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After taking lots of your ideas and advice, I finally upgraded my stereo system this week. For $370 I purchased all the parts needed. I'm very pleased with the results for my investment, not using any sound deadening, and being a rookie. This was my first car stereo install, so it took me a while. The DSP probably could use some more tweaking to make it even better. I may add a powered sub in the future, but ok with bass response for now.
Components used:
Speakers (crutchfield):
- Hertz Uno K 165 6-1/2" Component System
- Polk DB+ DB402 4" 2-way Speakers
Puzu PZ-C7 DSP (https://www.puzu-audio.com/)
6.5" Recoil baffle with eggcrate (amazon)
Here are a few install notes that may help you out if you haven't replaced your speakers. There are plenty of videos/instructions, but here's some lessons I learned.
Dash tweeters:
- mind your pry tools (I dropped one in and it slide to the outside and down metal channel, lost forever, thankfully no rattle)
Doors:
- remove the 4 hex head bolts on handle, it'll make prying out the window controls easier
- mine had a 7 mm bolt behind red reflector, some videos did not include this fact or it's not on all models
Rear Pillars:
- the lower large panel was difficult for me to remove, one of the clips attaches to a 90 degree sheet metal tab coming off back wall, its near the top of the panel in the back, it's easily bent and made removing panel difficult for me, after getting all the other clips undone, the metal claw pry tool can slide back in there and pop off the panel
- the speaker panel, as others have reported, was difficult and frustrating, I'm glad I had some DAP rapid fuse on hand as I did crack one
- others have reporting shorting of rear speakers, I had the same thing, they were on when I was reinstalling thankfully and corrected it during install, the polks have uninsulated tabs on the speaker terminal connection that were grounding out, electrical tape corrected that
DSP:
- I did not disconnect hybrid battery for install and all went well
- ran cable under right side of center console trim and out and under seat rail and it's under the passenger seat
DSP Tuning:
This is what works for my speakers and my seating position. I will probably tweak it some more...first time using a dsp and attempting to tune, so happy to get any suggestions or your tune files to make it better. Playing with the PEQ mode I am sure would get it dialed in even better.
- after wasting lots of time with a free RTA app and trying to baseline everything, I went back to factory tune file
- I adjusted the factory tune so the highest gain was "0" and the rest were negative, not sure if that is the correct procedure...
- I may have adjusted some of the gains a little too, don't remember
- I measured speaker distance to set delay, then tweaked them by ear
- I ended up setting the rear left speakers to out of phase
- I did raise the HP filter for the rears
- I lowered the main volume after the fact, since Siri voice prompts were coming through way to loud relative to music volume
Current DSP settings:
HP Filter (front) 39.4/Butter/18 dB
LP Filter (front and rear) 20600/Butter/18 dB
HP Filter (rear) 125/Butter/18 dB
Main Volume: -24 dB
Rear Volume: -10 dB
Front Volume: 0 (max)
Left rear: out of phase (180)
Distance (inches):
17.59 (Front left)
0 (Front right)
15.89 (Rear left)
0 (Rear right)
Gain settings by point (same for front and rear), GEQ mode (I am sure the uppers and lowers may not matter much due to the filters)
1: -3.8
2: -1.6
3: -1.6
4: -4.7
5: 0
6: -0.2
7: -2.2
8: -2.7
9: 0
10: -4.1
11: -4.0
12: -1.9
13: -0.5
14: -0.9
15: -0.3
Update: I did a lot more tuning and my tuning has drastically changed (thanks rallyshark for the guidance). Above numbers may be an ok place to start but generally I ended up where the highs got lowered and lows came up more.
Components used:
Speakers (crutchfield):
- Hertz Uno K 165 6-1/2" Component System
- Polk DB+ DB402 4" 2-way Speakers
Puzu PZ-C7 DSP (https://www.puzu-audio.com/)
6.5" Recoil baffle with eggcrate (amazon)
Here are a few install notes that may help you out if you haven't replaced your speakers. There are plenty of videos/instructions, but here's some lessons I learned.
Dash tweeters:
- mind your pry tools (I dropped one in and it slide to the outside and down metal channel, lost forever, thankfully no rattle)
Doors:
- remove the 4 hex head bolts on handle, it'll make prying out the window controls easier
- mine had a 7 mm bolt behind red reflector, some videos did not include this fact or it's not on all models
Rear Pillars:
- the lower large panel was difficult for me to remove, one of the clips attaches to a 90 degree sheet metal tab coming off back wall, its near the top of the panel in the back, it's easily bent and made removing panel difficult for me, after getting all the other clips undone, the metal claw pry tool can slide back in there and pop off the panel
- the speaker panel, as others have reported, was difficult and frustrating, I'm glad I had some DAP rapid fuse on hand as I did crack one
- others have reporting shorting of rear speakers, I had the same thing, they were on when I was reinstalling thankfully and corrected it during install, the polks have uninsulated tabs on the speaker terminal connection that were grounding out, electrical tape corrected that
DSP:
- I did not disconnect hybrid battery for install and all went well
- ran cable under right side of center console trim and out and under seat rail and it's under the passenger seat
DSP Tuning:
This is what works for my speakers and my seating position. I will probably tweak it some more...first time using a dsp and attempting to tune, so happy to get any suggestions or your tune files to make it better. Playing with the PEQ mode I am sure would get it dialed in even better.
- after wasting lots of time with a free RTA app and trying to baseline everything, I went back to factory tune file
- I adjusted the factory tune so the highest gain was "0" and the rest were negative, not sure if that is the correct procedure...
- I may have adjusted some of the gains a little too, don't remember
- I measured speaker distance to set delay, then tweaked them by ear
- I ended up setting the rear left speakers to out of phase
- I did raise the HP filter for the rears
- I lowered the main volume after the fact, since Siri voice prompts were coming through way to loud relative to music volume
Current DSP settings:
HP Filter (front) 39.4/Butter/18 dB
LP Filter (front and rear) 20600/Butter/18 dB
HP Filter (rear) 125/Butter/18 dB
Main Volume: -24 dB
Rear Volume: -10 dB
Front Volume: 0 (max)
Left rear: out of phase (180)
Distance (inches):
17.59 (Front left)
0 (Front right)
15.89 (Rear left)
0 (Rear right)
Gain settings by point (same for front and rear), GEQ mode (I am sure the uppers and lowers may not matter much due to the filters)
1: -3.8
2: -1.6
3: -1.6
4: -4.7
5: 0
6: -0.2
7: -2.2
8: -2.7
9: 0
10: -4.1
11: -4.0
12: -1.9
13: -0.5
14: -0.9
15: -0.3
Update: I did a lot more tuning and my tuning has drastically changed (thanks rallyshark for the guidance). Above numbers may be an ok place to start but generally I ended up where the highs got lowered and lows came up more.
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DSP is a must, and the time alignment just takes stuff to another level. Oh, and trust me, a sub will also complete the system. It doesn't have to be a 10/12". A good 8" can handle it just fine(but a 10" certainly won't hurt).
