Frequencies

[johnprocter]

Hi all just seeing what i should set the following to on my headunit (Kenwood KDC-X891)? i have 6inch(stock) speakers in the front, 6x9's(stock) at the back and a sub(2500watts,900RMS) in the boot thanks so what should i set the following to?

Bass Center Frequency: 40/50/60/70/80/100/120/150hz
Bass Q factor 1.00/1.25/1.50/2.00
Bass Extend OFF/ON

Middle Centre Frequency 0.5/1.0/1.5/2.0kHz
Middle Q factor 1.00/2.00

Treble Centre Frequency 10.0/12.5/15.0/17.5kHz

Front High Pass Filter Through/40/60/80/100/120/150/180/220Hz
Rear High Pass Filter Through/40/60/80/100/120/150/180/220Hz
Low Pass Filter 50/60/80/100/120/Through Hz

I have no idea what any of these mean lol and i have a weird feeling that the place i got my stuff installed at havent adjusted them i could be wrong though.. any help would be great thanks

[arverson]

omg... i typed out a essay and it got messed up!! gimme a few mins to see if i can rememba what i typed

n here u go, thankfully this isnt as long as my 1st attempt



without seeing or even hearing the system in person its hard to say what exact settings you should set it to. all cars & components are different, BUT with the gear you have, then in general, id say set your:
front hpf to 80 or higher. depends how low your stocks can go, and im gonna guess not that low... so maybe 100hz at the lowest.
rear hpf to about 80. again, it depends how low they can go..
lpf, then it depends on where u set the front&rear hpf's at. if they're set at 80hz then set the lpf at 80. if they're set at 120 then set the lpf at that. having some overlap is ok. again, all that is VERY general & it depends on your systems components, car, installation & plenty more

ok, now onto centre frequency & q factor.. centre frequency is obviously the frequency you are adjusting. if helps if u know your sound frequencys, n what instruments/sounds waves are what frequencies so you can tune your system better.

q factor is how 'wide' the 'band' is at the particular frequency you are adjusting/selected and the frequencys directly next to it.
for example, if you chose the frequency 70hz to adjust and chose a 'narrow" band to adjust (so in this case a q factor of 1) and you boosted that frequency up 5db's, then pretty much only THAT frequency is boosted or affected.
if u chose a 'wide' band to adjust (in this case a q factor of 2) and you boost that 70hz up 5 db's, then frequencys 60 & 80 will be amplified by 3dbs, and frequencys 50 & 100 will we amplified by 1db.

bass extend.. im guessing thats like a 'loud' feature, so leave this OFF!!

[johnprocter]

thanks for that man kinda makes a bit more sense lol

[tron07]

Crossovers... here is some things that can clear it up for you......




What to look for:

Passive crossovers are inexpensive and easy to install. Typically, they are designed to modify a particular frequency. If you just need a quick-fix to tweak your sound, passive crossovers are a good solution. But they offer less flexibility and don't allow the fine-tuning control of active crossovers.

Get Everything You NeedYou'll need patch cables to connect an active crossover .
Active crossovers require additional wiring for power and ground connections, but give you much more control over your music. Active crossovers help your amplifier by cutting unwanted frequencies before the amp has to boost them. That way your amp can focus only on the frequencies that you want to hear, without wasting power on frequencies you don't want.

If you plan on expanding your system in the future, it's wisest to go with a separate outboard crossover, instead of relying on one built into your amplifier. While these built-in crossovers work well, they don't offer the total system control of an outboard unit. Also, if you ever upgrade your amp, you don't have to give up your crossover.


What can a crossover do for you?

A crossover is any device that limits the range of frequencies sent to a speaker. Think of a crossover network as an audio traffic cop, directing highs to your tweeters, midrange to your midwoofers and low bass to your sub.

Without a crossover, a messy, sonic "traffic jam" results. Your midrange and sub duplicate too many of the same frequencies and your sub wastes time trying to put out high notes it wasn't meant to handle. A "fatal pile-up" could also occur, with your tweets being destroyed by some renegade tractor-trailer of a bass note thumping along in the wrong audio lane.

Because they're essential, you'll find crossovers in some form almost any time speakers are present. If your home stereo uses a pair of 2-way bookshelf speakers, it uses a 2-way crossover. Within this crossover, a high-pass filter blocks lows and passes highs to the tweeter while a low-pass filter blocks highs and passes lows to the woofer.


Why get active?

A passive crossover steps into the signal path after your amplification. It's a capacitor or coil usually installed right on your speaker lead. Since it is modifying a signal that has already been amplified, using a passive crossover wastes power. The crossover point varies with speaker impedance because it limits frequencies by reacting to the speaker load. So if you decide to switch from 4 to 8 ohm woofers, your crossover point will be cut in half.

On the other hand, an active electronic crossover processes your audio signal before it reaches your amplifier, so it's unaffected by speaker impedance and makes your system far more efficient. Installed at the preamp level, it lets your amp concentrate its full power solely on those frequencies it passes to your speakers.

