asked this question in the audio forumn 3 days ago but hvent gotten a response..

I have a 96 discovery with the stock headunit and all stock speakers except 2, I was wondering what the best settings would be(treble, bass, fade, etc.) for hip-hop type music. i know the stock system sucks lol but until I can improve it any help would be great. thanks

 

what were the speakers you replaced?
i would say +4 bass +1 treble +1 rear fade if you replaced the gate subs.

 

flat and center is what you want, the idea behind adjusting an equalizer and fade/balance is to compensate for clipping. If you set it to flat and center and you feel the music has too much bass or treble (or not enough), or the music is too loud in the front or back then adjust accordingly, but for the most part you will want it flat (even in the middle for bass and treble) and center (same settings for fade and balance). When I tune an audio system I will generally turn it up to the point of max listening levels and tune it there because that is when you will notice the clipping (distortion). Then if you want more bass or treble you will need to add components. When tuning an audio system one point to remember is hearing damage is generally caused by distortion, a radio with 50% or more distortion at 120 Db will do more damage to your hearing then an audio system with 5% or less distortion at 140 Db!

 

Call me an ole fart but the Harmon Kardon system sounds very good in a square box that is our rover. Introducing too much bass will only help to rattle things loose and in 6 months youll be looking to find the squeaky parts that rattle as you drive.

I used to drive an SPL ford focus for Sony and also had my own bass car back in the 80's in Miami where all that started. Jam Pony Express woot!

Here is the focus I drove all over NY and took it to Carlisle PA for the HIN. http://www.crutchfield.com/S-YIxbpnZ...ony_focus.html
My brother is the main designer/installer for Sony and its how I got the gig.

I digress, anyway, the Harmon Kardon system is tight, has the highs in a good place on the pillars. You could go nuts and put more boom in but IMHO its pretty nice for everything except hard hitting Hip-Hop.

 

i think my rattles come from off-roading and MT/Rs. and they keep me from considering upgrading the stock system...i've had vehicles before with nice systems but rattles that drove my bonkers.

my current rattles are in the driver and passenger doors.

anyone used dynamat in a disco?

 

well thank you guys and the 2 speakers that were replaced were the one on the back wall near the fold out seats, they are pioneers i believe(i didnt replace them myself)

 

those are the low ends or subs that were replaced. i replaced mine as well but im going to take them out all together because i'm lining the gate with stainless steel and then i plan to redo the whole system with an in dash gps system and new components bypassing the stock amp.

 

I dont think he is talking about the subs on the back door, I think he is talking about the coaxials on the posts at each back corner, which are just full range speakers.

 

yea it was the coaxials. can i replace the back door sub without adding a whole seperate box? like can i put a better sub right into the factory sub case? if so whats the best one i can get and how much of a difference will it make

 

that has been a discussion that has come up a few times, my thoughts on it are this: the current setup is a "free air" design, this means you will need a pretty high power sub(or subs) to achieve a good high quality/volume sound. many people have said a certain cheap sub from walmart (I think they said like $30 or something) will fit in there and sounds pretty good. Most of the major brand aftermarket subs make a 6.5" sub that will fit in there but most of those will require more power than the factory sub amp produces. some have said using the woofers out of a component set work pretty well. I personally go with an aftermarket 12" sub and aftermarket amp to give me good low end fill with the option of rattling other peoples car windows if I am ever feel the need to crank it up! You have lots of options, I guess what it all comes down to is what you want to achieve vs. what your budget is.