Optimal bass and trebel frequencies for music genres?

okman16

Hello,

I got my Alpine CDA 9811 head unit not too long ago, and it has the options to change the frequencies of bass [60khz-180khz I think] and treble [12khz-18khz I think]. Knowing that I don't have any subwoofers or amps in my car [if that makes a difference], what frequencies should these items be set at for the following generes of music?

Rock, rap, techno, ect...


I know this is very general, but my old head unit had set equilizers that took care of this. Maybe if somebody could explain the frequencies and what they represent, that would help too.

Thanks in advance.

Jstas

This question is impossible to answer because what I think sounds good may not be what you think sounds good.

Go fiddle with your settings and set them to what you think sounds good and that is where it should be set.

Your stereo is for YOU to listen to. That's why you bought it, isn't it? Who cares what everyone else thinks sounds good.

okman16

Then maybe you can help me by explaining what the difference between a 60khz bass frequency and a 200khz bass frequency is. Does the smaller number mean less bass or something? Maybe that would help me get started on configuring it. Same for trebel please.

Jstas

You got it all wrong and rather than correct your mistakes, I am going 'splain it all over again so read carefully!

Sound moves in waves. Hence things like sine waves. What frequency is, has nothing to do with volume but rather tone, pitch and timbre of the note. Since sound travels in waves, there are peaks and valleys to the sound. These peaks and valleys affect how sound reacts with its surroundings. Sound vibrates things.

Sound vibrates things because it moves air, which is matter, which collides with other matter, like floors, ceilings and walls, and transfers it's energy to them in the form of vibrations. This is how our ear drums work. Air collides with our ear drums and vibrates them. Those vibrations are translated into sound by our brains.

As mentioned before, sound travels in waves. Those waves have peaks and valleys. Those peaks and valleys are important because they create a leading edge of compressed matter that flows along with the wave, just like ocean waves. This is how the sound moves air or vibrates other, solid objects. Those compressed waves on the leading edges of the up and down slopes of the wave impact you ear drum and vibrate it, making signals that are sent to your brain and interpreted as sound.

OK, so sound travels in waves and moves air via those waves. So what does that have to do with frequency? Well, those waves can have varying distances between peaks and valleys. The distance between two peaks in the wave is called a cycle. The cycles are uniform across the entire wave until the wave's source changes. Therefore, since these cycles are uniform and have a measurable distance, we need something to quantify them. Like distance is measured in inches or feet or miles, waves have a measurement too. What we measure is the wavelength and it is measured in Hertz which is abbreviated Hz.

So we now know that sound travels in waves, moves air and those waves have cycles which are measured with Hz. So what does that mean? Well, that measured distance between two peaks or two valleys (will be the same distance for either one) is a cycle. Frequency is the number of cycles per a given time. I do believe it is seconds, I am not sure, I will look it up later. However, the number of cycles per second is measured in Hz which describes the wavelength. Think of it as a wavey rope being pulled through a hole in the wall. Frequency basically tells us what sound that wave will have by telling us how many complete cycles of the wave (one peak and one valley is one full cycle) will pass through the hole in the given time. All sound travels at the same speed. So it doesn't tell us how fast it is going. What it does tell us is how long the wavelength is. The longer the wave length, the less cycles will be able to be passed through the hole in the wall in the given time. The number of cycles that do pass through give us the frequency at which a full cycle will pass through the wall. So that is where the name frequency comes from. So, the 60 Hz vs 200 Hz that you mentioned is basically describing two sperate signals. One signal has 60 cycles per second or 60 Hz and the other signal has 200 cycles per second, or 200 Hz.

That is a frequency. Frequency is not a measure or quantity of sound but rather a description of sound itself. To measure the quantity of sound, you look to amplitude which is the height of a wave. That height is measured from the lowest point of the valley to the highest point of teh peak of the wave. The larger the distance, the more amplitude the wave has, the louder it is.

Loud is volume. Waves always have an amplitude measurement. That amplitude is important because obviously, the higher the amplitude, the larger the slopes are for the wave. The larger the slopes, the more air they move. The more air they move, the harder they vibrate things. The harder they vibrate things, the louder they sound. However, your ear drum has physical limits and if you exceed those limits, you vibrate your eardrums into oblivion and deafness ensues. Hence the reason that we try to keep stereo volumes to sane levels. What good are insanely expensive speakers if you can't listen to them anymore?

I hope that answered your question.

PoweredByDodge

'fireball' john... ( i been waitin to use that ) ...

i think most of that probably went over his head... but here's hopin he got it

i normally would agree that tuning is vehicle dependant.. however... i have a comment on one particular frequency.

it seems to me to be a trend with most popular music (rap / rnb / techno / metal / rock / countyr / whatever) -- that if you wanna select a trebble point for your basic +/- 10 db sweep, try it at 12.5k hertz -- in 4 cars now, and in agreement with 3 other people, 12.5 khz is the "nicest" point to boost the trebble at assuming all else minus the bass end is "flat".

okman16

Thanks for the big explanation man! That was a little too much information for me, lol, jk, its all good.

The guy one post above me had the idea on what I was looking for. I was looking for what the majority of ears think sounds good. Do you have any idea what bass frequency should be set? I currently have it on 100khz, because thats about the middle range I can set it on.