tuning with an RTA

SQ'in · May 31, 2010

Hey Guys,

OK so this is the second time I tried tuning a car with my RTA and something doesn’t' seem right. When I’m done the car sounds really bad, it’s all top end and screams very loud and ear fatigue sets in. Now before people say the rta isn't a desirable sound and you should tune by ear, I totally agree. My reason for using the RTA is to find any problems or gaps in the FR. I want to use it for level matching and crossover point settings and to smoothen out the FR Curve then tune the rest by ear to add impact and what not. For example all I did was lower 2K, 1,6k and 1.25K because on the screen those where the frequencies that were popping and it sounds worse. I must be doing something wrong. Once the curve is smooth shouldn’t the sound be flat?

I created the $100 RTA from this forum with the ECM 8000 Mic (calibrated by Bikinpunk) and external sound device with phantom power, not using internal sound card from laptop. I have purchased 1/3 octave TrueRTA.

Please tell me I’m doing something wrong or the setting in the software is wrong.

I know something is wrong because many years ago I had my car RTA'd with an audio control RTA and I only had a 3-band P.EQ and it sounded amazing using adjusting three bands. Now I have 31 per channel and it sounds like ****. I loved the sound of the car after we fixed the FR curve. Is what I created not good enough?

Please help

Frank

mattyjman · May 31, 2010

did it sound pretty bad to begin with, cause changing 3 bands on the eq can't make THAT much of a difference in the grand scheme of things.

also, do you have a specific tuning regiment? i know many people on here have a specific steps that they complete. i have one that seems to work well, which carries many of the tips found at http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/diyma-tutorials/33149-mini-tuning-guide-active-user.html

imo, if you are tuning RTA flat with the true rta software, my recolection is that there isn't any weighting on that. my preference is to tune close to a c weighted curve with some variations. but if your car sounded pretty bad to begin with, and then it sounds a little worse with your changes, chances are hearing "flat" with no weighting at all, and in my opinion, that would sound pretty bad.

Volenti · May 31, 2010

By how much (DB) did you lower thoese frequency bands? mabie you have inadvertantly sucked out a large part of the midrange leaving you with just the highs.

Did you measure and adjust the left and right channels seperatly and then measure again combined to check for summing issues?

SQ'in · May 31, 2010

to mattyjman: it didn't sound bad before tuning but worse after using RTA
No I don't have a specific tuning regiment. This is my first fully active system and doing all this for the first time.

to Volenti: it was only a few DB and I brought the peak down until it was about 1 or 2 DB close the neighboring frequencies.

no I didn't do each side yet just quickly wanted to bring down the peaks over all to see what happens. I checked each side and they were almost the same. I guess I should RTA each side individually first and then see what happens.

mattyjman · May 31, 2010

if your jumping right into rta after getting your system installed... you really should be reading up on the different ways that people tune. if you haven't yet, read through the tutorial linked above and start there. do a search for other tuning resources as well. this is probably the place that you are needing to start

SQ'in · May 31, 2010

yes thank you for the link i'm going to go over that, i hope it helps

thanks

CraigE · May 31, 2010

tuning with an RTA

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