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ok, so I was playing with rear speaker settings. I do see (or hear) that there is sound to the rear speakers, albeit at a reduced volume. So between that and the seats being pressed up against the small speakers, there's not much there. But I did play with the surround settings a bit. Mixed results. When I divert some sound to the rear, I can hear the back a bit, but the front reduces in sound a lot, even if I only go a few clicks into the fader settings.
Aside from messing with fader and mixer settings, is there anything else to drive more sound back there, like previously mentioned splitters? If not, I'll deal.
Only way i can think of at this point is to add a secondary amp. I tired the 2 to one RCA splitters to try and drive more sound to the rear and it didn't really do anything.
I want to go to the CHESTK one but the sound thing kinda annoys me. I really dont like having 12 or so different EQ settings. Some songs sound great and others are hideous to listen to.
Only way i can think of at this point is to add a secondary amp. I tired the 2 to one RCA splitters to try and drive more sound to the rear and it didn't really do anything.
I want to go to the CHESTK one but the sound thing kinda annoys me. I really dont like having 12 or so different EQ settings. Some songs sound great and others are hideous to listen to.
[Wiseas$$mode = ON]
The Equaliser is really designed to compensate for acoustic deficiencies in the listening environment or associated equipment - the content should have been EQd to the producers' taste when it was mixed, so shouldn't need changing once the listening environment is right. As such, it is impossible, with any equaliser used as 'song correction', to find a combination of adjustments which will 'sound right' with every song. If you set your EQ to compensate for the car's acoustic issues (eg a boomy bass or a perceived loss of treble) then there should be no need to touch it again. What you are finding is a result of the dire listening environment in any car - it will always be impossible to get it right unless you opt for some form of dynamic room compensation processing, of which Dirac Live is currently the best for consumer use. Unfortunately, as far as I know, this isn't available for car sound systems. I even used REW to measure the response in one of my former cars (an especially quiet Lexus LS460) so that I could discover the distortions being induced by the shape of the vehicle's interior and absorption/reflective qualities of the interior. This was in an effort to then use EQ to try to smooth out the various frequency distortions. It kind of worked, but in the end I just went back to a flat EQ, accepting that excellent sound inside any (moving) car is just impossible. Of course, graphic EQ is very limited in what it can do anyway. It is a crude tool, no longer used in any sort of pro environment. It doesn't address all the other potential causes of sound distortion - the 'space' itself., the decay times, unwanted reflections and so on, all of which are incredibly destructive in a car.
[Wiseas$$mode = OFF]
Basically, what I am saying is that we can fiddle forever and never get really amazing sound inside a car. But we shouldn't let perfect be the enemy of good, and so long as we can get an enjoyable music experience in the car, then that is all we can expect. I'd aim to get it so you can enjoy the music as a background activity to driving and leave it at that.
For SQ I used that Dayton Audio DSP and tuned my car with a measuring mic etc. They tailored it to taste with a couple of tracks.
Given the tweeter location, our cars are bright on the top end, 2kz-5kz range.
I rarely tweak the sound settings except for my bass **** for my sub.
Obviously you need to bypass all the OEM amplifiers. I think the OEM amps have some EQ already built in is my guess.
IMO if you really care about sound, you will need to go with an aftermarket amp and some flavor of DSP.
I think you have probably gotten as close as you can to superior SQ - especially with the measured and compensated-for response in-car. That is the way to go, with additional amps, DSP and uprated speakers too if possible. It's a lot of effort, and a lot of cash too, but it can make a big difference. We still have a terrible acoustic space, of course, but at least your way mitigates some of the issues. I spent a lot of time and money on all this a while back, but eventually gave up on it when I changed cars and didn't fancy going through it all again. Now, I just accept an enjoyable listening experience which is always a background activity to the reason I am in the car in the first place - to drive it.
I think you have probably gotten as close as you can to superior SQ - especially with the measured and compensated-for response in-car. That is the way to go, with additional amps, DSP and uprated speakers too if possible. It's a lot of effort, and a lot of cash too, but it can make a big difference. We still have a terrible acoustic space, of course, but at least your way mitigates some of the issues. I spent a lot of time and money on all this a while back, but eventually gave up on it when I changed cars and didn't fancy going through it all again. Now, I just accept an enjoyable listening experience which is always a background activity to the reason I am in the car in the first place - to drive it.
I am aligned with you here. If I got another car I wouldn't go through all of this again. It was a lot of money, but also joy in the journey, I just don't have the time these days.
What's funny is I have an old 4th gen 4runner with off the shelf basic nice aftermarket speakers and old amps from the 90's only using the basic DSP functions on the aftermarket head unit and it sounds better than my porsche with a system that costs 5x as much LOL. SUV's are just a better environment for good sound.
