Recommended Settings for My New KDC-X895 Deck, Speakers, & SubWoofer

[BenK]

Good Evening All -

For Christmas, I received a new Kenwood KDC-X895 deck as well as the Sirius hardware accessories for it. Today, I finished the installation in my Toyota Land Cruiser. This new deck drives 2 Alpine 4 1/2" (front door) speakers, 2 factory 4 1/2" speakers (rear door), rear factory sub, and additional 10" enclosed sub (Infinity Basslink 200-Watt, Dual 10" Powered Subwoofer System) which I added a couple of years ago. This enclosed sub has a built in amplifier too. It's not a top of the line sub, but was added to simply provide a better range of sound - not to be heard outside of the vehicle.

Anyways, after installation, I went through to try to configure the audio for the best possible sound. I listen to a variety of music from my iPod, Sirius Radio, CDs, and flash memory. Compared to my old radio (Alpine CDE-9881), this Kenwood deck has many more options as far as treble, mid, and bass adjustment.

The reason that I'm posting is that I'm trying to find out what is suggested that I configure my audio settings for to achieve the best sound. I can obviously configure my new X895's settings, but also the sub's. The enclosure is connected to the deck by a pair of RCA cables connected to the "sub" RCA connections on the back. Below is a section from it's site description of it's capabilities:

"User-adjustable controls allow listeners to set the system's response to achieve optimum performance based on the vehicle's cabin gain or transfer function. These controls include: a 0- or 180-degree phase switch; a continuously variable electronic low-pass filter that is adjustable between 70 and 100Hz; variable input sensitivity; and Bass EQ that provides for adjustments between +3 and -6dB. BassLink's frequency response in a typical vehicle is 20 to 100Hz (+/-3dB), but this varies according to the vehicle and user adjustments. At maximum gain, the system can accept inputs as low as 250mV."

So given the above - what do you suggest i set both the X895 deck & sub to? Yes, a lot of it may have to do with the vehicles's acoustics - but surely there's a few things that need to match.

Thanks!

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[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

Well the first thing to do is decide whether you want to control everything from the deck, or lock some settings in by setting things up with the subs built-in amp.

One case where you might want to do the latter is if someone else is likely to drive your car and they might F with your decks settings.... you can lock them out of the sub by setting the deck with phase to 0, low-pass filter to the highest Freq. it'll go, and I'd guess at a middle of the road or default input sens. to start. Then use the sub's amp for phase if it has it, low-pass filter etc.

 

[BenK]

Thanks for your reply -

I want to be able to control everything from the deck. One of the main things I was really looking for was what to set the sub to that will best coorespond with the deck & rest of speakers.

Example: From the little I know about this, I think I'd like for the sub to control frequencies below a specific setting, but then have the deck set to control all of the ones above whatever the sub is set to.

As for my truck, I'll be the only one driving it. Sometimes my wife drives it, but she'd never change the settings as she doesn't care what they really are.

I looked at the sub earlier to see how it was actually set currently and what my options were. The problem is, I don't see how I can really set it. Then again, i really don't know what some of the ports are. What do you think? Where do I need to start or how do you think I should configure it?

Attached is a picture I took of my sub's configuration panel...

Thanks!

 

[BenK]

Whoops -

I just looked at the sub again and realized the dials were on the side.. As you can see in pic, they are currently maxed out.

What configuration do you suggest?. Thanks again!

 

[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

Well to have more control at the deck, I'd set the crossover to 120hz (or off if there's another switch to do that), and the bass boos straight up (which I hope is 0) as the deck can do that for you I think. "Bass EQ that provides for adjustments between +3 and -6dB."

The gain will still need to be set manually to get the output you desire.