# Alpine PXE-H650 Simple Install Guide



## Jmlogsn

Hi all,

I have played around with Alpine's PXE-H650 processor for a while now, and thought I would try and demystify Alpine's setup instructions and add a few key points that are missing from the Manual. Compiled through a lot of trial and error, and insights from Alpine and forum users such as npdang. 

INSTALLING THE H650
-------------------------

As per the Alpine manual. Key points that are missing:

1) For OEM Speaker Level inputs, the manual states that if you have a full-range output only from your OEM HU (No tweeters) then you must connect only to the L2/R2 wires in the auto-ranging input. This is incorrect, as it should in fact be wired to BOTH L1/R1 and L2/R2. So left OEM output goes into L1 and L2 and so on. Otherwise I could not get the unit to power up when the head unit comes on. A big omission in my book.

SETTING UP THE H650
-------------------------

First things first, the install itself has to be stellar before setting up the H650. Do not expect the H650 to work magic on a poor install, so spend a significant amount of time doing this first. Here is what I did.

1) Install front component speakers, trying to optimise speaker placement and aiming as space allows. 
2) Correctly phasing speakers. I firstly connected just the woofers, and switched the polarity on the drivers side speaker to see which response sounds the best. I did not use an RTA to do this as the acoustic effect of incorrect phase can easily be heard. 
3) Correctly setting up crossovers between the mids and tweeters if running active (or at least knowing your preferred crossover point prior to setting up the H650)
4) Knowing the limits of your OEM headunit. This is crucial knowledge for setting up the H650. What I did was play a 1KHz 0dBFS test tone (from AmpGuts) and slowly crank the volume on the HU until I heard extra harmonics. This indicates the HU clipping, so I dialled it down one click. This is the clipping limit of your HU. Remember this volume. Also make sure that your HU output is FLAT. Remove any EQ (Bass / Mid / Treble) on the HU and make sure Loudness if off, and balance and fader are equal. 

Then on to setting up the H650

If correctly installed, the H650 should display "Enter to Setup". Before doing this, make sure you have the HU volume set to the level that you determined earlier in the install phase and stick the Alpine set up disc in your HU drive. Select track one and hit enter on the unit.

The H650 will then set input levels based on your correctly selected volume. When this finishes, it will prompt to start AntEQ. Skip on to track 2 and let this do it's magic. 

After finishing AntEQ it will prompt "2 Way?". If you are running a passive front stage select the default "N" otherwise select "Y". If you selected "Y" it will ask for a mid / tweeter crossover point "Fc" which is where you choose your point, up to 5Khz, which is what I selected. If a subwoofer is installed, the default 80Hz is automatically chosen without prompt.

It will then display "Amp Gains / XOvers". At this point your master volume becomes active. This is where you can fine tune your gains. What I did was to ensure the HU was it's level identified above, and began cranking the master volume using the 1KHz test tone again. I was looking for H650 clipping but actually none came about. I then paused the CD and noticed that there is a slight noise floor in the H650. I dialled back the master volume a few clicks to remove this. I then adjusted my amp gains accordingly. I found that I could drive my PDX5 amp all the way to max gains on the front stage as the input signal was relatively clean, and the PDX5 is probably the cleanest part of the chain so it made sense to use this to it's best ability. 

Once I was happy with the gains and clarity of the signal I moved on to the MultEQ. Tapping enter on the H650 prompts you to begin MultEQ. Before starting this I identified the exact position of the centre of my head in the driver's seat and made a mental note. I repeated this for passengers. Clicking on the H650's enter button then will eventually ask you to measure position 1. 

At this point I lowered the subwoofer gain to just above the lowest setting. This is an important step that will become clear later. I also set the volume of the unit (using the master volume on the remote) to my usual listening volume.

Make sure that the microphone, IR remote eye, and LED are all within reach and set the eye and LED on a seat, clearly visible from the outside. The LED should be flashing green at this point. Put the mic in that position you remembered for the centre of your head in the drivers seat. I did this by lowering and moving the seat forward, using the head rest to put the mic on. You may find it easier to use a tripod. Anyhow, put the mic in position and turn the car engine off and close the door. 

