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What equalizer settings do you all use and prefer?

DBOC205

It really depends on your source music. If you have a good recording IMO you can leave it pretty flat. For radio and MP3 I find that I'm fiddling with bass & treble a bit more. Luckily it remembers settings between the different source inputs at least. What I'm still on the fence about is the surround setting, more than just the treble mid & bass.

Jinzen

-1 on Bass.

Increasing equalizer settings is really the same as turning up the volume (in the range of sound)... I love the people who put +5 on everything...

StanNH

I don't think any two people will make the same suggestions regarding your sound settings.

Everyone's hearing is different, the quality of the source material varies, and people listen to a variety of music genres.

The only thing I would suggest is that you make sure the auto volume control stays off, since that has a negative effect on sound quality. The Surround provides a fuller sound, but it does change the clarity somewhat.

Whatever settings you decide on, they will be stored for each input ... so set them up separately. Play around with the equalizer until you find a pleasing setting for each discrete input.

CO2010

Personally I keep mine on 0 across the board.

icycrazydesi

hey where is this auto volume control setting i have gone through the sound setting and could not find it..i have the surround setting on..to me it sounds better with it on.

StanNH

Spearhead

I am very particular about the sound, and now that I have had a few weeks to play with the settings, this is the best Audio system I have heard in a car. My settings are influenced by my age (over 60) and my leaning towards classical and classic rock. That said, I have done the following.

1) Turned on Surround Sound. All seats. It truly enhances the result.
2) Turn off Automatic Volume Adjustment
3) Turn off HD. To my taste, HD saps some life out of the music.
4) Balance +1, Fader 0 We are after all, a lot closer to the left speaker.
5) Radio 3, 2, -2
6) Sirius 2, 2, 2
7) Media Register 2, 2, 1

I appreciate the ability to have different presets for the different sources.

tnkujry

For the equalizer settings, I stay pretty much at zero across the board - and I'm generally listening to MP3 or CD via MP3 recorded in a lossless format. Every so often, there is one song that just demands more bass, so I'll go over and kick it up, depending on the song, but to as much as 8, for that one song.


I do, however, prefer my fader to be at -5, or biased toward the back seats - but again, this is just a personal preference. I change it back every now and then just to confirm that's what I like, and I always end up switching it back to -5.


Cheers.

trustoryson

I'm with you on the fader setting, and based on (perplexed) reactions from passengers who noticed my setting it is indeed quite personal. I put mine at either -4 or -5.

gfmohn

It is not saying much for me to say the Burmester system in the Mercedes C-Class is the best OEM auto system I have heard. I have heard no other premium OEM systems. I do have a "high-end" home audio system, and I can say that Burmester system is as good as my home sound system. (If you think Bose equipment is high-end, you should know that that Bose stopped advertising in high-end audio magazines over 20 years ago.)

When my wife first heard a symphony played from Sirius XM in my new C300, she exclaimed, "That's unbelievable!" She has never been impressed by my home system. Her failure to be impressed by an audio system is not unusual; she is a professional musician. (I'll explain this below.) So when my wife was astonished by the realism of a large orchesteral piece, I was truly gratified.

BBC Music Magazine used to have a back-of-the-magazine feature on the audio systems of famous musicians, especially composers and conductors. Few of their systems were high-end or even very interesting. They were mostly systems they had bought when they first achieved enough professional success to buy good (not great) systems. They hadn't bothered to change anything since.

The magazine had to give up this feature. Not only were the musicians' systems not very interesting, the magazine explained that professional musicians are not much interested in recorded music. They don't listen to it for pleasure. (My wife does not either.) It simply doesn't sound like music to them. When they do listen to it, it is to see how musical competitors perform works in their own repertoire (tempo, dynamics, orchestral balance).

(The failure of my home system to exceed a really good auto system is not a black mark. I have some experience with custom car sound. After several years of work, my last pre-Mercedes car wound up with an audio system worth more than the car was at that point. When high-end audio designers (whether OEM or custom) take advantage of the opportunities offered by the precisely defined auto sound environment, they can achieve results that owners of home systems must spend thousands (or tens of thousands) to obtain. As far as I know, in the area of OEM audio systems, only partnerships with high-end audio suppliers like Meridian Audio (Ferrari, McLaren, Land Rover, and Jaguar), Mark Levinson Audio Systems (Lexus), and Burmester (Mercedes, Porsche, and Bugatti) have yielded results that have equaled better home systems.)

squid23

If you are close to Boston, I am always interested in running people's stereos through an analyzer and come up with some suggestions for EQ curves that way.

bguybrad

i do +3 treble and bass and -3 mids. i listen to mostly flac recordings streamed bluetooth from my iphone 6. i love how it just resumes playing from my phone with out having to hit anything. i also play mp3's from a usb stick and sirius as well but right now i'm really enjoying flacs.

floridadriver

I love the sound system, I think MB did a great job here. I keep my setting mostly at zero, maybe plus one bass on media and minus one bass for HD-Radio. I also have it in surround for 'all seats', and auto volume adjust off. Enjoy!

jtsatl

I don't see the option that Stan is showing for turning off the automatic sound adjustment. You think maybe it's only if you have the navigation option? I looked for it in the Command owners manual and don't see if mentioned there either.

topsider

for media register, I've had it set to Terble 7, mid 6, and bass 8. usually in cars i keep it linear with treble being the highest, but with most of the music I listen too (EDM), it demands some more bass. has anyone found what they find is the ideal setting yet with high levels of all three? preferably with a linear trend from treble being the highest to bass being the lowest setting but still with some moderate bass

ibanezjs1

Yeah, I'm a Trance listener here so our music tends to hit the same frequencies. I found myself having it at 3, -3, 7. I thought I'd try to force myself to sculpt by subtracting rather than adding to help bring some of the dynamics back so now it's at 0, -3, 4

jakc

That's true if there are 5-7 or more EQ settings. With only 3, sometimes the sound is more W shaped and does sound different than with everything on 0 - depends on the system of course and i'm not sure if this is the case with Burmester.

I actually have +3 on everything because it reduces the subwoofer droning at very low volumes. I'd like to add more bass but the subwoofer doesn't sound great on some songs.

c4004matic

This is the correct answer.
Different sources have different needs. Even within the same source recordings will vary too.
i don't think there is any wholly satisfying default setting since the system has very little "coloring" to begin with. If anything I would leave it "flat"