Tuning Car set up first time

[neil4374]

youve got me curious now, what kind of car is it? sorry if youve already said prior

I live in South Korea . It's a big SUV. It uses the engine out of a merc ml.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

I think that's rubbing salt into the wounds man. Have you any idea how cheap the stuff was?

referencing amazon prices

100 for the head unit which has literally zero tuning options and low quality 16 bit dac which = poor sound from the start. You could have gotten a pioneer mvh x580 bt for 99 dollars and you get ALLL the sound quality options in the world, 13 bands of eq, time alignment, active networks etc.. Quality 24 bit dac means way better sound quality from the start even without touching anything it'll just sound like you took off a wet towel that was covering your speakers and now you are actually hearing music properly. bluetooth thats as good as usb and plenty other options.

rockville 5 channel for 135, no complaints on this actually, its cheap power, better than nothing.

rockville components 60$. Could have just pieced together something from partsexpress and do an active setup (which that pioneer head unit allows you to do) and have a lot better sound quality.

 

[youdoofus]

I only skimmed the info that was being presented to help him set his amps, but for some reason nobody recommended using a multimeter or an o-scope. When setting up my systems i've always used an o-scope to measure clip limits and a multimeter to measure output voltages. Also some test frequency tracks to run while dialing in exact measurements.
I'm not sure if you have done this yet, but it should be the way you setup your system to avoid trouble later down the road with blown subs and burnt up amplifiers.

Check this section out---- Car Audio Reference Database

It's a database of common car audio do's and don't's. I promise you, it's a must-read in really getting serious about setting up your system.

i have seen o-scope spoken of from time to time on here, and i know that some can be obtained at a resonable cost from places like amazon etc etc, but i dont know how accurate the cheaper ones are. I imagine its like the fluke DMM's vs the $20 ones. Im sure that someone on youtube has done a comparo on the el-cheapos vs the big dogs, so i guess i have youtube fodder for after work today //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[youdoofus]

the listing here says pre-soldered, but it shows a ton of stuff that looks like it needs to be soldered, but for $23, you get what you pay for i guess. :/

https://www.amazon.com/Kuman-Oscilloscope-Source-15001K-pre-soldered/dp/B06Y5DBFXK/ref=lp_393269011_1_4?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1496332237&sr=1-4

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

That pioneer head unit, a basic amp or even just the head unit power alone with these drivers would have gotten you amazing sound quality. Running active means you can adjust the crossovers directly from the head unit and you put the tweeters and mids on their own seperate channels on the amp.

https://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-dc160-8-6-1-2-classic-woofer--295-305

https://www.parts-express.com/peerless-by-tymphany-xt25sc90-04-1-dual-ring-radiator-tweeter--264-1014

They dont look flashy but the design, performance and build quality is miles ahead of what rockville can dream of putting out.

 

[youdoofus]

That pioneer head unit, a basic amp or even just the head unit power alone with these drivers would have gotten you amazing sound quality. Running active means you can adjust the crossovers directly from the head unit and you put the tweeters and mids on their own seperate channels on the amp.
https://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-dc160-8-6-1-2-classic-woofer--295-305

https://www.parts-express.com/peerless-by-tymphany-xt25sc90-04-1-dual-ring-radiator-tweeter--264-1014

They dont look flashy but the design, performance and build quality is miles ahead of what rockville can dream of putting out.

I still have the x-overs from my old diamond audio Hex 600-s components, do you think they would work with these drivers?

 

[Joseph7195 10+ year member]

Not everybody has access to a scope. And using the DMM only works when it's certain the amplifier does rated. His are questionable.

Oh goodness, I can see where that would be a problem. As many times as you have changed systems and worked on other's systems, I know you know how important a decent multimeter can be. Even without an 0-scope, a multimeter can help immensely.

i have seen o-scope spoken of from time to time on here, and i know that some can be obtained at a resonable cost from places like amazon etc etc, but i dont know how accurate the cheaper ones are. I imagine its like the fluke DMM's vs the $20 ones. Im sure that someone on youtube has done a comparo on the el-cheapos vs the big dogs, so i guess i have youtube fodder for after work today //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

Lol, you're right! Most decent meters and scopes can be had for less than $100, and an extra $5 or $10 for a better quality one can make a huge difference! OMG, if you wanna pull your hair out, get one of those "FREE" multimeters from Harbor Freight lololololol. Those things are just the worst hahahaha //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rotflol.gif.b453361716769b8110ddefc85ff03cd2.gif:rotflol:

 

[youdoofus]

Oh goodness, I can see where that would be a problem. As many times as you have changed systems and worked on other's systems, I know you know how important a decent multimeter can be. Even without an 0-scope, a multimeter can help immensely.




