Kako povezati EQ in Crossover za avtoavdio + diagrami in več!

Dober zvok v vašem avtomobilskem avdio sistemu je zelo odvisen od opreme, ki jo uporabljate – in kako ga uporabljate. Izenačevalniki in kretnice so nekaj najbolj koristnih naložb, ki jih lahko naredite za svoj sistem.

V tem članku bom razložil, kako povezati EQ in crossover za avtomobilske avdio sisteme. Znotraj boste našli uporabne diagrame, osnove, ki jih morate vedeti, in nekaj drugih resnično koristnih informacij!

Kaj je prvi EQ ali crossover? Razlike med izenačevalnikom in križanjem

Pri uporabi izenačevalnika in kretnice je izenačevalnik povezan pred kretnico. Za to obstaja več razlogov – eden od njih je vloga izenačevalnika v primerjavi s tem, kar počne crossover.

Izenačevalniki (tudi tisti, ki lahko vključujejo izbirne funkcije križanja) prilagodijo vsebino zvočnega signala, medtem ko se kretnice uporabljajo za ločevanje delov zvočnega signala, usmerjenega na enega ali več ojačevalnikov.

Uporabljamo izenačevalnike za izboljšanje zvočnih frekvenc v glasbi in prilagajanje samega zvočnega signala.
Križnice se uporabljajo za nadzor zvoka, ki se pošlje enemu ali več ojačevalnikom glede na zvočnike, ki jih bomo uporabljali, in za nastavitev namestitve, kot so 2- ali 3-stezni sistemi komponentnih zvočnikov.

Kaj izenačevalnik naredi za avtomobilski zvok?

Diagram, ki prikazuje osnovno idejo izenačevalnika. Izenačevalnik je uporaben za povečanje ali zmanjšanje majhnih razponov zvoka v vašem avdio sistemu za izboljšanje zvoka. Na primer, »konico« (območje večje glasnosti) pri nekaterih frekvencah je mogoče zmanjšati, druge pa povečati.

Izenačevalniki niso le modno ime za nekaj kul, s čimer bi se lahko igrali – čeprav zagotovo niso vsi ustvarjeni enaki, kot pravi pregovor. Izenačevalniki so elektronska naprava, ki vam omogoča izboljšanje kakovosti zvoka z uglaševanjem »pasov« ali obsegov zvočnih frekvenc v vaši glasbi.

To storijo tako, da zagotovijo kontrole za zvišanje ali znižanje (»povečanje« ali »zmanjšanje«) zvočnih frekvenc za izboljšanje frekvenčnega odziva, ki ga proizvajajo vaš sistem in zvočniki.

Izenačevalniki ponujajo številne kontrole (običajno drsne tipke ali vrtljive gumbe), s katerimi lahko prilagodite zvok po svojih željah. Na primer:premalo basa? V nižjih frekvenčnih območjih (nizki toni) lahko povečate enega ali več gumbov. Ali je glasba na nekaterih področjih pregroba, kot je srednjetonec? Obseg zvočnih frekvenc, ki jih vaši zvočniki proizvajajo preveč, lahko odrežete (zmanjšate).

Kakšen je namen crossoverja?

Križnice so elektronske naprave, ki ločijo dohodni glasbeni signal polnega obsega na enega ali več visoko- ali nizkoprepustnih signalov. Omogočajo vam blokiranje neželenih zvočnih frekvenc, ki gredo do določenih zvočnikov, da dobite najboljši zvok, preprečite popačenje in zagotovite boljši zvok.

Na primer:

Visokotonci morajo biti zaščiteni pred nizkimi toni, ki bi jih poslali večjim zvočnikom. Zato uporabljamo visokofrekvenčne kretnice z visokotonci in drugimi majhnimi zvočniki.
Nizkotonci se slabo slišijo pri predvajanju zvočnih razponov polnega ali srednjega tona. Zelo jasen zvok in »čist« bas lahko dosežemo tako, da zanje uporabimo nizkoprepustno kretnico.

Elektronske kretnice so danes vgrajene v številne avtomobilske ojačevalnike. Vendar pa morda uporabljate enega ali več ojačevalnikov, ki jih ne ponujajo ali imajo omejen nadzor. Ločena elektronska kretnica vam omogoča več nadzora in prilagoditev, kot bi jih morda imeli sicer.

