I want to get a pro or hardcore enthusiast to have a look at my system and set it up so it sounds at the best it can.

I dont want to pay so is anyone on here around the newcastle or central coast (or sydney if you have plans to come up this way) a pro or a well informed audiophile who can help me out.

LOL @ i dont want to pay

maybe offer em a slab to entice em over???

(sorry this is a useless post, im in VIC :redface: )

How many bands does your equaliser have (if any) Generally you need to pop in onto an RTA as the best starting point, once you've set your gains.

Doing it yourself is half the fun

What gear are you running? What is each speaker running through? What features does ur headunit have? Might be able to give you a few pointers if you want to learn.

Other than that you can pay $50-$60 to get a quick tune by a pro. with an RTA (real time analyser to measure freq response). PM FHRX. Marty should be able to help you out one afternoon.

Tim, Delphia could always buy you a plane ticket :D

RTA is almost essential for PROPER tuning (read: for all the "I'm going in a CAASQ comp next week" types), but once the gains are set PROPERLY, then it's basically all with your ears and personal preference.

For the record, the EQ on my HU is totally FLAT... and I am not kidding. Only a slight amount of time alignment required. I have sub-out level control on my HU as well....

I'd happily have a listen and possible tweak next time I am over that way. Always love to check out other members audio equipment and how it sounds. I am definitely passing some time around Christmas, but possibly earlier.

My background is mainly in PA engineering, DJing, recording, but I love my car audio also. Installation of car audio is NOT my strength, but dropped my current subs into the box well I think :redface:

ive tuned it by ear and it sounds good, i just want to see if it can sound great.

Thats why i dont want to pay a pro. i might get back into the car and go "wow" or i might go "mother****er didnt change a thing"

JVC head
Kicker 6 inch splits
Kicker 6x9s
Kenwood 460W RMS amp
Pioneer 12' 400W RMS in ported box.

most info i can remember off the top of my head.

Tuning by ear is fine, u just need a good reference. A good way to start is with some test discs.

Good imaging is fairly easy. (setting up TA etc) Just play a track thats recorded in mono, or a track that you know has good centre imaging and set it up so it comes from the middle of the dash (not straight in front of you as this will result in compressed soundstage on one side)
Do the same with ur fad if you dont have TA.

All of this is based upon a sound installation in the first place.

To get good imaging without time alignment or excessive EQ'ing you need to have your tweets mounted down low in the kicks or lower doors to avoid driver side bias from a close tweeter in the dash or upper door.

MitsiMonsta - There are no cars that will get flat frequency response without EQ. Cabin gain, resonant frequency of your door enclosure, sub enclosure (port if you have one) will all cause peaks and troughs.

This is why it's soo hard to tune car's especially i you dont have a reference. By reference I mean high end audio (home, theatre, recording studio etc) that has a flat EQ'd response.

Without this it's easy to get used to what you hear in your car and not realise there's anything else that all the equipment you put all ur hard earned cash into isnt performing as expected.

Just some food for thought.

It's no point spending >$3k on a system and not wanting to fork out $50 to have it tuned by a pro.
All the features in most high end headunits rely on RTA's and pro knowledge to tune.

Otherwise if you want to do it on the cheap think about going to the next CAASQ comp and having a listen to one of their cars with a cd u know well. Then compare with yours.

Love to help but im also in Vic.
Peace

Tim

Yes well, everyone's ears are different. Just remember it all comes down to how well the system is installed.

I would:

1) set all EQ's flat, especially any 'bass boost' switches on amps

2) Set your gains properly.

3) time align everything (if you have it on your deck)

4) starting with the HIGH END, adjust your eq until it sounds good. Work your way down.

If you need to turn up your low end more than 1 adjustment, try giving the Sub amp gain a little more.

EQ'ing should only mean fine adjustment.

As for a pro... FHRX is great. Sit in the car or otherwise watch when he does it. He wouldnt send it out worse or the same as he got it.

Maybe we could do a FHRX day... get him to look over our systems, grounding kits, deadening demo (I volunteer my car), sit in his S15 and have a listen to the $10K Rainbow splits in it....I'm sure a few Newy boys would come down, and Magnat may even get off his butt and come up as well!

Hell, I'd reckon even Tim might drive up from Melbourne for that one... :badgrin:

Actually I'll be going up to Wagga Wagga for National CAASQ finals mid december... Thats kinda close.
Marty's a judge so he'll be tagging along too.

Mmm Beers.

{Hijack thread}

Ah, so you two will finally get to meet in person? I smell many beers.

But I meant everyone troopsing to his shop on a Saturday or Sunday and doing grounding kits, EQing, talks etc. We are not going to travel to Wagga to do that!

Maybe next year when you come up for a NSW CAASQ comp - we could schedule for the same weekend? As long as you take a few days off either side, you should be fine!

{/Hijack thread}

Yeah, Tim knows his stuff. You probablly won't fix bad imaging due to less-than-optimal speaker position with time alignment (TA), but you can probably make it somewhat better.

All this stuff (EQ, TA, DHE, BBE etc) is only for fine tuning. Split placement is the biggest factor in all of it.

next time you come on a newy cruise let me have a look at what ya got and i'll haver a play.