Audio upgrade options

tadda

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Just used Bimmercode to deactivate the "Active Sound" that adds engine noise to audio system and it made noticeable improvement to the quality / clarity of music during the drive...The low end in particular is much less distorted now...
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Axix23

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I just messed with the radio. I would be happy if it had clear-clean mids and highs. I got the treble all the way up and it sounded distorted. Itā€™s worse than any sound system I have ever had in a car.
 

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I just messed with the radio. I would be happy if it had clear-clean mids and highs. I got the treble all the way up and it sounded distorted. Itā€™s worse than any sound system I have ever had in a car.
Using the jbl house curve helps a lot. You can clean up the mids a good bit and tamping the highs down helps them come through.

The factory system is still shit, but it can sound a lot better, just you have to tune it in the opposite direction you went if clarity is what your after.
 

Axix23

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Using the jbl house curve helps a lot. You can clean up the mids a good bit and tamping the highs down helps them come through.

The factory system is still shit, but it can sound a lot better, just you have to tune it in the opposite direction you went if clarity is what your after.
yeah, your right. I didnā€™t know about the equalizer until reading this thread. It does sound a lot better after adjustments. The factory sound setting was crap!!

View attachment 20729
 

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How do you access the EQ? I have only seen the high, mid, low on my JBL.
 

tadda

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How do you access the EQ? I have only seen the high, mid, low on my JBL.
After you select Tone you'll find "Equalizer" is listed at the top along with "Bass" and "Treble" adjust....select Equalizer...
 
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digicidal

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This what I set mine at for a natural clean sound

MVIMG_20190816_182645.jpg
If you did that by ear alone... you've got pretty good ears! :D I've got much more to do (like find a better sine sweep file that's not passed at 8K for one thing) but about all I see different is in the 500Hz where there seems to be a bit of a suckout (I added a +1 click there). Everything else pretty matches up with where the default settings fail (i.e. boost bass, cut 100Hz a little, boost 200Hz a decent bit, etc.) :hmm:

Ignore the treble... I'll get that sorted and find my ear plugs so I can run something higher than 60dB... (sweeps give me a headache after a bit).
sweep_20-20k_1-12smooth.png
 

RN1997

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I just picked up my car from getting the sound work done and dropped it off to get it wrapped immediately after.

If you modify the central area where the 8ā€ woofers are to put in a sealed box, you will have to relocate some electronics. Mine have been moved back closer to the battery so that they are now accessible without taking out half the car. The only issue is that the active sound during sport plays a LOW tone that resonates something only when stopped. Otherwise it just sounds meaner and not overpowering. Other than that, no rattles. I will need to have the installer chase that down once I get it back from wrap.

FYI - If your seats are removed, make sure the car stays powered off (negative post) or you will have airbag and seatbelt notifications that will need to be cleared. If the interior gets dinged, parts are to be here for the holidays, so be careful.

Anyhow, two 6ā€ JL woofers and one 10ā€ JL TW-3 now give me excellent mid bass and lows. 500 watt 3 channel amp behind front seat. Signal grabbed from the woofers with a high pass to the 6ā€ woofers from the amp. Sorry for picture quality, I grabbed a quick pick before leaving it to be wrapped.
D9F1EC41-8D46-4FE4-A6F8-D05E17F6B2DC.jpeg

Jason, you said you grabbed signal from the woofers-can you tell me exactly how you did that? I used an LC2i but the amp only turns on when volume is up-its acting like there is not enough signal coming from the factory sub wires to trigger the loc at low volumes.
 

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If you did that by ear alone... you've got pretty good ears! :D I've got much more to do (like find a better sine sweep file that's not passed at 8K for one thing) but about all I see different is in the 500Hz where there seems to be a bit of a suckout (I added a +1 click there). Everything else pretty matches up with where the default settings fail (i.e. boost bass, cut 100Hz a little, boost 200Hz a decent bit, etc.) :hmm:

Ignore the treble... I'll get that sorted and find my ear plugs so I can run something higher than 60dB... (sweeps give me a headache after a bit).
sweep_20-20k_1-12smooth.png
The signal is pretty flat for being in a car. I noticed that when I ran some sweeps before EQing. That is why it sounds so terrible to most. Flat typically doesnā€™t sound good. A JBL or similar house curve typically grades better on listenability.
 

RN1997

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I added a JL 13TW5 and a JL 750.1. I got signal from the factory amp using the subwoofer signal. The problem I have is the LOC (LC2i) only turns on signal power to the amp when the volume is up pretty loud.

Oh and if you take your supra apart, you get free sound deadening gauntlets!

supra 3.jpg


supra 2.jpg


supra 1.jpg
 

JasonO

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Jason, you said you grabbed signal from the woofers-can you tell me exactly how you did that? I used an LC2i but the amp only turns on when volume is up-its acting like there is not enough signal coming from the factory sub wires to trigger the loc at low volumes.
The factory sub channel cuts out around 200-220 Hz so they have a low pass filter on those outputs somewhere lower than that. The issue in using that for your signal is low end frequencies are not constant enough even when played loud to keep the LC2i from timing out.

What I did to fix it was to add a Wavtech iRAD to generate a remote signal as pulling one would have been a pain. The remote wire should leave the iRAD, go to the LC2i, then from the LC2i to your amp. That way your signal pathway to the amplifier starts up correctly and you donā€™t get any thumps on startup.

