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Double Check and Fine-Tune Time Alignment

OK, by now we have all read the other two posts...this one follows them and it pertains to a specific method I always use to double-check and fine-tune the measurement difference technique, and you can do it with or without music.

YOu can also do this step after establishing your zero reference speaker and each speaker's calculated "distance difference value". However, it is only to be done with an ACTIVE setup, for passives, refer to post 1.

After inputing your values for each channel, isolate things to one pair of drivers at a time. I start with the highs and work down, muting every channel but the left and right tweeter. You can play either our before-mentioned reference track with the strong centered vocalist OR mono pink noise, but I would try to pick a track with centered low notes too, most likely with a centered stand-up bass positioned behind the vocalist (can you say Patricia Barber, Sara K, and Diana Krall? I knew you could ). THis is because we will need to have low-octave info to check the midbasses and sub(s).

OK, once only the tweets are playing, focus ONLY on the sibilances of the center vocalist---what EXACT point are they coming from? YOu will often find that adjusting the delay in small increments is necessary to get the image precise (too many factors to explain as to why measurements dont work 100%). If the "s" sounds seem too much in front of you, add steps of delay to the left channel, if they are too much off to the right, delay the right. If they seem diffuse or dually-imaged from both sides, try single steps of delay to both speakers as your measurement differences are off a bit. At some point, you will find the happy place we call a center image, just be patient. If your tweets seem to respond funny when you adjust them, or never seem quite right, you are likely experiencing multiple point source imaging caused by reflections off the glass, dash, or something and the sound wave is "bouncing" back and forth across the surface causing distortion. Try throwing a towel on the dash, placing foam panels or acoustic treatments on all flat panels near the tweets, and refer to the Install Clinic SQ articles regarding reflection and resonace. We cant get into it here, but all you guys with Apillar tweets should listen up....I will bet that 95%+ of you would benefit from using some sort of dashmat or dash covering to control the early reflections off the dash tops that make your imaging in the treble regions "muddy". Try it, and tell us how you feel!

OK back to topic> Next, mute the tweets and turn on the midranges only. THis time, localizing the vocalist should be very easy, you should be able to point to their location b/c the majority of their voices are reproduced by the mids. Fine-tune your delay settings as necessary

Next, mute the mids and do the midbasses. THis time, focus ONLY on the stand up bass location. THis will also be the time you can use this method to see if your mids, midbasses, or subs are resonating or your enclosures/install "rattling". It is likely the midbasses will portray a very low image, not to worry. Just focus on left-to-right source point location and get it as dead center as possible. The height cues will be made up my the mids and tweets

I dont do the subs unless I am using stereo UP FRONT subwoofers, so this step is skipped because bass freq are supposedly non-directional. YOu can however turn the subs ON now and check easliy how well they blend with the midbasses in terms of front-to-back bass placement!!! THis is very helpful when I tune.\

OK, unmute all channels and audition the system. YOu should be damn close to perfectly dialed by now. Only things that would be adversely affecting arrival times now would be vehicle acoustics, resonations, reflections, x/o slope selection (phase shifting), or some other form of dilemma. Not to worry, remedies after this point are much easier. YOu've come a long way baby! Crack open some suds and enjoy!

 

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