Originally Posted by
SkizeR
Hey guys, some of us were recently talking about the RTA and its auto eq function in the Helix DSP software. I realized that even though i work with these things daily for the past 2+ years, i have never even used the RTA or its auto eq function, so i decided to give it a shot WHILE also filming it to show everyone how to use it. Since i was filming it while i personally was figuring it out, your going to have to excuse any mistakes. To give a TLDR, it works.. pretty damn well. That said, i want to make some notes about it first. I also want to make it known that this video will only be hosted here. If you want to show people this video, link this thread. Reason being, i would love for this site to grow.
1) It is only a tool. And you know the golden rules for using tools... A TOOL IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THE PERSON USING IT. What i mean by this, is that taking proper measurements is actually more complicated than people give credit to, and sometimes interpriting them is even harder. I'm sure you have seen the typical "rta doesnt tell you everything, use your ears".. Like i said, it is a tool that is often misunderstood.
2) The auto eq works well and is actually easy to use. That said, there are still things that you need to understand to make decent use of it. You need a basic understanding of how audio works and how to use a dsp and basic tuning knowledge will help. You still have to set crossovers, set signal delay, and set up your input/output matrixing. Also applying any input correction if needed. To get the most out of the auto eq, you will want to make sure that there are no phase issues between pairs of drivers, and through crossover ranges. You will want to make sure that each channel is level matched as closely as possible. You will want to make sure your crossovers are actually behaving through the crossover region, meaning there is no early roll off, no phase issues, etc etc.. You can still make use of the auto eq feature without knowing this stuff and just setting crossover and TA, but it will obviously not be as good and you wont get as much out of your setup as you could be.
3) It works, and pretty damn well. I have been using the tune you see in the video below for about 4 days now, and frankly i would probably ok with giving this to a customer. I say probably because its not perfect, but its still good. I have to go back in and adjust a few frequencies (i personally am very sensitive in the 2.5k-5k region to the point where a typical house curve is a bit painful for me in that region). I also say probably becasue i think i can get the center a bit tighter after a bit of "by ear" adjustments. That said, this is a new install for me in my car, and i dont know its potential by doing a tune with REW or with Systune, or by ear. In my previous installs in this car, i have done multiple tunes using every method you can possibly think of, and am familiar with the potential of the previous setup. I am not fully familiar with the potential with the new setup. That said, the new setup with the auto eq already sounds better than the car ever has, but i'm positive thats due to the install. TLDR: its good, surprisingly good actually, but im psoitive i could do better with my other methods that take 10x or more the amount of time (systune and verification by ear).
4) this is not a professional quality video. Just me filming as i was figuring stuff out. sue me (edit: ha, if you know, you know lol)
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