Quote:
Originally Posted by Helmsman
Tryed this but the bass then goes away completely. Listeing at fairly modest volume require the opposite, plenty bass turned up on the EQ. Mayne my ears or something.
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Check your tone controls, not just the EQ.
(Audio primer for anyone who needs it: While EQ controls typically go on or near octave points (20Hz, 40Hz, 80Hz, and so on), bass/treble controls (tone controls) grab a bunch of points at either end of the normal listening frequencies and then add a boost slope that increases as you move towards the extremes. You may start at 0 dB +/- at all your octaves between 20Hz and 10KHz (normal listening range), and then by adding bass tone control you may add +6dB at the first octave, +4.5dB at the next, etc. If you cut using the same amount of control adjustment you'll end up cutting those octaves by similar increments.)
If you're maxed out or close to it on bass EQ, you either have an error in the tone setup or you have some issue with the sub. The previous owner may have done something goofy like pulling all the bass out via the tone controls and then adding it back in via the EQ, for whatever reason. Or they may have cut the wires for a previous install and then put the stock system back in but missed something. Perhaps a disconnected wire, reversed wires, or a bad amp channel. Not anything that is obvious on a casual listen, but it means that you'll be turning your bass up enough that it starts coming up through your midrange speakers. You can hear the bass detail but still not get the punch that should be behind it, so you turn it up louder, and louder. And then your mids start to blow from trying to reproduce bass as you overpower the crossover slope...
So zero your EQ, zero your tone controls, then turn the volume up to a comfortable level and listen to some tracks that you're familiar with for a little while and get used to the system at "flat". Then listen to it for a while. And I mean, like for a few days, maybe a week. Flat response does not sound good to ears that have been listening to the screwed up curves added to modern recordings. Once you're used to that, go check out the link given above for setting the system up. Its not perfect but it does a good job of fixing some response issues. Listen to it that way for a while, then go tweak the thing to where you're comfortable with it. When all that is done, you can play with the bass/treble controls depending on the source material and it should all come together.
I really wish BMW had put the tone controls in a physical location instead of in iDrive. Those controls are commonly used and should be available by touch, without looking, not buried in a menu.