How To Tune a Car Amp for Mids and Highs?

Have you installed a new set of speakers in your car with a 4-channel amplifier recently? Then you must be raring to show off the best sound of your car stereo system. 

But, before you do that ensure the settings are set right to get the full advantage of the car audio system. Even if you have chosen the most expensive speakers and got the best equipment to improve sound deadening, you won’t get the best sound unless you tune it correctly. 

Read on to find more about the tips that can help you tune the Amp in your car and get the best sound effects. 

What are Mids?

This is the frequency at which you can hear the voice of singers or speakers. The sound of 250 Hz and 2000 Hz is the spectrum of vocal sounds of singers. 

What are Lows?

The lows, on the other hand, are usually lower frequencies. The bass sounds use lower frequencies, something like 500 Hz or even lower. This is when you can enjoy the deep rumbling sounds that people love to use in their cars. 

What are Highs  

The highs are sounds above the frequency of 2,000 Hz. These sounds include piano or very high keys. Singer’s voice may also stand out at such frequencies. 

Everyone has Different Tastes

Everyone likes to hear different types of music, and their tastes are eclectic. Therefore, the sound system’s mids, lows, and high frequencies need to be tuned according to the types of music they like to listen to. 

You will have to personalize the tuning of the amp system in your vehicle. There is no one right or wrong system of tuning. It would be best to hit the right balance that sounds good to your ears. The next important point is to avoid distortion of sounds. 

Start With Gain Control

Gain-control is the first step of the tuning process. This ensures high-quality sound, and you must not confuse it with volume. Gain is the quality of sound and its tone. What Volume is to the loudness of sound is the same way gain is connected to the tone. 

The wrong setting of gain may lead to distortion in the sound output. It is also known as level and is the audio amplification level. You must adjust the input sensitivity to match the amplifier’s input and output of the receiver. You can reduce the background sounds and possible damage to the speaker by turning it correctly. 

This, again, is a personal setting. Play a song on the system, keep the volume at the maximum and the gain at half the mark. Keep reducing the volume until the distortion is completely eliminated. 

Now increase the gain using the knob very slowly until the sound is again distorted. Keep the gain below that mark, and the sound will be perfect without any distortion.

Tune The Mids And Highs

Once the gain is set at the right level, it is the other sounds’ turn. All the sounds can be tuned according to the way you want and the music you will play. 

The high pass filter can block the bass frequencies from the door speakers, and you can choose to keep it on or off. 

The filter can be adjusted between 80 Hz to 200 Hz. You should ideally use it at the lowest possible setting and activate it. This will help the subwoofer to handle the sounds below that without distortion. 

The low pass filter can be set lower than 80 Hz as it plays only the bass sounds. 

Bass Boost Setting

People like to listen to melodious music, and others love to play a booming sound with deep bass. Bass boost setting takes more time as it needs to be fine-tuned meticulously. 

Set the gain at a lower setting, and start turning the bass until you hear distortion. You need to stay alert and stop just before that or lower the bass to reach the best sound effect. A little tweaking will help you reach the perfect bass for your kind of music. 

Once the amp is set for the mids, bass, and high, you can fine-tune the gain again. Play a song at 80 percent volume now and tweak the grain until there is some distortion. Reduce it just below that and set the gain for now. 

Check the Settings 

These were the basic settings of your speaker system. Tuning the processor is the most technical part, and it can control the amplifier’s gain, frequency, and power out simultaneously. It also helps to tune other aspects like the equalizer and crossover. 

So, switch it off while you are tuning the mids and highs of the Amp. Then you can fine-tune the processor later.

Once the mids and highs and gain are tuned, you need to recheck the settings. 

Turn the system to the lowest volume. Then turn it gradually to a higher volume until you detect distortion. Now you know how much volume must be reduced to avoid the distortion of output. 

Fine-tuned system should work at 80% of volume without distortion. If you achieve this mark, then you can stop the tuning of the system and start listening to the music. 

But if you detect any distortion, you may have to finetune the gain again. It would be best to reduce the gain until the distorted sound is eliminated completely. 

Conclusion

People assume that car amplifiers only amplify the sound and play loud music. But the car amps work using the functions of power output and frequency response. The frequencies will not be utilized properly without highs and mids, and the balance would be lost. 

Your car’s sound system has all the functions to make listening to music a pleasure. But it is critical to fine-tune again and again until you are satisfied with the result. You will love the result of this effort when there is no distortion, and you can enjoy the kind of music you play. 

Liam Dare

As CEO of ReplicarClub.com, my passion for the automotive world motivates me to build online businesses that provide information and entertainment to users. I am proud to contribute in a positive way to the automotive community.