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[Admiral Woofington]

Howdy Y'all,

Have a nice sound system in my car and a head unit (Kenwood DDX9903s) alongside a subwoofer and a bass knob. In certain songs I feel the bass is drowning out the other frequencies in songs, but turning it super low with the bass knob seems like it's not solving the problem but only temporarily fixing it.

Any tips on how to equalize my audio with the Hz/Db chart? My car's head unit EQ chart looks similar to this

with Hz in the x axis and Db in the y axis. Mine has about 12 'bands' I believe they're called in the x axis.

All I know is that as a rule of thumb I shouldn't have more than 3 Db difference between two adjacent x- points. But that's the only thng I've really heard. I also know different type of music you might like other settings, but is there a setting /curve to follow for the best possible audio for most situations? I don't want to be constantly changing settings, I'm not that guy but I'd like to be able to leave my bass knob in a certain setting most of the time instead of fiddling with it everytime a bass heavy song comes.

Any apps I should use, and what should I be looking for? Anything similar for audio adjustment to the Disney WOW blu-ray (used for image settings) for audio calibration? I'm a complete newbie and will take any help I can get.

 

[CarpeDeezNutz]

Turn those highs up a bit and lower the lows. Me personally I like lows.

 

[Kyzer]

Unfortunately theres no right answer to eq and its basically a means of adjusting the sound to your specific environment. Everyones listening environment and tastes are different. Probably best to just keep it to a preset you like.

Other than that look up an eq cheat sheet to see what each of your specific band frequencies are so you know what to adjust. Try and figure out and divide it into your Low Frequency(s), Lower Mid, Mid, Upper Mid, and High and youll basically know whats what. Actually eqing perfectly takes years of ear training so honestly the preset thing might be best and then just slightly adjust anything to taste.

Your picture in the OP doesnt really help since yours will be different frequency points. I could label what each of those would do but it wouldnt help you much if yours is different

For what its worth, the general public tends to prefer a "smiley face" eq curve with boosted bass, reduced mids, and boosted treble.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Unfortunately theres no right answer to eq and its basically a means of adjusting the sound to your specific environment. Everyones listening environment and tastes are different. Probably best to just keep it to a preset you like.

Other than that look up an eq cheat sheet to see what each of your specific band frequencies are so you know what to adjust. Try and figure out and divide it into your Low Frequency(s), Lower Mid, Mid, Upper Mid, and High and youll basically know whats what. Actually eqing perfectly takes years of ear training so honestly the preset thing might be best and then just slightly adjust anything to taste.

Your picture in the OP doesnt really help since yours will be different frequency points. I could label what each of those would do but it wouldnt help you much if yours is different

For what its worth, the general public tends to prefer a "smiley face" eq curve with boosted bass, reduced mids, and boosted treble.

does the 'smiley face' curve work fairly well for most listening experiences? Guess I'll give it a try.

Any reason to reduce mids in particular?

 

[CarpeDeezNutz]

Why not just adjust it to the way you like?

 

[Angry Grimace]

does the 'smiley face' curve work fairly well for most listening experiences? Guess I'll give it a try.

Any reason to reduce mids in particular?

Increasing bass and treble and scooping midrange tends to make it sound loud and powerful. Hence why it's so popular.

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

Lower the 31 and 62 bands down as a start and then keep tweaking as needed. I'd lower them by three or so dots. I'd raise the 2 and 4k ones a bit to even things out, but really, you'll just want to experiment.

Stuff on the left is low. Stuff on the right is high. Spans the audio spectrum.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Why not just adjust it to the way you like?

Because I could use a song as a way to adjust it, and I'll always have this little goblin inside of my brain whispering "pssssssssst how do you know that setting doesn't just work for that one soooooong maybe this other song could sound betteeeer"

 

[Kyzer]

does the 'smiley face' curve work fairly well for most listening experiences? Guess I'll give it a try.

Any reason to reduce mids in particular?

Yep, even then though. If you can find a preset, use that. Making an actual smiley face will probably not sound very good but look for that sort of shape. Scooped mids higher bass and treble