Professional sound settings
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Speakers can sound great right out of the box. However, they can get less rigid and allow for a 'softer' tone. After a LONG time, they soften to the degree where they wear away, crack, etc. and you lose sound quality.
Overall, I'm trying to say speakers can sound great out of the box, but you get a softer tone after a couple hundred hours (guessing) of use. Really though - It's all subjective. I've used dozens of different professional sound systems from car tweeters to concert rigs - no one will really be able to tell the difference in a fresh speaker vs one that was lightly broken in.
Overall, I'm trying to say speakers can sound great out of the box, but you get a softer tone after a couple hundred hours (guessing) of use. Really though - It's all subjective. I've used dozens of different professional sound systems from car tweeters to concert rigs - no one will really be able to tell the difference in a fresh speaker vs one that was lightly broken in.
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As my brother explained to me:
The run in period for a speaker is largely dependent on it's suspension type + materials. You also need to consider the excursion, but for a system, you probably are not given that info-
When I do final voicing on a system, I normally have a set of drivers to chose from to build the system that meet certain service limits (response, TS and impedance limits). These measurements are taken from drivers that are fresh from the sample or line build and have to be broken in afterwards- otherwise, I am voicing a system that I know for a fact will change.
What changes??
Resonance related parameters are the ones that change the most. When looking at a very low compliance mid-woofer for instance, you may see a significant shift in the overall compliance factors of the model. In general, the speaker will get "warmer" as it breaks in; largely due to the Cms and Qms changes as the suspension breaks in.
What breaks in? Well, the suspension is mainly the damper (spider) and is generally a fabric of some sort with a phenolic impregnation that is formed under a clamped, high temp environment. This is notably stiffer at first deflection and to be honest, you can hear the things creaking, cracking and in general sounding like rice-crispies on the first deflection- particularly on larger woofers or very low thread count dampers. The break in there is generally rapid if you run the driver at or near Xmax. On a midbass or midrange driver, I normally use dedicated signal to run the driver in. Of late, I prefer to use a shaped tone burst at or around estimated Fo. Running this signal at or near Xmech will give you a very nice break in over the course of 45 minutes to an hour with bursts at about 3 to 5 second intervals. Incidentally, a lot of the better companies out there in the woofer business are starting to use shaped tone burst testing as an accelerated life test. 12 to 16 hours on a TBT at Xmech is tough on a woofer, particularly one that is a higher end model and has to really stroke to get the SPL that the customers demand.
Tweeters- My experience is that the tweeter or a dome mid (single suspension device with a very low x-max) will run in best with a composite signal such as white noise. I prefer a white signal as it is not filtered on the top end and gives me a little more content (heat) to soften the suspension and get the fluids balanced if the driver is fresh. These will run in faster- my experience is that 30 minutes at Pmax is more than plenty- I winder if 10 minutes would be adequate in some cases. Interestingly, many of the higher end tweeters typically run in faster- and most do not have any Ferro fluids in the gap which further reinforces the fluid mix / balance concept as part of the response settling out. This is only valid in the first few days of the tweeter assembly as I know it, but others may have different experience.
If you do not have test signals to use, then what- Someone mentioned using classical or jazz with a wide dynamic range. There you go. The nose that the engineer may use is a very wide range of signals all played simultaneously and that is the fast road to run in.
A word of caution though- do not hammer the crap out of the speaker or system during break in. You want to run it in to where the compliance model is settled out but not bash the VC into the bottom of the yoke. As the break in progresses, your compliance will be changing and 10 watts at a given frequency will drive the VC to the same level, but the compliance shift will let the mechanical parts move a greater distance. What is borderline bottoming out at the first of the test will likely be a big problem after an hour if you are running at or near Fo. Use common sense and know that if an hour with a signal does not do it, a few hours of moderate use or one hour more of jamming when the wife is out will do just fine.
With something like this, I encourage people to not bee to picky or get too worried about a break in. This is not like a car engine where you have metal on metal. The speaker has no interference parts that move and in general, you never want to have interference parts. Just do not go too crazy and if you ever hear bad stuff coming form the speaker, turn the volume down a notch.
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The thread about B&O got me thinking about tuning the settings on my premium audio.
Sorry guys, I just had to bump this thread to give a shout out to BimmerUKF10. I tried his settings and they are fantastic. Until now, I thought the Logic7 audio in my E60 was better than the premium audio in the F10, but not anymore.
I did make a slight adjustment. I kept his equalizer settings, but bumped the shelving treble down to +1 since the treble was ringing my bell for how loud I was playing music.
But his settings are such a fantastic starting point that I had to bump this thread to give props :thumbup:
If you haven't tried his settings and you have premium audio, doooo it.
Sorry guys, I just had to bump this thread to give a shout out to BimmerUKF10. I tried his settings and they are fantastic. Until now, I thought the Logic7 audio in my E60 was better than the premium audio in the F10, but not anymore.
I did make a slight adjustment. I kept his equalizer settings, but bumped the shelving treble down to +1 since the treble was ringing my bell for how loud I was playing music.
But his settings are such a fantastic starting point that I had to bump this thread to give props :thumbup:
If you haven't tried his settings and you have premium audio, doooo it.
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I'll be trying these settings out soon - note to self.
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The OP's settings are almost identical to mine in my LCI except for the 5k and 10k settings. IMO those two produce over boosted highs. Also, the -3 cut at 2k is a bit too much. -1 takes the edge off of snare drum hits that can becoming tiring. Some like their music artificially bright but my background as a musician with many hours in recording studios taught me that less is more when it comes to EQ, so if I have to use it, I use as little as possible, especially when you don't have many EQ bands to work with.
