How To: Disconnect Center-Speaker on Sony 9 Speaker System

[hand-filer]

Originally Posted by Kabigon

I tried this "mod" a long time ago and the system still sounded like crap (tonal balance wise).

The *highly* pronounced upper midrange was fixed by altering the tweeter crossovers.


You should keep in mind that how we perceive sound is subjective.

What sounds great to you may sound like garbage to someone with a better set of ears than yours.

I didn't say the change made the system sound great, it made an improvement. But hey what do I know, I've only been at this for 30+ years and am still learning.

[Linchpin]

Originally Posted by Dysan911

+1 I felt mine lost quite a bit of the front stage and sounded weak. Perhaps it' has a lot to do with the type of music you listen too.

Yes, it absolutely has a whole lot do with the genre and especially the engineering and production of the music you are listening to.

[feta_mgp]

Originally Posted by Dysan911

You didn't remove the center channel on your home surround sound did ya?

Surround sound for TV/Movies has a center channel for a reason, you never heard of center speaker headphones, did ya? ;D Two ears = left and right for music.

[MyThIc3LiTe]

Originally Posted by Dysan911

You didn't remove the center channel on your home surround sound did ya?

Music, unless its DTS 5.1 encoded, doesn't have a center. Even your lossless rips are left and right.

Movies and HD tv are encoded with center mainly for vocals, so unless radio stations start doing that the center speaker in a car is a bit of a waste.

I'd rather they just throw a 6" speaker in that position or cut it out entirely or put that one in the back to compliment the rear 2.

[jtrain]

I tried listening to several different genres but it just sounds weak and kind of hollow. What kind of settings are people using for bass/mid/treble? I'm using 0 for everything and I tried to play around but I couldn't notice any difference as I was adjusting it

[Linchpin]

Originally Posted by MyThIc3LiTe

Music, unless its DTS 5.1 encoded, doesn't have a center. Even your lossless rips are left and right.

Movies and HD tv are encoded with center mainly for vocals, so unless radio stations start doing that the center speaker in a car is a bit of a waste.

You are partially right in that unless music is DTS 5.1 encoded it only has L and R. But most, if not all, music uses spatial panning with vocals and some instruments panned to center. In order to properly mix sound (I have a DAW) you need a pair of good neutral studio monitors properly placed at ear height and pointed towards a focussed listening position. In my studio the focussed point is about 2 metres out from my monitors. The problem in car is that unless the speakers are placed out by the front bumper they are so close they are literally on opposite sides of the driver or passenger. They are also not symmetric. Those who grew up with ear buds implanted in their ears tend to believe that sound should have clearly defined L and R fields as opposed to being spatially panned to create a wall of sound with a strong centre.

Try listening to the audio system in your living room with speakers 8 to 10 feet apart sitting one foot in front of the plane the speakers are in and a great system will sound like sh- (rhymes with pit).

[Linchpin]

Originally Posted by jtrain

I tried listening to several different genres but it just sounds weak and kind of hollow. What kind of settings are people using for bass/mid/treble? I'm using 0 for everything and I tried to play around but I couldn't notice any difference as I was adjusting it

The key for me is to test a system with a well produced and engineered recording. I have about 500 CDs and a large iTunes library. Recordings in this category are in a minority. Trying EQ adjustments with a muddy recording will not accomplish much. Just as you can't make a pig sing you can't make a bad recording sound good with EQ. Garbage sounds like garbage.

If I get a chance tomorrow I will suggest a few recordings.

[jamnesta]

Originally Posted by Linchpin

You are partially right in that unless music is DTS 5.1 encoded it only has L and R. But most, if not all, music uses spatial panning with vocals and some instruments panned to center. In order to properly mix sound (I have a DAW) you need a pair of good neutral studio monitors properly placed at ear height and pointed towards a focussed listening position. In my studio the focussed point is about 2 metres out from my monitors. The problem in car is that unless the speakers are placed out by the front bumper they are so close they are literally on opposite sides of the driver or passenger. They are also not symmetric. Those who grew up with ear buds implanted in their ears tend to believe that sound should have clearly defined L and R fields as opposed to being spatially panned to create a wall of sound with a strong centre.

Try listening to the audio system in your living room with speakers 8 to 10 feet apart sitting one foot in front of the plane the speakers are in and a great system will sound like sh- (rhymes with pit).

Definitely agree with this which arguably makes the car environment the ideal place for 5.1(excepting limited source material) due to the ability to time align and level match with typical surround DSP controls. I wonder why Ford and Sony eschewed any form of DSP when for the last decade or so it has been widely available. Oh, I forget, this is an economy car. Seriously it's easy to expect more as the Focus, in my opinion, has an uncommon degree of luxury for it's class.

[Linchpin]

Originally Posted by jamnesta

Definitely agree with this which arguably makes the car environment the ideal place for 5.1(excepting limited source material) due to the ability to time align and level match with typical surround DSP controls. I wonder why Ford and Sony eschewed any form of DSP when for the last decade or so it has been widely available. Oh, I forget, this is an economy car. Seriously it's easy to expect more as the Focus, in my opinion, has an uncommon degree of luxury for it's class.

You are dead right. I love my Ti. But at the same time I wonder what Ford was thinking when they set out options and accessories.

I have a pretty good record at reading trends. The future I see is small luxury cars like the Focus. My buddies who drive Audis are downsizing the next time around. Audis are good cars. But I would rather drive a domestic car. Although there are still some cracks in the organization, in my mind Ford is the clear leader by a mile in terms of domestic auto makers and is fast pulling up beside Audis in design and technology.

When I look at other models in the Ford family the Focus comes across as an unfinished product, an orphan of sorts. My Ti has about every option Ford offered. Still there are a lot of things I would have added except Ford didn't offer them. You can add more options to an F-150 than a Focus. It is so dam close to what I consider the perfect car. I find myself wondering why Ford didn't finish the job. If they had there might be a lot more North Americans driving loaded Foci today than Audis.

[jtrain]

Originally Posted by Linchpin

The key for me is to test a system with a well produced and engineered recording. I have about 500 CDs and a large iTunes library. Recordings in this category are in a minority. Trying EQ adjustments with a muddy recording will not accomplish much. Just as you can't make a pig sing you can't make a bad recording sound good with EQ. Garbage sounds like garbage.

If I get a chance tomorrow I will suggest a few recordings.

I tried a few different Sirius stations so I can only assume it is of a reasonable quality. I'll probably try different settings at different times so my ears don't adjust to it and it won't all sound the same.