EQ in cars
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Posted on Jun 22, 2004 12:35 pm
fortymile
Member Since: Jan 18, 2003
i realized i maybe don't understand something fundamental.
i was riding with my friend, who i see maybe once a year, and he gets into my jeep and expresses shock at how my stereo's EQ is set. basically, all three sliders are set LOW. the mids are scooped out: that slider is all the way down. the bass and the treble are hovering just under the midpoint of the possible range, which i guess would be close to flat response, zero db change in that range.
to my thinking all i've done is scooped the mids. first question: does anyone else use this setting?
second question: i sort of told him that since the EQ sliders were just volume knobs for specific bands, it's the relationship between them that matters, that the height won't matter so much unless some are very high and others very low. if you did it that way, then you'd get exaggerated bands and the sliders would actually make a difference. i said that if all bands are basically high or all bands are basically low, then you can boost bands just by working the main volume knob on your stereo.
but he says he won't get the thump of bass unless his bass slider is up pretty high. he didn't mention how his other sliders were set, but i imagine they must be set in the middle range or less, because if not, then upping the volume with the main knob might get kind of screechy and he'd just end up turning the whole mix down. but this way, the bass is exaggerated.
is this thinking...right? i mean, if you had all three sliders at the same level somewhere near the bottom versus all three sliders at the same level level somewhere near the top, the only detectable difference will be how high your main volume knob will have to be set to get the exact same sound, right?
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Jun 22, 2004 12:39 pm It all depends on the speakers you have, the enclosure they are in, how it's tuned, the room they are in and everything else in the environment. As well all know, you can take a single CD and play it in 5 different places and get 5 different sounds...the EQ is what is supposed to help each person tune it to their liking. If he needs to crank the lows up to get the thumping bass then he either has a crappy woofers (or sub woofers), they are crossed over at the wrong point, they are not in a properly tuned enclosure, or, he thinks it's cool to be one of those annoying little shits that likes everybody in the neighborhood to hear the beat...
Jun 22, 2004 12:41 pm nah. in his car, and in my other friends car, the stereo sounds really full and good in there. clearly their systems surpass mine. i still dont get it.
Jun 23, 2004 06:11 am I think the point you have here Forty is - if you have the EQ totally max'd - is that the same as the volume max'd at a higher level???
I would have thought so. Since you have raised the EQ at an equal level i.e. all 3 sliders max, I think that would be the same as having the volume higher with all 3 EQ's at say half way?? In my humble opinion!!
RE: THe bass...first off. DB - you are SPOT ON! I hate those getts that bang aroond blaring oot bloody dance music at all hours - its just annoying! Id love to have one of those stingers the polis (police) use and just whack it right oot on their car ! hahaha!
AYe, getting back to the bass. My car stereo (A std Ford jobbie) is not bad bass wise, but obviously with std speakers as well, its not great either. I think it's just like monitor speakers and amps. If they have a decent range you should hear the bass easily withoot maxing the EQ on the bass..if it dont come thru without it, is that not a case of poor speakers/range? I know I need to boost the bass in my car a little but I dont play no dance music so I get a nice wholesome sound rather than THUMP THUMP THUMP - screeeeech - !
Coco...
Jun 23, 2004 01:04 pm yeah thats what i was asking. your first paragraph there.
Jun 23, 2004 03:40 pm I think I would tend to go with your logic there Forty...if you raise all volumes equally on the EQ it must be the same as raising the master!
Jun 23, 2004 03:45 pm not necessarily, depends on the width of the frequency band for each EQ band, the cut and boost for it...basically how good of an EQ it is, master turns it up across the board, period...
Jun 23, 2004 06:30 pm Forty- I know exactly what you're talking about and have had the exact same argument with someone. Like dB just said, I think it might make a difference if the different bands have a selected bandwidth, rather than a crossover that meets right up with the next band. If the bands all meet up together, then it makes no difference where they are, aside from their relationship to one another. But I doubt that they do. Most EQ's have a "home" position right in the center that they click to. That would be the flat position and right there there would be no boosting or cutting, if you boost all the frequencies it would be like cutting all the bands between the frequencies you boosted. The opposite would apply if you brought them all down.
These days I like listening to music flat (Although that isn't really possible except on my studio monitors). I think it's kind of rediculous the concept of eq'ing something after the mixing and mastering engineers have put so much time and expertise into doing it.
Jun 23, 2004 07:03 pm i hear ya. i was wondering if there was crossover. i figured that if there was, my theory wouldn't apply.