I thought that you typically don't want to amplify unless you have to as it will introduce noise and distortion. The 1, 5, and 10 all are on the positive side of things.
Read it incorrectly first time. Mine is similar where you need to turn down low end frequencies and raise high end frequencies and de-emphasize at about 2k. I don't raise the high end as much. But the general pattern seems consistent.
I was not enjoying my system as much as I did in my e60. I tried the OP's suggestions. For a few months I drove around and tried to convince myself that I had improved the tone and quality of the music. Yes, yes I kept telling myself much better, much better. But......I just was not enjoying as much as I did in previous BMWs.
I searched and searched for suggestions. Finally I came across this. I recognize it is subjective but IMO way, way better.
I searched and searched for suggestions. Finally I came across this. I recognize it is subjective but IMO way, way better.
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Sorry, I missed the bass and treble settings. I leave those flat, so no boost on the treble. My current EQ is slightly different than I thought. It's pretty close to flat.
Fader +2 towards rear
Treble 0
Bass 0
Surround off
100Hz 0
200Hz -1 slight offset to some minor muddiness
500Hz 0
1KHz +1 or +2 - adds a little presence to vocals
2KHz -1 - cuts some harshness, especially with snare drums
5KHz +1
10KHz +1
Again, it's up to a persons taste, but I like my systems as free from eq as possible, especially with a system like the HK which is already eq'd.
The HK system is pretty clean so I wouldn't worry about any distortion at these minimal levels of eq.
Agree, I have a similar setting and its much better than the one on this post, I tried it and got high tribble and no base at all. I always wanted to have a rich sound with good base(Real base, not booming base).
Your setting (we call it V setting) is a very well known setting that worked on most sound systems and I use it on parties too
I think combined with +2 towards the rear and 0 Base and 0 Tribble would be awesome
Sonicendeavor:
Where are your settings these days?
Additionally, I have the Balance to the Driver's side +1 to +2.
I Have tried the OP's settings, but 5KHz and 10KHz suggested settings are a bit too extreme to my liking. Also, I like the Bass cranked up a bit: +2 to +3.
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'Again, it's up to a persons taste, but I like my systems as free from eq as possible, especially with a system like the HK which is already eq'd.
The HK system is pretty clean so I wouldn't worry about any distortion at these minimal lep vels of eq.
'
EQ in a car in particular is much about correcting problems with the acoustics since the frequency response in that environment is never flat (I've never come across it anyway - regardless of the Bose, harman, B&O, Meridien's of this world or whatever). The settings I posted a while back sounded best to my ears with the system fitted to my F10. I haven't personally heard the HK setup, but I'll eat my hat if it's flat. Car stereo's are usually designed to hype particular frequencies since most listeners prefer that. That coupled with challenging acoustics typically means the use of digital equalisation that you can't adjust. Distortion is another topic completely. Some distortion is pleasing (and actually preferred). As someone who works in the recording industry I can tell you that pretty much all studio recordings are recorded using gear that produces distortion or software that emulates it. The purest (or audiophile) view of leaving EQ flat comes from the concept of leaving the sound as close to how the original engineer intended it. I can understand that to a degree if you listen to classical music where the sound should be true to the instruments and the room they were recorded in, but who is to say you are wrong if you like more bass or treble or whatever? Particularly for any form of modern music. It just never relates to acoustic reality. End of the day - you should set your EQ how you like it and ignore everyone else. My settings were only ever intended as a guide in the right direction.
The HK system is pretty clean so I wouldn't worry about any distortion at these minimal lep vels of eq.
'
EQ in a car in particular is much about correcting problems with the acoustics since the frequency response in that environment is never flat (I've never come across it anyway - regardless of the Bose, harman, B&O, Meridien's of this world or whatever). The settings I posted a while back sounded best to my ears with the system fitted to my F10. I haven't personally heard the HK setup, but I'll eat my hat if it's flat. Car stereo's are usually designed to hype particular frequencies since most listeners prefer that. That coupled with challenging acoustics typically means the use of digital equalisation that you can't adjust. Distortion is another topic completely. Some distortion is pleasing (and actually preferred). As someone who works in the recording industry I can tell you that pretty much all studio recordings are recorded using gear that produces distortion or software that emulates it. The purest (or audiophile) view of leaving EQ flat comes from the concept of leaving the sound as close to how the original engineer intended it. I can understand that to a degree if you listen to classical music where the sound should be true to the instruments and the room they were recorded in, but who is to say you are wrong if you like more bass or treble or whatever? Particularly for any form of modern music. It just never relates to acoustic reality. End of the day - you should set your EQ how you like it and ignore everyone else. My settings were only ever intended as a guide in the right direction.
Last week I had my home theater audio and video professionally calibrated (8 hours and don't ask); today I tried the OP's settings. The OP's now legendary settings was a much better deal.
Thanks for posting.
And thank you to the Bimmerfest community. I've owned a 14 535iX for less than two weeks. The amount of information I have learned from this board is incredible, and much appreciated.
Thanks for posting.
And thank you to the Bimmerfest community. I've owned a 14 535iX for less than two weeks. The amount of information I have learned from this board is incredible, and much appreciated.
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My reference to flat concerns the eq settings, not a measurement of frequency response in the vehicle. Over boosting or cutting using limited band graphic equalizers produces unacceptable peaks and valleys in the frequency response which artificially colors the music and sounds far worse than no eq at all. As you stated, everyone has their own tastes, and of course levels of higher frequency hearing damage. Right or wrong is purely subjective but given my background as a musician and working in studios, I have little tolerance for the sound generated by low quality graphic equalization.
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