Lol, you're right! Most decent meters and scopes can be had for less than $100, and an extra $5 or $10 for a better quality one can make a huge difference! OMG, if you wanna pull your hair out, get one of those "FREE" multimeters from Harbor Freight lololololol. Those things are just the worst hahahaha //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rotflol.gif.b453361716769b8110ddefc85ff03cd2.gif:rotflol:

i got a pretty junky one from amazon a few years ago when i bought a house for house related stuff (water heater, outlets etc etc) and it fried on 220 volts. HUGE SPARK!! scared the cr@p out of me!!

 

[youdoofus]

I live in South Korea . It's a big SUV. It uses the engine out of a merc ml.

South Korea? well, you should have access to the factories that make the stuff for the rest of the world then!! So many manufacturers have their stuff made there, but im not sure how accessible it is to the direct consumer from those factories as a retail purchase. PPI, SoundQubed and a ton of the epsilon stuff is made there. Might be a good thing to get a part time job at one of the places to get stuff for nearly free!! (the last part was just a joke //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif )

sorry for the threadjacking tho, i do that sometimes because of ADHD

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

I still have the x-overs from my old diamond audio Hex 600-s components, do you think they would work with these drivers?

to many factors to say if it will or will not. Especially if we dont know the crossover point or slope and that its not adjustable. Passive crossovers are usually the last thing i'd ever touch EVER in my life again unless its home audio.

too much reflections in vehicle acoustics to account for which means every vehicle/speaker will need different crossover points and slopes, not having the ability to adapt to the listening environment is the major flaw with passive crossovers.

There's a reason why i suggested an active capable head unit and not something with passive crossovers.

Not to mention the ability to time align tweeters and midrange separately really helps the soundstage a lot more than if you time align components that are no on the same plane and distance from your ears.

 

[youdoofus]

to many factors to say if it will or will not. Especially if we dont know the crossover point or slope and that its not adjustable. Passive crossovers are usually the last thing i'd ever touch EVER in my life again unless its home audio.
too much reflections in vehicle acoustics to account for which means every vehicle/speaker will need different crossover points and slopes, not having the ability to adapt to the listening environment is the major flaw with passive crossovers.

There's a reason why i suggested an active capable head unit and not something with passive crossovers.

Not to mention the ability to time align tweeters and midrange separately really helps the soundstage a lot more than if you time align components that are no on the same plane and distance from your ears.

thats what i was afraid of LoL doesnt seems to be many double dins that arent a grand that have that stuff built in. The main reason i bought the 4500 was the double din and how nice it looks along with the 4v pre-outs. I bought it about 4 years ago, so its what was available at the time for double dins. I guess ill hafta look around for something of this form factor that has that stuff in it for a plan at a later date to change it out. I hate how long this deck takes to start playing music on the flash drive anyways, so theres that.

 

[neil4374]

No problem at all

 

[youdoofus]

No problem at all

sometimes a wayward conversation opens up a conversation that can be helpful. I try to make sure that if i threadjack, that it heads in that direction //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

thats what i was afraid of LoL doesnt seems to be many double dins that arent a grand that have that stuff built in. The main reason i bought the 4500 was the double din and how nice it looks along with the 4v pre-outs. I bought it about 4 years ago, so its what was available at the time for double dins. I guess ill hafta look around for something of this form factor that has that stuff in it for a plan at a later date to change it out. I hate how long this deck takes to start playing music on the flash drive anyways, so theres that.

all decks are that slow... imo... Not until they start putting real CPUs on these double din head units, all trash cpus. We are the year 2017 with 4k resolution coming to phones and these car head units are still stuck at 720P.

 

[youdoofus]

all decks are that slow... imo... Not until they start putting real CPUs on these double din head units, all trash cpus. We are the year 2017 with 4k resolution coming to phones and these car head units are still stuck at 720P.

ugh... thats what i was afraid of. I was looking at the car-puter option with a Pi, and there are some decks out made by no-name brands that use android with fairly decent resolutions (still 720p, but the resolution isnt a huge concern for me. ive had movies going on my 4500bt several times for passengers while driving and ive never had a complaint) but the option for a disc drive in that application is nil and making a casing without something like a 3d printer is wonky at best. The boot time on the ATOTO on amazon is a claimed 2 seconds, but it doesnt speak to how long it takes for it takes to start playing music. It does show some verified purchase comments and answers to questions, so i guess i could pose that question there, but im just super leary of such an off-brand item