If you are using the Auto Ranging input, you need to be quick, as the damn H650 will power down again in 5 minutes!! Mic in position, and out of the car with all doors and windows closed, point the remote at the eye and click "Front". The LED will turn to a constant green, and a series of chirps will sound through your speakers. The LED will eventually start flashing again, and then you must repeat the process in the following microphone positions:

2) Passengers head
3) Two inches to the right of the driver's central head position
4) Two inches to the left of the driver's head position
5) Back in the central driver's head position

The above worked well for me, and could be finished easily before the H650 automatically powers down. After measurements, click the "right" button the remote to finish setup.

The H650 will calibrate time correction, frequency response, and EQ for each of your speakers and save them to the unit. 

You can now get back in the car, adjust the seat to the correct position, and enjoy!

Please note that the H650 will revert back to it's low master volume setting, so adjust accordingly. I find the imaging better using the remote only as my volume adjuster, although others prefer to use the HU. Either will work. 

Also, make sure you crank back up the subwoofer gain to the level you desire. 

Tuning is possible after MultEQ with the three band parametric EQ (Bass / Mid /Treble) on the remote. Use these but do not adjust the HU EQ settings. The H650 also stores two presets. "1" is the driver's seat optimised preset, and "2" is the passenger's seat. 

Hope this helps anybody who was as confused as me by Alpine's poor documentation. 

Joe


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## LiquidClen

Good read!


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## t3sn4f2

You might also want to throw it in here. 

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/how-articles-provided-our-members/50129-imprint-tuning-hints-tips.html


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## Kureti

PXE-H650.
I have installed this and i am unhappy with this. I may be doing something wrong, but I feel the controls on this is just not enough like the BIT one processor from Audison. Any one here can please explain me the best way to get the max and best sound from this PXE-H650?


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## jaamar1

Hello, 

I want to properly install Alpine processor.
I did more less in the way which was described by you.
There is no problem with the sound quality, but there is a problem with the background noise which is coming from PXE processor.
This is something like pink noise which create "frustrating" background.

Is this problem connected with wrong setup? Maybe the gain level or head unit level was adjusted improperly?
I am very disappointed with this unit. 

do you have any idea?

Regards..

PS.
Please send me a reply on this email: 

[email protected]
or 
[email protected]


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## StabMe

I know it's an old thread and all, but after reading through several threads on topic, i still couldn't find an answer to my questions.

As per the manual, i set the gains on the amps about half-way and then start the MultEQ procedure. I am pretyy satisfied with the sound quality afterwards, but what is usually lacking is the volume - the output is just too low. So what i do is i go to custom tuning by pressing the down arrow on the H650 unit and start adjusting levels for front speakers (about +8db) and the sub (+10db and then attenuate with the remote). I run 2-way plus sub active and when i up the levels on the H650 what happens is tweeters become much more pronounced than the mids. And i fix it by lowering gain on tweets and upping it on the mids. 

I am fine with it, but can i make the Alpine H650 do the MultEQ at maximum available level so i don't have to up the levels later on?


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## killahsharksjc

StabMe said:


> I know it's an old thread and all, but after reading through several threads on topic, i still couldn't find an answer to my questions.
> 
> As per the manual, i set the gains on the amps about half-way and then start the MultEQ procedure. I am pretyy satisfied with the sound quality afterwards, but what is usually lacking is the volume - the output is just too low. So what i do is i go to custom tuning by pressing the down arrow on the H650 unit and start adjusting levels for front speakers (about +8db) and the sub (+10db and then attenuate with the remote). I run 2-way plus sub active and when i up the levels on the H650 what happens is tweeters become much more pronounced than the mids. And i fix it by lowering gain on tweets and upping it on the mids.
> 
> I am fine with it, but can i make the Alpine H650 do the MultEQ at maximum available level so i don't have to up the levels later on?



Did you turn the volume up with the remote?????


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## killahsharksjc

Okay I reread the post... the trick to get it louder is to tune it with the gains on the amps lower then average.. sub very low.. then when your done turn the gains up to the proper levels.. 



killahsharksjc said:


> Did you turn the volume up with the remote?????


