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Digital time alignment?

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Old Oct 15, 2013 | 07:08 PM
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Default Digital time alignment?

My Kenwood KDC-BT952HD has this feature, but I haven't messed with the settings except for using the "front" setting that is built in.

My car did not have a Monsoon, which means it has the 4-speaker system (front speakers are components with tweeters in the a-pillar by the side-window defroster vents). And a 12" subwoofer in the hatch area.

Has anyone done this in an f-body? Looking to see if anyone has explored this and found optimal settings for the f-body (or if it's even worth messing with the distances of the speakers). Thanks!
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Old Oct 15, 2013 | 07:24 PM
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some of my old Pioneers had sound stage settings that did similiar to what you describe, I disabled them, they always mess up your bass and frankly thats what balance and fade are for.
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Old Oct 16, 2013 | 06:43 PM
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time alignment is to make the speakers soundwaves all reach your ears at the same time.
You delay the nearest speakers to be in time with your furthest away speakers.
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Old Nov 5, 2014 | 07:45 PM
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Just recently I decided to play around with the time alignment feature. Front Kenwood components amped with 40watts RMS per channel, rear 2-way coaxials powered by the HU (non-monsoon setup, tweeters in the a-pillars near the side-defog vents).

Adjustment for this radio is the distance of the speakers (in feet)....

Starting with the preset for Front, the default didn't really make sense (Front at 0FT, Rear at 0.85FT, Subs at 0FT). Seemed to make the phase issue a little more noticeable (not sure why I even have one to begin with since all the wires are connected in the same polarity, nothing is reversed, yet some of the mid-bass frequencies cancel each other out making it somewhat unpleasant at times).

I then decided to set the front at 1.38FT (leaving the rear at the default .85FT and subwoofer at default 0FT). Right off the bat, the sound seemed more alive and realistic, as I no longer hear phase cancellation on the main speakers. I then tried the same trick with the subwoofer (set that to 5.45FT since that seems about right when measuring the actual distance from the rear to the front seat). After that, the sub impact seems to be felt more "at the same time" as the main speakers with no phase interruption (before it seemed like the bass is "felt" a little after being "heard" (sounding a little better if I "reverse" the sub phase), now it seems instantaneous even with the phase set at "normal").

Overall, the sound is about the same amount of loudness but "cleaner" and "livelier".

Now my question -- has anyone else used time alignment/correction in these f-body cars and if so, just curious to know the optimal settings (I believe I am on the right track), or am I just about optimized?
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Old Nov 5, 2014 | 09:58 PM
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Interesting, I just put a Kenwood DNN991HD in my daily driver today and it has this.

I will have to play with it.
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Old Nov 5, 2014 | 11:05 PM
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Just looked at the manual and it seems what I really need to do is first take the measurement of the furthest speaker (which in my case is the 12" subwoofer in the hatch area), and leave that alone at 0. Then, measure the next closest speaker and then figure out the difference in feet between that speaker and the furthest speaker. Then, input the difference in the unit.

Tried that, and got even better results (so I guess I'm about optimized now). Here are the settings I used (these are approximate, I'll update once I look at my HU settings again):

Front speakers: 1.18 ft
Rear Speakers: 2.32 ft
Subwoofer: 0 ft

P.S. My car does NOT have the Monsoon setup, therefore it's front component speakers (midrange in door, tweeter in a-pillar near defog vents), and rear 2-way coaxials (in the sail panels normally occupied by Monsoon subwoofers). There are no full-range speakers in the hatch area.
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