# Review: Benny Z Tuning in Bloomington Illinois



## truckguy (Sep 2, 2013)

I reached out to BennyZ a while ago about possibly tuning my truck. It's been a constant struggle for me since adding a Helix dsp. I've went over all the suggestions on the forum and have tried lots of different ways but never got the results that I thought were possible. I've changed gear a few times and instead of changing again I thought I'd see what a pro could do. It's been on my bucket list for a while now. We got a session set for the 18th. 

I'll skip to the meat of the thread but put in some other comments about the trip at the bottom. I met Ben at Mobile Audio Plus in Bloomington Illinois. We stayed in contact via text and he was nice to meet me there early since I made good time. I was nervous as hell but he quickly put me at ease. We jump right in to talking about car audio and what kind of sound I was trying to achieve. I haven't heard a lot of true SQ vehicles and was interest in something along those lines. Great imaging, tonality, up front bass while still being enjoyable at different listening levels. 

He took me out to his truck and I listened to a few songs of my choice and described what I liked or would want different since everybody has their own tastes. His truck sounded fantastic by the way. After that we went to my truck, sat in there and listened to my hot mess of a tune. He was nice and didn't say much. I was imagining the guy on YouTube, soundmanca, where he cuts to a nuclear explosion. I don't know why I find that guy so damn funny. Anyway, Ben started getting his gear ready for tuning. 

He talked me through the whole process and did a great job explaining what he was doing. Took time to answer any of my questions along the way. My Dakota isn't very roomy but he made it work. I asked if he could save some versions of the tune along the way so I could experiment when I get home to try to get a better understanding of what he was listening for between the changes. He was fine with that which was really cool. The guy works unbelievably fast and it was kind of a blur to watch him go thru settings. I think the speed really helps with balancing between the different sets of speakers and as a whole. Lots of flipping back and forth to get things centered. It's something I definitely want to work on. He gave me chances along the way to sit in the driver seat to hear the differences to see how it was all coming together. 

Towards the end I was just completely blown away with what I was hearing. I've never had that precise imaging and tonality before. He kept saying he could continue tweaking a few things but I couldn't really find anything to complain about. Before I left he asked me several times if I was happy but I'm sure he could tell by my smile things were extremely good. 

I highly doubt that I'll be able to replicate what he did for my truck on my own. That was the point of me going there though. After I left I jotted down lots of notes at a burger joint called Meatheads. It was a mix of a Five Guys and a local place to me called Honest Abe's. Pretty good! If you're ever around Lincoln NE that's the burger place to go! I had full intentions to take notes while he was tuning but I really wanted to visually see what he was doing and not miss anything. I'm anxious to use the new things I learned as time allows. His tune is the best my vehicle has ever sounded but its almost like a bonus compared to what I learned from the tuning perspective moving forward. 

Ben was a great guy and I can't say enough for what he did. Toby the manager of the shop was great too. I picked their brains a lot on future ideas for a different vehicle. I was kind of to the point where I started thinking about getting out of car audio when I get a new vehicle. This experience really opened my eyes to what's possible in capable hands. 

If you're tired of struggling with tuning or want to possibly learn a few things it's worth making a trip to see him. Thanks Ben!

Okay bottom comments about the trip. I road tripped up there and back all in one day. Left around 3:30am and got to the shop around noon. I think I left around 4pm and got home around midnight. Saw a beautiful sunrise and sunset traveling across Iowa. A few deer out in the fields. Light fog in low areas. I love that stuff. I was really surprised at how fast the trip went and how smooth traffic flowed. I usually see more a-hole drivers on my commute to work than I did the entire trip. Sure semis slow you down on occasion but nothing major. Most of the time it seemed like cars were just parting the way like they knew I had an important appointment! The Mississippi River made the Missouri River look puny in comparison. Even the Illinois river! It was beautiful! The city of Peoria looked fantastic and wish I could've spent some time exploring there. Have to go back some day when I have more time. 