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## StabMe

Oh, i see. Well, if it requires further tuning after the MultEQ (re)calibration, than it doesn't really matter where exactly you up the gains - in the H650 via "Custom tuning" or at the amps.


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## StabMe

Another interesting idea that came to my mind and which i wanted to discuss - i have my mids installed in the doors where original speakers were installed. When i sit in the car my left leg is kinda close to the mid should make it sound weaker. Wouldn't it be wise to do the calibration while sitting in the car so that MultEQ ups the signal in left mid? I run my system active, so that should be very easy thing to do. I think this affects staging a lot.


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## hilander999

StabMe said:


> Oh, i see. Well, if it requires further tuning after the MultEQ (re)calibration, than it doesn't really matter where exactly you up the gains - in the H650 via "Custom tuning" or at the amps.


Oh yes it does matter, and here is why...

All processors, amps, ect have a "Noise floor" and the h660 is no exception.
You want the hottest signal you can get, to keep the noise floor as low as possible which is why you setup the h660 with the HU at max undistorted volume. This way the input gains for the h660 are automatically set for the lowest input gain while allowing plenty of head room for audio signals.

If the output from the dsp is low, you have to crank up the gains on the amp, which in turn amplifies a weak signal creating more background noise in the system. You will notice this when the HU is at low to zero volume, there will always be a faint hiss from the speakers, particulary the tweeters but if you set it right you will have to actually put your ear to the speaker to hear it and it will be barely noticable even that close to the speaker.

The h660 has 4v outputs, and they tell you to set your "ALPINE PDX AMP" at half gain for tuning, now the PDX amps half gain is exactly 1 volt, so you want to run the autotune with your amp set to about a 1v input gain. For mine (JL XD400/4) that is about 1/4 gain. This should keep all the internal h660 volume controls over the negative settings. you do not want anything in the minus side of the h660 outputs.

The louder the signal out of the dsp, the lower you will have to set your gains on the amp which means less noise introduced into the system.

Another thing to keep in mind is that there is no internal volume controll for front1 output (tweeter) which makes this the focal point of the entire system and is what all the other output channels are balancing when the auto tune calculates each channels volume.

You do not want to sit in the car while tuning, this will distort the time alignment setup and is counter productive. The h660 use both TA and volume level to adjust the rest of the speakers. If you get in the car after tuning, and feel that the drivers side midrange is not loud enough, turn it up one notch at a time untill you are happy with it. 

Mine has always been about perfect in that aspect of tuning, although my setup is a bit more complicated and requires disabling the tactical transducers before autotune and then adjusting the crosover points between the h660 and my amps to allow the low frequencies to come out of the same channel used for the midrange, I then use the highpass on the amp to cut the low notes away from the midrange, and then lowpass the transducers at around 250 to keep all the bass and drums where I want them.

I have an self powered 8" blaupunkt alluminum sub enclosure that had an unresolvable HUMMMM no matter what I did to correct it. So I picked up an RCA style ground loop isolator and that did the trick and totally removed the humm without killing the bass signals. I can only assume that certain types of amplifiers WILL require ground loop isolators for this particular DSP, so if you have a HUMM you cant get rid of, throw an isolator at it.

All in all I am very happy with the amazing sound I was able to get out of this unit, however I must say that INSTALL IS STILL THE MOST IMPORTANT PART.


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## corcraft

Ok, this unit has 2 presets (drivers seat and passengers seat). If you take all measurements from the drivers seat will you have 2 pressets that you can use for the drivers seat? Example: I want 2 presets bc I want 2 different xover selections to go back and forth to. By looking at the manual it looks like you can pick 2 different x over settings between the 2 presets.


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## hilander999

corcraft said:


> Ok, this unit has 2 presets (drivers seat and passengers seat). If you take all measurements from the drivers seat will you have 2 pressets that you can use for the drivers seat? Example: I want 2 presets bc I want 2 different xover selections to go back and forth to. By looking at the manual it looks like you can pick 2 different x over settings between the 2 presets.


The first 2 measurements are for the presets (1&2), 3 is for rear glass deflection and 4 is for front window reflection.

