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Xrc6

I want to use REW to measure my car accoustics.

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I'll use REW on my laptop. My question is can I use the omni directional microphone that came with my Kicker keysmart amp that is used to auto tweak it's built in DSP?

My second question. I've never used REW before. Any tips/suggestions for the best settings/methods to measure my car's accoustics? Also should I turn off my Keysmart amp's DSP features first or will it matter? I just want a graph to see where the peaks and dips are in my frequency response.

Final question. Can I measure for cancellation issues using REW?

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I don't own REW but have equipment to do any of the measurements it can.  I have severe doubts it will do anything useful in a car, but perhaps if you described what your goals are and how you will use the info once you get it we can either help with REW or an alternative

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I believe REW requires a microphone with a calibration file. So if that mic has one, perhaps might work. 

I would suggest measuring from right in front of the drivers headrest. Where your head would be. I'd measure each driver independently, then each collective side, then overall. This will give you the best idea of what effects the "room" has on the frequency response. Including cancellation and lobing.

Not familiar with keysmart. But if it adjusts without being actively prompted, i'd shut it off. Otherwise, I'd say measure with its adjustments and without. See if its helping or hurting. Personally I've never cared for an auto tune sound in a car. To hard for the mic to get an unmolested reading and you may not have the same taste as the algorithm. Besides there is more to music than can be measured. 

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8 hours ago, j-roadtatts said:

I believe REW requires a microphone with a calibration file. So if that mic has one, perhaps might work. 

I would suggest measuring from right in front of the drivers headrest. Where your head would be. I'd measure each driver independently, then each collective side, then overall. This will give you the best idea of what effects the "room" has on the frequency response. Including cancellation and lobing.

Not familiar with keysmart. But if it adjusts without being actively prompted, i'd shut it off. Otherwise, I'd say measure with its adjustments and without. See if its helping or hurting. Personally I've never cared for an auto tune sound in a car. To hard for the mic to get an unmolested reading and you may not have the same taste as the algorithm. Besides there is more to music than can be measured. 

I just wanted a graph to see the frequency peaks and dips so I know if there is a range of frequencies that are too low that I'm missing. That and maybe to see if my setup has any cancellation or not but unsure how to do that.

*edit: Also I don't know what a calibration file is but I doubt the mic has one. Not sure if I want to spend $50 + bucks just to use a mic once. However I like the keysmart amp though and it sounds great but I'm sure my sub has some cancellation due to the side firing port and bottom firing subs. And I'm sure there are some frequencies that are too low that I'm missing out on

Edited by Xrc6

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A quick easy way would be to use 1/3 octave test tones. Sweep through and listen for peaks and dips. There is some pinned on this site, otherwise YouTube. I have mine on a cd for a little more confidence, but either would work. 
 

there’s a $10 Dayton mic that I believe needs an $5-10 App. Nothing elaborate like REW. Only shows frequency response, which is what your after. May be worth looking into. 
 

Otherwise, if the rhythm section is your chief concern? I would just find a song you are very familiar with, that has hi-definition bass lines. And try tuning the sub eq with that. You be better off in the long run to have a trained ear. :)

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Peaks and dips are easy.  Just record using any mic a white noise signal using audacity and perform an fft.  Make sure you use a ton of averages....at least 100.  

Ignore the slope as your mic will screw that up.  Try a placement near your ear on both sides while you are in the car.  

Btw, that will give you WAY more useful info than REW.  I didn't want to offer that though before you stated your goals.*

 

*caveat being I haven't used audacity to do an FFT and am not sure it does averaging...according to a 2 sec search on wikipedia it claims to

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