Car Audio Speaker Frequency Response graph, or lack of..

[gstokes]

Why don't car audio speaker manufacturers show a graph representing the frequency response like the majority of home audio speaker manufacturers do, is it because they think car audio buffs are just a bunch of hippies and don't care about graphs, or is the frequency response so bad they don't want to put it on paper. ?

Perhaps the high end car audio speaker manufacturers do, i can't say because i didn't check but i would like to see manufacturers step it up a notch and show legitimate proof of performance, not just a bunch of subjective reviews and baseless claims..

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[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

99.9% of the buyers of car audio speakers do not know what that information means or how to apply it to building and tuning a vehicle. This includes professional installers. It's true that many car audio manufacturers do not have frequency response graphs. It costs more money to have the tests performed correctly, and that adds to the prices at every level. Rockford Fosgate has recently moved to "Klippel Verified" as a way to provide proof of stated specifications. This is one of the industry standard measurement systems. It's very expensive. There is also modeling speaker FR in software, which is the same as what we do to design subwoofer enclosures. The car changes the FR in a HUGE way, plus FR is only part of what we hear.

You might enjoy this thread: The Essentials of Sound Quality IMHO - Car Audio | DiyMobileAudio.com | Car Stereo Forum

 

[gstokes]

99.9% of the buyers of car audio speakers do not know what that information means or how to apply it to building and tuning a vehicle. This includes professional installers. It's true that many car audio manufacturers do not have frequency response graphs. It costs more money to have the tests performed correctly, and that adds to the prices at every level. Rockford Fosgate has recently moved to "Klippel Verified" as a way to provide proof of stated specifications. This is one of the industry standard measurement systems. It's very expensive. There is also modeling speaker FR in software, which is the same as what we do to design subwoofer enclosures. The car changes the FR in a HUGE way, plus FR is only part of what we hear.
You might enjoy this thread: The Essentials of Sound Quality IMHO - Car Audio | DiyMobileAudio.com | Car Stereo Forum

great info and awesome link, thank-you !!

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Hertz shows graphs but like said, a car environment makes it basically a mute point.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

yep. response on-axis in a test enclosure is only useful for comparing one driver's capabilities vs. another but what you really want is off-axis response graphs for woofers and tweeters to help you predict response in a car. and the test enclosure would need to be an actual car door measured in an actual car. cars are difficult environments for a 2-way system simply due to the roll-off of the woofer happening before the tweeter can take over. a lot of systems have a gap between 1k-4k.

put a woofer in an untreated door, behind the stock grill, and measure the response at the headrest and you won't get anything close to what an on-axis reference graph will be.

successful car audio actually requires a much more detailed approach to acoustics and speaker building... even though very few people actually know that.

as mentioned, Hertz has response graphs and is Klippel verified.

 

[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

There isnt a single car out there identical to another. A frequency graph would only show what a given speaker does in a perfect environment and a car/truck/suv is far from that.

 

[gstokes]

Hertz shows graphs but like said, a car environment makes it basically a mute point.

^^^, this. I keep forgetting about environmental acoustics, thank-you..