Does Anyone Have Experience Tuning Decks?

[Kingman]

I've had my Alpine CDA-7878 deck for a few months now and absolutely cannot figure out what all of the adjustment values mean. It's got a full band equalizer to adjust cross over, time correction, frequency slopes, octaves, etc.

 

I have the manual for it, which tells you how to adjust them, but not what all of it means. I don't know how to translate the fancy 20-200Hz or 6, 12, 18, 24Db in to treble, mid, or bass. The diagrams in the manual have all these graphs with lines and slopes, stuff I don't understand at all. There is a big fat warning to not set the equalizer to FLAT because it will damage the speakers, which is fine because it sounds like ass anyways.

 

At the moment I've played with the numbers and adjustments so much that it sounds really tinny and echoey, then kind of distorts the highs. I want a nice sharp, clear, rich, full sound. I want enough treble so it's crystal clear, not too much midrange but enough, and the bass to be almost non existent through the speakers. Right now there's no bass going to the speakers because it's all being picked up by my subwoofer. It would be nice if it had the simple adjustments for treble, mid, and bass. But no. Of course I'm the one who had to have the $850 for $75...

 

Can anyone whose messed with this type of stuff give me a general idea of what specific values to set in order to make it produce good sound? Thanks in advance.

[ahardb0dy]

the 20-200Hz is a frequency range, typically the human ear can hear a range from 20 to 20K, 20 being the low end (Bass) and 20K the high end (highs), setting the equalizer flat will not damage the speakers as flat means the bass, mids and treble are all set at their middle or "0" settings, if you were to adjust the EQ to the highest point for each setting it would probably sound like crap but I still don't think it would do damage. I wouldn't worry about all the Db numbers, just put a Cd in or tune to a song on the radio you know and adjust the bass,mids and treble to where it sounds good and you like it.

 

The same for the other settings, time correction, delay, etc, you can keep the volume low and experiment with what each function does. Turn each function on one at a time, adjust it's settings, there is no "right" setting it is all how you like how it sounds. The equalizer if you adjust the mids to far up which will emphasize the vocal part of what ever you are listening too, if you go too high the sound will sound funny/bad. If the bass is set to high it may sound to boomy or muffled, you just need to play with the EQ and adjust it to how you like it. Also realize that different sources (CD,Radio) and different types of music will probably need to be adjusted differently.

 

Leave all the fancy functions off in the beginning, the time correction,etc. just adjust the EQ and than play with the other settings later. There are no set settings to ",make it sound good" as the same radio in two different vehicles thru different speakers will sound different, you mention you have a sub, so I assume you have at least one amp, the other thing that can make the music sound distorted is if the gain on the amp is turned too far up, so as the volume on the radio is increased toward the upper end you may hear distortion due to the amp gain being turned up to far.

 

 

If you still can't figure this out, take your truck to a dealer that sells your brand of radio, I'm sure they would be glad to assist you.

Edited December 8, 2010 by ahardb0dy

[JayD]

Couldn't have said it any better! +1 AHB!

[ahardb0dy]

Couldn't have said it any better! +1 AHB!

 

 

Thanks !! And that was at 4:30 in the morning !! LOL

[nismothunder]

Damnit,I'm crossed eye but its correct, good job.

[ahardb0dy]

Damnit,I'm crossed eye but its correct, good job.

 

 

thanks, need any other help or have any questions post them or send me a PM, I'm on everyday, I check in when I get up at 4:00 and when I get home after 6:00, sometimes in the middle of the day if I can get a WiFi signal during work.

[Kingman]

Thanks for the help man. I unplugged the deck from power while holding the reset button on the back down to set everything back to factory. I still have no idea what numbers translate to. :lol;

 

I found out that all of the audio settings are saved on a non-power memory chip, so if it loses power nothing besides the station presets are lost.

[ahardb0dy]

Your welcomne !! Anytime !!,

 

Usually when you reset a head unit, depending on if it has one, the loudness control would be turned off, I always leave mine on, I like it on personally

Edited December 9, 2010 by ahardb0dy