New system, in dire need of tuning advice...

[vinsewah 10+ year member]

I drive a Honda Civic 2008 and recently upgraded my system with a new HU, a pair of component speakers in the front, coaxials in the rear and a sub. The problem is, I am severely lacking in midbass and it sounds like I don't have a sub at all unless I crank the volume up to the max. Here is what I got:

HU:

Alpine CDA-9887

Front stage:

Alpine Type X Component Speakers 6.5in

Rear fill:

Alpine Type R Coaxials 5.25in

Subwoofer:

One 10in JL 10W3v3 in a sealed box

Amp:

Alpine PDX 2.150 bridged powering the sub

Alpine PDX 4.100 powering the fronts and rears

I had it professionally installed, but they did a horrible job tuning my system (IE, they didn't). I guess my question would be, how do I set up my amps so that I can maximize the potential of my speakers? How should I set the crossovers for my amp(s)? Or, better yet... where do I frickkin start?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated... thx! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

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[vinsewah 10+ year member]

Bump!

 

[ashtrey1212 10+ year member]

When I started tuning my system with that HU I started with crossovers and EQ on the deck set flat and the subwoofer turned off and I went from there. Make sure you tune your deck and your 4 channel together until there is no distortion from your speakers, then when you got it the way you like it bring the crossovers for your mids and highs up so they'll only output high pass frequencies. Turn your subwoofer back on and start tuning your amp for the sub.

Hope thats a decent start for you, but I'm still learning more about all this car audio stuff myself so I'm sure that others on this forum can probably explain it to you better than I can.

 

[ashtrey1212 10+ year member]

Oh ya, and make sure that the input gain switch on those amps are set properly or you'll fry everything in your ride. The Alpine 9887 has 4 volt pre-outs so you should have the switch on those PDX amps set to 1.0-8.0 volts.

 

[SRim23 5,000+ posts]

who "professionally installed" your system. sometimes that really doesnt mean much. most of your sound is in the install.

1.probably not going to get much midbass unless the doors are properly deadened.

2. was the box built to the subwoofers specs or is it a prefab box? a crappy sub in a perfect box will most likely sound better than the best sub in a terrible box.

 

[vinsewah 10+ year member]

Oh ya, and make sure that the input gain switch on those amps are set properly or you'll fry everything in your ride. The Alpine 9887 has 4 volt pre-outs so you should have the switch on those PDX amps set to 1.0-8.0 volts.

Can you elaborate on that plz?

Currently the dial is set at the middle mark for both front/rear speakers. The gain for the 2 channel is cranked up 3/4 of the way since I can't hear anything from the subwoofer...

 

[BEAVER.989 10+ year member]

Turn the sub volume and front gains all the way down then set your volume to 25. Turn up the front amp until you get the first hint of distortion and back it off just a little.

Next turn the sub gain as high as it will go. With the volume at 25 slowly turn up the sub volume on the head unit until, again, it produces the first hint of distortion... now back it off a little.

Depending on the quality of the recording you may find it neccessary to change the sub volume regularly. With mine, on bass heavy songs I have to run it as low as 7... while on some rock music that sucker is pegged at +15.

 

[ashtrey1212 10+ year member]

Can you elaborate on that plz?
Currently the dial is set at the middle mark for both front/rear speakers. The gain for the 2 channel is cranked up 3/4 of the way since I can't hear anything from the subwoofer...

On those PDX amplifiers there should be a switch that says "input gain control", or something like that. The switch can be toggled between 0.1v-1.0v or 1.0v-8.0v. You should make sure it is set to 1.0v-8.0v.

 

[vinsewah 10+ year member]

http://vault.alpine-usa.com/products/documents/PDX-4.100%20OM.PDF

Are you talking about item 8/14? Where is the switch you're talking about...

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

You should be having this discussion with the professionals that installed it.

 

[vinsewah 10+ year member]

True, however I get the feeling that once they've received my money they have no incentive or need to be as helpful as my fellow forum members... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif