A Guide to Calibrating Your Car Surround Sound

Your car surround sound is something that you will need to properly calibrate before you begin to use it. You will find that the calibration is one of the most important parts of installing your surround sound to your vehicle. Even if you did not install it yourself, you may still find that calibrating it is necessary. This is something that needs to be done so that you can get the most quality out of the sound that comes out of your vehicle.

Step 1 – Head Unit

All of the calibration will begin at your head unit. You will find that the better the output signal, the better the sound. You are looking for it to have about 4 or 5 volts with the pre outs. 2 to 3 volts is good too, but you will end up needing more amplifier power in order to get the type of decibels that you will be looking for. A head unit should have an adjustable subwoofer level. To do this, you will tune the stereo without your subwoofers on. Your treble and bass will need to be added until you get the right sound. You are looking for the least amount of distortion while having the highest volume setting that you typically listen to.

Step 2 – Subwoofer

Once you have found a good place for your low to high sound for the multi-range speakers, you are ready to work with your subwoofers. Turn your outputs to about 2/3 and get to the amp. You will adjust the frequency on your amp while you get the level to a minimum. Turn your volume up to the loudest point that you listen to it at again. The frequency needs to be pulled about half way and adjust the power level upwards, do this slowly. Once you get to the zone that you are comfortable at, stay put. If there is more that you are wanting from the system, then you should adjust the frequency down just a little bit with the power level staying increased.

Step 3 – Clip Out

You do not want the subwoofers to clip out whenever you get the loud clear bass that you want. If this is something that happens, then you will need to get the power level adjusted until you have it back into the safe zone. After you have the system set exactly where you want it to be, then leave it alone. If you try to show off one day and get the amps up as loud as they can be, then this could easily blow the speakers out. That is why it is important to leave it alone once you have it where it is supposed to be. If it is not at the level that you want it to be at without clipping out, regardless of where you have it set, then you will need to simply get a new system that can provide to you the level of sound that you are looking for.