Uporabite jih lahko tudi za bolj modne avtomobilske avdio sisteme po meri.

Ali crossover izboljša kakovost zvoka?

Križnice lahko pomagajo pri kakovosti zvoka, vendar ne tako kot izenačevalnik. Na primer, lahko uporabimo visokoprepustno kretnico z manjšimi zvočniki, kot so 6,5-palčni zvočniki polnega razpona, da blokiramo zelo nizke nizke tone, ki povzročajo popačenje in jih zvočniki ne prenesejo. Rezultat je boljši zvok brez groznega zvoka, ki ga imajo zvočniki, ko jih poganja preko meje, ki jo zmorejo.

Podobno je z blokiranjem neželenih zvokov v zvočnikih srednjih basov ali nizkotonskem zvočniku rezultat odlično zveneč »čist« obseg zvoka brez ostrih ali popačenj zaradi zvokov, za katere niso bili zasnovani.

Pravilno nastavljen sistem zvočnikov, ki uporablja kretnice, bo imel veliko boljši zvok kot brez njega. Zvočnike lahko poganjate tudi z večjo močjo in glasnostjo, kot bi jih sicer. Rezultat je zelo lep zvok in prijetna glasba tudi pri višjih ravneh moči.

Kako priključite izenačevalnik na avtoradio? (DIAGRAM)

Povezovanje avtoradia z izenačevalnikom je na splošno precej preprosto. Večina je bolj ali manj enakih, seveda pa se lahko nekoliko razlikujejo od modela do modela. Tukaj bom obravnaval osnove, nato pa razpravljal o križanjih v naslednjem ločenem razdelku.

1. Priključite napajalno in daljinsko ožičenje

Primer tipičnega izenačevalnika z napajalnim kabelskim snopom in dodatnim vhodnim snopom za raven zvočnikov. Večina izenačevalnikov uporablja tri napajalne povezave:konstantno +12 V (napajanje iz baterije), daljinski vklop in ozemljitev.

Izenačevalniki imajo običajno precej preprosto ožičenje, ki ga boste morali povezati za krmiljenje napajanja in vklopa:

Ozemljitvena žica (negativna) – priključite na ozemljitev vozila (podvozje) ali tudi na ozemljitev radia.
Napajanje baterije – povežite se s pomnilniško povezavo radia (+12V BATT) ali drugim vedno vklopljenim virom +12V.
Daljinski na žici – to samodejno vklopi ali izklopi EQ z radiem. Povežite to z žico za daljinski vklop radia za najboljše rezultate (v mnogih primerih je tudi lažje kot uporaba druge žice).
*Osvetlitev/zatemnitev [če je prisoten] – To ni tako pogosto, vendar imajo nekateri EQ nadzor zatemnitve. Ne pozabite preveriti uporabniškega priročnika, saj nekateri zatemnijo zaslon EQ ali osvetlitev, ko je priključen pozitivni svetlobni signal. Drugi aktivirajo zatemnitev z negativno (ali ozemljitveno) povezavo. Če želite, lahko to žico prezrete – žice za zatemnitev/kontrolo osvetlitve niso potrebne.

Izenačevalniki na splošno uporabljajo le nekaj ojačevalnikov, tako da vam v večini primerov ne bo treba skrbeti, da bi jih povezali z ločenim napajalnim priključkom, kot je na primer avtomobilski ojačevalnik. Poleg tega je pogosto dobro uporabiti isto ozemljitveno povezavo kot radio, saj lahko piskanje alternatorja (šum ozemljitvene zanke) pri nekaterih namestitvah predstavlja težavo.

Ko ste priključili napajalno napeljavo, je čas, da vzpostavite povezavo z zvočnim signalom.

2. Povežite RCA vhodnega signala izenačevalnika

Večina EQ uporablja en sam par vhodov RCA, ki se povežejo z izhodnimi priključki RCA vaše glavne enote. To je zato, ker standardni izenačevalniki uporabljajo en sam niz kontrolnikov izenačevalnika, ki delujejo na levem in desnem kanalu hkrati. Številni vključujejo tudi nadzor faderja od spredaj do zadaj, tako da pogosto ne boste potrebovali zadnje povezave RCA iz avtoradia.