Story while tuning which shocked me was while Ben was working on my midbass. I've spent a lot of time chasing rattles in my vehicle. Never have I had enough midbass to cause my overhead compartment to have buzzes. This was with no sub. When we first heard it we thought it was my left door, then the dash, and then finally the overhead area. It was around the 63hz area. Toby was nice and gave me a piece of ccf to stuff in there later. All my tuning in REW made me cross my mids over high because it looked like they dropped like a rock around 90hz. Not true at all. Midbass are the SI TM65v1. I always blamed it on my doors but they are playing just fine with a lower crossover than I've ever had before. My tuning setup is a small dell laptop, a Focusrite 2i2 external soundcard, and a Dayton emm6 microphone. I wonder if a lot of people have this same issue. Over believing what REW is showing and adjusting things that don't really need to be adjusted. Or at least not as much as you think. I do have a rattle in my left door to track down as well but the right door seemed to hold together well!

I have tomorrow off work to watch the eclipse and run a few errands. I'm going to dig into this tuning business some more and see what I can figure out.


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## Lycancatt (Apr 11, 2010)

glad you had a positive experience! I always say, tune makes or breaks a system, and you now know why.

I do think too much stock is put in what rew says is right, rta in general is imo taken too seriously.


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## sq2k1 (Oct 31, 2015)

Glad your expectations were met and you got a better knowledge of tuning. I have never met Benny in person, but he seems like a good guy from his posts on here and such. I wish I had the luxury of having a decent person to assist with tuning in my area or just give me the general feel of what to listen for. But I will get to working on my car again when the temperature outside calms down a bit.


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## benny z (Mar 17, 2008)

Thank you for the feedback - it was nice meeting you! Glad to hear the drive was enjoyable on the way home as well!

Sorry if I moved through things too fast...feel free to send me any questions you may have and I'll be happy to help. I move fast on purpose, as a lot of my process is based around listening and I try to get through things quickly before fatigue sets in - also why I hop out and take some time to rest between steps. I will say - your willingness to sit in the SCORCHING vehicle throughout the process shows your desire to learn. Most folks I tune for aren't interested in the process so much as the final result...it's refreshing when someone does want to sit in on the tuning process to learn.

I'm happy you're happy!


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## mrichard89 (Sep 29, 2016)

Great review! Reviews like this are the number one reason why Toby is at the top of my list to do my next install and Ben is at the top for a tune!


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## juiceweazel (Jul 28, 2014)

Congrats on the enjoyable tune. Glad there's people out there willing to offer their knowledge & not just services. This is exactly the kind of thing most of us newbies SHOULD be looking for, but like stated above, most just want the final product. Personally I want to know some of the what & why. When I get my install completed I will probably be on the hunt for someone as well, just a little closer then a 9 hour ride ha ha


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## MrMoto (Aug 20, 2009)

Good review, I am working on setting up a date to get my truck tuned with Benny. Super nice guy can't wait to meet in person.


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## truckguy (Sep 2, 2013)

benny z said:


> Thank you for the feedback - it was nice meeting you! Glad to hear the drive was enjoyable on the way home as well!
> 
> Sorry if I moved through things too fast...feel free to send me any questions you may have and I'll be happy to help. I move fast on purpose, as a lot of my process is based around listening and I try to get through things quickly before fatigue sets in - also why I hop out and take some time to rest between steps. I will say - your willingness to sit in the SCORCHING vehicle throughout the process shows your desire to learn. Most folks I tune for aren't interested in the process so much as the final result...it's refreshing when someone does want to sit in on the tuning process to learn.
> 
> I'm happy you're happy!


Oh man I'm just loving it. No problem at all with the speed you were moving and avoiding ear fatigue. I'd rather not interfere and just make mental notes while watching. I'll shoot you a few questions later after I play around a little with what I've learned. Trying to retrace some of the things you did and see how far off I am. Then retry again. And again. 

I got everything REW'd this morning and just sitting back and analyzing. It's weird how it might look like there is a difference at times but you play a test tone and everything is still centered. 

With all my amps in that little cab it heats up quick! It's nice in the winter though if tuning on cool days. Summer sucks!


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