You sould be able to measure 1&2 from the drivers seat only and get what you want, but since all the main settings are figured from the first measurement, you really only need to set the volume and TA for the 2nd to match the first.

Crossover points can be changed at any time but may effect the auto tune.


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## corcraft

hilander999 said:


> The first 2 measurements are for the presets (1&2), 3 is for rear glass deflection and 4 is for front window reflection.
> 
> You sould be able to measure 1&2 from the drivers seat only and get what you want, but since all the main settings are figured from the first measurement, you really only need to set the volume and TA for the 2nd to match the first.
> 
> Crossover points can be changed at any time but may effect the auto tune.



So can you take all different measurement for preset1 and preset2? In short I want preset 1 to be set with 1 xover point, ta and eq and preset to to be another so I can switch back and forth with totally different settings. I want to use 2 diff highes in 2 diff locations with a switch bank to switch back and forth so I want to set preset 1 with 1 set and 2 with the other. The dsp doesn't know it's 2 diff speakers but with 2 presets with their own ta, eq and xover I can do it.


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## hilander999

Seems a little on the strange side, but why the hell not?

Just measure position 1 as normal, then measure position 2 with the alternate speakers turned on, both from the drivers seat. 3&4 are for near glass reflections, so measure them with the first set of tweeters (highs/whatever) configuration as you did the first measurement.

Just remember that the first measurement is the key to the system and the front high out is the anchor. this is where the frequency curv is EQ'd, so changing the high to another location will be problematic unless they are very close to each other.

There are no adjustments for front high, so all other settings are a reflection of the front high position and volume level. Keep the front high out at a lower level then the front low out so that the dsp will set the mid out level higher because you don't want anything in the negative side of the volume control in the h660 settings menu.


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## corcraft

yeah thats not gonna work then, I need a more user friendly dsp I guess if I was going to try this. I just don't want to tune 1 with the results people are getting out of these and the ms8.... I wonder if the ms8 has different presets? I just bought horns and I have 2 extra amp channels that won't be used so I was thinking about running my tweeters off of them so I could switch between tweeters and horns with the press of a button and flip of a toggle. I was reading the manual last night and saw it had 2 presets so I got to thinking, lol. I guess I will need the dsp6, bit1 or h701 to have different t/a presets but thats allot of work.


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## Professor

I am going to install the PXE-H650 in my 08 Civic Si. I was trying to figure out mounting locations and kept getting frustrated by the location of the RCA outputs. Then I looked carefully at the top cover. It's completely symmetric as far as locations of screw holes. I took it off and found that it can be rotated 180 degrees because the display has a long cable to the circuit board and there is plenty of space inside. Now the RCAs are at the "top" and several mounting options that wouldn't allow the display to read upright can be used! I'm not sure anyone is aware of this - I did a search on Google and nothing came up on the reversibility. The manual doesn't mention it either.


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## jackdeb

Hi all ,need help with general setup and getting subwoofer out put from Alpine INA 910R to a Alpine H660 ,and one help please


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## hilander999

jackdeb said:


> Hi all ,need help with general setup and getting subwoofer out put from Alpine INA 910R to a Alpine H660 ,and one help please


The Alpine h660 creates its own sub channel from the full range input.
You do not use the headunit's sub out with this configuration.

Untill you run setup AND the H660 recognises your sub, it will not output anything from the sub output on the H660.

Properly setup and tuned, this is an amazing system for the price.
I am using it with a stock GM headunit from 10 years ago and the sound quality baffles anyone who listens to it.


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## mfenske

I'll add that on initial setup I needed to have the remote in to either a constant or switched 12 volt. I was trying to use the signal sensing and it would shut off when I tried to reset/recalibrate. Once initial calibration was done it seems to be good. I'd imagine when I recalibrate the same thing will happen again.


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## vincentjwm

I need a copy of PXE-H660 setup disc that included the audio tracks. Please help. I have been searching for quite some time and still not be able to find it.


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## fordriver1

maybe best to contact alpine and see if they can send you one.


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## rdr140

Thanks for the info A+


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## jordon

So when I try to set up it the damn thing keeps turning off on the first mic position every time. I switched my remote wire to my disturbution block for my power wire which should be a constant. Any idea on how to fix this?


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