I just bought the radio shack db meter to measure and set my 3 band parametric eq on the deck. i have a graph that you can look at if you want. My aol im name is evoviinfinity Thanks
If you want to help an di am not on just leave your name down here. i have the graph and just need some pointers on where to boost the signal!!!
Ah, parametrics are cool in that you can target the frequency/bandwidth that you need to accurately make your adjustments... But difficult in that it might be tough to really find that center frequency, and adjust it away! Basically, the theory is that anywhere you have a peak, you want to center the EQ in on that frequency, and knock it down some DB. Likewise, anywhere you have a dip, you want to center the EQ in on that frequency, and boost it up. Since you have the handheld meter, you are limited to measuring different test tones (with the meter held where your head would be, right? )... So, pick your three largest peaks/dips, and adjust the EQ accordingly.. at least your best guess, for center frequency and Q... And then remeasure your frequency response! You might be likely to extrapolate the actual center frequency that you landed on for each band, by comparing your "before" measurements with your "after" By far, this would be easier with an RTA! You might consider getting a little RTA time at the local shop, see what they think!
RTA's are too much fun... I'm fortunate enough to have access to a full compliment of Audio testing gear and recording equipment. RTA, oscopes, tone generators, yada yada yada...
All the shops around me either dont have an RTA or dont have one that works. And theat db pissed me off today. It seemed to start reading real low. Maybe it was just me but i changed it to fix the dips and peaks but it still seems the same. The only thing i really fixed was my dip at 100 hz. The sub seems to blend in much better now and the the low drum beats seem to be coming from one place now instead of the low from the sub and the higher part coming from the front. IF that doesnt make sense just disregard it. I have been getting drunk that last couple of days and not getting much sleep!!! (i havent drank since new years and before that it was september!!!)
geo, RTAs are evil... if you want to find out how imperfect your set up is, just run RTA on it... You can drive for years with the system set up by ears and then you plug in RTA and boom... you see how far off your ears are from that perfect flat curve, LOL...
be careful where you set your microphone to read the test tones... it should be located at your listening point and pointed forward... also, make sure you got out of the car to do it so you do not obstruct speaker paths.. Your meter has to have the A-weighted scale to resemble your hearing ability more or less... If the meter reads low, turn up the volume, it is the relative level difference that matters when you do it...
