Got rid of all the Bose in my C5. components in the doors, aftermarket rear speakers, 12" sub in the hatch and amp running at all. Pioneer Double-Din head unit.

Not my first foray with this, but no matter what I do it's still sounds muddy to me. Obviously, ideally you would need to be in the car and everyone's ears are different, but can anyone shed some light on which of these settings I should mess with to make things more clear?

 

Any time I use the EQ, I always up the bass, tune down the midrange, and up the treble, to me it's the midrange that makes it sound muddy.

 

This is going to sound more complicated than it is, but playing pink noise through your system while looking at an RTA scale to adjust your EQ properly is the way to go.

http://www.carstereochick.com/2012/0...-audio-system/

 

What apps are good for us Android users?

 

I have used two different apps. One is RTA or RTA Pro by Studio Six Digital by Andrew Smith. (App symbol below).
https://appadvice.com/app/rta-pro-by...tal/1138871694


The other app is Signal Generator by Media Punk Studios.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sign...543661843?mt=8
I use SG to play the pink noise. The RTA app also has a pink noise player, but for some reason doesn't work for me. FYI, pink noise should be a constant "shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" but the RTA app would play "shh shh shh shh".

 

This is a simpler approach, but gives you a decent starting point. The reason behind this is that human hearing is more sensitive in the mid-range area and at the same time, speakers tend to be more efficient in that area as well. Following this model tends to flatten the perceived frequency response of the system, which is the goal.

Usually muddiness is too much level around the 90Hz-350Hz area, which approximately goes from the middle of the bass region to the middle of the low mid-range. Try EQing down that area and see if it improves.

This is the way to go. Let me just add that whenever possible it's better to adjust by reducing than by adding. In other words, set your goal in a way that most of the EQ adjusting could be done by attenuation, so the regions that would need to be accentuated could be minimized.

The reason for this is that for every 3db of reinforcement, twice the power is required and power is not infinite. People tend to adjust by adding and with a multi-band EQ is very easy to go overboard. This will overload the amp, making it clip and therefore distort.

 

I know you said this is not your first foray into audio, so I would assume you know this, but you know the saying about assuming! So I would add: you did not mention any crossovers on your front and rear speakers. They should have a high pass crossover somewhere around 80hz to keep frequencies they can't reproduce at high volume out of them. If you are cranking it with no crossover applied the chances you are driving those speakers into distortion are pretty good. This would cause a "muddy" sound for lack of a better term.

 

The fronts have crossovers

 

On the Pioneer unit, did you adjust the Low and High Pass Filters accordingly ?

 

I saw no such adjustments in the head unit menu. It's an AVH-210EX

 

Well, according to the owners manual for yours, you do have adjustments for them, look at page 41 of your owners manual. If you don't have the manual for it, you can find it here. https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/S...nual071118.pdf

 

Too bad I have no idea what they should be so I guess one more thing to fiddle with!

 

Actually, you should go though the entire Audio Settings section, beginning at the bottom of Page 39 It will make a difference

 

Here is a basic understanding of how to set your filters. Scroll down to where it starts "System 2". That should apply to you.

https://jlaudio.zendesk.com/hc/en-us...ng-Crossovers-

 

The passive crossovers only handle the transition from mid to high. They don't filter out the low frequencies that are hard for small speakers to reproduce. As others have mentioned, you need to use the electronic crossover either in your head unit or your amp to apply a high pass crossover to your front and rear speakers. As I mentioned, a good starting point is 80hz.

Now's also a good time to check that you have a low pass filter on the subwoofer also - again a good starting point is around 80hz.

Also, what amp are you running? You need to make sure that if you decide to use the crossovers on the head unit that the amp crossovers are set to full range (or vice-versa).

I'd also move that wire from in front of the tweeter like that. Probably not going to be something too noticeable, but anything you put in front of a HF driver will have an effect on it's sound as they are very directional.

 

Did you ever consider moving your tweeter? Imo, I feel your tweeter is too low and also gets lost behind the door panel. I installed my tweeter where the 3.5" door speaker was.

 

It looks like your tweeter is half covered up by the wires....move the wires.

Relocate Tweeter up higher, outside of door panel, on the A-pillar. I am assuming you care more about brightness and clarity vs. imaging. Also, you can try to use a separate amplifier just for the tweeters, that way you have 100% control over the levels/crossover points.

Also, I have an excel spreadsheet you can use to tune your system, but you will need to use a cheap-o Radio Shack SPL meter. The spreadsheet is calibrated specifically for it. If you want it, send me a PM with your email address and I can send it to you.

 

Were you able to improve things? If yes, what did you do?

 

Your speakers might be out of phase with each other or with your midranges....try switching the positive and negatives around on the speakers.

tweeters alone to match.

Then midrange alone to match.

Then play tweeters and mids.

Then swap both tweeters OR both mids and try again.

Thats probably your problem.

 

Yes, I adjusted the equalizer 75 times & found a couple settings that work well.