Tuning Your Subs

How to make the bass in your car sound its best

By Buck Pomerantz

A pair of Kenwood subs in a Sound Ordnance enclosure
One of the things I like most about subwoofers is that I can feel the musical
emotion directly with my body. The low frequency beat often forces me to
dance around, or, at the very least, nod my head along with the rhythm. That's
why we all like music in the first place it moves us.
It can take a little time and effort to get the exact bass sound you want from
your subs, but the rewards of a well-tuned subwoofer system are
overwhelmingly cool and physically satisfying.
First, set your speaker level
Step 1
Keep in mind, distortion is the enemy: it destroys speakers, subs, and
eardrums. Distortion sounds like crackling, flapping, crunching, or hissing that
interferes with the distinct sound of a musical instrument. If your full-range car
speakers are run by an amplifier, it is crucial that that amp's gain is properly
set to prevent distortion.
With the amp gain set low, play some music and turn up your receiver's
volume until you hear the music distorting; then back off the volume until the
music sounds clean again. Note or mark where the receiver's volume is. This
setting is the maximum volume your receiver can go to and still play cleanly.
Now, turn the amp's gain up until you hear distortion again; then back off the
gain slightly until the distortion goes away. The amp gain is now set, so you
can lower the receiver volume to a more comfortable level. Even if your
speaker system does not have an amplifier, you still need to find that
maximum volume point on your receiver by turning it up to just below
distortion level.
Now you're ready for some bass

Start by turning the gain down, and turn off your filters and bass boost.
Step 2
Turn your sub amp's gain to its lowest, most counter-clockwise position.
Switch its low-pass filter on and set it as high, clockwise, as it will go. If it has
a bass boost, turn it off. If it has a remote level control, set it to its middle
position so, later, you have the choice of boosting or cutting the bass on an
individual song.
Adjust your receiver's bass tone control to its middle, zero, or "flat" setting,
whichever it's called on your model. If it has a subwoofer level control, set it,
also, to its middle, or "no gain" setting. Sometimes receivers have a crossover,
low-pass filter, or bass boost on their subwoofer output. Make sure those are
all turned off, too.
Note: Do not use the low-pass filters, crossovers, or bass boosts on the
receiver and the amplifier at the same time use one or the other, but not
both. The reason is that something called phase distortion generates around
each filter or boost's crossover frequency, muddying up the sound.

Turn the gain way up until it distorts, then back it off until the sound is clean
again.

Adjust the low-pass filter downward to eliminate high- and mid-frequency
notes.
Step 3
Play music through your receiver at about one-quarter volume. Turn up the
gain of the subwoofer amp until the sound from your subwoofer completely
overpowers the other speakers, without distorting.
While listening to the music coming out of your sub, slowly adjust the sub
amp's low-pass filter downward until all the high- and mid-frequency notes
disappear.
The low-pass filter eliminates the notes you don't want your subwoofer to play.
It also acts like a tone control to capture the "edges" of the kick drum's sound;
the attack and release of its boom. Filter out the cymbals, strings, vocals, and
guitars. Leave the bass and the low drums.

Now play with the bass boost.
Step 4
If you have a bass boost, try carefully turning it up to hear what the bass drum
sounds like when you do. Applying just a little bass boost will bring up the kick
a lot. Be careful with the bass boost, if you choose to use it this is where
distortion is often introduced into a system. If you hear distortion, lower the
sub amp's gain until it goes away. Use the bass boost to feel the beat in the
air your sub moves.
Fine-tune the low-pass filter some more to make the bass drum sound tight
and dry or loose and reverberant, according to your personal taste. I like
reggae and soul, so my bass is plenty loud, but it's a bit drier than most
people might like. The important thing is to keep adjusting your system until
you hear something you like. When you're satisfied with the tone of your
system's bass and kick, turn the sub amp's gain all the way down.
Blending it all together
Step 5
Turn up the receiver's volume to its maximum, distortion-free position. Then
slowly turn up the sub amp's gain until the bass sounds balanced with the rest
of the music. That should do it.
Run your remote bass boost or level control up and down a little to hear what
it does. Because of the size of the acoustic space in a car, subwoofers
sometimes don't combine their sound constructively with the rest of a
system's sound waves. If your bass has plenty of volume but seems to lack
punch, you can sometimes help it by reversing your sub's speaker leads. This
reverses the subwoofer cone's forward and backward movements, which
might put all the sound waves together better than the other way. Whichever
way sounds best is the right way.
If you hear distortion coming from your subs, turn down the sub amp's gain. If,
at this point, you cannot get enough bass out of your subwoofer to keep up
with the other speakers without distorting, then you will need to get a bigger
subwoofer and amplifier combination, with higher power-handling abilities. Do
not lower the gain of your full-range amplifier to try and match your lack of
subwoofer volume. This would endanger your full-range speakers (when the
amp sends out a clipped signal) without achieving the goal of clean, full sound,
which is why you put in a subwoofer to begin with. More power, especially in
the bass, is always better than not having enough.
Now you should be able to enjoy the robust fullness and beat of your music
with your sub tuned up to match your system's capabilities and your ear's
preference. Just remember to be polite, and turn your boom volume down
when it might bother other people.

