# 2 seat tuning



## JSM-FA5 (Nov 18, 2012)

Well i am interested in 2 seat tuning. I do not mean two separate tunes, as in one for the driver and one for the passenger. Is there a way to get the car to sound the same from both seating positions at the same time?


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## sqnut (Dec 24, 2009)

You can tune for two seats, but it will still not sound the same from both seats.


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## sirbOOm (Jan 24, 2013)

A center channel is kind of a must for a two-seater (me thinks).


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## JoshHefnerX (Jun 13, 2008)

It's tough if you can't get the speakers equidistant. Or use a center.

Josh


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## JSM-FA5 (Nov 18, 2012)

Ok well I will definitely use a center.
I have never used or researched center channels. What do I need to look for in a good center channel? I'm about to start researching, but I atleast want to have an Idea of what to look for.


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## rmoltis (Sep 4, 2012)

I have my vehicles tuned for the front two seats.
It has good sound buy like everyone else says.
It ill be a slight compromise for both sides.

Tuning for one spot is most ideal for best sound.
Now with a 2 seat tune.
The point for t/a would be the center spot between both front seats. In line with the center of your head on both sides.

So I sat in each seat and took measurements of where my head was at in each seat. 
Then I measured from those two points and in the center is where my t/a was set to.

Then proceeded to take measurments of Fr in each seat so I could get an average to try and aim for.

What this all means is that sitting in the drivers seat the sound is best slightly to the right.
And in the passenger seat it sounds best slightly to the left.

It is indeed a compromise but its much better than my woman nagging me that I have all the "good sound " only on my side and she gets the "leftovers" lol.

And then the rear passengers have their own 2 component sets back there so everyone is happy.
The passengers usually don't know what they are missing until they sit up front lol.


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## JSM-FA5 (Nov 18, 2012)

That's my reason for wanting a two seat tune. Every time my girl is with me she drives my car. (Teaching her to drive a stick) and she noticed how much better the sound is on my side. I don't mind a small change in sound to get it acceptable on both sides


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## plcrides (Mar 21, 2014)

kick panels and a/pillars no T/A


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## tonny (Dec 4, 2010)

For the best off both worlds get the speaker path length as good as possible most time's this is in the kick panels, then set it up for the driver side with ta and it will sound very good on the driver side en good on the passenger side. 
In my car the imaging for the diver side is perfect and for the passenger side the center is just in front off the passenger and not as in most cars in the speaker or flat to the nearest a-pillar….


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## rmoltis (Sep 4, 2012)

the cool thing about the alpine cda-9887.
is you can store 2 different sound "tunes"

you can set one for two seats,
and the other for just the driver seat.
so you can get the best of both worlds.


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## 14642 (May 19, 2008)

For a center channel, you need a speaker that can play from 200Hz-20k. Then, you need a signal processor with signal steering. Look for one with Dolby PL2 or Logic7. Alpine or JBL.

A-pillars with no center cannot be a 2-seat car. 

Or, do kick panels.


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## Rodek (Aug 19, 2006)

I've heard good things about this reasonably priced center channel speaker:

TS-CX7 - Enjoy Multi-Channel Surround Systems using our Center Channel Speaker | Pioneer Electronics USA


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## casey (Dec 4, 2006)

JSM-FA5 said:


> That's my reason for wanting a two seat tune. Every time my girl is with me she drives my car. (Teaching her to drive a stick) and she noticed how much better the sound is on my side. I don't mind a small change in sound to get it acceptable on both sides


do you have any time alignment done on your car yet? it shouldnt sound much different left to right without alignment.


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## plcrides (Mar 21, 2014)

i built kicks and the tweeter placement really makes the deal.i have my tweeters in my sails and the other day,i took them and aimed them up some more and with no adjusting to T/A it sounds pretty damn good,plus i have a ms-8 sitting here so I'm dieing to see what will happen when i hook it up,but I'm trying to buy a 4 channel amp still,thats holding me up.but when i mount them in the a/pillars it will be a lot better.plus i want to go with a 3 inch full range mid instead of the tweeter and a peerless SLS 6.5 in my kicks.once i get done it should sound awesome.and with raw drivers,its cheap and a lot of fun.


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## 14642 (May 19, 2008)

Keep the tweeter and put the mid in the top of the door somewhere.


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## jdsoldger (Feb 14, 2012)

Bumping this up.

I am helping a friend with his car, and want to set up a drivers side tune and a front tune (I have an MS8 in my car, he is going to have a MiniDSP. So I am aware of the comprimises that will be made). When I say a two seat tune, I am not looking for perfect. We are using the stock driver locations in his car at the moment, so 5.25" down low in the door and the tweeters will be in the stock locations forward of the door handle.

