I understand and have been tuning amps the way you guys talk about with the dvom, except for I use a scope. What I have a question about is the frquency settings. I have never had this part explained very well. I pretty much just adjust till it sounds good, but I know that's not right. Can someone please enlighten me more on this?
listening. i tired DMM, i tried scope, and it still sounds better to me to do it by ear...
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Wednesday, April 13, 2011 7:49 PM
car audio noob since 1984.
All the DMM will do is get you a maximum at a certain voltage. You need to set the gains by ear for sub and midbass integration.
What youre trying to do is make the midbass blend with the sub. So in a strong sub stage youll need a strong midbass section to properly obtain integration. You want the sub to sound like its coming from the front of the car. Rather than the rear. I had to bump my mid stage down to a 60hz LPF to obtain this. The problem is that above 60hz or so the bass section tends to be directional. So youll be able to hear where the sub is coming from.
Tuning all depends on what youre trying to obtain overall with your system. If youre building an SPL system\, integration is not as important as your sub stage is much more strong than your midbass.
TheSundownFire wrote:You want the sub to sound like its coming from the front of the car.
If that's where your image is. Generally you want it to sound like it's coming from
everywhere. Point of origin is just an auditory illusion caused by harmonics playing through your mains.
Choosing a crossover that sounds good is the way I would recommend to go unless you're doing serious tweaking (but if you're doing that, then you'll know more than I can tell you). Keep in mind that it also serves to protect your speakers, so try to keep it above 60.
^Sorry, when I say 'keep it above 60' I mean for speaker amp.
But the goal is a seamless blend, like sundown said.
I had problems with bottoming my speakers out before I sealed the doors and put in some proper baffles. Dont even screw with tuning until you get the install solid and final otherwise youre just wasting time.
I can honestly say I dont know what freq Im crossed. I know its a little above 50hz but all I know is it sounds good..
When I said the front of the car I meant that you dont want it to sound like its coming strictly from the rear. But its cool.
I know gains set with DMM or oscope, so you dont clip...some set by ear, but if you have lots of money into equiptment, do it right...
Subsonic for sealed enclosures is the resonate frequency of the sub itself, ported enclosures you set it with the port tune, this will not allow the sub to try and produce frequencys in which it is not rated or able to produce, IE, preventing damage of the woofer by it bottoming out....
LPF is more by ear, LPF adjusts how high of a frequency your woofer will receive...that will be more dependent on where your midbass is going to be tuned..
"Hondas are like tampons, every pussy has one!!!"
Ok....... DMM tuning is for a ROUGH idea of where you can go without sending too much power to your speakers. It is done by ear from there. If you tune speakers 100% by instruments, you are retarded. Your ears are the final factor, period. There is no really "right" way in all the ways people tune speakers and amps. The DMM is a decent guideline to help you get in the general area you want to be, that's it.
On the other hand....you have other fingers.
"You really need to staple your face shut"-THE Joey Baggs.
I feel like DMM and scope tuning are techniques the SPL crowd has always used and that sort of trickled down from there to the everyday tuner as "the ultimate solution"
Tune by ear, then use DMM or Scope to sanity check. Or tune by scope to find a ceiling, then tune by ear.
exactly what I was saying man. Some people have taken the "tune by meter" idea WAY too literal and scientific.
On the other hand....you have other fingers.
"You really need to staple your face shut"-THE Joey Baggs.
So , i the way ive been doing it is ok then. I start at the radio and turn it up untill the signal clips and then backs it off . then i do the same at the amp with the gain. after that i have tuned the lpf and such by ear, i just didnt know if there was a more technical way to do the frequency part other than by ear. The only reason i use a scope is because i have one for work that i use to diagnose electrical problems on cars.
ive always tuned by ear. if you want to get every single absolute last watt out of your system then yes tune it with a meter. but as long as you have a good ear tuning it that way is fine. one of the reasons i buy more power then my speakers are rated for. this way im not maxing out the amp trying to get the most out of it. if you tune properly and you tune it to a safe degree(not trying to max anything out) you will never blow a speaker.
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