Good settings for a Pioneer head unit?

[younglion]

Ok first of all, ignore my noobie ignorance. never really learnt much about the audio side of things.

Having some trouble setting up my system for optimal sound. Can anyone recomend some settings for the following, etc sub level, bass booster, low med high loudness, front or rear fader.

Pioneer head unit :

MTX splits front
pio 6X9 300w rear
pio 2X 1000w subs
Pioneer mono block amp just running the subs for now. plan to get another to run splits and 6X9's

every time i try a setting it either thumps too much or thumps too loud to hear the music. or doesnt thump enough!!! what do you guys set yours at? Also does having mp3 on a cd reduce the sound quality becasue some song seem to thump a whole lot more than others. and will a store bought cd have better sounding music through the speakers?

[StoneX]

No one can tell you, it needs to be done by ear... If you can't get it to sound right, you'll need to take it to someone to tune.

It is recommended that you turn off bass boost on the head unit and amp, then you use the EQ and sub level to set the sound up.

[younglion]

but is it normal for different songs to react differently to the system, i will play a certain song and it will play fine and then something else will just be distorted. Dloading a higher bitrate is better yeah? they are mainly at 128 but i see some are 192 and higher will the higher ones be clearer?

[the_duke]

Im not to sure what your headunit can handle. But if it has got a high pass filter built into it. Set it around 80-100 hz. That will remove the bass coming into your splits and the dreaded 6X9s (not a big fan of 6X9s). and there for destroying your mid bass

Also on your subs amp, set your low pass filter to stop your subs trying to play to high. Set it around 500hz, then tame it down as you listen to music.

If your headunit doesn't have a high pass filter, i would be looking for a amp to run your splits and your 6X9s off. Where you can set the high pass filters for both channels.

As you are trying to set your treble, mids and bass, turn off loudness, bass boost and all things like that. Also find some well recorded music, that you know well and like. To tune too. After all you might be listening to it a fair bit.

Thanks

[StoneX]

Yes, MP3's will sound different... But so will original CD's. If I play something new, it's loud and has well balanced sound. If I play an old Metallica CD or something, it's really quiet and lacking bass, so I have to adjust setting. It's just something you have to do because recording styles are different.

If I set up my stereo to the level of the Metallica CD's then tried to play new music at the same volume on the head unit, it would be too loud and distort. I assume that's what's happening to you. You have to set your volume by ear, not by the number on the head unit.

[Cobez]

Correct. Also can depend on the bitrate of a downloaded and burnt MP3. The difference in sound between different genres of music and different ages of music as StoneX mentioned.

I just quickly change my settings to suit what music i am listening to. EG: turn my sub down a bit for rock and metal, turn it up for hip hop etc etc. If you learn to use your head unit so you can change settings quickly whilst stopped at the lights, it's easy.

[bezz]

Flat eq across the board would be ideal if your system was tuned correctly. However as you don't have an amp for your mids/highs I would high pass them at around 120-140Hz if your h/u has that functionality. Also keep bass boost off, if you really need more bass just set your mono amp accordingly. If you can (depending on how many bands your eq has) set the midbass up slightly. If you don't have any deadener your system will most probably be lacking there. The rest should be kept really flat unless something sounds really off with the recording.

If the recording is terrible quality, compressed and whatnot, back off the mids. If its really clear bring them up slightly. If its live back off the bass (pref on the amp) and bring up the mids. What you're really going for is an accurate representation of all frequencies, and more importantly what sounds good to you. Note all these changes I listed are only slight, not +/-6dB changes!

[Ra1d]

if your a bit of a fussy bloke it can get a bit frustrating playing the old mixed mp3 in your car. 128kbit qual is your entry level, you dont want to go any lower than that. having said that i have heard crystal clear 128kbit recordings and ive heard some shocking ones. go up to 192kbit if you like but generally 128 should be sufficient - just preview

p.s i have my mid/treble/fade/bal on constant settings, but from genre to genre i usually just adjust the bass off my HU from -4 to -2 if im feeling a bit freaky

[DavidPartay]

I don't use LOUDness at all.

I'm using a Pioneer 6950, with the 7 band equalizer (makes everything soooo easy!) and a 10" BOSS sub running off 380w bridged from a Response amp.

Set the EQ flat, and adjust it from there. Here's a sort of frequency guideline, which I'm just going off the top of my head to write up:

lower sub-bass - 20hz - 50hz - adds the rumble to the bass
sub-bass - 50hz - 80hz - adds more body to the bass (gives it that rounded thump)
low-bass - 80hz - 200hz - thickens the bass sound.
mid-bass - 200hz - 600hz - Adds more body to the overall sound of the music.
low-mid - 600hz - 800hz - Adds more body to the mid-range
mid - 800hz - 2500hz - Fundamental mid-range, 'colours' the music. Personal preference, but I usually see it turned down rather than up. Setting it too low makes the music sound 'thin'
upper-mid - 2500 - 5500hz - Changes the timbre of things such as snare drums, guitar, vocals. Again, personal taste.
lower-high - 5500hz - 8000hz - As above, but starts to affect the clarity of the music if it's set too low.
high - 8000hz - 12000hz - Makes a very obvious impact on the clarity and 'cleanness' of the music. If it's set too high, it causes sibilance and a 'tinny' sound, if too low the music can sound dull.
upper-high - 12000hz - 16000hz - Most non-professional EQ systems don't even have this range available, but if you've got this range, adjust to suit your preference.
16000hz and beyond - Most people can't even hear this, but rather than directly affecting what you hear, modifying this range can change the character of the overall sound as it changes the shape of the soundwaves.

It's probably not the best guide, but I know what each range sounds like in my head. I had a really good chart somewhere which explained in much less detail and with much better words how each frequency range affects the sound. I'll have to find it.