RTA'd the speaker ouputs on HU

[car46999]

I measured the front output on my 2008 MS3 non-bose headunit.
It is the Sanyo, pn: BAP5 66 AR0

My test setup was as follows:

-PC with TrueRTA, using the internal soundcard.
-I used both pink noise cd, and the pinknoise generator in TrueRTA (to compare the difference of the cd player and media input) no difference noted
-I used a simple PAC line converter, wired into the left front speaker.
-Bass and treble in HU set to zero.
-ALC was off.
-I did not calibrate the signal level in TrueRTA (not necessary to see the response)

My observations:
-From what I see there is no level based equalization. I tested it from 3-max.
-The non-bose deck produces a relatively flat response
-A system could benefit from some type of bass restoration device (Re-q, epicenter, etc)

I am basing this by comparing the baseline to the radio ones.
Anyone who has more experience with RTA's please chime in.
I have alot of more screen shots, I will try to get them on there

I uploaded some pictures here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/car46999/

Let me know what you think

 

[Abaddon]

Looks pretty good..

Definitely needs a proper EQ though....... Flat output is just that... Flat and Boring....

 

[car46999]

yea, would want some form of eq to help it out.

I might redo some of the tests, with more averaging of the output. I think this will look better on the graphs.

 

[derspi]

You guys should keep in mind that the OP only measured the frequency response the head unit is outputting as opposed to the frequency response AT the ears. But this is good news regardless as it eliminates one less variable when tuning.

Kudos to the OP for doing this.

 

[shaftwagon]

Does this mean that the MS3 sport stock HU actually delivers a clean signal with decent bass?

I'm picking up a new MS3 sport up in a couple days and was hoping to use the speaker outs to send to my Alpine amp that takes speaker level inputs. I did this in my old Protege5 and it worked quite well.

 

[car46999]

That is correct on not testing the speakers response. My main goal was to see if the head unit produced a decent signal.

As far as bass response goes, I think it would need some help (such as the devices listed in my original post). Some drop off is seen in the lower freq's, but it is also in the baseline (laptop only).

I am still planning to test again, this time using more averaging. That should eliminate some of the fluctuations seen in my pics.

I am sure it would be good to add an eq, or a bass restoration device. I plan on using an eq.

 

[shaftwagon]

oh- now I see the bass dropoff in the "baseline" screenshots you created. hmmm. I guess a "bass restoration" type of device would be helpful...

On that note- Is there such a device that will take speaker outputs, convert them to line level signals, AND also lets you customize the EQ settings? The RE-Q and JL Cleansweep don't seem to offer this. A device like this would be ideal for tuning one's car.

 

[Abaddon]

oh- now I see the bass dropoff in the "baseline" screenshots you created. hmmm. I guess a "bass restoration" type of device would be helpful...

On that note- Is there such a device that will take speaker outputs, convert them to line level signals, AND also lets you customize the EQ settings? The RE-Q and JL Cleansweep don't seem to offer this. A device like this would be ideal for tuning one's car.

Rockford 3sixty.1 and 3sixty.2 (the .2 is much better)
Alpine PXA-H650
Audiocontrol... um... DQL-8?? something like that
and the JBL MS-8 (to be released eventually)

 

[shaftwagon]

the alpine pxe-h650 looks pretty awesome. the idea of using a microphone to "tune" the sound to my MS3 makes me salivate. but the ~$300 price tag makes me cringe.

what is the consensus on the boards? Does the stock MS3 sport HU really need some re-equalization to sound good? My alpine amp accepts speaker level inputs as is...