Hidden menu for 2011+ "premium" head unit?

[30 psi]

Originally Posted by Mulder

Yeah long time no see indeed. Looks like SQC is history, I guess it still exists on Facebook but I wouldn't know about that.
Anyway press the Menu button on the radio until you see HD Radio, then turn the tune dial to change the mode.

Found it, ehhh so my crappy HU no sounds even crappy-er :-)
What the hell, not sure why I am even chatting in hear, I'm not a audio guy. Guess it's because I have no Exhaust, intake or BOV to listen to yet, :-)

Yeah I think we live on on FB but I left FB 2yrs ago and do not miss it at all. Tell everyone I send my regards and that I am on IG now. Look for me by my gov name lol.

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[TravisM]

Originally Posted by nicsye

So glad I came across this. New to the Subaru game so I'm unfamiliar with the head unit. I was disappointed with the audio on my 2015, but it was expected after reading reviews and I was willing to accept it and just upgrade later. Now I've gone to Through Mode and Loud Off, sounds much better, I can totally live with it now. Bass 0, mid +2, treble +5 sounds pretty good with all music.

Don't know why they even have the EQ on to begin with if it sounds so much worse? Maybe it sounds good if you're used to listening to music through iPhone headphones and you think Beats by Dre are as good as it gets...

I use Grado headphones so I prefer a much flatter, balanced, natural sound with a tasteful amount of brightness. Won't get anything near that realm of sound quality with the stock speakers, but at least I can be content with it now

I have the a same settings but added a 10 inch sub.

[stlrmike]

Hello to All,
It is amazing what many of you figure out about the hidden menus! I have a 2013 Impreza with the CM361UD unit and I recently had an Alpine digital amp and front/rear speakers installed. Now the default hands free volume is incredibly loud at level 6. I know that TravisM posted a fix on this but it doesn't seem to work for me. I have tried the track down and volume down. The track down works the mic volume and the volume down works the hands free but only for the call. The next call is back at level 6.

I'm hoping that one of your great minds might have an idea?

Thanks!

[Twism86]

Hey All,

Just got a 2012 Impreza Sport and changed the settings immediately. I prefer Through Mode, Loudness On and Treble +6/7 Mid +2 Bass +4.

I know these arent typical but suit my liking. Pumps decent bass on some techno and I like high treble.

I just ordered the kicker tweeters however I think the stock system is pretty good considering, not sure about all the hate :P Although, being used, maybe it already has kickers and I dont know! That would be funny.... Still sounds good.

Tom

[TravisM]

Originally Posted by Twism86

Hey All,

Just got a 2012 Impreza Sport and changed the settings immediately. I prefer Through Mode, Loudness On and Treble +6/7 Mid +2 Bass +4.

I know these arent typical but suit my liking. Pumps decent bass on some techno and I like high treble.

I just ordered the kicker tweeters however I think the stock system is pretty good considering, not sure about all the hate :P Although, being used, maybe it already has kickers and I dont know! That would be funny.... Still sounds good.

Tom

Similar to mine bass +2 mid +5 and treb +6. I took my sub out and am waiting on the oem audio + set up. But it sounds decent for now.

[nightVzn]

Originally Posted by TravisM

Similar to mine bass +2 mid +5 and treb +6. I took my sub out and am waiting on the oem audio + set up. But it sounds decent for now.

I realize everybody has different tastes in audio settings, but I've always found it a bit baffling when people set bass, mid, and treble all to plus-something (or minus something). Isn't that basically just like turning the volume up (or down) a little?

[TravisM]

Originally Posted by nightVzn

I realize everybody has different tastes in audio settings, but I've always found it a bit baffling when people set bass, mid, and treble all to plus-something (or minus something). Isn't that basically just like turning the volume up (or down) a little?

It gives or removes sound from those levels. Almost like an independent volume for each.

[nightVzn]

Originally Posted by TravisM

It gives or removes sound from those levels. Almost like an independent volume for each.

