# Deh-80prs amateur tune and retune review



## jimmybee1108 (Apr 26, 2011)

So this is my first quick review, so please be nice!
About a month ago I installed my pioneer DEH-80prs in my 2012 toyota tacoma double cab. At that time I was running it in standard mode. The front and rear speakers were stock and still are. But my substage, if you've read my previous post, consist of 2 JL 10w1s, 8 ohms each, wired in parallel to an alpine mrp-m450. the box is roughly .75 cubes sealed, IIRC. 

Now that sounded pretty good, but when auto EQ'ed and TA'ed, it felt very lacking. I have a good hunch that that was due to the main signal coming from the headunit to the front speakers splits at the tweeter, which had a small capacitor on it, and to the 6x9 mid in the lower door. So I'm willing to bet that that was messing it up a bit. Now, a few days ago i was reading through the manual again and found out i can run network mode from the HU, as long as the lows are coming from an RCA. Therefore, what was the front and rear output from the HU's speaker wires, are changed to HIGH and MID.

I ran some cheap 18 AWG speaker wire i got from best buy from the HU to each door. And guys, if y'all would have seen how I had to attach the speaker wire to the "tweeter", y'all would have been very disappointed in me. But it got done securely nonetheless. 

Now this is my first time running active at all, and I'm hooked. 
But i followed the instructions for Auto TA and EQ by getting out of the car and letting it do its thing. At first it sounded very thin and quiet, Subs almost none existent, even though they are only receiving about 110watts each. Something sounded wrong. I checked the crossovers and it was pretty high for the tweeters and mids, and the sub was brought down about 24dBs. The Highs were crossed at like 8-9kHZ!!!

So i tried a TA and EQ myself, which sounded alright. I looked up "safe" starting XO points for a 2-way system and wound up with this:

Tune 1:
High: HPF at 3.15 kHz at 12 dB/oct
Left at -1dB
Right at -5dB

Mid: LPF at 2.5 kHz at 12dB/oct
HPF at 100 HZ at 18dB/oct
Left at -6dB
Right at -7dB

Low: HPF at 80 Hz at 18dB/oct
Both at -15dB

TA: High:
Left: 35in 
Right: 54.5in
Mid:
Left: 46.5in
Right: 61in
Low:
Both: 48in

Now this sounded...alright, the voices just sounded dull and thin and the highs were gross. The lows were muddy. 
i whipped out the new app i downloaded, pocket RTA, which does its job for being free. But i then bumped the XO points on the Highs to 5kHz and the Mids to 2kHz. sounded a little better, but there was still a big spike at 2kHz

So i tried something that some might consider crazy. 
Instead of going through the Auto T and EQ at night when its quiet and stay out of the truck, I did during the day next to a semi-busy neighborhood road, and I SAT IN THE TRUCK! I hung the mic in my forehead as low as i could and shrugged down a little.

After that here were the results:

AUTO EQ 1:
High: HPF at 5kHz at 12 dB/oct
Left at 0dB
Right at -3dB
Mid: LPF at 2kHz at 12 dB/oct
BOTH at -6dB
HPF at 125Hz at 12 dB/oct
Low: LPF at 80Hz at 12 dB/oct
Both at -24dB (i tweaked it up to -16dB just to have a bit more)

AUTO TA 1:
High: 
Left 60in
Right 51in
Mid:
Left 79in
Right 58in
Low:
Both 160in

This sounded pretty damn good. I use a list of songs to listen to when doing this. These songs are:

"Always" by Blink-182
"Attaboy" by Stuart Duncan, Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer, and Yo-Yo Ma
"Like Eating Glass" by Bloc Party (my personal favorite song of all time)
"Signs" by Bloc Party (regular and acoustic)
"Superman" by Goldfinger
"You Make Me Feel So Young" by Frank Sinatra

These sounded spectacular. I've seen Bloc Party live before and when i listened to "signs (acoustic)" it sounded pretty darn good. Kinda like Kele was right there. But something was off. The RTA still had a bad spike around 2kHz, like really bad. So i EQ'ed it. I had to bring the 2kHz down by 5 dBs!!!  along with that i brought 1.25kHz down 1 dB and 3kHz down 1dB.

Now this sounded fantastic, to me. Kele's voice was clear and sounded like he was live. 
In "Like Eating Glass" there is some interesting effects I guess you could say that are used with the instruments and backup vocals, some of which I had never heard before.

Conclusion:
After a little time to play around with the radio and doing the AUTO TA and EQ with myself in the truck, it sounded pretty amazing. Next steps will be the deadening and new speakers. But as of now this radio with what I have in it now sounds really good. Enough for me to be happy with for now. It's clear, and crisp, and not thin anymore at all. 

(plans for future) 
pioneer prs-d800 x3 (one for highs, mids, and lows)
6.5' silver flute miss, at 8 ohms
Morel MDT12s, also 8 ohms
and Probably RAAMmatt (or however you spell it)

Thanks for reading this review, even though I'm still very new into this whole active and SQ thing!


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## 90scaraudio (Mar 16, 2013)

I could never get mine to sound good after running the auto time and eq. I hate that you cant see the eq settings it pics. I ended up resetting the deck and did what I could by ear. Still a nice deck.  I may try what you did and hear if it gives better results...


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## jimmybee1108 (Apr 26, 2011)

Yeah I also wish you could see that EQ settings that it pics. Try it while you're in the car and see what you can do. Do you have the pocket RTA app?


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## 90scaraudio (Mar 16, 2013)

No... just do things by ear...


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## KRAZYK (Sep 24, 2012)

So if I understand TA correctly.. it is saying that your left (driver side) speakers are farther away from you than your right side speakers? Doesn't add up to me.


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## jimmybee1108 (Apr 26, 2011)

Yeah. I guess something changed. At first it sounded good actually. Then after a day or two it changed drastically. Guess it was the environment idk. So I measured myself and redid it. Much better.


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