22 replies to this topic

[ix]

what are people's opinions on settings such as bass boost (+1...10db etc)
treble boost (+1....10db etc)
Loud(ness)
subsonic filters

and also things such as bass/treble frequency and phase settings

sound they be used for SQ? or do they just lead to clipping earlier?
or make sq 'worse'

[Cyberpunky]

I think you have answered your own question. I dont have any bass boost or even bass or treble adjustment in my HU, and although I have a 31 band eq and an AC FOUR.1 in dash EQ, both are set flat (bypassed). Let the recording engineers worry about tonal balance and leave system flat, unless you have tonal issues that you have the skill to address using a good EQ.

Anyway IMO if you need to use toanl adjustments then you should probably look at your system design or crossover point selection etc, as a well designed and executed system wont need and bass or treble adjustment IMO
peace
Cyberpunky

[ix]

how about the loud button?
because when that is off, there is barely any bass anymore

btw, how loud is your system pumped up to when CAASQ is judged?

[[white lie]]

if there is virtually no bass without having the loudness on, either your gains are set incorrectly or your sub/subs are underpowered

i agree with cyberpunky, my system definately sounds better with everything set to flat...i think it starts sounding better while i'm playing around with the eq's but i always come back to the flat setting

cyber, do you just have the 31 band eq for RTA runs? i know of a few people that used to put the eq on to get a flat response on the RTA and then disable it for the aural part of judging

a subsonic filter is definately different to everything else you have mentioned there...i would nearly always use one, its just an extra reassuarance to me and i set it so low you cant hear the difference when its on or off

[claf_43]

if your after SQ dont touch the loudness buttons, starting looking at your amplifier gains, thats where the fault it

[nemesis]

people use that botton? oh well actually i did for a while too, had it on 'low' loud setting, but anyway...
all i know is that in my new setup, if i turn the loud setting on it sounds like absolute rubbish, i mean pure and simple it goes from 'hey this is good' to 'hey turn that crap off' so yeh anyway i think your question already got answered but i thought i'd just add that anyway

[ May 09, 2003, 13:45: Message edited by: PiMPiN5 ]

[Macca]

I keep all ma HU setting on Flat, even the EQ preset is on flat

[ix]

been playing around with all the settings the past few days

bass boost is off on the amp: that helped making the amp play notes a bit clearer, so that is being left off pernamently

bass and treble boost on the hu: 0 db boost (ie none), off pernamently because im starting to find it sounds clearer.

However for some reason on my Alpine hu with the LOUD off the bass sounds muddy and there isn't much of it around. It is loud (volume) enough but not much bass existant and the bass notes and even mid bass notes don't seem to go low enough. My gains are are up fairly high but I am underpowering my sub by a fair bit. My mids aren't underpowered by as much but I still find it is lacking. Don't know what is going on because underpowering doesn't affect SQ but only volume and I find the volume is are than loud enough. Even if i crank it up to levels i don't want to listen to for daily driving, bass still isn't really there...

But so far, with most of the bass/treble boost aids off im quite happy Where bass isn't overpowering everything and feels much more balanced (disregarding road noise hhehe)

[GTS_t]

Try turning down the gains to the midbass and leave the loud button off.

[Cyberpunky]

I fitted the 30 band EQ for RTA portion of IASCA but as IASCA fell in a hole, so I just dont use it for anything.

SQ is judged a a moderate level. You should be able to talk to other judge comfortably.

As for the loud button, whats happening is your gain structure changes as volume on HU is adjusted. This is quite common and its also what loud button is designed for. I find that often its easier to just turn up volume, rather than kick in loud function but if you listen at low levels then hit the loud button. Just remeber to turn it off when you turn system up and you will have the best results at low or higher volumes.

In my system I have an Audio Control MVC (master volume control). This is designed to avoid gain structure issues. Richard Clark used a complex set up of motorised pots an his amps controlled by a micro computer to avoid gain structure issues.

Gain structure is the level of various freqs relative to the volume (signal level). At low levels mids may be high comparaed to bass and treble. When signal level increases, the signal may have different levels again at different freqs. The MVC allows the signal to reamin constant from HU (HUs volume is left at same level and not used to adjust volume) and thru signal path till just before amps, where it is attenuated by MVC, and so gain structure is constant regardless of volume.

Richard Clark's system adjusted the gains at each amp for every volume stting to keep gain structure constant.

Anyway a device like the MVC is around $1000, so unless you compete (and take it seriously) then setting your system so its spectrally balanced at the level you normal listen to is the way to go or the level it will be judged at in comp if you compete.
hope it helps
peace
Cyberpunky

[ix]

ah thanks

i played around with it more today and yeah what you said helped a fair bit

[Infamoz]

what happens if u decide to add some bass or treble (eg. set it to +2) for a while
does this screw up the system?

i sometimes put treble to +2 for some hard-nrg songs...this ok?

[ix]

just distorts quicker i believe
however i find the bass isn't as clear compared to when there is no bass boost

[claf_43]

it can be very helpfulto give bass and treble small boosts, i have mine on +2 on both treble and bass, some songs dont need it as recordings can differ, for instance rock music can be painful on the ears with high treble settings but higher bass settings can really help.

with r&b though lower bass settings as the music already has plenty of low end that hte sub takes care of and boost the treble a bit as generally many r&b songs dont have as good or crisp highs