For System Improvement, Tune It Up!What got you into car audio? There's a good conversation starter for anyone who has a nice system in their car. For some people, it's all about the attention they get from rattling the neighbor's windows three blocks away. In fact, most people start out this way (I know I did). Eventually, though, most car audio people stay in it because they enjoy music in the car, plain and simple. The quest for great car audio is what drives us to constantly upgrade our systems.
If you compete in car audio competition, this is not news to you. In fact, like we discussed last month, sound quality is by far the largest point total on most competition scoresheets. The rules were set up this way so that competitors would focus on making music in their cars sound as realistic as possible. If you've never heard a really well-tuned system with some well-recorded tunes, you don't know what you're missing. Today's in-car sound system components are so good that it is possible to create an incredibly real listening experience on wheels.
Possible, but not easy. Cars are naturally very difficult environments in which to create realistic music. Think about where you last heard some live music - it was definitely a bigger space than your car's compartment. The small size and odd shape of a car interior creates some high hurdles to overcome in order to make good sound. We will dedicate several Competition Corner articles to cover this complex topic. We'll break "sound quality" down into several different sections and discuss how to improve each one. Eventually, with a little luck, you won't be able to tell the real concert from the CD version.
The first and most important aspect of sound quality is tonal balance. This is basically the quality that makes a saxophone sound like a saxophone, instead of, say, flatulence. If you've ever tried to play some well-recorded music on an inferior stock system, you know what I'm talking about. The best systems recreate the full range of instruments precisely and accurately, like they really sound in a live performance. It's no surprise, then, that tonal accuracy has the highest single point total of any section on the IASCA scoresheet.
The hardest thing about getting accurate tonal balance in the car is recognizing it. Have you ever noticed that if you talk long enough on the phone, it sounds normal? Even though a telephone doesn't quite convey the sound of normal human speech, our ears eventually get used to the poor tonal balance. If you listen to nothing but speakers with over-boosted high frequencies, for example, eventually your ears will make this sound normal to you. Of course, when you listen to a well-balanced system, you'll think it sounds dull and lifeless.
The key here is to tune your ears to a correct sound so that you can recognize the shortcomings in your system and fix them. So, you need to go out and buy a set of $100,000 Wilson Audio home speakers and a matching $20,000 amplifier, and....just kidding. Actually, you can tune your ears without breaking the bank by just using a little creativity. Try to find a local music festival or concert playing in your area, one with many different kinds of instruments so you can really hear what they are supposed to sound like. Don't go to a gazillion-watt Metallica concert and expect to hear realistic sound, however. Focus on small venues or outside shows that let you get close enough to really experience the music. If you are a student, join the school's band. My high school band experience has really helped me tune my cars over the years (ok, enough of the band geek jokes).