Tips on Tuning Car Audio for Better Sounding Music

Tips on Tuning Car Audio for Better Sounding Music

We are all obsessed with music. Music is identity, it’s life, it’s culture, it’s fun. When you hop into your car and cruise down the road, you expect the soundtrack of your life to be there with you. In order to make those sweet tunes sound all the sweeter, it’s important to properly tune your car’s audio system so that every playback is crisp and perfect.

Modern cars come with a lot of settings, and some of us can feel overwhelmed when we stare at an audio system that’s overloaded with knobs and selections. Tuning your car’s audio system to its proper setting can be a challenge, but you should always aim for that sweet spot—that’s when the songs will be “music to your ears” if you can forgive the pun.

Any car expert or audiophile can tell you how to tune your audio system to really make it sing, but you can always do that yourself. There’s a lot to absorb about car audio, but with patience and dedication you can learn. To start, if you want better sounding music, fine tuning your car audio is a good place to start.

Keep Your Speakers In Phase

Your car is your sound stage, your private listening box, your audio room. A properly tuned audio system should send chills down your spine. It should sound like the music is hitting you like every note is being specifically crafted for your journey.

Think of your car as a sound stage, with you in the front row. Shouldn’t those vocals be front and center, the rhythm section booming in both ears?

If your speakers seem out of whack, it could be an issue with your wiring. If the speaker’s positive and negative wires are aligned properly, the speakers might be out of tune or worse. Sometimes one speaker can be vibrating backward while the other is vibrating forward.

When your speakers sound “wrong” they might be out of phase. Depending on the sound and frequency, out-of-phase speakers can really drain the fun from your music, devoiding the tracks of color and texture.

To figure this out, go ahead and turn the balance knob of your receiver all the way to the right or left while a piece plays. As you listen closely to the music, turn the knob slowly back center. When your balance is centered, the bass should be noticeably louder, but if it doesn’t sound correct, your speakers are probably out of phase.

Set Up That Equalizer

Equalizer isn’t just a name. When you’re listening to your favorite tracks, it should be the goal for your bass, mid, and treble to be in balance with one another, allowing the music to sound natural.

If you need to check the balance of the three, play a familiar song on your speakers and listen specifically to the lead instruments and main vocals. If any of it sounds dampened (like the music is somehow playing in the background), your range is out of balance.

This is when you should use your stereo’s equalizer to add the necessary boost to the mid-frequencies to bring these important sounds to the forefront and jazz up the stage.

You may need to boost the high frequencies if the cymbals, hi-hats, or drums sound muffled. Higher-range frequencies don’t really fill the space, and so you may not be noticing an important aspect of the song.

Depending on the car configuration, your tweeters might be installed too low to properly compete with the other sound components, in which case it might be best for you to get some dedicated tweeters installed that really boost the high frequencies and give your music the snap it’s been missing.

All About The Bass

You’ve no doubt heard passing vehicles with enormous subwoofers that cruise the block rattling windows and agitating dogs. While you may have come to this conclusion yourself, that’s not the proper way to tune your stereo, and it is bad for both the audio setup and the vehicle.

To tune your bass correctly, turn down your low frequencies all the way via your equalizer. While listening to one of your favorite songs (heavy on the bass), slowly raise the bass level to where the song sounds full.

Then, bump the bass up higher if you need that extra crisp boom, but don’t let the bass drown out the midrange. Remember, you want each of the range components to compliment one another.

If your car has a dedicated subwoofer, you may need to adjust your crossover frequency to make the bass sound like it’s coming from the middle of the car, not from upfront or behind.

True bass frequency exists somewhere in the 20-100Hz range, and you shouldn’t be able to tell where your bass is originating from.

If it sounds like your bass is booming from a specific spot in your car, your mid-range will muddy the subwoofer. If it sounds like part of your bass is out of phase, play with your mid-range frequencies again then come back to the bass.

Adjust The Fade Balance

Finally, adjust the fade of your stereo to bring all the pieces of your system in line and create that stage setting. Listen carefully to your favorite piece of music and adjust the fade so that it doesn’t sound like the music is coming from one particular speaker.

There is forward, middle, and rear fade balance for all audio systems, and you should balance them so that the music is working in harmony. If the front and rear sound is balanced, you’ve done it! The entire setup should be music to your ears.

At the end of the day, it’s all about you and your music. You might be surprised to find how much sweeter your audio setup can be by doing nothing more than tuning your speaker system properly.

If you have any additional stereo or other auto parts needs, PartsAvatar has it handled. Even if you’re not an audiophile, you deserve to have your car’s speaker system performing at its best, and sometimes that means going for a new speaker upgrade or adding a subwoofer. Like Louis Armstrong said: “music is life itself.”

Make Speakers Clearer and Louder Without An Amp

Thinking of upgrading your speaker soundscape without an amplifier? It can be done. Of course an amplifier is the best way to get more volume, but there are a few hacks to make your stereo sound louder.

How to make your car speakers louder without an amp? There are several ways, and some might surprise you, but you will definitely improve the quality and volume of your music system.

Soundproofing your car will definitely have an impact as we lost a lot of volume through the vibrations seeping out of our vehicles. You can also replace the wires, especially if you’ve had them a while.

Getting a non-invasive add-on such as a portable satellite radio will enrich your listening experience, and there are many other gadgets that will improve the sound. The difference in sound quality might surprise you.

Failing that, you could always insulate your car with sound deadening material. This is basically car soundproofing as best you can and it will make a big difference to the quality of your audio set up.