Just checking in again to see if anyone has found a way to reduce the screen brightness on the Chstek unit. I asked the seller but their response was just “set it in the settings”.
Set to 0 it’s about twice as bright as the instrument cluster display. The photo doesn't do it justice as it's really rather glaring when driving.
Just checking in again to see if anyone has found a way to reduce the screen brightness on the Chstek unit. I asked the seller but their response was just “set it in the settings”.
Set to 0 it’s about twice as bright as the instrument cluster display. The photo doesn't do it justice as it's really rather glaring when driving.
A long shot, but if you turn down the brightness of the main display using the setting in the MFD, does this have any impact on the HU screen brightness? A second long shot is to turn down the brightness of the 'Light' slider (by which I assume they mean 'Day') to say 50% and see if it affects the brightness for the Night setting? It may be that you have to juggle both to get an acceptable level of both day and night use. As I say, these are long shots, but I have found that these Chinese HUs do not always seem to work logically.
Also worth trying a different launcher to see if the brightness controls on that give you better results. Also a launcher with a dark theme may mitigate some of the worst effects..
A long shot, but if you turn down the brightness of the main display using the setting in the MFD, does this have any impact on the HU screen brightness? A second long shot is to turn down the brightness of the 'Light' slider (by which I assume they mean 'Day') to say 50% and see if it affects the brightness for the Night setting? It may be that you have to juggle both to get an acceptable level of both day and night use. As I say, these are long shots, but I have found that these Chinese HUs do not always seem to work logically.
Unfortunately, neither of those made a difference.
Originally Posted by andy2111
Also worth trying a different launcher to see if the brightness controls on that give you better results. Also a launcher with a dark theme may mitigate some of the worst effects..
I tried both Agama and Vivid but neither could reduce it beyond the system minimum. A darker theme wouldn't affect other apps like the radio as shown in the photo, but that's mostly dark already. Unfortunately, it's not an OLED display so even "black" still has tons of backlight bleed.
I recall seeing something in the settings area that required a password for backlight voltage, but it also had another layer of password protection to get into. I didn't try to see if the same password worked. I'm assuming you can break something by messing with that given the double layer of security.
I got my CHSTEK unit and installed it yesterday. I have to still hook up the backup camera since it looks like I have to tap into the reverse light under the right seat to get the signal. I was hoping that my system would power up the brown wire since I had the old one set in the canbus. The car is not sending a signal to the brown wire like the automatics do. It looks like all manual transmission cars will have to tap into the backup light even if they have a factory camera. Time to pull out a seat and run a wire to the HU.
I got my CHSTEK unit and installed it yesterday. I have to still hook up the backup camera since it looks like I have to tap into the reverse light under the right seat to get the signal. I was hoping that my system would power up the brown wire since I had the old one set in the canbus. The car is not sending a signal to the brown wire like the automatics do. It looks like all manual transmission cars will have to tap into the backup light even if they have a factory camera. Time to pull out a seat and run a wire to the HU.
My understanding is that you are right - manual cars need to tap into that blue/black wire under the seat.
Unfortunately, neither of those made a difference.
I tried both Agama and Vivid but neither could reduce it beyond the system minimum. A darker theme wouldn't affect other apps like the radio as shown in the photo, but that's mostly dark already. Unfortunately, it's not an OLED display so even "black" still has tons of backlight bleed.
I recall seeing something in the settings area that required a password for backlight voltage, but it also had another layer of password protection to get into. I didn't try to see if the same password worked. I'm assuming you can break something by messing with that given the double layer of security.
Another thought on this.. Do you have the 'bright lights' issue on your Chstek? Usually this puts the dash lights and illumination into overdrive but I wonder if it could also be affecting your screen display.
Are you aware of the problem and how to test it?
I have not driven my car in the dark since installing the Chstek so I can't offer an opinion. Has anyone else got a view on this?
Another thought on this.. Do you have the 'bright lights' issue on your Chstek? Usually this puts the dash lights and illumination into overdrive but I wonder if it could also be affecting your screen display.
Are you aware of the problem and how to test it?
I have not driven my car in the dark since installing the Chstek so I can't offer an opinion. Has anyone else got a view on this?
No, I do not have this issue. I can adjust the brightness of the instrument cluster normally.
EDIT: I heard back from Chstek after sending them photos and requesting a solution again:
"The engineer said that it can be adjusted by setting the screen brightness parameters, but this is more complicated and there is no guarantee that there will be no problems. I can tell you the operation method. But I don't recommend changing."
06-03-2024, 01:36 AM