Its only potential disadvantage is that since it requires +12V, ground, and turn-on connections, an electronic crossover could theoretically add noise to your system. But with a properly installed high-quality unit this shouldn't be a problem, and the advantages of electronic crossovers make it clear why you'll find one in virtually every competition-level car audio system.


Tuning your system

Varying your crossover points is one approach to "tuning" your speakers. You can expect this adjustability from just about any active crossover. Setting crossover points also helps define the overall flavor of your system.

Setting your low-pass filter above 100 Hz gives you the type of boom many rap fans are looking for, while pushing it down to 80 Hz tightens up your bass and improves front soundstaging. Because each output channel on an electronic crossover usually has its own level control, you can even use this component to compensate for varying efficiency ratings among your speakers.


Let there be music

Let's look at an example. Take a simple three-way crossover network:
lowpass filter with a crossover point at 80 Hz;
highpass filter with a crossover point at 3,000 Hz;
bandpass filter with a low crossover point at 80 Hz and a high crossover point at 3,000 Hz. (All three components use 6 dB/octave slopes.)

You hop into your ride, slip in a CD and suddenly a hefty dose of unadulterated Dave Matthews Band is headed straight for your speakers. The lowpass gobbles up Carter Beauford's kick drum and the low notes on Stefan Lessard's bass, and passes these tones below 80 Hz to your subwoofer system.

Meanwhile, your highpass sends cymbal crashes and acoustic guitar harmonics to your tweeter, while limiting frequencies below 3,000 Hz at the rate of 6db/octave. And Dave's vocals, Leroi Moore's sax solos, Boyd Tinsley's violin, and other sounds between 80 and 3,000 Hz find their way through the bandpass crossover to your midrange drivers.

The crossover assigns the proper frequencies and levels to the various speakers in your vehicle, the pieces of the sonic puzzle fit together perfectly, and DMB sounds righteous. It's all good.

Courtesy of http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/S-...rossovers.html

[mr ©harisma]

Perhaps you should pay someone a little bit of $$$ to get it tuned correctly if you are not sure...

[arverson]

yup. it sounds like parametric eq'ing is a little complicated for you but its pretty easy once u get the hang of it.

u could get someone else to tune it for ya, but yoy wouldnt know if they tune it the way YOU like it...

[tron07]

Do you want to employ my tuning services?

[mr ©harisma]

yup. it sounds like parametric eq'ing is a little complicated for you but its pretty easy once u get the hang of it.

u could get someone else to tune it for ya, but yoy wouldnt know if they tune it the way YOU like it...

Dude any decent shop will tune it and ask how you like it. Then for the minor tweeks you can sit with the tuner to get it just right.

You should take up Tron07's offer and see how you go. He may also shed some light on how to do it correctly for the future. Can't hurt...

[johnprocter]

lol iam just gonna take it back to the place i got it installed at and ask them to tune it properly.. cause iam pretty sure they didnt because they couldnt find how to turn it off demo mode (its the american model so i dont blame them, the menus and stuff are diff to the aussie model and i was dumb enough to leave the manual at home grrr) but yeah i got it out of demo mode my self so they should be able to do the tuning now

but thanks for the replies =D

[arverson]

Dude any decent shop will tune it and ask how you like it. Then for the minor tweeks you can sit with the tuner to get it just right.

exactly my point... a shop tuning it without you being there and you being there making them tweak it to what they wouldnt normally tune it to, are different things. you might as well get them to JUST install it & tune it urself.

[tron07]

Are you ready for more confusion?

Anyway the filters you are using are probably the Linkwitz-Riley 2nd order Crossovers, a 12 dB/octave (40 dB/decade) slope. Which is pretty good for fronts and highs, but to me, its not good enought for the sub or low frequency. (1st order is 6db/oct, 2nd order is 12/db/oct... every order increase by 6db/oct)

For the sub I would prefer the 4th order with a steepness is 24 dB/octave (80 dB/decade). However at 24dB/Octave, it would throw the sound off phase, thus you might need to reverse the polarity of the sub.

However I believe that its is not a rule of the thumb, as eletrical phase does not equal to accoustsic phase. If you have access to a phase checker, do use it to ensure all speakers is in phase before you begin, else you would be spending a lot of time trying to listen to those phase testing tracks.

There are more type of filters available, but not that popular or common but you can read them up if you are interested, Butterworth Filters, Chebyshev filter, etc... i think there are a few more, but I cant remember thier name at the moment and kinda lazy to google for them.

Check with your installer at Ryda, I think there is a big possibility that they dont know what are these stuffs....their workmanship are ususally very good, but when come to techincal and tuning, they dont have the skills...

[arverson]

they might not have the skills, let alone the TIME (ie. months) to tune your system to sq/spl comp standard...

your probably not concerned about that tho if u have to ask about what parametric eq's are..