Adventures in EQing

[Ummon]

I've had a heck of a time with my car stereo gig. I get a deck that only has one set of RCA outs. I wasn't hot on the display interface anyway. I get another deck that sounds great; I like the display interface, but don't like the controls interface, and the sub channel output just blows. Oh, and the thing never remembered where you were last on the SD source. ??

So I get a different deck that solves all these problems....except....it doesn't sound as good as the second deck did out of the box.

For weeks, I'm messing around with the features trying to get the right combination of bass with everything else: EQ, sub channel, bass booster, sub peak freq, overal High Pass Frequency - the best I get is nice sub and drums, and voice and cymbals. Guitars aren't lost exactly, but they're not shouting at me, especially when the kick drums are blast beats.

At this point, the EQ is set like this:





I'm thinking, 'there's gotta be something I can do here. I boosted at 315, and that helped....but something's missing. The only place left is in the middle.' In an amp manual I once read that one channel was designed with a 'cut' at 700hz, to eliminate muddiness. I remember this and thought about what I heard through my deck and thought, 'you know, this may be where I've heard other decks 'push'.'

So I decide to try this out, with some slight adjustments on the other bands, and come up with this:





And it sounds ---smurfin--- great. Guitars are baying like hounds, with great clarity all round.

I swear years ago, when I still scooped the mids on my guitar amps, seeing some deck in a store, where I was flipping through EQ presets and I came across this shape, and it sounded tubby or something. I guess my ear has really changed.

I asked a friend about it and he said:

"Yes - I think your 800-2k range is where most of your 'sonic energy is,' so it would sound better boosted in those areas..."

[Cakemeister]

I thought you were playing Everquest.

[Aceldamor]

I also thought this was Everquest....I thought that game was dead.

[Epyx]

I was thinking Everquest as well..how lame to find a stereo thread!

[Justin Z]

Hey Ummon since you seem to be an expert . . .  I picked up a set of decent surround speakers for free.  Do you think there's any way to decase them and use them as car speakers?  Mine are factory crap with paper cones, so anything would be better.

[Ummon]

I'm no expert, I've just picked up stuff along the way. But to answer your question, I doubt it, for the simple reason that your surrounds are likely 8ohms, and your car stereo outputs at 4. And I think you can only set up speaker loads by combining them to get higher resistance. There's no way to decrease it without electronic finagling.

Everquest?  Who the hell would think that?  LAME.  Do I have ever talk that way?  Have I ever said I play PC games?  Not really.

[Xiaou2]

 Most Amps have a flat EQ, that needs the bass and treble to be turned up
for better response.

 Mid-Range frequency is the most powerful, and can easily drown out everything else.
(Which is why they use them in Ambulance / Police Sirens)

 Too much mid-range at loud volumes is the reason for most hearing loss.  Especially
with things like those horrific "Ear Bud" headphones, which are almost nothing but
midrange.  (Those tiny buds are very rare to be able to replicate deep & clear bass,
so you have to turn the volumes up to unhealthy levels of mid-range)

 On many of my speakers, I rip the midrange speaker right out of them. 
The tweeter and bass still picks up enough mid to be just fine to my ears.   
I also EQ the bass and treble as high as they go without hiss or bass distortion.

 (I listen to just about every type of music, from heavy metal, to newage, and almost
everything in-between)


 Its also worth noting, that everyones ears are different.  Some people cant detect
certain frequency ranges as well as others.  (Damages, old age, or simply do to the
shape and configurations of the ear)

 I have friends who cant tell much difference between the high quality
Sennheiser headphones I have  -vs-  their $20 craptastics.   Its insane.  However,
people like myself, who have sensitive ears, will almost be in tears.. because the
Senns sound so much better.

 If you have to crank your midranges, where once you did not... you may want to
consider getting a hearing test.


Other notes:


- Cheapie/Crap woofer speakers usually are filled with mid-range output... even when
they have proper crossovers.

- Ported speakers (speakers that have a 'tuned'  open air hole) can often have a
horrible muddy sounding bass.