Right, but what I mean is that if you're setting all three adjustments to plus-something (like say B+2, M+3, T+5), isn't that basically like turning up the volume overall and then adding a bit of extra M and T? See what I mean?

[TravisM]

Originally Posted by nightVzn

Right, but what I mean is that if you're setting all three adjustments to plus-something (like say B+2, M+3, T+5), isn't that basically like turning up the volume overall and then adding a bit of extra M and T? See what I mean?

I'm not sure what you're getting at its an equaliser basically. I tend to like a lot of highs in my music so I make those more powerful. Others like bass so the make that more prominent.

[millertime359]

Originally Posted by nightVzn

Right, but what I mean is that if you're setting all three adjustments to plus-something (like say B+2, M+3, T+5), isn't that basically like turning up the volume overall and then adding a bit of extra M and T? See what I mean?

I see what your getting at, but it isn't the same thing. Do a test on your own. Turn bass Mids and treble all the way down and see if you hear a difference.

Then turn one all the way up, leaving the rest all the way down, and do that one time for all three.

You will probably think with them all down that it does sound quieter. But when you start to test each one independent, you should be able to hear the difference. With bass turned all the way up, it will probably be really "boomy". Then with trebles turned all the way up it will probably sound really high pitched.

Mids are just that, in the middle of the spectrum of frequencies. Not quite bass, not quite treble.

In car audio, each speaker has a job. Your 6.5" door speakers are meant to handle the mids. Not quite bass, but not quite highs.

Your sub is designed to handle the real low frequencies, bass. It's a bigger speaker to move more air.

Tweeters are designed for highs "treble" They are smaller because at higher frequencies a larger speaker becomes inefficient.

[wrxnh]

Originally Posted by nightVzn

Right, but what I mean is that if you're setting all three adjustments to plus-something (like say B+2, M+3, T+5), isn't that basically like turning up the volume overall and then adding a bit of extra M and T? See what I mean?

Yes, but you're adjusting each group of frequencies at a "specific volume" is the whole point of having an equalizer.

Otherwise if you turn the volume up which increases the full range of those three presets you are trying to adjust which may distort the sound quality such as the bass unless your amp/speaker can support it.

[nightVzn]

Originally Posted by wrxnh

Yes, but you're adjusting each group of frequencies at a "specific volume" is the whole point of having an equalizer.

Otherwise if you turn the volume up which increases the full range of those three presets you are trying to adjust which may distort the sound quality such as the bass unless your amp/speaker can support it.

I'm not sure how I'm failing to be clear. I know full well what the point of an equalizer is, and I generally have my Clarion's set to B+4, M-5, and T0 to mimic a typical "rock" EQ curve preset you'll find in most devices and software.

What does not make sense to me is setting all three tone values to numbers on the same side of zero, because then you're raising (or lowering) the entire tonal spectrum together, which is against the whole point of using an equalizer to emphasize and deemphasize specific portions of the tonal spectrum at a given volume. And in fact, the EQ presets in software and devices I've used always have some value left at zero, or a combination of plus and minus values. Never all plus or all minus.

Let's break it down a simple example. If you use B+3/M+3/T+3, isn't that just like turning the overall volume up a bit? Similarly, wouldn't it be like turning the volume down if you set it to B-3/M-3/T-3?

So let's say you're using B+2/M+5/T+6 like one of the posters on this thread. How is that different from B0/M+3/T+4 (just doing the math) with overall volume turned up slightly?

If I'm wrong and that's not the same for some electrical/acoustical engineering reason, fine, but I'm hoping I've at least made my question clear this time.

[Guzzi 1]

The short answer to your question is yes.

