If your car speakers ruin your tunes with distortion, you definitely know about it. The distortion may result from settings problems, compatibility problems, or other things. Whatever the reason, we are here to help you solve your car speaker distortion at low and high volume.
Table of Contents
- Use High Pass Filters to Reduce Car Speaker Distortion
- Reduce the Bass at High Volume and Increase at Low Volume
- Avoid Bass-Boosted Music
- Use an Equalizer or Signal Processors
- Using a Car Amplifier
- Using a Crossover
- Setting Up Your Amp Gains
- Always Use High-Quality Music Files
- Replace Your Car Speakers
- Summing Up Solutions to Car Speaker Distortion
Use High Pass Filters to Reduce Car Speaker Distortion
You should include high pass filters on the front and rear speakers when installing a sound system in your car. The filters work better when the volume is high or low by regulating the bass that goes to the door speakers causing the distortion. Note that most of the car doors are not designed for bass. This is because the door inside has a small cone shape, thus tending to distort faster. Therefore, switching on the HPF blocks bass and volume frequencies beyond 80Hz, minimizes distortion, and helps to achieve clear sound output.
Reduce the Bass at High Volume and Increase at Low Volume
A quick fix might be as simple as reducing the bass at the controls. We think +10 bass and around -5 treble offers very clear sound at low volume, but car speaker distortion will become real at high volume.
Avoid Bass-Boosted Music
Bass-boosted music is out there and is usually produced professionally using software. This music will distort car speaker output at low and high volumes. This is another very simple fix because the solution is to simply avoid that type of music. If you love the genre, though, know it comes with a cost in sound quality.
Use an Equalizer or Signal Processors
A car interior is not made for perfect sound unless you customize it. Plastic and glass surfaces reflect the sound, while carpet and seat covers absorb the sound. And don’t even get us started on poorly placed and fitted speakers. This mix results in poor sound quality at high volume. To rectify the issue, you need to install equalizers that usually feature more than 13 bands of equalization where its level enables you to match the maximum voltage.
Usually, common car receivers offer treble, mid-range, and bass controls that provide fixes but don’t solve the problem. You need an equalizer to zero in and kill the peaks. You can have it mounted on your receiver or on the dashboard. The outboard equalizer enables you to adjust frequency response depending on low or high volume.
You can also include a parametric equalizer to vary the center point and the width enabled by each EQ band to completely zero in the distortion. Or consider a sound processor that enables you to reduce the frequency response peaks and enable the speakers to increase the bass response.
Using a Car Amplifier
Most people do not understand that there is a considerable disparity between the output of a factory car stereo and that of an amplifier. An outboard amplifier provides more clean power and sound output than any car stereo as it is made to filter the sound and amplify the finest sound output.
Using a Crossover
Modern receivers include frequency filters that work well with preamp speakers, thus minimizing distortion at low and high volume. You need to use High Pass Filters for the subwoofer, which remove distortion and low bass. This enables your system to achieve a clear and clean sound, after which you can try lowering the crossover point for the low pass filters that bring the bass up.
Setting Up Your Amp Gains
People usually think that gain controls adjust the volume level, thus turning the volume high only to get much-distorted sounds from the speakers. The truth is that gain controls enable you to adjust the input signal coming into the amplifier. If you tune it so high, then you only encourage nasty distortion. The best way is to set the receiver’s volume halfway or three-quarters and adjust the amp gain until you hear no distortion. The amplifier always offers clear sound at low volume and high volume without distortion from the car speakers.
Always Use High-Quality Music Files
Compressed music is usually loose high and low-frequency music. You should use quality compressors if you want to use your own files.
Why, you ask? Your car sound system can detect poor files. It will produce car speaker distortion at both low and high volume, especially if you have an amplifier. To minimize this distortion, dump shoddy music files and use only high-quality ones.
Replace Your Car Speakers
After using your speakers from the manufacturer for a long time, and you realize that the distortion frequency is high even on a new system, then it means that the speaker is wearing out and losing its power. Consider replacing them with aftermarket speakers within a compatible power range with your amplifier.
Summing Up Solutions to Car Speaker Distortion
To obtain maximum clear sound output without distortion from your car stereo at low and high volume, try our simple fixes and see if that helps. You can also use sound-deadening materials to reduce vibration and noise, thus providing a suitable environment for the speakers to output clear sound without distortion. Our go-to is always Second Skin Audio.
