To get the most out of your car stereo, you need to make sure that it is set up correctly. No matter how much the system cost or how many dampening materials you used, this is still true. If you buy a good car amplifier like the BOSS Audio Systems R1100M, you won’t have to look for good, loud sound from your car speakers.
A car stereo works by processing the music and sending it through the car amp to the speakers that are connected to it. Buying strong speakers like the JBL GTO629 PREMIUM 6.5 and good tweeters like the Rockford Fosgate Prime R1T-S will help make good sound.
On the other hand, a car amp has different settings, like a crossover, that make sure your speakers are getting the right frequencies.
So, you don’t want sub-bass frequencies to mess with your mid-range and high-range speakers.
But it might be hard for a beginner to tune the amplifiers in their car. Fine-tuning is not easy and takes a lot of practice and help from a professional.
Here, we’ll look at the best ways to set your car’s mids and highs to get the best sound from your stereo.
Before that, we’ll teach you the most common amplification terms to make it easier for you to read and understand what you’re reading.
- This is the part that controls how sensitive an amplifier is. It tells you how much power your speakers can handle and where distortion starts to happen.
- High pass and Low pass filters are built-in ways to change the frequency. You should set the range of frequencies that go through your output jacks when they are turned on.
By turning down the Gain from the highest level that causes distortion, you can get the most power with the clearest sound. For tweeters or small speakers, you’ll need to use the High Pass Filter and then turn on HPF on the output channels that are connected to them.
For medium-sized speakers, you have to use the “full” filter settings, which let you hear all the low, middle, and high frequencies. So, I would suggest buying a strong speaker like Frequency. This is the musical “pitch” of the speaker. The frequency label on the speaker case makes it easy to change them. You could also look at the labels on the back of each speaker to find other frequency settings. To set up the amplifier correctly, it is important and necessary to use the frequency numbers given.
How do you adjust the mids and highs on a car amp?
Changing the gain setting
Gain control is put on the car’s amp so that it can match the voltage coming from the stereo through the RCA cables. Most people think this is a volume control knob because of this.
If the mids and highs are set to highs, they will sound distorted and clip at high volumes.
But you might not have all the best and right tools at home, like an oscilloscope, so we suggest you use your senses and ears.
- Play any song you want on your car stereo.
- Turn down the Gain on the amp in the back of your car, but not all the way. Turn it down just a bit more than halfway.
- Turn the stereo volume almost all the way up, and then turn it down until you hear distortion from the front and back speakers.
- Go back to the amplifier and use a flat head screwdriver to slowly turn up the Gain. Stop increasing the Gain right away if you hear any kind of distortion.
The High Pass Filter is turned on
When the High Pass Filter is turned on, the bass frequencies from the door speakers are blocked out. This is a big deal. Even though they have a bigger cone area than sub-woofers, their design doesn’t let them play the deep, low bass that sub-woofers can.
Most amplifiers let you adjust it and switch to the frequencies you want to start blocking the lower sound spectrum.
We do this by:
- Turning the switch on the amplifier that can be set to “High Pass Filter.” This will get the filter to work.
- Most of the time, you can change the frequency from 80 Hz to 200 Hz. Around 80 Hz is a good setting for the high pass filter to make it better. Because the subwoofers are usually meant to handle anything below 80 Hz.
Then, set the low pass filter on the bass amp to 80 Hz or lower so it can play bass. Above 80 Hz, the mids and highs will take over and come into place.
Setting it up this way will make sure that your car stereo plays sound all the way through the range of frequencies and doesn’t leave a gap where some sound is cancelled out.
Also, there are a few things to keep in mind when tuning your car’s amplifier.
Factors to consider when tuning your car amplifier
- Setting Gain correctly – If you set the gain to the wrong level, your whole car audio experience will be too noisy. So, make sure the Gain setting is set right so that the speakers can also work right.
- Type of Amplifier: When adjusting your amplifier, you should think about what kind it is. To get the most out of it, you should buy the best one you can afford and read the instructions.
- The speakers’ influence- When tuning an amplifier, having speakers with a lot of power is a plus. This makes your amplifier put out more power, which means you can listen to music.
- Using the best cables on the market to connect things. Having used and tested the BOSS Audio Systems R1100MK Car Amplifier and 8 Gauge Wiring Kit, it has speaker wires, power cables, ground cables, etc. I recommend it if you want a long-term way to connect your amplifiers.
Conclusion
You don’t need a professional or technical tool to get a good sound with any of the methods listed. So, take your time and tune everything to your ears, and you will never be wrong.
But technical tools are also important because they help you find the distortion without having to go back and forth as much. Some of these tools let you test each part of an amplifier separately by connecting a microphone to a phone app.
In conclusion, the way you tune your car depends on both the type of head unit and the type of amplifier you use. Some gain components need too much power, while others don’t need that much.
Also, keep in mind that more Gain does not mean more volume.
