You want your car to sound like a concert...right?
Here's a few tips:
- Leave your rear speakers turned off, or at the very least, use them as midbass speakers. Think about it:when you're at a concert, where does the sound come from? In front of you. You might say that passengers won't be able to hear the sound (in vans and other elongated vehicles this might be the case) but most of the time it is not. I do not have rear speakers installed in my Crown Victoria (a rather large car) and my passengers are completely surprised when they find I have no rear speakers running. Too often, the rear speakers will ruin the soundstage of the front speakers. One might argue that the rear speakers are bigger and can put out more bass-this is simply because there is more space back there for larger speakers. If more bass is needed, add a subwoofer.
- Component setups are great, be sure to mount the tweeter slightly below or at head level, some people have them angled slightly/largely away from their heads, others prefer them pointing directly at their heads. This is a matter of taste more than anything.
- If you have a subwoofer, use the HPF (high-pass filter). It allows only high frequencies to pass through to the speakers (set to a certain point). The HPF affects the head unit's internal amplifier output, and the front and rear outputs, but NEVER the subwoofer output. This allows for more volume without distortion since your door/dash speakers do not have to reproduce low frequencies they are not well-equipped to handle. The subwoofer can handle the low frequencies ;)
- If possible, do not use the head unit's internal amplfier. The internal amplfier almost always will distort at about half volume. The RCA outputs will not distort until reaching 3/4 volume and sometimes higher. You also gain the benefit of having more power to your speakers for more defined treble and mid-range.
