Just got Kenwood X569 installed, and started tinkering around with controls.
What is Q-factor and how should I be setting it for bass, mid and treble? Is
it something determined by speakers?

Thx!
Peter

"Q" is a measurement that usually comes up when talking about
equalizers. It tells how "wide" the affected area is when you dial in
boost or cut for a particular center frequency. For instance, in an
equalizer with a large "Q", if you dial in 3 dB of boost at 120 Hz,
you may find that this results in a 2 dB gain at 110 Hz and 130 Hz,
and a 1 dB gain at 100 Hz and 140 Hz. Also, in some equalizers, the
more boost or cut you dial in, the larger "Q" gets, which means that
if you need to dial in a large amount of boost or cut, like 6 dB or
more, you may get unwanted effects on nearby frequencies.
An equalizer with a smaller "Q" would allow you to dial in
larger adjustments without the changes spilling over into adjacent
bands as much. Several manufacturers, such as AudioControl, have
"constant-Q" equalizers, where the "width" of the affected frequencies
doesn't change, no matter how much boost or cut you dial in.
As for your Kenwood deck, I think the "Q" you're talking about
is part of the "System Q-EX Sound Control " that deck features. As
such, I'm not sure if it's the same "Q" I'm talking about. What are
the available settings? If the choices are "narrow", "medium" and
"wide", or "small", "medium", and "large", then it's probably the same
equalizer "Q" I described.

Scott Gardner


On Tue, 9 Dec 2003 19:12:31 +0200, "Peter"
wrote:

Just got Kenwood X569 installed, and started tinkering around with controls.
What is Q-factor and how should I be setting it for bass, mid and treble? Is
it something determined by speakers?

Thx!
Peter

"Q" is a measurement that usually comes up when talking about
equalizers. It tells how "wide" the affected area is when you dial in
boost or cut for a particular center frequency. For instance, in an
equalizer with a large "Q", if you dial in 3 dB of boost at 120 Hz,
you may find that this results in a 2 dB gain at 110 Hz and 130 Hz,
and a 1 dB gain at 100 Hz and 140 Hz. Also, in some equalizers, the
more boost or cut you dial in, the larger "Q" gets, which means that
if you need to dial in a large amount of boost or cut, like 6 dB or
more, you may get unwanted effects on nearby frequencies.
An equalizer with a smaller "Q" would allow you to dial in
larger adjustments without the changes spilling over into adjacent
bands as much. Several manufacturers, such as AudioControl, have
"constant-Q" equalizers, where the "width" of the affected frequencies
doesn't change, no matter how much boost or cut you dial in.
As for your Kenwood deck, I think the "Q" you're talking about
is part of the "System Q-EX Sound Control " that deck features. As
such, I'm not sure if it's the same "Q" I'm talking about. What are
the available settings? If the choices are "narrow", "medium" and
"wide", or "small", "medium", and "large", then it's probably the same
equalizer "Q" I described.

Yes, this seems like it. Q-factor can be set from 1.0 to 2.5 (slightly
different for each band). If I understand it correctly, larger Q means wider
frequency spectrum will be affected by bass/mid/treble boost setting, right?

Thanks for the exhaustive explanation!

Peter

On Tue, 9 Dec 2003 20:29:00 +0200, "Peter"
wrote:

Yes, this seems like it. Q-factor can be set from 1.0 to 2.5 (slightly
different for each band). If I understand it correctly, larger Q means wider
frequency spectrum will be affected by bass/mid/treble boost setting, right?

Thanks for the exhaustive explanation!

Peter

That's the nicest way anyone has ever phrased "Damn, you're a wordy
sumbitch, ain't ya Scott?"
Seriously, some people can describe things, keeping it very brief
while being perfectly clear. I'm not that good, so I generally
sacrifice brevity for clarity.

And yes, bigger "Q" means more spillover into adjacent frequencies
when you dial in boost or cut at a particular frequency. IMHO, being
able to adjust "Q" doesn't buy you much unless you have an RTA display
to look at while you're equalizing your system. That way, if you see
a wide, shallow dip or peak you need to compensate for, use the larger
"Q" value. If you have a sharp peak or dip you need to compensate
for, use the smaller "Q".

Scott Gardner

Thanks for the exhaustive explanation!


That's the nicest way anyone has ever phrased "Damn, you're a wordy
sumbitch, ain't ya Scott?"
Seriously, some people can describe things, keeping it very brief
while being perfectly clear. I'm not that good, so I generally
sacrifice brevity for clarity.

I know what you mean... got the same prob myself But seriously, this is
not what I meant...

And yes, bigger "Q" means more spillover into adjacent frequencies
when you dial in boost or cut at a particular frequency. IMHO, being
able to adjust "Q" doesn't buy you much unless you have an RTA display
to look at while you're equalizing your system. That way, if you see
a wide, shallow dip or peak you need to compensate for, use the larger
"Q" value. If you have a sharp peak or dip you need to compensate
for, use the smaller "Q".

Sounds like high-end stuff for serious audiophiles. I'll just have to go
with the only measuring instrument I've got at the moment: ears. Anyhow, I
don't hear much of a difference by adjusting Q-factor... set them all to max
for now. Changing band center frequency yields way more noticeable
difference.

Thx!
Peter

On Wed, 10 Dec 2003 07:43:17 +0200, "Peter"
wrote:

Thanks for the exhaustive explanation!


That's the nicest way anyone has ever phrased "Damn, you're a wordy
sumbitch, ain't ya Scott?"
Seriously, some people can describe things, keeping it very brief
while being perfectly clear. I'm not that good, so I generally
sacrifice brevity for clarity.

I know what you mean... got the same prob myself But seriously, this is
not what I meant...

And yes, bigger "Q" means more spillover into adjacent frequencies
when you dial in boost or cut at a particular frequency. IMHO, being
able to adjust "Q" doesn't buy you much unless you have an RTA display
to look at while you're equalizing your system. That way, if you see
a wide, shallow dip or peak you need to compensate for, use the larger
"Q" value. If you have a sharp peak or dip you need to compensate
for, use the smaller "Q".

Sounds like high-end stuff for serious audiophiles. I'll just have to go
with the only measuring instrument I've got at the moment: ears. Anyhow, I
don't hear much of a difference by adjusting Q-factor... set them all to max
for now. Changing band center frequency yields way more noticeable
difference.

Thx!
Peter


Yep, that's exactly the effect of using the highest "Q" setting. Now,
when you adjust the center frequency, you're adjusting a lot more
adjacent frequencies as well, so the overall effect is more
noticeable.

Seriously, it sounds like your deck has some pretty sophisticated EQ
capabilites. Once you get everything installed, why not take it to a
shop that has an RTA and have them tune it up for you? It shouldn't
cost much, and the results are a lot better than tuning "by ear".

Scott Gardner

Just a side note to those that get a little lost. The "Q" is just a letter
designation for Bandwidth. Seeing I have forgotten alot of stuff about tuned
RC, RL, and RCL circuits I won't go into that seeing I would have to refresh
up on that stuff.


"Peter" wrote in message
...
Just got Kenwood X569 installed, and started tinkering around with
controls.
What is Q-factor and how should I be setting it for bass, mid and treble?
Is
it something determined by speakers?

Thx!
Peter