- Poor or Failed crossovers can turn a great speaker, into a horrible sounding speaker.

- PC built-in 'Onboard sound' is utter crap. (Dont believe the Specs) Use actual decent
sound cards, like soundblaster, for best results.

- The frequency ranges listed does not always mean better sound.  Both the models I had
looked at  "Sonys -vs- Senns" had the same specs.  Yet the Senns blew the Sonys
out of the water. 
 
 Maybe the sonys were theoretically capable of great range... but all the capability got
hampered by things like distortions, overheated-expansion, heavy / inefficient coils,
poor acoustic chamber/materials...etc)

- Some speakers are designed more for looks and or reduced space requirements.  By
tweaking this, you can often make a standard speaker sound better than factory.
IE: Add more air volume ((bigger enclosure)) to get much better bass.

- Placement of speakers changes the sound.  Put a speaker on of very near the floor,
and it will have much better sounding bass.  Raise it +3ft, and you will be surprised at
how much bass it lost.

- An Excellent set of speakers and proper placement, usually will create a very
holographic type of sound-field.   Audiofiles call this a  "Soundstage".  Where as
the sound is more live sounding... and it appears that it comes out of nowhere, rather
than from the speakers in the corners.
outside world... rather than the headphones.

 The first time I put on the Senheiser 500's, I played a DVD.  They were so lifelike,
loud, and crystal clear, that I thought I forgot to turn off my main house speakers+ surround sound system!   That was an amazing feat, considering my house
speakers are tuned to be very crisp and detailed.  I was shocked and amazed
that the Senns were able to fool my ears to such an extreme level...
Well worth the $100 I paid for them ages ago.

- Larger speakers do not always mean better bass.  Ive heard 10" woofers that
had more "Punch" (better cleaner tighter responses) than the 12" woofers in most
systems.

- Phillips introduced a technology called "Woox".  Its a weighted "dual-spring"
passive radiator, that produces insanly deep and clean bass (Bass does not
distort, even at high volumes, like most woofers & subs)  on a Non-ported box.
They are some of the best bookself speakers Ive ever heard.

 They dont take any additional power, and they dont need to vibrate the entire
house to produce great bass sounds.  They also dont muddy the sound, like most
subwoofers do.

- If you want to feel the Music/Bass, but not break all the windows, get a pair of
bass-Shakers, and mount them under your chair/couch/seat-frame.  They may be
labeled as Transducers.  They are like weighted speakers, without an air-moving cone.  They pretty much only produce very strong vibrations...and only use a tiny amount of
power in the process.

- A better tweeter, will produce better 3d soundfields, and better overall sounds.
Horn tweeters are garbage... only made for noisy clubs.  Use tradiational cone,
Dome, or Ribbon tweeters. Ribbon tweeters are very lightweight, and more responsive
than cone tweeters. Some dome tweeters do fairly decent, but I think Ribbon tweeters
top them.

- Higher Ohm speakers usually means more dynamic range.  Senns have some
headphones which are 150 to 300ohms.  Takes a lot more to power them, but
the sound quality and range possible is worth carrying a portable mini-amp.

 Home speakers of 6 to 8 ohms Should in theory be better than
cars 4ohm speakers.

- Most every CD sold in the last several years has been compressed.  Thus, their
dynamic ranges have been crushed to an extremely limited spectrum.
It makes the CDs sound louder, but you get half the detail.  Makes them all sound
"Flat" and boring.  Id say its a shame... but hey... most all modern music made today
is not even worth hearing anyways.

 - They also are often using electronic drums now, which also makes the drums
sound lifeless and horrible.  Tiny imperfections of a real drummer, sound so much better...

 - BOSE SUCKS!!!   My mid level Senns blow the Bose headphones out of the water
by MILES.  Their speakers are tiny, and cant handle any real heavy volume either.
In fact, most speakers made today are Crap.  They use tiny woofers, and expect the
Sub to take care of all the rest.  Its a very sad state today...