Kenwood Equalizer

[exTempus]

Hey, so I have been using my kenwood DMX706S for a bit now but Its really hard to hear the treble lol. I tried messing with the equalizer but that sht is really complicated. Does anyone have this and got some good settings I can copy as a baseline?

[soundman98]

they should have some presets you can try.

[FR-S2GT86]

Looking at that unit on Kenwood's website, it has front, rear and subwoofer RCA outputs. Are you sure you have your RCA leads connected to the correct outputs? If you're not getting any highs, it might mean that you have your RCA leads connected to the subwoofer outputs.

Of course, I'm just guessing that you're using aftermarket amplification. It would help us to help you if you could provide us with all of your setup information of how you have your system wired. The more information that you can provide, the more likely it will be that we can help you solve your problem.

[prizmracer]

My experience with a different kenwood is that the presets were pretty bad for my 2018 brz. Instead, I made sort of a smile shape with the EQ and it helped. Bass: for the bands I went up +3, 2 and 1 on the first three bass bands respectively, went down a touch in the middle, and then up the same on the highs.

I do a lot of audio mixing so I have some experience with eq, I try to keep the changes subtle. What I find in the stock BRZ speakers is that there is a ton mid-range honk. So as you turn up the volume it sounds like the singer is shouting in your ear, the bass weakens, and the clarity is gone.

Cutting back the mids alone (not a ton, just a little bit) might help you start to hear the clarity of the highs and the thumps of the lows with out crazy boosting or listening louder than is ideal. In my experience vocals, electric guitars, and a lot of wind instruments and synth eat up the highs when they are too in your face.

For reference with vocals warmth is around 100hz, closeness is around 500hz-1khz, and s-sounds are around 10khz. Three songs that can you help hear those vocal characteristics well are Numb by U2 (100hz, about as warm a vocal as it could be), never there by cake (500hz-1khz, very telephone sounding vocal), and Torn by Natalie Imbruglia (10khz, lots of treble). Hope that helps.

[DarkPira7e]

I usually stick with a u shape, with the treble higher than the bass. I hardly ever raise bass above neutral, and I'll have a few in the middle lower but not too much lower. Treble I like to keep somewhat high- it typically ends up looking like the picture I've attached

[thomasmryan]

yes to all of the above. I throw a thin rag over the drivers dash speakers for a little comb filtering.


imho, 'the room' is tough environment, ie; move the seat a notch and the sound changes.

[prizmracer]

Originally Posted by DarkPira7e

I usually stick with a u shape, with the treble higher than the bass. I hardly ever raise bass above neutral, and I'll have a few in the middle lower but not too much lower. Treble I like to keep somewhat high- it typically ends up looking like the picture I've attached

A picture is worth a 1000 words. This is a much more elegant way of describing what I was talking about too. And if two people agree on the internet it must be true :-)

[dragoontwo]

Originally Posted by DarkPira7e

I usually stick with a u shape, with the treble higher than the bass. I hardly ever raise bass above neutral, and I'll have a few in the middle lower but not too much lower. Treble I like to keep somewhat high- it typically ends up looking like the picture I've attached

But what to do with the new stock head unit crappy "eq"? I'm pretty sure that it will never sound great, but what might be good enough for what is there?

[DarkPira7e]

Originally Posted by dragoontwo

But what to do with the new stock head unit crappy "eq"? I'm pretty sure that it will never sound great, but what might be good enough for what is there?

That U shape that I drew is basically what I use with any EQ. mine was a 2013 FRS, so I had replaced my head unit with some $80 Kenwood unit. Sounds good enough, I have Kicker CSC65 6.5" speakers in the doors and it's good enough for me with this setup.

Most headunits have a "custom" EQ function, I'd be real surprised if the newer one doesn't have it. If it only has presets, you'll just need to go through them all to see- typically "Classical" and "vocal" are closest to the shape I like

[dragoontwo]

Originally Posted by DarkPira7e

That U shape that I drew is basically what I use with any EQ. mine was a 2013 FRS, so I had replaced my head unit with some $80 Kenwood unit. Sounds good enough, I have Kicker CSC65 6.5" speakers in the doors and it's good enough for me with this setup.

Most headunits have a "custom" EQ function, I'd be real surprised if the newer one doesn't have it. If it only has presets, you'll just need to go through them all to see- typically "Classical" and "vocal" are closest to the shape I like

It has 3 sliders. I think it's low, mid and high.

[DarkPira7e]

Originally Posted by dragoontwo

It has 3 sliders. I think it's low, mid and high.

Haha that's pretty miserable. I'd leave mid at neutral, raise high a few, and raise low by 1 or two. You'll really just need to adjust it while listening, take a half hour out of your day and just mess with it