TOPIC:

I am a professional soundman and I have been using Smaart for 24 years, and I’ve been teaching smaart classes for 15 years this month.  That being said, I understand much of how sound works and am well versed in general.  My day job is mixing FOH, and I tune the PAs that I use, usually something different every show.  I do not deal with FIR filters much directly althhough I do have Waves Tract which apparently does have some FIR capability and I have played with that a bit.  I understand what is generally happening, but I have not used any software to “make” FIRs or put them into any devices.

I have reently installed some relatively cheap sound equipment in my personal vehical after going 24 years with just whatever the factory put in.  My vehical is 22 years old this year, the one before that was 5 years older, and the one before that was another 3 years older and all had factory systems until now.  I have not successfully measured a stable transfer function in the car yet, however, I think this can be solved with the addition of a DSP unit so that issue will be moot.  The head unit only has a 10band 12dB range EQ.  Doesn’t even have normal bass and treble controls which is kind of shocking to me.  The 5x8” door speakers (6 of them) have a very jagged response as measured by the RTA in Smaart, with an M30, as well as with Audiotools on my phone.  THe response is surprisingly close to the same.  2 of the biggest issues I would like to address is a hole in the 60-80Hz range.  None of the tools available are able to deal with it.  No HP or LP filter setting seems to help (there is a 15” sub), and POL reverse, which Sony calls PHASE in this day and age, also doesn’t help.  The other issue is there is. abig dip at 12KHz.  I would not be too worried about that except it comes back full force at 16KHz.  Roll off doesn’t bothher me as much as the peaks and dips.  I guess I chose the wrong speakers, but I have 6 of them now and I’ve put them in the truck so I’m wondering if I can use my M30 about a foot away from one of them and at least get an FIR that flattens it out from say 250Hz and up.  Then the next question is what product do I need?  I have a 4 channel amp for the 6 speakers.  The 4 rears are on 2 channels, and the 2 fronts are on 2 channels.  I have a mono amp for the sub.  I would like to be able to align the sub, but I do not think I need any FIRs for that, and I wouldn’t want all the latency involved with going that low either.  Even though its a playback rig, its also how I will hear phone calls, and GPS receiver directions.  I am open to lots of suggestions.  Please help.  Of course whatever I use needs to work with 11-15VDC.  I noticed Audio COntrol makes a lot of stuff, and I know the owner, but I really don’t want to spend $900 on this or I would just replace these speakers with much better speakers.  These are a brand name, but they don’t make them like they used to.

Minidsp 2x4hds and an OpenDrc in front use a minidc in the 2x4hds and a simple 12v/5v converter for OpenDrc I have a nice thing in my car (sub on right only so I can get the left corrected to match as the sub and right are similar distances and already matched)  it’s sounds fantastic and it’s fun to do