So I finally did it, replaced the factory head unit with an alpine w535hd. Will eventually do something similar that niebur did to integrate the double din once the weather improves (damn seattle). I must say I'm not regretting it one bit. Much more control over the sound.

I've never had a unit with time allignment or 9 band parametric eq b4 and am wondering a few things. Am I able to accurately use the time alignment setting w/o going active? As of right now (with using auto setup for time alignment), vocals sound as if they are coming from the center of the windshield with other instruments filling to the left and right. This is what I'm trying to achieve, yes?

With head units I've owned in the past, they have not had anymore than a 3 band parametric eq which I was able to tailor to my liking but this 9 band is throwing me off. Within each band there are there are like 5 different center frequencies, level -7 to 7 and q-factor 1 to 3 (3 being the most narrow). I guess I'm looking for good starting points those of you that have experience with this. Here are the frequencies:

Band 1 (20Hz-100Hz)
Band 2 (63Hz-325Hz)
Band 3 (125Hz-500Hz)
Band 4 (250Hz-1kHz)
Band 5 (500Hz-2kHz)
Band 6 (1kHz-4kHz)
Band 7 (2kHz-7.2kHz)
Band 8 (5.8 kHz-12kHz)
Band 9 (9kHz-20kHz)

Setup includes the head unit, MB quart PVL216 (mids in doors and tweets in factory location), Zed draconia II (thanks niebur ) and a JL 10w3v3 in a ported enclosure. Amp is set to full pass on fronts, HP on sub channel (subsonic filter) with HP and LP filters for both enabled on HU.

Sorry for the long post.. Thanks in advance!

 

Time alignment will work fine using passive crossovers. You won't be able to time align between the tweeters and the woofers, but it's not a big deal because the path-lengths are almost the same. In my car the left tweeter and left mid measure about 44" from the listening position. The right tweet and right mid are about 56-58".

IME, the Alpine auto tune does a pretty good job with time alignment so if it seems right, it probably is.

You'll need some sort of RTA to get the most out of your parametric EQ. For free, or at least pretty cheap, you can download an RTA app on your smart phone. I use Audiotools from Studio Six Digital.

I've outlined my tuning process in this thread if you're interested:
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14212469

If you don't have an RTA you can download and burn some band-limited pink noise or test tones and play each frequency successively while boosting or cutting each frequency/frequency range until everything sounds pretty even.

Here's a good thread about this technique: http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/...indshield.html

Here's another good thread that will help you verify whether your staging is getting close or if you are way off:

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/...ner-notes.html