Team-BHP - Car Audio Advice from the Audio Gurus: Use "Search thread" before posting a new Q!

Quote:

Originally Posted by DerAlte (Post 3054548)

You heared it correctly - it is helpful in all cases. Damping reduces road noise intruding via the door panels, and this noise is actually masking out the frequencies which you are able to hear only when you increase volume.

What exactly do you mean by saying 'bass is not very tight' in your system?

Sorry, I was out for quiet a long time.

My previous car had a sub and a pair of coax powerred by a four channel amp, so my ear got tuned for the BBAASSSS ;-). thats why i felt the lack of punch in my current setup i guess.

Two of my cousin recently bought the Figo and both of them find that my setup sounds way better, even i feel a huge difference after sitting on their cars with OEM setup.

It took sometime for the setup to finish its runin. Now I feel the system sounds crystal clear and with limited bass.

Regarding damping, The guy who fixed the components told me that sometimes the SC guys damage the damping material as he seen that it happened with two other customers, so he suggest to stay off unless i find it much necessary. Does anyone faced such issues?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRIVE_ADDICT (Post 3097410)

... Regarding damping, The guy who fixed the components told me that sometimes the SC guys damage the damping material as he seen that it happened with two other customers, so he suggest to stay off unless i find it much necessary ...

That is definitely some really weird reasoning, without knowing the why. Unless the damping material has been stuck on in a way that it prevents access to the winder motor assembly or door lock assembly and their screws, the service guys don't touch the damping material.

There is a good way of applying damping avoiding screws (or cutting away those small areas), and then there is the dumb way of covering every hole possible. The car owner can influence this by telling them what is right and what is wrong.

Quote:

Originally Posted by adi_sun (Post 3099581)

... How good an upgrade will be Infinity 120.9 ?

What's bugging you with the current setup? What caused the 'upgrade' thought?

Per se, the Infinity Kappa sub will not be drastically different from the ID3. If you know what exactly you are missing (possibly as compared to something else you listened to), you can normally bridge the gap by retuning your system or tuning your enclosure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DerAlte (Post 3099793)

I am a fan of bass that goes low, has a whole lot of punch as is not loud.
had a chance to experience the rainbow vanadium. Musical bass is what I seek, currently the ID sits in a sealed box damped all around with some polyfill.
Will a ported enclosure be a good step ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suresh Nair (Post 3096479)

The OE HU & Speakers tuned to perform does makes sense.

In fact I have been trying to reach Anwar for couple of days, but the cell phone number listed in Top Gear site has been switched off. I got the Chinese HU installed at EVO a month back, and when I told Satya that it sounds awful, he casually, almost with a lack of interest - he never stepped out of his office to listen - , suggested going for a 4 channel Amp & components + coaxials in the future. If he had shown more interest, I would probably have gone for teh upgrade then and there. I will try him/ Thouqeer / Anwar again. Meanwhile, based on my feedback, my Chinese supplier has sent me a firmware update which they say will improve the performance - Not sure if it will be effective any bit, but no harm in trying out, I guess.
Whether this firmware update works or not, I must quote that I am pleasantly surprised by the response from this particular Chinese supplier even after 5 months of purchase. In the past, they went through great deal of trouble to provide me India specific GPS & maps as the default one came with USA maps as I ordered this unit through Amazon USA.

Update: I am putting my ICE upgrade on hold - Reason: After the firmware update ad a day fiddling with equalizers, it suddenly dawned on me - With the 3 band equalizers adjustable on a scale of -10 to + 10, instead of having "0" as the starting flat setting, try with all bands at -10 - Crank up the volume to compensate for the -ve eq setting, and it was already sounding better. Finally, at Lo (-6), Mid (-7) and Hi (-1), the Chinese HU with stock Civic speakers was sounding really sweet and punchy. Excellent frequency reproduction, clarity and tight bass ( that is right, stock Civic speakers). My friend who auditioned could not believe his ears, as this was sounding better ( at sane listening volume) than his ICEd Swift with Pio HU, JBL GT components and Sub with JBL amp. I just drove aimlessly all day, just enjoying the car and the newfound music quality.

I may out grow this quantum jump in quality in few months, but till then I am putting my upgrade plans on hold.

Quote:

Originally Posted by adi_sun (Post 3100173)

I am a fan of bass that goes low, has a whole lot of punch as is not loud. ...
Will a ported enclosure be a good step ?

Good, at least you are able to describe what you want. But, you have not expressed what is missing in the current setup.

Your problem is most likely to do with enclosure size, though unless you say what is missing one cannot say under- or over-sized. Polyfill is necessary, and unless stuffed too much, doesn't harm anything.

Ported enclosures are much more sensitive to tuning (volume as well as port). Needs a few iterations to get it right. If not done right, it may upset the current balance altogether.

Do try to induce our Bhai LBM Singh Freedabadwale (low_bass_makker; extremely elusive and difficult to catch like the proverbial Cheshire Cat) to audition your current system. He will be able to listen and tell you what is missing and what should be done to correct it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suresh Nair (Post 3100213)

Update: I am putting my ICE upgrade on hold - Reason: After the firmware update ad a day fiddling with equalizers. ...

A palliative if I have ever heard of one! :) The improvement in sound has nothing to do with the software update. It was the magic done by your own ears and hands!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by DerAlte (Post 3100387)

DerAlte, The software update changed the way the system responds to the equalizers and that made all the difference (for now). I believe there is no absolute and eternal Nirvana with tech upgrades for a "greedy and to an extent, snob" guy like me, and I revel in the elation of each improvement I can have. I guess that need to keep on upgrading is true with audio enthusiasts as well ( recollect Dinu's Ciciv ICE upgrade?)

So this is only one baby step of many to come. This gives me more time to research for the next level of excitement once the current wave dies down. Meanwhile, I was preoccupied making the most of my neighbor family's out of town trip, by trying to calibrate and fine tune my home theater set up, almost bringing the walls down in the process

(Foot note: I could finally get Anwar on phone, and have made an appointment for this evening, for first round of consulting and auditioning.
)

Quote:

Originally Posted by DerAlte (Post 3101152)

:)Interesting! Can you explain how the behaviour changed?

The HU had a 3 band equalizer, with control points (approximately) at 200Hz, 1KHz and 8KHz. Prior to the firmwareupdate, when the 200Hz is pulled boosted by +10dB, <100Z and >300Hz hardly got changed, as only a narrow band of frequency was getting adjusted by the control points. After the firmware update, each control point affects a wider band of frequency. So now when I pull up 200Hz by +10dB, <100Hz and >300Hzgets boosted by around +4db. The narrow band frequency control curve is good if you have a 10 band graphic equalizer, which allows you to control more accurately. However, in a 3 band equalizer, this will cause too much imbalance in frequency response. I have made an approximate frequency response curve comparison between the Pre & post software upgrade, but I am still a Newbie and am not allowed to upload pictures yet to Team BHP

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suresh Nair (Post 3102452)

The HU had a 3 band equalizer, with control points (approximately) at 200Hz, 1KHz and 8KHz. ...

:) I think I am getting a fair idea what you are referring to.

Boss, what you are seeing is a changed graphical interface, not changed equalizer behaviour. The equalizer is implemented in hardware, whose gain setting points at those frequencies is set by the GUI interface. No matter what GUI you put in, it actually changes a number in the equalizer, which represents the gain at that frequency. The slope associated with each point would be a rather shallow but fixed 6dB/octave.

We can draw the lines on the GUI whichever way we want, whether it is a graph whose line can be pulled up or down, or show sliders, for each changeable frequency - it is one and the same. You are changing only the gain number and not the slope.