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Shaping an Effective Sound Field in Car Audio Systems

The most important factors are the position and direction of the speakers! First, it's essential to understand that since sound directionality mainly depends on the high-frequency part, the installation of tweeters becomes crucial. The ideal location is on either side above the car dashboard. When tweeters are installed here, they effectively raise the sound field and can easily shape the sound field in front of the listener. However, this installation can be quite challenging. Issues such as finding a suitable installation position above the dashboard and securing the speakers require better installation techniques. Additionally, when the tweeters are installed on the dashboard, they will inevitably be placed at a considerable distance from the midrange speakers, which is not conducive to the accuracy of the sound field. Therefore, it's necessary to arrange them reasonably; the distance between the tweeter and the midrange speaker should not exceed 30 centimeters. Moreover, both the tweeters and midrange speakers should point as much as possible toward the listener’s position, presenting the sound field in front of the listener! Typically, during car audio modifications, additional speakers are installed on the rear door or rear panel to allow rear-seat listeners to enjoy the music as well. However, if these rear speakers are improperly adjusted, the front-seat listeners may feel that the sound is coming from behind their heads. There are two methods to avoid this situation.

The first one is the simplest: just slightly reduce the gain of the rear-field speakers. However, this will result in reduced sound pressure for the rear seats.

The second method is more complex and involves setting the rear-field speakers to bandpass (a combination of low-pass and high-pass filters; the Alpine MRV-F540 has this function). For example, set the high-pass filter to 80Hz and the low-pass filter to 3kHz. In this way, only sounds between 80Hz and 3kHz will come from the rear field. This ensures no low-frequency distortion while avoiding the high-frequency sounds pulling the sound field to the back, and the rear-seat listeners still perceive sufficient volume.

Finally, consider the low-frequency part of the entire vehicle. Subwoofers are usually installed in the trunk of the car. Although theoretically, sub-bass has no directionality, if there is too much overlap between the frequency range of the subwoofer and the rear-field speakers, people may feel that the bass part of the rear-field speakers is part of the subwoofer's bass, locking the entire sub-bass sound field at the back. Therefore, remember not to set the high-pass frequency of the rear-field speakers too low. When the frequency connection between the front-field speakers and the subwoofer is appropriate, the fundamental frequency of drum beats in the music is emitted by the subwoofer, while the higher harmonics of the drum beats (still within the low-frequency range) are emitted by the front-field speakers. In this way, it will sound as if the drum sound is coming from the front field!

There is no single installation method that is always correct because different car models, equipment performance, and even individual listening preferences vary. Thus, creating an excellent sound field environment requires experimentation based on theoretical knowledge. Your ears and feelings are the ultimate judge. Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth, and this applies to the process of installing car audio systems as well.

I found this article on the China Auto Beauty Talent Network and thought it was quite useful, so I reprinted it.

Source of this article: http://www.qcmrrc.com/