For time alignment, is it worth looking at both seats and pick something in between, or just measure in the center and TA there? For FR, I assume it is just an average of both sides and do what you can? Anything else to do to get the best I can without moving the speakers? (The speakers may be moved around in the future, we will see).

Also, quick question about the "a-pillars with no center can't me a two seat car". Is this just due to the PLD? In my car (Honda Fit) the dash is so long, the bottom corners of the windsheild have better PLD than the kicks (nevermind the kicks are nonexistant). If I want to do two seat, will getting everything say 300-400hz and up on the dash and way out front work reasonably well? I do plan to add a center eventually.


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## Huckleberry Sound (Jan 17, 2009)

Bump!


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## Martin (Dec 24, 2007)

This works for standard 2-way with woofer in doors and tweets in sailpanel/a-pillar + subwoofer:

1.) Change polarity one one side. Both speakers, woofer and tweeter.

Result -> relatively centered stage for driver and passenger, but bad bass response

2.) Use different high pass filters for the door-woofers. 

This helps to re-match the phase responses for the low frequencies of both speakers to bring back your bass response. In my experience 50Hz/12db on one side and 80Hz/24db on the other side works well.

(Use WinISD to simulate for better understanding what this little trick does)

3.) Equalize frequency response for the driver side at the drivers seat, the response for the passenger side on the passengers seat.

4.) Match subwoofer to the front


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

Many good suggestions to try if you have a good sound processor with separate EQ and crossovers per channel. Every car is different and results will be different.

For the ones lacking a good DSP I would say no TA at all or TA a similar number for both sides, maybe pushing the stage deeper to avoid fatigue and also experiment with the sub phase could give a warmer, close or deeper sound.

Other effects like spatial features on HU's applied to the tweeters only could give a wide stage effect and may benefit both people sitting in the front seats.

No solid fix other than trying to find what works for each case.


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## Huckleberry Sound (Jan 17, 2009)

During the old school time of car audio. Audio did people have 2 seater cars without time alignment and digital dsp?


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## jdsoldger (Feb 14, 2012)

Huckleberry Sound said:


> During the old school time of car audio. Audio did people have 2 seater cars without time alignment and digital dsp?


I was reading on other threads, that yes they did. But the imaging usually suffered and they just did what they could with PLD minimization.

For my friends car, I am just looking for the best that can be gotten with the current driver layout. I know it isn't going to be great because of the stock locations and such.


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## Alrojoca (Oct 5, 2012)

What about rear speakers? Could that help or make it worse for the front seats.

More what about just rear speakers and no fronts ?

I sat as a passenger in the front, it does not sound the same as being in the drivers position but it is not horrible or a bad experience and the average person or people that will complain ( fam members ) have not complained or wishing they want to be on the other side.


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## chillaxing (Nov 25, 2014)

SUBbed


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## ndm (Jul 5, 2007)

Andy Wehmeyer said:


> For a center channel, you need a speaker that can play from 200Hz-20k. Then, you need a signal processor with signal steering. Look for one with Dolby PL2 or Logic7. Alpine or JBL.
> 
> A-pillars with no center cannot be a 2-seat car.
> 
> Or, do kick panels.


Here is a question...My factory radio does 7.1 surround. If I were to take the output from the center channel and make it one of my high level inputs, will my processor mess up the center logic?

So use front right, front left, rear right, rear left, sub and center.

I just took possession of a Helix DSP PRO. 

I was under the impression that it would be able to simply pass the center channel logic straight through and I would maintain my surround sound.


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## DonutHands (Jan 27, 2006)

just tune for the center. its the best you can do.


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## oabeieo (Feb 22, 2015)

JSM-FA5 said:


> Well i am interested in 2 seat tuning. I do not mean two separate tunes, as in one for the driver and one for the passenger. Is there a way to get the car to sound the same from both seating positions at the same time?


Equal Path lengths for mid band is a must, or fail. :afro:


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## oabeieo (Feb 22, 2015)

Andy Wehmeyer said:


> A-pillars with no center cannot be a 2-seat car.
> 
> Or, do kick panels.


 Not trying to be persnikkitty so please...NO OFFENSE but, 

Wayne Watkins focal car has Speakers on a pillar and images amazing from both seats. However , his Mazda van a pillar location for his 6.5 have a PLD of 4 inches. So Its not impossible. The Honda fit also has a location for dash pods in windows that have a close PLD 5.5inches if I remember , 

Ok its hard and requires a very deep dash and a lot of tweaking,


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