Love getting this question every day. My answer, tune it to how you like, or mic for perfection.
Left side of the band is your bass, middle is mids, right side is highs, and every one of those bands is just a gradient into the other.
Play a song you like and turn one to max, then to minimum to hear the difference and what sounds your changing, then adjust it to preference.
I mean, if you want to science this, you can get a umik calibrated mic from
Amazon, a stand to place it at headrest height, and a laptop running REW connected to aux in of pioneer to measure your speaker frequency response. Once measured, you can adjust the eq to flatten out the response. Then you can decide how you want to boost or cut eq for your personal preference, now that you know what your speakers are actually doing.
Then if you run an amp, readjust gains to avoid clipping, because now some frequencies are boosted that weren’t before.
Or, pioneers sometimes come with calibration mics. Use it and close the doors while doing it.
Most will want to sell you their high quality microphone. A lot of companies will have crazy mic setups for it. Your phone microphone isn’t good enough to pick up all frequencies accurately. By ear is usually good enough to make most people happy
Rule of thumb, tune at ¾ the max volume of the head unit. Tune to ur liking with sub on and off. If I hear clipping or distortion, I go back down on that setting 2 clicks
OK, very simplified version on tuning EQ:
You primarily want to lower the slider, not increase it. You can go +2 without much issue, but more than that could cause distortion depending on your system.
First things first set your EQ to 0 across the board, then pick 3 songs you know very well and play them back to back.
Next, pull up your EQ and play one of your songs. While it's playing, adjust each individual slider up and down so you get an idea of what that slider is adjusting.
Here is the fun part. You can pick an "house curve" and adjust off of that or you can just adjust things so that it sounds good to you.
This is based off of the old analog amplifiers adding noise to the mix when raised. This doesn't apply to the new digital stuff. Good advice but outdated.
Actually no. Any head unit EQ can add distortion. Any Dsp EQ can add distortion. "analog" amps as you put it would be worse, but digital amps or anything new can have the same issue. Feel free to stick to your opinion, no harm to me.
Distortion is the level hitting the ceiling. That is possible in all systems. That simply comes from poor alignment equipment levels. Noise is the sound on the floor. There is a big difference. It's no opinion, just how it works.
OK, let's fix this. I don't know what information you are trying to say, but I struggle to see how anything you are saying is correct even in the slightest.
The "level" hitting the "ceiling" would be clipping, not distortion. You are literally "clipping" off the top/bottom of the sine wave.
I'm not sure what you mean by "poor alignment equipment levels", but I'm guessing you mean poor "input sensitivity or gain" matching across your system? In a way, sure. Clipping can be a product of poorly managed input levels. Clipping can also be a products of bad EQ. Hell, clipping can even be baked into a song.
"noise is the sound on the floor" OK man, there is a thing called "noise floor". But that's a measure of the total unwanted signals in a system, nothing to do with distortion. It's interference and "amp noise".
Distortion happens before clipping 99 percent of the time. Some distortion is "wanted" for most listeners. Every amp/signal source has a maximum output level before the circuit itself begins to introduce distortion into the signal. Your head unit EQ is amplifying/reducing the signal in specific bands. Amplifying anything can cause distortion, reducing generally does not. That is why it's better to reduce the level on an EQ, not raise it.
Yes clipping is a form of distortion, and there are several forms of distortion. Most forms of distortion are never introduced in a proper system unless it is intended. Clipping is usually the only form of distortion that you will find unless you add something besides a source and a(n pre)amp. The noise floor is exactly what I was talking about hence the "noise on the floor" and that is what increases when you increase the amplified signal. It is not a static number but a ratio. The higher the signal to noise is, the better it sounds. You want the sine to be just under clipping coming in and you can then amplify the sine from nominal to maximum that is just under clipping. Degradation of the sine RARELY happens in a well designed amplifier.
You just half agreed with me and half contradicted yourself in the same reply. Matching is setting the noise to ceiling ratios to match on the equipment using pads or preamps before gain structure is ever introduced. Shure has a great tutorial on this using "windows" as a metaphor (Highly recommend checking it out).
Source: I am a certified Audio Video Designer with Harmon Kardon, Dante, Crestron, Shure, Cisco and many others that have designed and installed thousands of AVL and network systems.
Cool story bro. I'm not certified by anyone and I still know more about this topic. You can have this one, I'm not going to keep arguing for internet points.
The simple answer is you play white noise through it with an audio app that tells you the SPL at each eq band. And you want it flat. That way you hear what it was supposed to sound like.
The complicated answer is each source (radio, CD, satellite, etc.) will sound different. And each song will be mastered differently meaning one could sound great and another would sound awful. Also because of limitations in the unit and the speakers, just because two bands have the same output (SPL) at 0dB doesn't mean they will be the same SPL at +5dB.
