Best EQ setting for car?

[Liam D]

Hey guys, first post here! And I did search to no avail;)

I've hardwired my iPod to my Alpine CDA-9831, but the sounds quality just doesn't sound right. CD's/Radio sound fine, but when I play the iPod the EQ is way off. What's the best way to get a clean signal to the HU?

Thanks!

[MG315]

i'm assuming you're using the headphone jack on the top of the ipod. put a dock in there and use its line-out. it'll provide the raw, unequalized sound to the head unit so your head unit can apply its own equalizers.

some car chargers come with the line-out also if you don't want to put a dock in the car.

[Liam D]

No, I've got the SIK imp installed.

[instantpop]

Hey Liam...

Is it just that the EQ doesn't seem right or is it a symptom of the volume being too low? I had this problem when I installed my iPod into the car and I had to adjust the source level on the head unit itself. Fixed it right up. I am still tweaking the EQ settings on my new head unit to accomodate the iPod but I would think that you should only have to be adjusting the EQ in the car, not on the iPod itself. Mine is set to 'Off' whenever I have it in the car. Sounds good but still trying to get that perfect sound!!

[bhb399mm]

Originally posted by MG315
i'm assuming you're using the headphone jack on the top of the ipod. put a dock in there and use its line-out. it'll provide the raw, unequalized sound to the head unit so your head unit can apply its own equalizers.


not true.. evidently the ipod eq effects the sound output even when using the dock connector

[Liam D]

instantpop,

I didn't realize I could turn the EQ off on the iPod; I'll try that. It sounds best so far when it's on Flat, which I guess isn't surprising. Thanks for the input.

[Petary791]

Well when using my iPod in my dad's car, it sounds EXTREMELY bassy. I know why, I have the EQ on my iPod onto Bass Booster, and then the bass in the car is on +4 (out of +7,) so I just turn down the bass.

[Liam D]

I played around with the settings some more, and found that setting my HU on an EQ setting of FLAT helped a lot. Then setting my iPod EQ to Rock or Electric sounds okay to my ear.

What I really need to do is finally set up my User EQ's on my HU to account for what the iPod is sending, and find that nice balance point. Also still need to set up the speaker timing.