Once upon the dawn of car audio, there were 1/3 octave and parametric EQs, and a few rare time-based things. What options do I have today?
And, as a bonus question, can I get away with a stereo unit for EQing the fronts* only, and use lowpass and gain and maybe Punch EQ to adjust the bass?
There's a 2017 VW Alltrack I'm driving frequently now, want to up the system around the factory radio. The current ideas:
- Replace the fronts with a component set (Crutchfield shows both 5" and 6" models supposedly fit...?!?). Probably a high end Focal since we have their home speakers, and a friend's swap in a CR-V sounds really clear.
*Disconnect the rear speakers, I don't listen to rear stereo at home, screw this.
**why RF? My old business partner can get me all this free.
And, as a bonus question, can I get away with a stereo unit for EQing the fronts* only, and use lowpass and gain and maybe Punch EQ to adjust the bass?
There's a 2017 VW Alltrack I'm driving frequently now, want to up the system around the factory radio. The current ideas:
- Replace the fronts with a component set (Crutchfield shows both 5" and 6" models supposedly fit...?!?). Probably a high end Focal since we have their home speakers, and a friend's swap in a CR-V sounds really clear.
- Gonna have made a box to fit in the rear footwell right behind the driver's seat. Currently thinking a pair of Rockford** 8" in an opposed configuration for force canceling. Fb around 60, Q below 0.7, should sound tight.
- Some 4-channel Rockford** amp to power the fronts and the sub. The fader will thus control the sub level.
*Disconnect the rear speakers, I don't listen to rear stereo at home, screw this.
**why RF? My old business partner can get me all this free.
Sounds like a plan. I run a mid-range Pioneer head unit which has pretty comprehensive digital eq and sub filters
Have a look at DS18 DSP units made for car use and NVarcher DSP boards
My rear door speakers are disconnected too, good move. Where are your rears located? Can you do a larger pod for that location and get your subs off the floor? I think I mentioned elsewhere about fitting 4x ZR6.4Ds into the 4 doors with pods
Did you see Guerilla's FR setup for the dash? Seems like a smart setup that I am now in a hurry to implement using a pair of Logitech 2.75" FR drivers
Have a look at DS18 DSP units made for car use and NVarcher DSP boards
My rear door speakers are disconnected too, good move. Where are your rears located? Can you do a larger pod for that location and get your subs off the floor? I think I mentioned elsewhere about fitting 4x ZR6.4Ds into the 4 doors with pods
Did you see Guerilla's FR setup for the dash? Seems like a smart setup that I am now in a hurry to implement using a pair of Logitech 2.75" FR drivers
The C-DSP 8x12 V2.0 for cars, is so good, that I know people who use it for their dedicated home high-end stereo system.
It features higher output levels - 4 V instead of 2 - which improves the signal-to-noise ratio.
You should also be able to connect almost anything to it, no matter the design of the head-unit, because of its flexible design of its input. Of course this is not cheap, but I believe you will reach better results, rather than using the simplified EQ in most head-units.
https://www.minidsp.com/products/car-audio-dsp/c-dsp-8x12
It features higher output levels - 4 V instead of 2 - which improves the signal-to-noise ratio.
You should also be able to connect almost anything to it, no matter the design of the head-unit, because of its flexible design of its input. Of course this is not cheap, but I believe you will reach better results, rather than using the simplified EQ in most head-units.
https://www.minidsp.com/products/car-audio-dsp/c-dsp-8x12
Head Unit, can't you just fade the rears out rather than disconnect them?
I have low end Focal's in my car and they are excellent, but some people find their metal tweeters to be harsh. The only issue I find is with poor recordings (or poor reception, with FM radio) but most of the time they are really good and I actually really enjoy the music, which I can't say for most car stereos. Mine's a very modest setup with a 'vintage' Sony stereo amp and a decent high to low converter/preamp, but it's plenty for me.
I have low end Focal's in my car and they are excellent, but some people find their metal tweeters to be harsh. The only issue I find is with poor recordings (or poor reception, with FM radio) but most of the time they are really good and I actually really enjoy the music, which I can't say for most car stereos. Mine's a very modest setup with a 'vintage' Sony stereo amp and a decent high to low converter/preamp, but it's plenty for me.
Rear speakers are a historical accident. Way back when you had a tube sending maybe 3W to a single mono speaker in the dash...and rear passengers couldn't hear. So they stuck a speaker in the back, and that persisted. However we don't do that at home, so why in the car? (Well, in some cars the fronts sound like total crap by themselves ha ha).
Also if I just fade the rears down, what do I do to control the sub level? The stock radio has no provision like that, and I would NOT want some ugly extra knob, and since I don't care about the rears then using the rear channels to feed the subs works out great.
Yeah, I thought a bit of "yikes!" but on re-thinking I'm like "well no EQ is going to be $100 either..." (unless used, hmmm)
EDIT: then I stumble on this, who knows the noise floor but $143
https://www.droppinhzcaraudio.com/p...octave-measured-frequency-from-20-hz-to-20khz
or https://www.amazon.com/Soundstream-MPQ-7B-7-Band-DIN-Equalizer/dp/B007SP5GW
I suppose another factor is how much TIME to spend measuring and tuning. I have a lot of stuff going on, including two home setups to work on. Maybe start with something like the Soundstream and see if things come out OK.
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