Audio w/ Alpine & Ipod help

[mzdalvr]

Hi guys,

I've been recently screwing around with my audio stuff to see if I can get a better sound out of my system when I play my Ipod.

I have an Alpine Headunit, an Alpine 4ch V12 series amp, powering 2 5 1/4 MB quarts and 2 6x9 MB quart speakers in the rear. All of my music on the Ipod is in AAC @ 192 kbps and the volume is full on the Ipod when I'm playing it.

I have tried processing the sound from the headunit only and letting the amp power the speakers without crossovers set. I have tried setting the HP filters on the amp for the front and rear and set the x-overs to match the speaker specs. What I would like to do is not have to blast the volume to get some punch. Currently when I have the HP filters on, the sound is really clear and no distortion, but I'm killing my ears cause I have to play it at loud volume. Without the HP filters the speakers lack power and I get disortion. Gain on the amp is set to norm.

Can anyone give some suggestions. I hope this explaination is clear, if not, I will clarify. Also with the Alpine headunit there are settings for x-over, MX, and it has a 7 band EQ.

[kansei]

One suggestion would be to use the line out from the ipod not the headphone jack. The line out is on the dock port on the bottom, they do sell cables to split it out to a headphone jack. That way you never have to think about the volume level on the ipod. I know when I hook my ipod up to the sound system in my garage it sounds like crap and yeah.. I have to do headphone jack there and I normally put the volume up near 80% or so, I think 100% might be too much?

I don't remember my alpine haven't very customizeable HPF and LPF settings.. like you can't adjust the slope of the filters, right? Just the approximate frequency?

What does the amp have in terms of HPF and LPF controls?

--oh and for the record, the "line out" on the ipod dock connector isn't a true line out, it basically just bypasses the volume controls on the ipod for a "line out volume level", but it's still powered (i.e. it'll drive my big headphones)

[mzdalvr]

interesting about the line-out - i never knew that. the v12 alpine amp (mrv-f340) has full crossover dials when HP or LP filters are active. i think your right about 80% volume not 100% - certainly would help the distortion. The headunit does have settings on it for slope and something else with the crossover setting for low,mid, and high.

I do notice that when i have the HP filters enabled on both front and rears on the amp, its nice and clear (unless I have gotten used to it), but I still have to crank the volume - ex: it will go to 35 max volume and at 21 the level won't get any louder.

with the crossovers off, i seem to get more power to the speakers (prob cause the -12db attenuation), but distortion is more and the power seems to diminish almost to the sound of hearing music live if that makes any sense.

the other thing is the onboard EQ on the headunit which I set to flat, but I have had them set to other values, and MX is another thing screwy - i've been told to leave it off, but with it on seems to act like a loud feature. also seems to process the sound for mp3, or whatever.

[kansei]

What do you have the HPF, LPF, crossovers, etc set to? Frequency and slope, etc. You're using the 6x9s for some bass, right?

I'm a big proponent of a flat EQ, but it all depends on the listening environment. I let my head unit do the auto tuning with the microphone on my head rest to account for that, but then still set it to "flat" as I want things to sound as the artist (err.. the sound engineer) intended.

[mzdalvr]

What do you have the HPF, LPF, crossovers, etc set to? Frequency and slope, etc. You're using the 6x9s for some bass, right?

I have the HPF set to 100 for the front and 75 for the rear with the gains at normal for both. Frequency and slope on the headunit is 0 for both and 80 xover set - alpine tech has told me that when the xover on the amp is set the headunit xover is not active. idk if thats true though.

update: tonight I put the HPF active on the fronts again cause without it I'm getting way too much distortion and no power. so i'm back to cranking it. I think settings aside that I will look into the line out option.

[kansei]

You have no sub right? Can't really use a high pass filter on the rears then right? 75 is just cutting out any low bass.

[mzdalvr]

yah no subs. currently the I'm using the HP filters on the rears as well. seems to be linear with the fronts.

[kansei]

Yeah but that filter is cutting out the bass to the rear speakers. You may want a low pass filter on the rears.. let the rears concentrate on bass, use the front speakers for your soundstage.

