It's possible that the mic is rolling off down at those frequencies. Were all the other bands looking OK for levels during the test? If so, then those other bands are probably EQ'd correctly.

Cheers, John

No, I'm talking about the animated "VU Meter" bar on the upper left of the screen. It blinks and shows the input level when the microphone gets input. For instance, if I tap the mic, I see it flash a level for a moment.

So I can tell when the mic is "hearing" something loud enough to register.

What I'm saying is that this particular mic is nowhere near sensitive enough to make any of the frequencies register at all, except the lowest subwoofer bass notes that make my car shake. Only those lowest car-shaking frequencies made that little level meter blink at all. The midrange and higher frequencies didn't even make it blip.

The mic just doesn't get "loud enough".

should've

Gotta fix your user title back to "Grammar Police" again.

Ok, I picked up a RatShack 2 wire pcb-mount electret mike today, 270-090 for $2.59. The specs that their webpage link to do not match those given on the back of the package though. Package is;

V+: nominally 4.5V, 1V < V+ < 10V
ID: 0.3mA max.
SnR: 60dB min.
Sensitivity: -64 +/-2dB
Ro: 1kohm.

Frequency response graph is identical to that which Tony scanned earlier in the thread, flat from 30Hz to about 2.5kHz, 10dB/octave rise to 5kHz, 10dB/octave rolloff from 5KHz (ie 0dB at 10kHz).

I also picked up a cable. It turns out that RatShack sell one ideally suited to this task - 1/8" mono plug to tinned wire ends, 6' long, for $3.29. (42-2434)

I'll let you know how I get on with this when I get a chance to play with it.

Looks like the exact mic I have here as well. I haven't messed with mine yet so I can't wait to hear how yours turned out. I really need to go get more heat shrink as it's the only thing keeping me from finishing this.

I was planning on picking up these parts today. Have you had any luck with them?

I have about 4 or 5 local friends and family that have empegs (and for some reason never got involved on this BBS) and I'm going to setup my spare empeg with the AutoEQ alpha to bring to each of their cars. Granted, they'll have to pull their dash to gain access to the microphone input, but then we'll simply copy the EQ settings over to their players.

Is there a way to transfer only the EQ presets via ftp from one empeg to another?

Guys, I don't know if you've already tried Auto Eq, but I warn you that you might be disappointed. It's still in the early stages of development, and out of the half-a-dozen curves I've made with this feature, only 1 is listenable and my favorite setting is still the one made by using the flaps of skin either side of my head.

The best feature of alpha8 is the extended memory support.

Hm... I could have sworn a few people posted that they were getting great results with this. I think Mark Lord was one of them, I don't remember the others.

It seemed to work the first time I tried it in the house but once I got in the car there was clicking/popping/whining noises as the eq tried to adjust itself. This was after following all of JonnyG's instructions.

Then I would suggest that either your sled wiring is damaged for the mike (loose earthing crimp?) or that you have got the mike positioned pretty close to one channel of the amp output. Try checking them out.

I checked the sled before I installed the mic and everything was okay. The empeg behaves flawlessly in every other aspect so I doubt the amp wiring is at fault. The mic was held in the centre of the car. I have tested the mic with several other sources.

If I were to say anything was faulty then I think it's the DSP. As I mentioned in another thread, it never seems to play all the tones, there always one or two tones that you couldn't hear. Of course another run of the auto eq would result in another tone being inaudible. I very nearly damaged the speakers last time and was left with a high pitched whining noise that you could only get rid of by selecting another eq preset. I'm not really keen on trying it again just yet.

Has anyone sucessfully used AutoEq in a car? Because i'm unable to find any posts that say this.

One thing to note - having shuffle mode activated can cause unpredictable results.

I think I said earlier on that i'd made sure all of that sort of stuff was off.

Shuffle Off
Cross Fading Off
Pitch Bend Off
Hijack Bass and Treble set to 0
EQ Locks Independant

May I say that I've also seen situations where the auto-EQ does not properly play the tones. Sometimes it works fine, and sometimes it locks up or makes odd noises. I don't think Andy is imagining it.

Oh, two more things to check... Hijack's L/R time alignment, and VolAdjust.

Loudness also set to 0db.

Tried setting everything back to normal. Had another go and blew the HF driver on my front components. Oh well, looks like an upgrade is on the cards now.