The perfect car stereo setting can make your driving journey enjoyable and memorable. But the car stereo setting is quite different from the one you need for the surround sound in the home theater as most vehicles come with a different electronic sound system, and most of us like to have a different vibe in music while driving.
You must have a balanced car stereo setting if you want a fun drive. You can’t just press a switch and get a perfect car stereo. As a thumb rule, set the bass mid and treble settings in a 4:5 ratio. Make sure the bass is in this perfect ratio; otherwise, you may ruin your music.
Now, different music genres need different types of audio equalizer settings. Are you worried that it will be very complicated? Don’t be; it is not rocket science.
Just keep reading this article to know the best bass and treble settings for speakers for a musical car ride!
📝The Ultimate Cheatsheet On Best Bass, Mid, and Treble Settings For Your Favourite Car Music
Now, let’s talk about how you can get the best sound settings in your car. Actually, there is no such thing as ‘best settings’ because it depends on many factors.
Let’s go through a super easy and informative guide and understand the complete basics we need to know.
🎵Type of Music You are Listening to
There are many popular music genres that have different audio qualities. For example, the sound quality in metal rock music differs from that in classical music. So, you need to have different EQ settings for each genre.
Note:
Each time you change to other genres, you may have to change the settings to get the best bass, mid, and treble. Each music style has different settings, and all custom settings may vary for different car stereos.
🚗Sound Quality of Car Sound System
The car stereo system has a head unit, speakers, and an amplifier. The head unit in your car’s audio system provides audio signals to the amplifier. The amplifier then amplifies and delivers sounds from these audio signals through speakers. Only a good-quality amplifier can produce premium-quality sound.
If your car stereo system has a poor-quality amplifier, it will produce low-quality sound no matter how premium your car stereos are. So, ensure that all the basic parts of your car stereo system are of high quality.
🔉The Ambient Sounds Inside and Outside the Car
The inside and outside sounds of your car can also cause sound distortion. If you face such issues, you must turn your treble and bass to the maximum level.
👌Personal Preference
The sound setting in the car also depends on personal preference. I have seen that many people like to have the bass zero and the treble setting at maximum, while many prefer the bass and treble sounds in flat or zero. Audio settings greatly depend on people’s personalities and song tastes.
Other factors that can affect your car sound setting are:
When I switch the music genre too much, I prefer to keep more car audio bass with a zero treble setting. More bass gives an energy-filled vibe to the journey, making it fun and happening.
I have made an informative table that will guide you to the best setting in your car, depending on the different genres. I have mentioned the genres depending on their popularity among car riders.
| Music Type | Focus and boost | Bass adjustment | Mids adjustment | Treble adjustment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rock | The main focus is on instrumentals. You need to boost the lower end of bass + treble ranges. | +1/2 | 0 | +1/2 |
| Pop | The main focus is on the vocals; you need to boost the mids to highlight the singer’s voice. | -1/0 | +1/2 | -1/0 |
| Classical | The main focus is on both instrumentals and vocals. You need to boost or keep bass+treble+mid at the same level. | +1/0 | +1/2 | +1/2 |
| Folk | The main focus is on the vocals. You need to boost the mid-range. | +2/3 | +1/2 | +1/0 |
| Jazz | The main focus is on the musical instruments; you need to boost the treble and bass. | +1/2 | -1/0 | +1/2 |
| Soul | The main focus is on the rhythms and vocals; you need to boost the midrange. | +1 | +2/3 | -2/3 |
| Electronic | The main focus is on the instrumentals; you need to focus on boosting the treble and bass range. | +1/2 | -1/0 | +1/2 |
| Heavy metal | The main focus is on vocals and instruments; you need to boost bass, treble, and mid-range. | +6 | +6 | +5 |
| Lo-Fi/ Latin | The main focus is on instruments; you need to cut the treble and bass off. | -4 | 0 | -4 |
1️⃣Rock
The rock genre is the most popular genre among car riders. I love this genre, too, as this type of music gives you an energy-filled vibe that can make a long drive into a concert with your friends or keep you awake with its high notes or beats when you are driving late at night with sleepy eyes.
Rock music mainly focuses on the beats and the instrumentals in a song. Therefore, the vocals in rock songs don’t get much attention compared to the beats and instrumentals.
So, you need to boost the lower ends of the treble and bass ranges while tuning to rock. In this setting, you will get a clear and highlighted instrumental sound in the music.
My preference:
I generally prefer to listen to punk rock while in a car as they have fast-paced short songs with clear instrumentation, hard-edged singing style, melodies, and great lyrics.
If you are also a punk rock fan, you may try to tune songs of great punk rock bands like the Ramones, Dead Kennedys, The Clash, and Sex Pistols.
2️⃣Pop
Pop music is another popular genre among car riders. Pop mainly focuses on the voice of the singer. While tuning to pop songs, keep the mids higher than the treble and bass sounds, so you can get the vocals loud and clear.
If you like to sing along songs for fun while driving, you should listen to this genre more. I generally prefer pop music while driving a car all alone so that it doesn’t make me bored.
My current favorite music in this genre are: Taylor Swift’s wildest dream, Dua Lipa’s Levitating, BTS’s Dynamite, Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream, Micheal Jackson’s Beat It, Rihanna’s Shut Up and Drive, Harry Styles’s Watermelon Sugar and Golden. You can try these popular songs too in the car for a fun and interesting drive.
3️⃣Classical
Classical music is also famous among many car riders. It focuses on both instrumentals and vocals. It has a broad range of different frequencies with many vocals and instruments. If you are a fan of classical music, you can set a flat tune while listening to it in your car.
