So this has been a post that I have been meaning to add for quite some time. In short, we all know that the audio quality in our XV's could be better. We also [should] know that audio is a very subjective topic. For that reason, take this with a grain of salt.
But I'd like to share an experience I had that may be of interest to some on this forum.
After going a number of months without a subwoofer (something I have always had in previous cars), I finally caved and decided to perform the ol' "line level converter/keep your factory head unit" setup. Going through the buying/configuration process and installing everything was pretty straightforward. However, where things got interesting was when I started the system up, it was just all out-a-whack. Bass was too punchy, treble was too sharp, mids were missing.
So I imagined I had some work to do with the EQ. Now admittedly, I have played with EQ's in the past, but more often than not I was just adhering to the "default" higher on bass and treble with slightly lower mids (a sort of "v" shape). Beyond that, I never got too much fancier.
So I ventured to the Googles and did me some searching. There I found some odd things, but also some helpful things. Those helpful things included a process that seemed so obvious, I was surprised I hadn't come across it on the forums.
This process, put simply was to play pink noise through your car stereo and measure it using a RTA (Real Time Analyzer). Then with the results, flatten out your EQ and then tweak to your desired settings. This lead to some very interesting findings. First of all, to achieve a flat EQ on our stereos took some major adjustments. I will show a pic below.
This was the result of the RTA measuring the pink noise played at about ½ volume.
(notice the spike around 100Hz and the drop off around 1k)
From here I aimed to flatten out the RTA by adjusting the EQ on the stereo. This is pretty simple as we only have a 7 band EQ, but the adjustment required in order to flatten out the RTA was surprising.
The closest I could get to flat looked like this...
In order to get to this, the EQ on my XV looked like this...
Wild stuff right?!?!
Anywho, I tweaked the bass down a little bit, and pretty much left the EQ flat, but I will tell you all something...
If these settings don't make each of my very eclectic choices in music sound great at nearly all volumes, then I'm not sure what would...(choose a different car would likely be the answer.)
It was a dramatic improvement to say the least and it was all done from my iPhone with free apps. So I just figured I would share my excitement.
Please note that each car's desired EQ may vary based on user preference*, but if you have any questions, I would be happy to explain more.
*I currently have the Polk 6.5" coaxials in all four doors, as well as a Alpine Type-X subwoofer, so my settings will vary from others.
Hope this helps/entertains!
But I'd like to share an experience I had that may be of interest to some on this forum.
After going a number of months without a subwoofer (something I have always had in previous cars), I finally caved and decided to perform the ol' "line level converter/keep your factory head unit" setup. Going through the buying/configuration process and installing everything was pretty straightforward. However, where things got interesting was when I started the system up, it was just all out-a-whack. Bass was too punchy, treble was too sharp, mids were missing.
So I imagined I had some work to do with the EQ. Now admittedly, I have played with EQ's in the past, but more often than not I was just adhering to the "default" higher on bass and treble with slightly lower mids (a sort of "v" shape). Beyond that, I never got too much fancier.
So I ventured to the Googles and did me some searching. There I found some odd things, but also some helpful things. Those helpful things included a process that seemed so obvious, I was surprised I hadn't come across it on the forums.
This process, put simply was to play pink noise through your car stereo and measure it using a RTA (Real Time Analyzer). Then with the results, flatten out your EQ and then tweak to your desired settings. This lead to some very interesting findings. First of all, to achieve a flat EQ on our stereos took some major adjustments. I will show a pic below.
This was the result of the RTA measuring the pink noise played at about ½ volume.
(notice the spike around 100Hz and the drop off around 1k)
From here I aimed to flatten out the RTA by adjusting the EQ on the stereo. This is pretty simple as we only have a 7 band EQ, but the adjustment required in order to flatten out the RTA was surprising.
The closest I could get to flat looked like this...
In order to get to this, the EQ on my XV looked like this...
Wild stuff right?!?!
Anywho, I tweaked the bass down a little bit, and pretty much left the EQ flat, but I will tell you all something...
If these settings don't make each of my very eclectic choices in music sound great at nearly all volumes, then I'm not sure what would...(choose a different car would likely be the answer.)
It was a dramatic improvement to say the least and it was all done from my iPhone with free apps. So I just figured I would share my excitement.
Please note that each car's desired EQ may vary based on user preference*, but if you have any questions, I would be happy to explain more.
*I currently have the Polk 6.5" coaxials in all four doors, as well as a Alpine Type-X subwoofer, so my settings will vary from others.
Hope this helps/entertains!