Priključitev vtičnic RCA na avtomobilskem izenačevalniku:

Glavni RCA vhodi: Priključite jih na (sprednje) priključke RCA glavne enote, če so na voljo. (Če vaša glavna enota nima RCA, ne skrbite – to bom obravnaval naslednjič)
Sprednji RCA izhodi: Povežite se z glavnimi RCA vhodi crossoverja, če gre za model samo s stereo (2 vhodna priključka). Če ne uporabljate kretnice, jo povežite s sprednjimi RCA vhodi ojačevalnika.
Zadnji RCA izhodi: Povežite se z zadnjimi RCA vhodi crossoverja, če so na voljo in če to potrebujete. V nasprotnem primeru jih lahko prezrete in prezrete nadzor faderja na EQ. Če ne uporabljate kretnice, povežite to z zadnjimi RCA vhodi vašega ojačevalnika.
Izhodi RCA za globokotonec (neobvezno): Ti so neobvezni in imajo običajno nizkoprepustno kretnico, vgrajeno v izhodno zasnovo. Če ne uporabljate kretnice med ojačevalnikom.
AUX vhodni priključki RCA (izbirno): Nekateri izenačevalniki ponujajo funkcijo vhoda AUX, ki vam omogoča neposredno povezavo vhoda za slušalke v telefonu, MP3 predvajalnika itd. Connect this to a 3.5mm stereo headphone to RCA cable as needed and use the AUX input switch when listening to other sound sources.

Once you’re connected to the car stereo and the crossover you’re ready to install the crossover too.

Connecting a car stereo with no RCA jacks to an EQ

Examples of two good speaker wire line level converters (one for a pair of speaker outputs, one for 4 speaker channels &4 RCA outputs). Line level converters scale down the higher voltage signal from a car stereo to a lower voltage (“line level”) that an EQ, crossover, or amplifier can use without distortion or damage.

The great news is that you can still use an EQ and crossover with a factory or aftermarket car stereo with no RCA jacks. You’ll need a good quality speaker output to line level converter to do this.

Line level converters are designed to allow connecting to an amplifier’s RCA inputs by converting speaker outputs from a stereo (a higher voltage required to drive speakers) to a low-level signal that an EQ, crossover, or car amplifier can use.

Zelo pomembno je, da kupite kakovosten, dobro zasnovan linijski adapter, da se izognete šumu, slabi kakovosti zvoka in drugim težavam. Don’t get the cheapest – instead, get a name-brand model you can rely on (like the examples you see above). You can get a nice one like these for around $15-$20 or less these days.

How to wire an EQ and crossover for car audio (DIAGRAM)

This diagram shows the basic connections for an equalizer and crossover. While the particular equalizer or crossover you have may be slightly different, most have very similar connections.

The diagram above is a guide for how to make the right connections for your equalizer and your crossover. You can expect some slight differences depending on the model you have and the system you’re wanting to install but most should be very similar.

How do you connect a crossover to an equalizer?

To connect a crossover to an equalizer you’ll want to use the front or main RCA outputs of the equalizer for the inputs to the front channels or main inputs on your crossover.

Full range input(s): the crossover’s main signal input from your car stereo or in this case the equalizer. The equalizer will send a full-range signal which you can then divide as needed for your system using the provided outputs. Some crossovers only have a single pair of inputs while others have front, rear, and sometimes even subwoofer inputs. These additional inputs are usually optional.
High-pass outputs: these are the high pass (bass blocked) audio outputs for your main amplifier channels such as front or rear speakers. Using the selectable crossover frequency you can block bass and instead send it to subwoofers for better sound &power handling.
Low-pass outputs: these are for sending only bass to your amplifier used for midbass speakers or subwoofers. Low pass outputs on a crossover usually have a selectable crossover frequency similar to the high-pass outputs, but usually limited to 250Hz or below.