Although I am generally not a big fan of it, I have many friends who prefer classical music. According to them, classical music becomes the best to enjoy by setting up a flat sound setting.
4️⃣Folk
Many car riders also prefer folk music as it gives a different style of vocals in the songs, and the instrumentation is also unique and differs from culture to culture. However, folk music generally emphasizes the vocals; to get a clean-edged sound, you need to boost the midrange.
I sometimes tune into folk songs while on a long drive, giving a better vibe when the midrange is higher than the bass and treble. Moreover, by boosting the midrange, the vocals become enriched, and the piano and guitar aspects are also highlighted in this setting.
5️⃣Jazz Music
Jazz is a classic choice while on a road trip in your car. Recently I have got an immense interest in listening to Jazz whenever I’m on a long drive. Several types of instruments are used in this type of music.
To make the system sound good, I always boost the treble and bass in the equalizer to have the richness of Jazz.
The songs on my recent favorite list are Hit The Road Jack, Spinning Wheel, Night Train, and Midnight Ride.
You can also listen to Jazz albums like The Epic, Midnight Blue, and Happy Song while on a road trip.
6️⃣Soul
If you are a person who prefers car riding in a peaceful ambiance, then soul music is the right choice for you. Soul music focuses on rhythms and vocals.
To get the best sound quality boost the mid-range setting. You can also minimize the digitized audio to get a clear voice and listen to the lyrics better.
7️⃣Electronic
I have a long obsession with electronic music as it heavily focuses on the instrumental part (more specifically, bass or hip hop), which makes you dance to every beat of the song. This type of music is best known for too much bass, which makes it out of the world.
If you are also a fan of electronic music, you need to boost the treble and bass range to feel the richness. Acoustic music versions also focus on instrumentals, but you don’t need to boost the bass much in that case.
8️⃣Heavy Metal
Heavy metal is famous for its loud and intense music. It focuses on both instruments and vocals, and to get the best quality, you need to boost all the bass, treble, and midrange to a high level.
9️⃣Lo-fi
You can tune in to lo-fi or acoustic music while driving in rainy or pleasant weather. It is also great for a romantic drive to get a peaceful vibe.
Lo-fi emphasizes the instruments, and for better sound quality, you need to cut the bass, mid-range, and treble setting down instead of boosting the ranges.
🤔How To Tune Your Equalizer Settings For Ideal Bass And Treble [4 Simple Steps]
Equalizer settings are essential in-car audio settings for a balanced sound from music. You must ensure the bass is at the perfect level without destroying the music.
You must also ensure that the treble and mid frequencies are set right. I’ll tell you how I do the best equalizer settings for car audio systems.
🅿️Step 1: Park the Car
Firstly, I park my car in a noiseless place to tune the equalizer as it needs a quiet place with no external noise. You need to listen to the sound with full attention. I always keep the car window closed to avoid any noise from outside.
🎧Step 2: Play Familiar Music
After parking the car in a proper place, I tune in to some of my known songs on the stereo. I generally choose songs with a broad range of frequencies for equalizer settings as it allows testing the bass, treble, and midrange all together.
🎶Step 3: Tune the Rear and Front Car Speakers
Next, I tune the rear and front speakers to get premium-level sound quality. These settings give you more control over different sound aspects. For this, I adjust the fade control.
⚙️Step 4: Access and Adjust the Equalizer Panel
After running the speaker, I access the equalizer and adjust the sliders on its panel with bass, treble, and midrange settings. Refer to the table above to adjust your car’s equalizer panel for the best sound quality. It takes a bit of hit and trial until you get the desired sound.
🧑🏫Let’s Revise Basics: What’s EQ and Frequency Ranges [All You Need To Know]
For starters, we will talk about EQ or equalizers. An equalizer is a special circuit used to adjust the low-level or bass frequencies, high-level or treble frequencies, and mid-range. An equalizer is a very useful device to make the car audio of high quality.
The digital equalizer is used mostly in cars, allowing adjustments in the sound volume of different audio waves and frequency spectrum parts. An equalizer works by accessing each stereo channel’s full-range sound and diving into several “bands” with the help of filters.
Each filter is used to direct the high or low frequencies of the sound in its bands to a circuit that decreases or increases the sound volume depending on the adjustments.
Then, the audio from each circuit is mixed up and sent to the speaker or amplifier system, resulting in an adjusted sound.
Now let’s talk about different sound frequencies. Frequency in the audio refers to the number of times a sound wave repeats in a time-lapse. You will hear waves in the sub-bass or bass range if there is a low frequency. Lower frequencies always need bigger speakers with a higher power.
Now take a quick look at the breakdown of audio frequencies:
💡Best Bass And Treble Settings For Speakers FAQs
How to establish perfect balance in-car sound positioning?
You can establish perfect balance in-car sound positioning depending upon the seating of the passengers. If you have passengers in the rear seat of your car, then you need to adjust the car sound balance to the front of the cabin.
Should treble be higher than bass in a car?
You should set the treble higher than the bass in your car audio setting. It is considered ideal to set the bass and treble settings in a car at a 4:5 ratio.
What would happen if I turned the bass and treble all the way up?
If you turn bass and treble all the way up, you will boost the speaker’s sensitivity (getting higher and louder beats) and make the sounds more detailed and brighter.
What is midrange in car audio?
Midrange in-car audio generally refers to the audio frequency between 300 Hz to 5000 Hz.
What frequency should bass boost be at in-car audio?
In car audio, the desired frequency range for bass boost is between 50 Hz to 80 Hz.
About the Author
Rach Wellard
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