Another good, but definitely premium option, is the SA-4100i which uses a lightning cable to connect directly to an iPhone or iPad, bypassing the need for a computer at all. Just to keep things simple, I recommend the the Dayton Audio UMM-6 which is reasonably priced and connects to your laptop via USB for ease-of-use. Essentially, the mic will act like robot-you, sitting approximately where your head would be in your car, and measuring what you are really hearing. Perhaps the most important piece of gear is your reference mic, which is designed for exactly this purpose. By adjusting your stereo’s equalizer settings, you can bring the stereo closer to a truly ideal sound, compensating for the imperfections in your car’s physical environment. Using a microphone and RTA, you will measure how sound is actually being experienced in your car, and compare it to an ideally balanced frequency spectrum. Well-balanced frequency response translates to powerful, clear music, that sounds as close as possible to the artist’s original intention. So, tuning your car’s sound system means you are using your stereo’s equalizer to balance those frequencies against each other. And great music usually involves sounds across the frequency spectrum, layered together. Low-frequency sounds are rumbling movement and high-frequencies are delicate details. The human ear can understand sounds of frequencies ranging from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. Nothing feels as good as your favorite song, with all the movement and detail and feeling, gripping your soul! We know that nothing compares with flawlessly-executed music. That’s why people spend so much time and money trying to perfect audiophile-level home stereos complete with tube amps and vinyl, or going to concerts, festivals and clubs. But just because we understand the music, doesn’t mean it’s satisfying. So we can “understand” music just fine, even when it’s being created in sub-optimal and low-fidelity ways- like a poorly calibrated stereo, or tinny smart phone speakers. Half the time when sound is distorted by our environment, our minds automatically make up for it and fill in the gaps. The second music leaves a speaker, it starts being distorted and warped as it bounces around its environment in complicated ways.Īnd the human mind has an equally sophisticated ability to process sound and understand it. After all, sound is really just waves of motion through an environment. Sound, and the way we experience it is very complex. That’s the quick answer but I’ll be going into a lot more detail along with recommending some basic gear.Ĭonclusion Why Calibrating Your Car Stereo Is Important Adjust and EQ your car’s stereo based on the output in the Room Equalizer Wizard software by minimizing anomalies (peaks and valleys) in the software’s output. Place the mic where your head would be and play pink noise. You’ll need a simple reference mic and basic software like the free Room Equilizer Wizard (REW). (For further cultural education, watch American Graffiti, George Lucas’s pre-Star-Wars Americana masterpiece.)īut what good is blasting your car speakers if you’re hopelessly out of tune and lacks crispness? That’s where an RTA or real-time analyzer can help. So how do you tune your cat stereo with an RTA? Well, what I’m trying to say is that I don’t think there’s anything more American than blasting music from your car. There’s even an American cultural movement, Cruising, that involves driving around aimlessly with friends, listening to music, and enjoying life. And with our love of individual expression, freedom to blaze trails, and vast expanses of land… We did not invent music, but with our unique melting pot of cultures and industrious creative spirit, we shaped modern music more than anyone else. America did not invent the car, but with the Ford Model T, we invented mass car ownership. And I love America for its many wonderful and inspiring contributions to modern culture. My family is not American (we hail from jolly old England) but I was born and raised in the U.S. We may earn a small commission through products purchased using links on this page.
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