subwoofer timing delay
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Joined: Aug 2003
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From: Dallas
As I play with the controls of the Alpine 9813 more...
I dunno if anybody else has messed with this, but I was finding that the sub always felt like it was lagging behind the sound I was hearing from the front -- not all that surprising since it's coming from the trunk behind a couple of physical barriers. I tried changing the time delay on both of the front speakers (while leaving the delay between them, 1.4ms, the same for soundstage placement) and found if I got it up to like an 7ms delay, the sub finally sounded like it was hitting on-time with the rest of the system. My delays are now:
FL - 8.4
FR - 7.0
SL - 0
SR - 0
(rears don't matter since I don't have any and I'm using the separate sub output)
I like it quite a bit better now and find myself tapping my (left) foot to the music more now. Curious if anybody else has had a similar experience. I do a lot of setup and configuration of home theater systems as part of my job and I have to say now that car audio setup is even more complex. So many variables to play with to get everything sounding just right. It's fun though...
Matt
I dunno if anybody else has messed with this, but I was finding that the sub always felt like it was lagging behind the sound I was hearing from the front -- not all that surprising since it's coming from the trunk behind a couple of physical barriers. I tried changing the time delay on both of the front speakers (while leaving the delay between them, 1.4ms, the same for soundstage placement) and found if I got it up to like an 7ms delay, the sub finally sounded like it was hitting on-time with the rest of the system. My delays are now:
FL - 8.4
FR - 7.0
SL - 0
SR - 0
(rears don't matter since I don't have any and I'm using the separate sub output)
I like it quite a bit better now and find myself tapping my (left) foot to the music more now. Curious if anybody else has had a similar experience. I do a lot of setup and configuration of home theater systems as part of my job and I have to say now that car audio setup is even more complex. So many variables to play with to get everything sounding just right. It's fun though...
Matt
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 7,584
Likes: 1
From: Baton Rouge, LA
i've played with mine a great deal... 
did you try reversing the phase on the sub before doing the time delays? you might have had a phasing problem, that you've not accomodated for by delay.
still, if it sounds right to you, you're probably on the right track. still, if you do home theatre setups a lot, try testing the sub/fronts time delay using some different test tones covering your entire crossed range for the sub. that way you can be sure you've not tuned it to a specific frequency range by accident...
i seem to recall that i got my sub to sound best using something like a .2 ms delay push on the fronts. i need to double check those numbers though.
mine are something like:
FL = 1.4
FR = .2
and no rears. also, the 7894 had no delays built in for subs, so it's also set for 0.
7 ms seems like a whole lot of delay for the sub... doesn't that translate to something like a 2.5 meter additional distance from you to sub as from you to your left speaker? when i measured mine, the sub was only a couple feet further from me than the passenger speaker (thus the additional .2 ms).
hope this helps...
did you try reversing the phase on the sub before doing the time delays? you might have had a phasing problem, that you've not accomodated for by delay.
still, if it sounds right to you, you're probably on the right track. still, if you do home theatre setups a lot, try testing the sub/fronts time delay using some different test tones covering your entire crossed range for the sub. that way you can be sure you've not tuned it to a specific frequency range by accident...
i seem to recall that i got my sub to sound best using something like a .2 ms delay push on the fronts. i need to double check those numbers though.
mine are something like:
FL = 1.4
FR = .2
and no rears. also, the 7894 had no delays built in for subs, so it's also set for 0.
7 ms seems like a whole lot of delay for the sub... doesn't that translate to something like a 2.5 meter additional distance from you to sub as from you to your left speaker? when i measured mine, the sub was only a couple feet further from me than the passenger speaker (thus the additional .2 ms).
hope this helps...
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 7,584
Likes: 1
From: Baton Rouge, LA
cool... no biggie. sometimes i'm just a big geek who has too much junk in his head. i actually played with it later that day and used your settings... just to test and make sure i wasn't blowing smoke...
i'm glad to hear you got it sorted out. it should sound better in the long run.
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