For the iRAD, you feed it Positive and Ground and it generates a remote signal based on some logic. For it to generate and kill the signal correctly, it needs to be programmed which isnā€™t too difficult.

EDIT: Install looks good. I had thought of doing similar. I just couldnā€™t live with losing trunk space as I work out of my car and itā€™s filled with work stuff. I also want to add a small spare, so I had to settle for cutting up my rear deck.
 

RN1997

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The factory sub channel cuts out around 200-220 Hz so they have a low pass filter on those outputs somewhere lower than that. The issue in using that for your signal is low end frequencies are not constant enough even when played loud to keep the LC2i from timing out.

What I did to fix it was to add a Wavtech iRAD to generate a remote signal as pulling one would have been a pain. The remote wire should leave the iRAD, go to the LC2i, then from the LC2i to your amp. That way your signal pathway to the amplifier starts up correctly and you donā€™t get any thumps on startup.

For the iRAD, you feed it Positive and Ground and it generates a remote signal based on some logic. For it to generate and kill the signal correctly, it needs to be programmed which isnā€™t too difficult.

EDIT: Install looks good. I had thought of doing similar. I just couldnā€™t live with losing trunk space as I work out of my car and itā€™s filled with work stuff. I also want to add a small spare, so I had to settle for cutting up my rear deck.
Thanks and thanks!
 

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The signal is pretty flat for being in a car. I noticed that when I ran some sweeps before EQing. That is why it sounds so terrible to most. Flat typically doesnā€™t sound good. A JBL or similar house curve typically grades better on listenability.
Yes. Actually it does have a bit of the JBL/Harman curve (~10dB slope). Part of the problem I think many have with the sound in the Supra, is that those trends are most appreciated at close to reference levels. Unfortunately, the system in the Supra isn't able to achieve those without significant distortion (especially in those "subs"). At much lower levels it sounds pretty accurate to me - with the car off - but once you add road noise, etc. the sound becomes too lifeless.

I doubt there was that much thought given to it, but it seems that the system was tuned as if the subs were to be fully sealed and given more power than they wound up with in the production version.
 

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Yes. Actually it does have a bit of the JBL/Harman curve (~10dB slope). Part of the problem I think many have with the sound in the Supra, is that those trends are most appreciated at close to reference levels. Unfortunately, the system in the Supra isn't able to achieve those without significant distortion (especially in those "subs"). At much lower levels it sounds pretty accurate to me - with the car off - but once you add road noise, etc. the sound becomes too lifeless.

I doubt there was that much thought given to it, but it seems that the system was tuned as if the subs were to be fully sealed and given more power than they wound up with in the production version.
Your right in that road noise murders this system. Iā€™m kinda stuck. I either sound proof or I replace and amplify everything else going deaf to get over the road noise on the interstate.

Replacing the subs and tuning the system helped. Taking down the 5khz and 10khz a couple ticks cleaned things up a bit more as the factory 4ā€ speakers donā€™t have a low pass to kill the highs to them before passing to the tweeters. The mids and highs are cleaner at a higher volume now, but having to be at a high volume for clarity is the problem now.

Iā€™m leaning towards sound proofing as the best path forward, but it is such a bastard of a job to do it right. The weight addition isnā€™t too welcome either.

The other obvious option is to replace the mids and highs along with amping them. Being deaf in one ear doesnā€™t having me thrilled with ā€œturning it to 11ā€ to get the quality I want. I donā€™t have a spare.

Either way, if I want to do more, it wonā€™t be cheap.
 
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digicidal

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Your right in that road noise murders this system. Iā€™m kinda stuck. I either sound proof or I replace and amplify everything else going deaf to get over the road noise on the interstate.

Replacing the subs and tuning the system helped. Taking down the 5khz and 10khz a couple ticks cleaned things up a bit more as the factory 4ā€ speakers donā€™t have a low pass to kill the highs to them before passing to the tweeters. The mids and highs are cleaner at a higher volume now, but having to be at a high volume for clarity is the problem now.

Iā€™m leaning towards sound proofing as the best path forward, but it is such a bastard of a job to do it right. The weight addition isnā€™t too welcome either.

The other obvious option is to replace the mids and highs along with amping them. Being deaf in one ear doesnā€™t having me thrilled with ā€œturning it to 11ā€ to get the quality I want. I donā€™t have a spare.

Either way, if I want to do more, it wonā€™t be cheap.
Yeah, I'm seriously considering the sound proofing route considering how it sounded parked - at least the doors and the "bass tunnel" areas, though the floor would also be required for most improvement. It's really weird coming from my RC-F... while certainly not a champion system, the ML factory setup (ironic considering that's also a Harman company) was quite good once you ditched the goofy DSP and moved the fader to full front. The car was very quiet so that helped loads.

Unfortunately it was such a unbearable porker at over 2 tons, and the suspension was so punishing on anything that wasn't paved in the past 10 days - that I never wanted to take it on long drives. With the MKV, it's so comfortable while being sporty and a blast to drive - but the audio makes me again hesitate to select it for anything longer than 20-30 minutes. I guess as long as I add some mods and a tune along with soundproofing everything and replacing all drivers and adding a real sub - problem solved.

Of course, by then it will be likely closer to a $70K car when all is said and done (and possibly with a voided warranty)... so that's a different kind of problem. :dunno:
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