[mzdalvr]

if i enable the LPF wouldn't that filter out the bass?

[kansei]

if i enable the LPF wouldn't that filter out the bass?

That's what the high pass filter is doing.

Low-pass = allows low frequencies to pass, attenuates high frequencies
High-pass = allows high frequencies to pass, attenuates low frequencies

[mzdalvr]

ah gotcha. ill try enabling the LPF on today and set the xover to about 60Hz. then i'll just keep the HPF on the fronts.

[kansei]

you might wanna do like 80-100hz for the lpf and the hpf (lpf for the rears only, hpf for the fronts only)

[mzdalvr]

UPDATE:

LPF on the rears produced no audible sound really. I think HPF on fronts and rears sound the best IMO also with no distortion. I think maybe the problem is with the headphone jack vs the line out.

Other than buying a more powerful amp or goin alpine digital pdx which is expensive - I think i'm stuck. I've converted my mp3's to AAC at 192Kbps constant rate just to save some space and it seems to make the music crisper.

If there are any other suggestions let me know and I'll try it.

[kansei]

If anything, at least turn off the high pass filter on the rear deck speakers. The HPF is only to be used if you have a subwoofer to fill in for the frequencies you filtered out of the door/deck speakers. If the rear deck speakers aren't capable of producing the frequencies below the value you set the LPF for, that would have resulted in the lack of sound.4

[Fourthmeal]

Have you sound deadened the car (especially the doors) yet?

I'm putting my money on this being the issue if you haven't.


Hi guys,

I've been recently screwing around with my audio stuff to see if I can get a better sound out of my system when I play my Ipod.

I have an Alpine Headunit, an Alpine 4ch V12 series amp, powering 2 5 1/4 MB quarts and 2 6x9 MB quart speakers in the rear. All of my music on the Ipod is in AAC @ 192 kbps and the volume is full on the Ipod when I'm playing it.

I have tried processing the sound from the headunit only and letting the amp power the speakers without crossovers set. I have tried setting the HP filters on the amp for the front and rear and set the x-overs to match the speaker specs. What I would like to do is not have to blast the volume to get some punch. Currently when I have the HP filters on, the sound is really clear and no distortion, but I'm killing my ears cause I have to play it at loud volume. Without the HP filters the speakers lack power and I get disortion. Gain on the amp is set to norm.

Can anyone give some suggestions. I hope this explaination is clear, if not, I will clarify. Also with the Alpine headunit there are settings for x-over, MX, and it has a 7 band EQ.

[mzdalvr]

Update #2:

While playing around with the amp settings today which was kinda by accident, I found that if I keep both HP filters on the front and rears it is much cleaner. however, the sound has improved and I think I have achieved my goal of having bass and lower volume while still being loud. I have lowered the rears to the lowest crossover setting on the amp while keeping HP filter on. This produces the amount of bass I'm looking for at a lower volume but its louder now. The fronts have the crossover set a bit higher to around 60hz so they don't distort and they are good.

I do believe that having the crossovers on was not the issue, rather having the crossovers set to the MB Quart manufacturer's spec range caused the power to the speakers to be cut back. I think just a minor tweak and it will be good to go.

[Fourthmeal]

Getting back to what I'm saying here...

IF you haven't sound deadened the doors yet, they are likely in need of attention. Deadening makes ALL the difference when you are after clarity, punch, and volume without strain. Doors resonate, and they take the sound and muddy it up, as well as make it much more "thin." If you deaden the door, and take the time to cover as many holes as you can in the door, it will hit like a ton of bricks compared to what you've got now.

Trust!

[mzdalvr]

Thanks for the advice.

[Fourthmeal]

If you do need deadening, you can avoid "rape" pricing from Dynamat and go with RAAMmat online. Rick owns it, he's a fantastic guy. He'll hook you up.

If you do a quick search, you'll find lots of builds on this forum that will show you how to deaden. I also made a how-to guide in the audio section (not complete...probably never will be, but deadening is covered.)