Audyssey for cars

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Alpine has an assortment of Audyssey products for cars at their website. The flagship receiver is referenced below. It has a pretty simple explanation of the Audyessey benefits for sound. I heard an Onkyo 606 with basic Audyessy and I was impressed by the clarity and tight subwoofer bass. What do you think?

http://www.alpine-usa.com/US-en/products/product.php?model=CDA-9887

 

[jostenmeat]

First of all, not everyone likes Audyssey (though I do). Secondly, this tech is NOT a substitute for everything else involved in creating a good acoustical space. I think of it as icing on the cake.

Then, I've read an acoustician's post where he said if he tried to design the absolute worst acoustical space he could imagine, it would pretty much look exactly like a car interior.

Now, I do know a couple of folks who spend more on their car audio than in their home, because they actually spend more waking hours in their car. Still, YMMV, and a miracle is the last thing I would expect . . .

btw the 606 uses 2eq, iirc, and multEQ XT is two steps above that (best consumer version).

 

[Exit]

Yes I know that everyone doesn’t like Audyssey and that the Onkyo 606 uses only the basic Audyssey system versus Multi-EQ. I have read the complete Audyssey thread at AVS forum and I have a pretty good understanding of the pros and cons and that Audyssey is not a panacea. Some people have failed to get the results they hoped for and have to trouble-shoot problems with their setup or room acoustics. It seems like most of the people in the forum, after putting in some hard work, are able to get the results the technology offers. The only standing complaint is that Audyssey makes the frequency response graph flat in the bass region while many prefer a house curve.

There are however, some who have had great results and I was simply pointing out that Audyssey applications have expanded from home receivers and subwoofer EQ into car stereos.

The top-of-the-line Alpine car receiver is list priced at $450, which is not that much in relation to car audio amps and subwoofers or home receivers. I spent about $600 for the factory in-dash 6 CD changer when I bought a new car last spring. Had I known about Audyssey and this receiver at that time, I may have elected to save that money on the factory system and installed a custom system with this unit as the headpiece. I went with the factory system because it was convenient and because it was part of the car financing with 0 percent down and 0% interest for three years, and I didn’t want to spend extra up-front cash.

I only spend about 40 minutes a day in the car listening to music and the factory system is pretty good, except for low bass. I spent about 1K on the audio system for my last car and left it in the car when I sold it because it would have been a hassle to pull everything out and try to put the OEM system back in. Also the speakers couldn’t be used in my new car so why go to the trouble. I got ten years use out of it so I got my moneys worth. I sold the car to a teenager (one of my sons friends) and he is probably enjoying it more than I.

 

[GlocksRock]

I have the CDA-9887 and I'm waiting on the imprint kit, I've heard some people like what it does for them, others don't care for it. All is really does is flatten out the frequency response in the car, where it finds a dip, it adds an equeal peak, where it finds a peak, and compensates with an equal dip.

 

[jostenmeat]

One thing that I would spend some thinking about is where I would do the mic calibrations with XT in a car. The first thing is deciding how many listeners do I even care about? I think the results will have a better chance at the driver's spot/sweetspot with the fewer the positions that are considered.

I'm sure multiple attempts at calibrating will lend itself to the best results, but my instinct on a first go would be to probably do about 4 positions right at the head of the driver's seat, and then another 4 on the passenger's side. Remember, this tech also attempts to correct for secondary reflections.

I think in a HT, there is a lot more margin for error in mic positioning. In a car, with all of the reflections so close to the glass (perhaps only inches away from the head), I'd really try to get the mic exactly where the ears reside. fwiw

 

[deedubb]

I wish car manufacturers didn't make it so hard to go aftermarket. All 3 of my cars have Bose. Two of them are tolerable (one of those only with the treble at max). The third one sounds like absolute garbage.

I have a bunch of Alpine/Phoenix Gold/MB Quart sitting in the basement, but it would be very difficult to put into any of my current cars. I really miss aftermarket car audio and why Bose has a monopoly on OEM systems is beyond me.

 

[highfigh]

First of all, not everyone likes Audyssey (though I do). Secondly, this tech is NOT a substitute for everything else involved in creating a good acoustical space. I think of it as icing on the cake.

Then, I've read an acoustician's post where he said if he tried to design the absolute worst acoustical space he could imagine, it would pretty much look exactly like a car interior.

Now, I do know a couple of folks who spend more on their car audio than in their home, because they actually spend more waking hours in their car. Still, YMMV, and a miracle is the last thing I would expect . . .

btw the 606 uses 2eq, iirc, and multEQ XT is two steps above that (best consumer version).

Aside from the fact that there are virtually no parallel sides, it has a good balance of absorptive and reflective surfaces and most cars have only a little more ambient noise than a house, I'm not sure why the acoustician would say that. Maybe they don't like dealing with that kind of transfer function and lack of reverberation.

 

[highfigh]

I wish car manufacturers didn't make it so hard to go aftermarket. All 3 of my cars have Bose. Two of them are tolerable (one of those only with the treble at max). The third one sounds like absolute garbage.

I have a bunch of Alpine/Phoenix Gold/MB Quart sitting in the basement, but it would be very difficult to put into any of my current cars.

You do realize that the car manufacturers don't want people buying aftermarket radios because it cuts into their profits, right? They went decades without making a good sounding radio, costing themselves hundreds of millions of dollars, before they actually got into the game.

"I really miss aftermarket car audio and why Bose has a monopoly on OEM systems is beyond me."

Think about the cost vs benefit for the car makers. They bolt everything in, didn't have to spend a penny on the development and the user can't crank it past clipping, so speakers don't blow up as often as the old style of system, where maximum volume was terribly distorted, sounded like crap and caused many speakers to be replaced under warranty.

You could use your equipment- you just need to be creative, the way people were in the old days of car audio.

 

[Exit]

I have the CDA-9887 and I'm waiting on the imprint kit, I've heard some people like what it does for them, others don't care for it. All is really does is flatten out the frequency response in the car, where it finds a dip, it adds an equeal peak, where it finds a peak, and compensates with an equal dip.

Ausyssey makes adjustments in both frequency and the time domain. It is the latter which makes it more than an automated parametric equializer.

 

[GlocksRock]

The receiver has a time alignment feature, and the imprint kit will also set that up as well, but that can be adjusted manually without the imprint kit. The think I don't like is that until you run the imprint kit, you can't even adjust the bass/treble controls, but you can still access the normal eq.

 

[Exit]

If you want to understand Audyssey better, there is a long thread about it on the AVS forums which I listed below. One of the inventors of Audyssey clears up a lot of questions for people and provides knowledge of how to get the system working better and as intended.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=795421