Connecting power to a crossover

Crossovers normally have wiring similar to an equalizer:a ground wire (negative), +12V battery wire, and a remote-on wire. If it’s convenient you can connect the crossover and equalizer wiring to the connections at the radio:

+12V battery connection:connect to the radio’s memory wire or another power source that has +12V all the time (does not change with the ignition switch).
Ground wire:connect to the vehicle’s chassis via bare metal or the same ground wire as the car stereo.
Remote wire connection:connect to the car stereo’s remote wire or alternatively a +12V accessory wire that turns on &off with the ignition.

Can I use a separate crossover and my amp’s crossover?

Yes, in many cases you can use an external crossover and the one built into your amplifier or head unit. However, it’s generally not needed in most cases.

These days it’s pretty standard to find -12dB per octave crossovers (also called “2nd order”) in electronic crossovers and amplifiers too. That’s normally a pretty good cutoff steepness for all sorts of speakers including main speakers, tweeters, and subwoofers.

However, if you need an even steeper crossover frequency (say -18dB or -24dB per octave) you can use more than one. There are some things you’ll need to know first:

You can combine the crossovers for similar cutoff frequencies. The steepness will combine, meaning you’ll get even better filtering of unwanted sound frequencies.
Mismatched crossovers can mean you’ll have undesirable sound. For example, let’s say you’ve set your crossover to 70Hz and you’re also using an amp’s crossover set at about 50Hz. The end result is the lower cutoff frequency from the amp would block portions of sound you wanted.

When in doubt, always use a 2nd crossover that’s of the same or higher cutoff frequency and you should be ok. As some of today’s car stereos include high or low-pass crossovers, those can be used as well (or instead of the ones built into your amp). They’re also more convenient to change too since they’re right there in the dash.

What are good crossover frequencies for car audio?

Car speakers are somewhat different from home audio in that they often suffer from terrible enclosures which aggravates the problems they have when producing certain sounds. I’ve put together some crossover frequencies below as general guidelines that work well in most cases. You may need to tweak them a bit for your particular system.

For example, small speakers with no real enclosure may have horribly “thin” sound – in that case, you may need to raise the high-pass filter (HPF) frequency even higher to minimize sound problems. Use these as a starting point, see what you get, and go from there.

As a side note, be aware that a crossover can’t compensate for a subwoofer that’s poorly matched to a speaker box. It’s very important for good bass sound to have subwoofers in an enclosure of the right size and type.

Car audio speaker & crossover frequency table

Speaker/System Type	Crossover Freq. &Type	Notes
Subwoofers	70-80 Hz (low pass)	Good low-pass frequency range for subwoofer bass &blocking midrange sounds. Best for pure, clear bass sound that "hits."
Car main (full range) speakers	56-60Hz (high pass)	Blocks low-end bass that causes distortion or speakers to "bottom out." Great compromise between full-range sound and midrange bass capability.
Tweeters or 2-way speakers	3-3.5KHz (high pass, or high/low-pass)	Most 2-way or 1-way (tweeter) crossovers use a frequency near this as most tweeters can't handle sounds below this range. Same for woofers above this range.
Midrange/woofer	1K-3.5KHz (low pass)	Woofers and many midrange speakers do not perform well above this general range. They're poor for treble and a tweeter should be added.
3-way system	500Hz &3.5KHz (Woofer/tweeter crossover points)	Similar to 2-way systems the upper freq. would be the same. Midrange drivers in a 3-way system often do not perform well below 500Hz or 250Hz in many cases.

What are some good EQ settings for the best sound?

The simple truth is that there’s not a true “best” equalizer or audio system setting. It depends on your goals, but ultimately, the best settings are those that let you tailor the sound in a way that pleases your ears the most.

Regardless, I do have some general equalizer guidelines that can help you. I’ll make sure to cover those in a separate section below after explaining why an equalizer (EQ) is so helpful and the problems with speaker sound.

To keep things organized I’ll break this down into two approaches:

Setting your EQ by ear
Using a real-time analyzer (RTA) and microphone

1. Setting your EQ by ear

Here I’ll share with you some basic steps and EQ settings when doing it by ear. In the section after this, I’ll go into the best way to do so:by tuning your system using the right tools.