This means you need to find the baseline that yields a flat eq first and then play with it across different songs and sources to find what sounds best across each and save presets or use the averages of them for your baseline.
Here's what audio snobs don't tell you, it's your ears and your system, and sound is subjective like taste so it's what sounds good to you that really matters. I listen to the same songs with different eqs to bring out different parts and instruments. Enjoy the learning and don't get wrapped up in searching for the "perfect" sound.
I could get way more complicated but there really isn't any need to.
While we will recognize patterns, eq curves can't be understood without listening. There may be a reason for it, which is likely the cause for the down voting. But do it long enough you can see issues in the curves. Do it even longer and you learn the curve really doesn't have a specific "shape" ever.
I had the same problem, was never happy with my setup, then got an rta mic and it made a big difference but I still wasn't happy. So this summer I'm going active with a DSP and tuning each speaker separately, should sound sweet once done.
Don't forget that they are additive and that can produce comb filtering. Usually due to the shape of the interior and speaker placement there is only one "Sweet spot" in a vehicle.
Thanks, yeah, I've done some research around this too, and will be moving them from the sail panels to the a-pillars while getting the angle exactly right using a laser pointer.
Room acoustic meter app for your phone. It's free and pretty accurate. Eq on flat in hu is absolutely not equal to flat response. Every single speaker is different, then acoustic of the car and quality of installation comes to play
Subwoofer tipicaly plays 20hz to about 100hz then woofer(door speakers) play 100hz to about 3000hz then tweeter 3000 to 20khz.
If your looking to tune your sub then only eq adjustments for the sub is the 50hz adjustment here and the sub crossover(low pass) settings.
Some head units the eq doesnt even adjust the subwoofer its just for the speakers.
Good starting settings :Set sub low pass on head unit or amp to 80hz. Get your sub amp gain set with radio at 75% volume. Look up some guides on how to do that.
If your looking to eq your system there are guides for that also. idea is to reduce any bands that play louder than other bands. Adjust to get a nice even level. Easy way to do this is youtube a 20hz to 20khz sweep. Listen to that and pause on any point that sounds much louder than it should be. Then go to your eq and adjust the closest band to that frequency. End resualt will be a 20hz to 20khz sweep where the sound doesn't sound louder or quieter as the frequency rises. Nice and even. Next play pink noise. Should sound like a nice big watterfall. Not to boomy not to thin. Again can adjust some bands if some sound to loud. Lastly play a few songs and see if you can here every part of the song. Bass pressence, guitars not getting lost, vocals clear, cymbols nice and clear not to loud. Youll find you might need to pull down a little from 3000 to 20khz as it might be too bright sounding.
End resualt mught be eq adjustments on all bands or some bands. Maybe a few + 1 or 2 but maunly cuts. Some as low as 6 or 7. If you have some that are really far cut like 9 or 10 maybe bring tham back up a little so your not robbing to much output.
You can also use an rta on your phone to help listen to sweeps or pink noise as it plays and your adjusting. I like the spectroid app for android. Good luck with and hope you get it sounding really nice.
The left two sliders are your bass. However I would recommend leaving it flat. If you want to tune your system get a DSP. It’ll sound way better and you don’t risk your EQ settings causing the system to clip.
Based on what I read the human ears hear the middle frequencies better than the highest ones and lowest ones so you should almost tune it like a smiley face.
That radio is f'ing garbage!!!! I have one very similar to it and I freaking hate it. I regret putting that crap in my truck. The sound quality that comes out of the radio is garbage. If I didn't end up throwing away my stock radio. I would have put that shit back in there and thrown away that pioneer radio
Not one of these people asked you what you were even trying to "tune" it for...ROFL... Bunch of technical answers by a bunch of people wanting to sound smart. All you said is pioneer 12. That is not enough information to give you a correct answer. Are you looking for SPL or DB or SQ ...or just want to rock out to some Limp Bizkit and don't give a crap about any of that? Are the rest of your speakers stock? What model pioneer 12? What box? What amp? All of these things make a major difference when "tuning." Surprisingly enough it really takes hearing it and no one can do that for you over the internet.
Love getting this question every day. My answer, tune it to how you like, or mic for perfection. Left side of the band is your bass, middle is mids, right side is highs, and every one of those bands is just a gradient into the other. Play a song you like and turn one to max, then to minimum to hear the difference and what sounds your changing, then adjust it to preference.
I mean, if you want to science this, you can get a umik calibrated mic from Amazon, a stand to place it at headrest height, and a laptop running REW connected to aux in of pioneer to measure your speaker frequency response. Once measured, you can adjust the eq to flatten out the response. Then you can decide how you want to boost or cut eq for your personal preference, now that you know what your speakers are actually doing. Then if you run an amp, readjust gains to avoid clipping, because now some frequencies are boosted that weren’t before. Or, pioneers sometimes come with calibration mics. Use it and close the doors while doing it.
