Imprint and Bass

Hello,
I recently installed an Alpine CDA-9887 head unit in my car. This weekend, I used my KTX-100EQ for the first time (really, first 2 times, I suppose). I believe the head unit is set up properly. The switch on the bottom is set to 2.2Ch. The dash speakers are configured as the Rear speakers and the doors the front. My speakers are as follows:
1) 3.5" coaxial speakers in the dash (these fire upward into the windshield (reflected) AND have some off-axis line-of-site path, as well.
2) 6.5" midbass door speakers (dampened with clay).
3) single 10" subwoofer in small sealed box in the trunk.
These are all drivin with amplifiers. Its all mid-upper range equipment, installed with care.

I was quite disappointed. On the first run, I follwed the instructions to the letter for setting up the front left position...placing mics where requested (all six positions). In addition to the incredibly low amplitude in the lower frequencies (which I anticipated from reading on line). The imaging was terribly vague.

The latter was surprising to me. When tuned by ear following measurements to appoximate, my imaging is virtually spot-on.

I tried again, but rather than moving the microphone to all positions with for of the 6 measurments, I simply moved it left and right within where my head position would be when driving. The frequency response is more pleasing, but the image is solidly to the right...almost in the right passenger position.

I'm hoping beyond hope that I've either done something silly or you can suggest alternative methods. As I am unable to see or adjust what the Audyssey calibration has done, I can't fix it otherwise.

Thank you in advance.

Jason Machan -
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2 Comments

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  • 0
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    Audyssey Labs

    There is a lot of misinformation on the web about bass in the car unfortunately... The biggest issue is the lack of understanding about the difference between Reference and Preference. I wrote about this in my blog: 

    http://www.audyssey.com/blog/2009/05/reference-vs-preference/

    MultEQ is a tool that measures the speaker performance in your car and then calibrates the response to a reference target curve that comes close to the curve used in mixing the content in a calibrated studio. Personal preference, however, is a different matter that can't be reached with an automated system. So, it should be a simple matter of turning up the bass level to the desired preference setting once you have calibrated the system to the reference response.

    Now, regarding the imaging. It highly depends on the delays set for the left and right speakers. MultEQ uses the first microphone position to calculate these delays and so we recommend setting the mic in the middle of the car between the two front seats for the first measurement. After that you can distribute the measurements as you like. If the driver seat will be the most important one then you should take more there. If you want to give some weight to the passenger or the rear seat then you should add some there as well. We recommend starting in the middle as I mentioned above, then taking 3-4 head-spaced measurements in the driver's seat and then 1-2 in the passenger seat.

  • 0
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    David Won

    Hi Chris,

    I've done another sweep of my vehicle using your technique and locations rather than Alpine's and yours is decidedly better. The only hiccup was that I had to raise the subwoofer channel gain by almost 50% from last year's calibration to solve "EO13- input signal too low" warnings. The entire chain is Alpine: HU, 5-channel amp and 10"subwoofer. Can you comment how I could lose so much sub gain since the last calibration? I'm also curious what cross-over point is created for the subwoofer  via Imprint.

    It was the impressive performance of Imprint in the car that led me to upgrade the home music system with an Onkyo SR707 which was even more spectacular. Well done!

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