Help with tuning the Pioneer deh-p800prs HU

Systems

Go here http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/diy-mobile-audio/48815-all-6-focal-demo-discs-ready-download.html and download the Focal demo disks. One disk has tools with test tones. And a nice selection of music too. The files are in ACC lossless for mat for iPod (with I use in my system) but you can rip to a cd using iTunes.

cadenceclipse

#2 has tools

Systems

yep it does.

cadenceclipse

yep sure does..

arun1963

hi dan,

Can you pls share your TA settings on the 880? I know the settings will be diff your car I'm just trying to confirm something. I guess you would start with your sub at actual measured distance and delay everything from there on. Just curious to see what the reading for your near side tweet is.

dirthog

arun1963 wrote: »

hi dan,

Can you pls share your TA settings on the 880? I know the settings will be diff your car I'm just trying to confirm something. I guess you would start with your sub at actual measured distance and delay everything from there on. Just curious to see what the reading for your near side tweet is.

I'm actually running them in coax mode now. So the tweeter and mid have the same value.

I always measure the front and set it according to the tape measure. I then use pink noise to see how centered and strong the sound is. I will then adjust the drivers side back and forth to find the best setting. With the TA you might not get it directly in the middle and I will then play around with leveling to see if that's why it's not in the middle.

Once I have the front dialed in I'll adjust the sub. Measure and set it to the tape measure and then play around with different TA values to see what sounds best. I usually play music with good bass and not a lot of highs to hear the bass better. Some times I'll play a frequency at the crossover point and mess around with the TA until it sounds best.

Sorry for the short answer but I'm at work.

arun1963

Tks for the reply dan. Really delayed reaction from my side....

I pretty much do the same things.

I do the tape measure bit, but I measure for the pathlength. Hence if my far mid is at 47" and the near one at 33", thats where I will start. I set the far tweet at the same value as the near mid and tweets are sperated by the same pathlength.

I have my tweets in the sail panels and the mids are like 6" below the window, forward on the door panel. Now when I add or reduce delay, I do it for all 5 drivers by the same amt. Pathlength stays constant. Once I have found the sweet spot, I then check for accuracy of measured pathlength. So if the measured is 14" but it shapes up better at 13", I know I measured wrong.

Once the TA is set, I then run the test tones of the second focal demo disk. I downloaded the first two disks, tks to your link. The earlier test tones I had were of poor quality. I could'nt hear anything past 10khz.......I actually began to believe that I had lost my hearing in the highs tks to my age. Well now I can hear 20khz. Phew!!

I try and keep the frequencies centered as far as possible. However some frequencies still focus up a bit to the left or right. I also listen to some frequencies that I don't control eq 160hz. So while 125hz and 200 are centred and at simmilar levels, 160 is much louder and much further right, towards my side. I run the test tones several times both to centre frequencies and to level match the lows mids and highs.

Next I validate the above by running the frequency sweeps. 20-160hz, 160hz-1.25khz, 1.25-10khz and 10-20khz. The idea is that the sweep should run in a vertical line. I have two points where the sweep moves left or right, one is around 160hz and at some frequency in the 1.25-10khz it jumps left for a bit. I figure this in the 2-5khz range.

Next I will listen to individual instruments and get them as lifelike as I can manage. I start with the percussion tracks and try to get the snap at the roll off point of each note. Setting 80, 200, 500hz and 1.25khz seem to be key here. Next I run the accoustic guitar track and tweak here.

The last tracks I tune are the vocals. Track 19 and 20 on disk 2. One is a female vocalist and the other is a male with a kid. Once I have these set, I'm ready to listen to tunes......lol. I also use the tracks for stage depth, phase, etc.

One last issue, while the focal disks like all good tuning disks really help in the tuning dept, whats really amazing about them is the sound quality. These disks are better recorded than any of the CD's I have. What makes them so special? Why cant all music be recorded like this? Prob dumb questions but I'd really like to know......

dirthog

arun1963 wrote: »

One last issue, while the focal disks like all good tuning disks really help in the tuning dept, whats really amazing about them is the sound quality. These disks are better recorded than any of the CD's I have. What makes them so special? Why cant all music be recorded like this? Prob dumb questions but I'd really like to know......

They all can be recorded like that but the industry is being pulled away with IPods and a demand for loud music.

A/B tests have been done where one sample was recorded at a lower quality but 3 db's higher and the other had better quality but 3 db's lower. The majority of the listens picked the louder sample as having the better quality just because it was louder.

Quality is not needed for an IPod and it takes up significantly more memory. So, what's the point of having well recorded material?

Another reason is there is no standard of recording, everyone does it differently. Every recording studio uses different equipment, different rooms, different tastes is what they perceive as good quality. Some go as far as mastering music listening to poor quality speakers because they are trying to replicate someone's crappy home system.

Unfortunately we live in a world where we are the minority and dynamic compression is probably here to stay.

arun1963

That's a shame.

I guess because we're a minority they think they can save some bucks and time in the recording process. At the other end the i-pod gen is anyways going to listen to it compressed. It wont make a diff how its recorded originaly. Wow imagine working in an ideal world......lol.

I guess part of the responsibility is also on the artiste. How finicky are they on the way the album is recorded and hence will be presented to the audience. These guys are in a minority too and I'm willing to bet that they too have an ear for music that is well presented.

What about sacd's and the blue rays would they offer any hope? I dont think any hu plays sacd's and blue ray would only be available on av units if that.

dodsonmd

Picked up this thread and see it's a bit old. If dirthog or arun are still attending here, could you forward me the tuning sheets you're talking about? I have this HU installed in my 2001 MB E430 with the stock speakers and so far I'm very pleased with the sound. Curious as to ways to fine-tune the eq and TA.
Thanks, John
yellowdog@dodsonmd.com

arun1963

mail sent. Come back here if you need to ask anything

res036

hey just came across this thread, and im having the same issue finding the right way to tune my deck was wondering if you could also email me your tuning notes id really appreciate it

thanx

res_036@hotmail.com

vh5150

Ditto. Please.

emy

By setting the sub woofer at actual distance and then delaying the other 4 drivers around the sub, you would first hear the sub followed by two mids together and lastly the two tweets together. Your brain locates the sound source based on what it hears last, in this case the tweets. This would also raise your sound stage.