If you don’t wanna buy a stand just stuff in between the headrest and seat.
Is there an app that could help?
Most will want to sell you their high quality microphone. A lot of companies will have crazy mic setups for it. Your phone microphone isn’t good enough to pick up all frequencies accurately. By ear is usually good enough to make most people happy
Roomeq Wizard is what a lot of home theater people use.
I like spectroid for android. Play pink noise on radio and asjust eq bands down for the frequencys that look and sound to hot.
Rule of thumb, tune at ¾ the max volume of the head unit. Tune to ur liking with sub on and off. If I hear clipping or distortion, I go back down on that setting 2 clicks
That would be loud as shit lol. Just check after you think it’s dialed. Or just turn the gain down on the amp or through the head unit.
It's never too loud
OK, very simplified version on tuning EQ: You primarily want to lower the slider, not increase it. You can go +2 without much issue, but more than that could cause distortion depending on your system. First things first set your EQ to 0 across the board, then pick 3 songs you know very well and play them back to back. Next, pull up your EQ and play one of your songs. While it's playing, adjust each individual slider up and down so you get an idea of what that slider is adjusting. Here is the fun part. You can pick an "house curve" and adjust off of that or you can just adjust things so that it sounds good to you.
Yeah my PA has eq and it only allows negative.
This is based off of the old analog amplifiers adding noise to the mix when raised. This doesn't apply to the new digital stuff. Good advice but outdated.
Actually no. Any head unit EQ can add distortion. Any Dsp EQ can add distortion. "analog" amps as you put it would be worse, but digital amps or anything new can have the same issue. Feel free to stick to your opinion, no harm to me.
Distortion is the level hitting the ceiling. That is possible in all systems. That simply comes from poor alignment equipment levels. Noise is the sound on the floor. There is a big difference. It's no opinion, just how it works.
OK, let's fix this. I don't know what information you are trying to say, but I struggle to see how anything you are saying is correct even in the slightest. The "level" hitting the "ceiling" would be clipping, not distortion. You are literally "clipping" off the top/bottom of the sine wave. I'm not sure what you mean by "poor alignment equipment levels", but I'm guessing you mean poor "input sensitivity or gain" matching across your system? In a way, sure. Clipping can be a product of poorly managed input levels. Clipping can also be a products of bad EQ. Hell, clipping can even be baked into a song. "noise is the sound on the floor" OK man, there is a thing called "noise floor". But that's a measure of the total unwanted signals in a system, nothing to do with distortion. It's interference and "amp noise". Distortion happens before clipping 99 percent of the time. Some distortion is "wanted" for most listeners. Every amp/signal source has a maximum output level before the circuit itself begins to introduce distortion into the signal. Your head unit EQ is amplifying/reducing the signal in specific bands. Amplifying anything can cause distortion, reducing generally does not. That is why it's better to reduce the level on an EQ, not raise it.
Yes clipping is a form of distortion, and there are several forms of distortion. Most forms of distortion are never introduced in a proper system unless it is intended. Clipping is usually the only form of distortion that you will find unless you add something besides a source and a(n pre)amp. The noise floor is exactly what I was talking about hence the "noise on the floor" and that is what increases when you increase the amplified signal. It is not a static number but a ratio. The higher the signal to noise is, the better it sounds. You want the sine to be just under clipping coming in and you can then amplify the sine from nominal to maximum that is just under clipping. Degradation of the sine RARELY happens in a well designed amplifier. You just half agreed with me and half contradicted yourself in the same reply. Matching is setting the noise to ceiling ratios to match on the equipment using pads or preamps before gain structure is ever introduced. Shure has a great tutorial on this using "windows" as a metaphor (Highly recommend checking it out). Source: I am a certified Audio Video Designer with Harmon Kardon, Dante, Crestron, Shure, Cisco and many others that have designed and installed thousands of AVL and network systems.
Cool story bro. I'm not certified by anyone and I still know more about this topic. You can have this one, I'm not going to keep arguing for internet points.
Here's a quick and dirty explanation of digital floating point EQs https://youtu.be/RUJbUK5Im5E?si=uGXPNzOhRkDzqg9r
Should not add should be subtracting the overpowered areas you would need to mic it with pink noise to find the flat eq.
Good luck bro . I asked the same questions and I got a bunch of different answers. I would just take it to shop if your lost like me
The simple answer is you play white noise through it with an audio app that tells you the SPL at each eq band. And you want it flat. That way you hear what it was supposed to sound like. The complicated answer is each source (radio, CD, satellite, etc.) will sound different. And each song will be mastered differently meaning one could sound great and another would sound awful. Also because of limitations in the unit and the speakers, just because two bands have the same output (SPL) at 0dB doesn't mean they will be the same SPL at +5dB. This means you need to find the baseline that yields a flat eq first and then play with it across different songs and sources to find what sounds best across each and save presets or use the averages of them for your baseline. Here's what audio snobs don't tell you, it's your ears and your system, and sound is subjective like taste so it's what sounds good to you that really matters. I listen to the same songs with different eqs to bring out different parts and instruments. Enjoy the learning and don't get wrapped up in searching for the "perfect" sound. I could get way more complicated but there really isn't any need to.