The acoustics of a vehicle, room, etc. can vary and absorb sound. Usually one frequency more than another. These days at home, many recievers have Audessy that incorporate a mic that correctly sets levels for each frequency and speaker delays based on distance from the listening point. (sweet spot) Prior to that, we used an SPL meter to set the levels at different freq. and measured the distance from the sweet spot. In the perfect world, you would adjust the various frequencies using a test DVD or something and set the levels accordingly. This does not account for variables in the originally recorded material, but we'll assume it was mixed the way the artist wanted us to hear it. An automobile is probably one of the most difficult of listening environments due to the variables. So in practice, you would set the levels for the different frequencies to register the same level on a meter in order to account for the variable in absorbed sound. When measuring loss, frequencies have different amounts of roll off.

Further, some like more bass. Some like more treble, but I agree with you that if you set everything up +3 you could just as easily leave things at 0 and turn up the volume. Or in the 2/3/5 mentioned above, 0/1/3 would do exactly the same thing and you bump the volume a bit.

Make sense?

John

[nightVzn]

Originally Posted by Guzzi 1

...but I agree with you that if you set everything up +3 you could just as easily leave things at 0 and turn up the volume. Or in the 2/3/5 mentioned above, 0/1/3 would do exactly the same thing and you bump the volume a bit.

Make sense?

Yep and that's exactly what I was getting at. So there's really no point in using 2/3/5 (or anything else where all three numbers are on the same side of zero) since part of what that's accomplishing is simply changing the overall volume.

[bobditts]

Originally Posted by nightVzn

Yep and that's exactly what I was getting at. So there's really no point in using 2/3/5 (or anything else where all three numbers are on the same side of zero) since part of what that's accomplishing is simply changing the overall volume.

this isn't exactly true. EQ and volume are 2 separate things. While it might seem like you would get the same results, its only a valid arguement to a point. I put an oscilloscope on the output of the radio and found the sweet spot (highest volume with the least amount of wave deterioration) to be at volume level 25. Any higher than than, and the raw signal starts to become imbalanced. The higher the level, the worse it gets. So if you never went higher than volume level 25 and wanted a little more bass/mid/treble, this is where you would give a slight bump to the EQ (or cut the others - preferred method).

Now some of you are thinking - 25! That's way too quiet for my taste! Well my friends - this is where an upgrade would come in. This is where I would say you are expecting too much from the stock equipment. for me - I went the MS8 DSP route with a pair of amps. Lots of different direction you can take.

[wrxnh]

Originally Posted by nightVzn

Let's break it down a simple example. If you use B+3/M+3/T+3, isn't that just like turning the overall volume up a bit? Similarly, wouldn't it be like turning the volume down if you set it to B-3/M-3/T-3?

If we're talking all three presets at the same level then I'd say it's a simple yes. But not if they're different from one another.

[Jesuitson]

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[Jesuitson]

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[bobditts]

Originally Posted by Jesuitson

This is the measured response of a 2015 WRX as taken from the driver's seat. Factory system in Through Mode, Loudness off and all bass and treble controls to 0. All enhancements off:


Here is the predicted response after running convolution through JRIVER:

at what volume did you record this graph? it will change based on your volume.

[Jesuitson]

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[bobditts]

Originally Posted by Jesuitson

It will not change with loudness off unless you start clipping. I played pink noise and adjusted the volume until the SPL meter read 75db. Then I took the measurments at 75db. That is the calibration SPL.

I think the volume was either 26 or 31... I can't remember. Whatever coincides with 75db...

I o-scoped my premium head unit and found that clipping started at 25. its was minimal amounts until the volume went above 30

[Jesuitson]

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[Jesuitson]

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[bobditts]

Originally Posted by Jesuitson

Must be unique to your setup. I did not see any clipping.

what did you use to measure clipping? Did you measure the speaker, or the signal?

[AcquaCow]

Originally Posted by bobditts

what did you use to measure clipping? Did you measure the speaker, or the signal?

The man said he used an oscilloscope... is that not self explanatory?

Here, I'll google it for you since you don't know what that means. http://www.decibelcar.com/menuelectro/50-howtocro.html