having trouble making the 16band eq sound good

[The Camry]

Got the deb prs80. Got the time alignment all dialed in with a great sound stage. Ran the auto Eq. Sounds good but I can definitely tell that it needs a bit more adjusting.

I set the low-mod-hi networks to zero and then used the seperate l/r to make the sound stage center

But I just don't have any idea on how to get the eq sounding right.

Is there a proper way to go about this?

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[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

You need to play with your crossover networks. IF you are going active and not even bothering to tune properly with the active networks than might as well stick with passive components. Dont use seperate L/R just go to position and switch to all or front. EQ is you bump it up, and reduce frequencies that you dont like. Get used to knowing what frequency sounds like what.

 

[The Camry]

Er. Guess I forget to say I used to crossover. Lows are lowpassed at 80. Mids are hp at 80. Mids at LP at 4khz. Highs are HP at 4khz. Everything is set at 24 DB.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Er. Guess I forget to say I used to crossover. Lows are lowpassed at 80. Mids are hp at 80. Mids at LP at 4khz. Highs are HP at 4khz. Everything is set at 24 DB.

you gotta play around with the crossover points and slopes, overlaps, different points etc. Its supposed to blend real nice. You cant just set it like that and be done with it. Gotta try out every possible points, control the peaks and build up valleys where its missing.

what is lacking right now?

 

[gstokes]

As an example only and should not be used for reference...

20 - 150 Hz for the Subs, 150 - 2000 for the mids and 2000 - 20000 for the highs..

But to properly "crossover" we need to extend each speakers frequency range so it overlaps or crosses over into the adjacent frequency range, a high note will not damage a sub but a low note will destroy a tweeter so let's start at the top and set the crossover point for the tweeters at 1900 Hz and extend the mids out to 2100 Hz, extend the mids down to 140 Hz and bump the sub frequency up to 160 Hz,,, Now all the frequencies are crossing over each other and there are no flat spots, the music is more fluid.. It would end up looking something like this, Subs 20 - 160, Mids 140 - 2100 and Highs 1900 - 20000.

Again, this is just an example and should not be used for reference as results vary but hopefully you better understand the practice of setting the crossover points for each frequency range..

Keep in mind that each speaker MUST be capable of reproducing it's selected frequency range, if the tweeter drops off at 3000 Hz then setting the crossover point at 1900 Hz is a moot point, choose your drivers carefully and have fun!!

 

[The Camry]

Hm ill have to try overlapping my crossovers.

I havnt really been able to tell an audible different between 12db with reversed polarity and 24 db with normal polarity.

When i set my eq to flat and play pink noise and look at my rta. my tweeter range is 2-3 db higher than everything else. All my gains are zero'd out.

Should i raised my midrange/subwoofer amps gain to match the tweeter level or should i just eq the tweeter freq down?

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Hm ill have to try overlapping my crossovers.
I havnt really been able to tell an audible different between 12db with reversed polarity and 24 db with normal polarity.

When i set my eq to flat and play pink noise and look at my rta. my tweeter range is 2-3 db higher than everything else. All my gains are zero'd out.

Should i raised my midrange/subwoofer amps gain to match the tweeter level or should i just eq the tweeter freq down?

EQ it down or gain match or change crossover points and db levels either one works. What head unit volume are you having everything set at for gain settings?

 

[gckless 5,000+ posts]

you gotta play around with the crossover points and slopes, overlaps, different points etc. Its supposed to blend real nice. You cant just set it like that and be done with it. Gotta try out every possible points, control the peaks and build up valleys where its missing.
what is lacking right now?

Why did you jump to crossovers being the issue? What alluded to that?

Hm ill have to try overlapping my crossovers.
I havnt really been able to tell an audible different between 12db with reversed polarity and 24 db with normal polarity.

When i set my eq to flat and play pink noise and look at my rta. my tweeter range is 2-3 db higher than everything else. All my gains are zero'd out.

Should i raised my midrange/subwoofer amps gain to match the tweeter level or should i just eq the tweeter freq down?

What RTA are you using, and what mic?

Sounds like this is as simple as reducing the tweeter volume. Either tweeter level on the HU (which is easier to manage, so I'd suggest that), or back off on the amp gain.

Also, if you set gain properly you shouldn't be raising any levels from there, only attenuating. How did you set gain?

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Why did you jump to crossovers being the issue? What alluded to that?

because it sounds like he hasnt fully explored/overlap/underlap different crossover points yet which can lead to an imbalanced sound.

 

[The Camry]

Why did you jump to crossovers being the issue? What alluded to that?


What RTA are you using, and what mic?

Sounds like this is as simple as reducing the tweeter volume. Either tweeter level on the HU (which is easier to manage, so I'd suggest that), or back off on the amp gain.

Also, if you set gain properly you shouldn't be raising any levels from there, only attenuating. How did you set gain?

I havnt set my gains at all. Thats what it is when mid and tweeter 4 channel as well as sub amp are all completely minimum gains. other than a few db higher on tweeter side. I have a pretty flat response. Using a phone mic and a phone rta. Not the most accurate by any means but its something

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

I would not trust that phone RTA at all man. Most phone RTA apps are crap, even a lot of the paid ones, there was a whole thread on diyma that trashed smart phone rtas. Start off by setting the gains properly then adjust some EQ, lower the 5k and 8k a bit. Only lower, dont boost.

 

[The Camry]

Lpf mid at 5k and hpf tweet at 4 k. Much smoother sounding now. So my next question is. It seems that if I cross my Mids at 80hz I have minimal midbass but if I cross them at 60hz. I get solid midbass. Even with a 24 DB slope. I'm not sure I feel safe running them that low. I havnt tries and its come to mind just now. Would it be better to say...run 80 at 6db slope?

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

i'd do the 80 with a -6 if you like listening very loud. However if its a moderate listening level, then you can go lower. The lower you cross it, the less power handling it has, its pretty easy to notice midbass distortion when overdriven.

 

[The Camry]

If I run 60hz at -24 then at 30hz it'll be -24db down. If I run 80hz at -6 then at 40hz. It'll be -6 down. That should give me strong midbass response but wouldn't that still be causing the driver to be handling low frequently at still pretty high DB?

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

If I run 60hz at -24 then at 30hz it'll be -24db down. If I run 80hz at -6 then at 40hz. It'll be -6 down. That should give me strong midbass response but wouldn't that still be causing the driver to be handling low frequently at still pretty high DB?

100 hz then...