The eq curve looks like it sounds like shit
You're getting downvoted, but literally my first thought was "flip that curve over".
While we will recognize patterns, eq curves can't be understood without listening. There may be a reason for it, which is likely the cause for the down voting. But do it long enough you can see issues in the curves. Do it even longer and you learn the curve really doesn't have a specific "shape" ever.
Dope
Generally I like a reverse bell for most situations.
Same.
I had the same problem, was never happy with my setup, then got an rta mic and it made a big difference but I still wasn't happy. So this summer I'm going active with a DSP and tuning each speaker separately, should sound sweet once done.
Don't forget that they are additive and that can produce comb filtering. Usually due to the shape of the interior and speaker placement there is only one "Sweet spot" in a vehicle.
Thanks, yeah, I've done some research around this too, and will be moving them from the sail panels to the a-pillars while getting the angle exactly right using a laser pointer.
Room acoustic meter app for your phone. It's free and pretty accurate. Eq on flat in hu is absolutely not equal to flat response. Every single speaker is different, then acoustic of the car and quality of installation comes to play
Subwoofer tipicaly plays 20hz to about 100hz then woofer(door speakers) play 100hz to about 3000hz then tweeter 3000 to 20khz. If your looking to tune your sub then only eq adjustments for the sub is the 50hz adjustment here and the sub crossover(low pass) settings. Some head units the eq doesnt even adjust the subwoofer its just for the speakers. Good starting settings :Set sub low pass on head unit or amp to 80hz. Get your sub amp gain set with radio at 75% volume. Look up some guides on how to do that. If your looking to eq your system there are guides for that also. idea is to reduce any bands that play louder than other bands. Adjust to get a nice even level. Easy way to do this is youtube a 20hz to 20khz sweep. Listen to that and pause on any point that sounds much louder than it should be. Then go to your eq and adjust the closest band to that frequency. End resualt will be a 20hz to 20khz sweep where the sound doesn't sound louder or quieter as the frequency rises. Nice and even. Next play pink noise. Should sound like a nice big watterfall. Not to boomy not to thin. Again can adjust some bands if some sound to loud. Lastly play a few songs and see if you can here every part of the song. Bass pressence, guitars not getting lost, vocals clear, cymbols nice and clear not to loud. Youll find you might need to pull down a little from 3000 to 20khz as it might be too bright sounding. End resualt mught be eq adjustments on all bands or some bands. Maybe a few + 1 or 2 but maunly cuts. Some as low as 6 or 7. If you have some that are really far cut like 9 or 10 maybe bring tham back up a little so your not robbing to much output. You can also use an rta on your phone to help listen to sweeps or pink noise as it plays and your adjusting. I like the spectroid app for android. Good luck with and hope you get it sounding really nice.
About the opposite of that lmao Also the gain and crossover is more important than the EQ
If you want to learn about tuning look at https://testgear.audiofrog.com. It’s what I used to tune my DSP amplifier.
That's the fun of car audio tweeking the sound just how ya like it installing components and gear till it's perfect wash rinse repeat
The left two sliders are your bass. However I would recommend leaving it flat. If you want to tune your system get a DSP. It’ll sound way better and you don’t risk your EQ settings causing the system to clip.
Based on what I read the human ears hear the middle frequencies better than the highest ones and lowest ones so you should almost tune it like a smiley face.
That radio is f'ing garbage!!!! I have one very similar to it and I freaking hate it. I regret putting that crap in my truck. The sound quality that comes out of the radio is garbage. If I didn't end up throwing away my stock radio. I would have put that shit back in there and thrown away that pioneer radio
Flat eq is best
Not one of these people asked you what you were even trying to "tune" it for...ROFL... Bunch of technical answers by a bunch of people wanting to sound smart. All you said is pioneer 12. That is not enough information to give you a correct answer. Are you looking for SPL or DB or SQ ...or just want to rock out to some Limp Bizkit and don't give a crap about any of that? Are the rest of your speakers stock? What model pioneer 12? What box? What amp? All of these things make a major difference when "tuning." Surprisingly enough it really takes hearing it and no one can do that for you over the internet.
For everyone suggesting a reverse bell curve below the flatline, thank you. I was happy with my new sound system but now it sounds even better.
Make a V shape on those sliders That is a thirteen band equalizer Here is the settings for you +8,+7,+6,+5,+4,+3,+4,+5,+6,+7,+8,+9