Note that tuning audio for car systems by ear is more for correcting the most obvious problems you can hear easily. To really know what’s going on with your system, you’ll need the right tools and approach I’ll share in the sound system car tuning guide below.

Getting started

My advice is to do the following before adjusting an EQ:

Disable any special audio modes like bass boost or “music enhancement.” Turn the bass boost, if present, to “flat” or off.
Set the equalizer band adjustments all to flat. That is, to 0dB level, in the middle of the equalizer display (or to 0dB if it uses a number style control).

For many speaker systems (for example factory speakers with a factory-installed head unit), typically the sound is lacking in 2 or more areas:

Not enough bass
Too much midrange
Not enough treble (high frequency sounds like cymbals and string instruments)
Music has poor detail and doesn’t sound like the recording should

I recommend doing the following, being sure to use small adjustments with the equalizer and make changes slowly while listening carefully.

Increase the bass a bit in the low-end range. This will be a band with a frequency of 60Hz or close to it – this depends on your particular EQ. You can then increase it a bit in the band above it and hear the results (ex.:120Hz band, which is still bass but on the lower end of midrange sound &vocals).
Increase the treble 6dB or so around the highest band on the upper end of the EQ, then continue increasing by 3dB if you hear an improvement. Continue until it sounds unpleasant to you, then decrease back until it’s better. This is usually a band with 16KHz or similar (some only go to 12KHz, which isn’t good, sadly). Treble can be a problem because speaker placement is less than ideal in vehicles along with poor quality factory-installed speakers, too.
If you hear “harshness” and the vocals and instruments in music sound like they’re grating on your nerves, you probably need to decrease midrange sound. Start with a band around 1KHz and decrease by about 3dB and listen for improvement. If there isn’t any, set it back to 0, then move up to 2KHz, 4KHz, and so on as needed.

Visualizing adjusting an EQ for the most basic ranges of sound

Opomba: I recommend using a music test track to do this. You can buy audio test tracks for download or CDs to buy online. You can also use a song you know extremely well that you’ve heard on a high-fidelity system before.

The idea is to know how the music should sound with everything set up properly and judge your EQ settings by ear using test music.

Our ears are most sensitive in the midrange span of sounds so that’s often one of the biggest problem areas of speakers that need attention. Tweeters very often need some increase at the high end, too. It’s a huge problem with factory-installed tweeters that have a poor response (sound output) at the highest end of the sound range.

2. Using a real-time analyzer (RTA) to tune your EQ

Some examples of your options for measuring and tuning your car audio speaker system. Of the 3, using a laptop and RTA software or smartphone app are the best values for the dollar. Today’s smartphone apps like AudioTool offer many of the same features as much more expensive options.

The best way to tune your system (find the optimal equalizer settings) is to use a measurement tool and find the areas that needed adjusting. To do so, you’ll need a real-time analyzer (RTA) and microphone. There’s simply NO WAY to get the best sound using only some music and adjusting it by ear.

This used to be way too expensive in the past. However, these days you can find get good results using your laptop and RTA software (such as TrueRTA, for example) or use an inexpensive RTA app with your Apple or Android smartphone.

For the sake of keeping things simple, I’ll cover using a smartphone and an RTA app. I recommend AudioTool for Android as it’s very good and while it’s not free, it’s cheap! ($7.99 at this time). Using an app isn’t as accurate as a more expensive setup but it’s enough in most cases to get the job done pretty well.

Using an RTA app and microphone for tuning sound

I don’t recommend using a smartphone’s built-in mic for tuning your equalizer settings. Built-in mics have poor frequency measurement performance compared to a real test microphone. Calibrated microphones also include a file to allow them to give a near-perfect measurement if your RTA supports it.

While you can use your smartphone’s built-in microphone to tune your system and set your EQ, I don’t recommend it. Built-in mics have poor performance for measuring sound and your readings won’t be very good. This means you’ll never be able to get the sound quite right sadly.

One option is to pick up an affordable calibrated microphone like the Dayton Audio iMM-6 at around $17. As an added bonus, each one includes a unique calibration file to help you get more accurate readings. To use that you’ll need an audio app that supports importing a calibration text file. (Not critical by any means but nice if you can)