How to tune a car sound system
By Buck Pomerantz
Adding a 4-channel amp to your car stereo system two channels to run the
front speakers and two channels to run the rear speakers not only raises
the sound level, but also greatly increases the sound quality of your music.
This is how I'd tune it up:
1. Before turning on your system, make sure your amplifier's gains are set to
their minimums, their high- and low-pass filters are off (set to "all pass" or
flat), and that any bass and treble boosts are also off.
2. Turn on all the units of your system. Set your receiver's tone or EQ
controls, its balance, and its fade to their middle, off, or flat positions. Note
where the settings were as you might want to restore them later. If you
have a subwoofer in your system, turn its amp gain all the way down.
3. Play your test music. That's a recording you are very familiar with and
know what it's supposed to sound like. It has plenty of sonic variety: lots of
very high notes like flutes, brass, and cymbals, lots of mid-range content
like piano, guitar, and vocals, and lots of very low notes like bass and
drums. And you will listen to it over and over again. (For steps 4 through
10, while you're setting the amplifier's gains, it is best to play the loudest
passages of your song selection.)
4. Set the receiver's fade control all the way to the front speakers.
5. With your amplifier's gain controls still all the way down, turn the receiver's
volume up to full, or until the music sounds distorted. (If you don't hear
any music at all, try turning the amp's front gain control up slightly until you
do.) If you hear distortion, turn down the receiver's volume until the
distortion goes away and the music sounds clean.
6. Now turn up the front gain control of your amp until the music distorts, then
turn it down so it plays clean again.
7. Turn the receiver volume down.
8. Set the receiver's fade control all the way to the rear speakers.
9. Again, turn the receiver's volume up to full and turn up the rear gain
control of your amp until the music distorts, then turn it down so it plays
clean again.
10. Turn the receiver volume down.
11. If you have no subwoofer in your system, restore your receiver's original
tone, balance, and fade settings now. Or, you can refer to "How to Tune a
Car Sound System: Part 1" for help in tuning your stereo to sound its best.
Another tip is to engage the high-pass filter on the front channels of your
4-channel amp, and tune it to eliminate some of the low notes coming from
the front speakers in order to bring extra clarity to your soundstage. (That's
the ability of your stereo to sound like a band is playing in front of you, live
in your car.)
12. If you do have a subwoofer in your system, adjust the receiver's fade
control to the front speakers only and turn up the volume until the music is
loud, but not uncomfortable. Engage the high-pass filter of the amplifier's
front channels and adjust it so the bass notes disappear. Fade the
receiver to the rear speakers only and engage and adjust the rear
channels' high-pass filter until the bass disappears there too. Return your
receiver's fade control to its original position.
13. Slowly turn up the gain of your subwoofer amplifier until the bass notes
sound balanced and smoothly blended with the rest of the music. Your sub
amp's low-pass filter should already be tuned to reproduce only the low
notes. You can refer to Tuning Your Subs, for help in fine-tuning your
subwoofer system.
14. If your highs and lows seem balanced but the bass sounds like it's coming
from the rear, adjust the sub amp's low-pass filter lower to "de-localize" it.
Pay close attention to the "crossover area", the parts of the music played
by both the full-range speakers and your subwoofer. Smooth any
roughness by fine-tuning the filters. For instance, if the vocals sound tinny,
you can adjust the high-pass filters on your 4-channel amp to include more
low notes. If the vocals sound boomy, tune the high-pass filters higher.
Take your time and tune it all for your own ears and you will never go wrong.

Gain Settings: Sometimes Less is More
By Ken Nail
I just learned a valuable lesson about amplifier gain settings sometimes
less is more.
I recently put a new head unit into my truck, and I was having a bit of trouble
getting the sound dialed in. No matter how I tweaked the receiver's settings,
there was a certain "tinniness" to the sound, and the bass was weaker than I
liked.

The receiver was the only new part of the system, so I was perplexed as to
why I was experiencing the step down in performance. Finally I realized that I
should take a look at the gain settings on my four-channnel amp. The amp's
front channels power a pair of component speakers and the back channels
are bridged for the subwoofer. Initially I had both the front channels and the
rear channels set to the same level. But by lowering the gain for the front
channels my system sounded better immediately - the sound was fuller, and
the bass response stronger.
Lowering the gain might seem counter-intutitive, but the lower gain on the
front channels improved the balance between the subwoofer and the rest of
the system. By lowering the front channel output, I'd kicked up the bass output
relative to the rest of the system. Now when I set the volume on the receiver,
the bass comes through with more authority, and the sound is richer and
stronger overall.
So remember, when you're tuning a system with a multi-channel amp, don't
be afraid to experiment with different front and rear gain settings. You may
find it makes all the difference between a system that sounds OK and a
system that sounds great.