitar is playing a riff in the frequency range of the woofer and then switches to a riff in the frequency range of the tweeter you'll likely notice the position of the guitar jump. Now if the tweeter is placed near the woofer the guitar position will remain in place. 10. An amplifier's gain control should be set to maximum to get more volume The purpose of the gain control is to match the output level of the component before it (head unit, equalizer, crossover, etc.) Since car audio manufacturers don't use a standard output level like home audio manufacturers do it is necessary to have an adjustable input. Adjusting the gain too high will only cause more distortion in the amplifier's output. Since our ears perceive distorted and painful sounds as louder this is a myth that has perpetuated. Bottom line: Be careful who you listen to and what you believe (good advice for life too). There are plenty of folks inside and outside the car audio realm that will simply make something up if they don't know the answer (don't want to look stupid). Then there are those that have been told a lie, accepted it as truth, and passed it along. When in doubt, get a second opinion.
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i lyke my women how i lyke my cars ~shaved~ |
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#2 | |
diyAudio Member
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Nottingham, England
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#3 | |
diyAudio Member
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Aveiro-Portugal
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Wrong!! The battery is the cleanest point to connect an amp in a car!! ´ Cheers
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Jorge |
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#4 |
diyAudio Member
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Nottingham, England
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Snap!!!
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#5 | |
diyAudio Member
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Aveiro-Portugal
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In time!!! ![]()
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Jorge |
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#6 |
diyAudio Member
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I did smile as I read your post, but probably not in the way you intended
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There are still unbridgeable divisions between cultures. How can two peoples ever come to understand each other when one of them is ignorant of Toṭ? Umberto Eco |
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#7 |
Banned
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"I suggest on the page about wiring a car audio system, that you
mention the importance of keeping the length of speaker wire between paired Left and Right speakers nearly the same length. This can be done to help keep the left and right channels in phase." ok, yes.. its not the phase, but its so the speaker impedences match, and therefore they are the same volume... I have experienced this in my room.... one speakers polyswitch will cut out alot sooner than the other, because the other speaker had longer wire on it... Top Ten Favorite Car Audio Myths (in no particular order) 1. Amplifiers should be grounded at the battery Battery is totally the best idea.. it prevents nearly every chance of ground looks in the system... 2. Adding a second battery to the vehicle will ease the load on the alternator If the second battery is closer to the amp you don't have to worry about losses due to long high current cables, also, often the battery in a car (with a sound system) will only get discharged when you are drawing more current than the alternator can supply, if you have 2 batteries, there will be more current available so the batteries will keep their voltage higher better, and therefore, when under heavy load, there will be less system voltage drop, and therefore less load on the alternator... 3. Ground all of your audio components at the same place I really have no idea what your talking about in your reply to this... but if you ground evertything to a common place (the chasis of the car is NOT common, the battery is) then you will avoid many many problems... 4. Routing power cables on the opposite side of the signal cables will prevent noise "prevent noise" is wrong, I agree, but it will prevent the horrible high frequencies generated by the alternator from being induced into the audio leads... 5. A high output alternator will reduce the chance of noise I'm not going to argue with you on this.. cos I wouldn't have aclue.. ![]() 6. Power capacitors should be fused fuse where? lol personally, in my oppinion, if you fuse something, you put the fuse BEFORE it... which in this case you should do..... AND.. all amplifiers have fuses on the DC input, so your suggestion goes up in smoke ![]() 7. Adding more speakers will increase the sound quality I suppose agree with you on this too.. lol 8. Turning up all of the frequencies on an equalizer will increase the system volume agreed too... lol 9. Tweeters should be placed as high up as possible I personally agree that tweeters should be places as high as possible... it creates a higher sound stage, and now I am just making up stuff cos I figure no one will read this far.. lol 10. An amplifier's gain control should be set to maximum to get more volume what if all you want is SPL? then setting the gain control to 75% is reccomended.... |
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#8 |
diyAudio Member
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Brantford, ON
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I would like to comment on this because I was a former design/builder for IASCA sanctioned vehicles once upon a time...here goes it from jdm5genlude original post:
speaker cable length in a car audio environment between left and right channels does not change phase BUT adds delay in imaging (we tested this) myths #1 amplifiers should not be grounded at the battery because this involves long lground leads that are susecptible to noise and who the hell wants to run massive amounts of 4ga wire up to the battery #2 correct #3 ground all high current amplifiers if in close proximity to a single star ground and all signal level components the same #4 true...buts its good practice because of the high currents involved with the amplifiers #5 yes and no....a high current alternator that has been properly wound and rectified will not produce more noise (expect tp pay $800 for a decent one) #6 correct.....a fuse should be placed at the battery and then separate fuses for each device (rules are rules) #7 correct....more can be worse in a small chamber (vehicle) #8 correct....most people have no idea how to use one #9 correct...in a car audio environment it is best to keep the front channel as low as possible so the distance remains the same between left and right channels (hint: place two speakers on the floor in front of the driver and passenger seat and compare the imagining from your door speakers) #10 correct....thats the reason why we use line drivers with low impedance to deliver maximum signal and a lower noise floor to the amplifiers so we can turn the gain down....remember 12 volt audio amplifiers are stressed out as it is in their power supplies that is my synopsis on that post...take what you want and throw the rest away..LOL Cheers!!The DIRT® |
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#9 |
diyAudio Member
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ohh man i didnt kno you guys were gonna take this serious.. i jus foudn this and thought u guys might enjoy a good laugh...
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i lyke my women how i lyke my cars ~shaved~ |
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#10 | |
diyAudio Member
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Aveiro-Portugal
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Jorge |
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Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Audio Wisdom: Debunking common myths | DCPreamp | Everything Else | 235 | 19th February 2007 02:29 AM |
Funny Audio | Stocker | Everything Else | 0 | 5th February 2005 03:59 AM |
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