To Equalize, or Not to Equalize

[AFB24911S]

Pelican Parts Brain Trust,

I bought an amplifier (4x20W) and an equalizer for my Blaupunkt CR-4090 radio. I could figure out the amplifier well enough to put it in last month, and it sounds great, but now I'm curious to try putting in the equalizer as well.

Do equalizers noticeably improve sound quality on these old radios? Would it be worth it to try to install it? Also, where should it be installed: radio -> amplifier -> equalizer -> speakers, or radio -> equalizer -> amplifier -> speakers?

Or, should I quit playing around with nearly 50-year-old technology and buy a new Blaupunkt SQR-46? I want to play my tapes in the car, there's something great about listening to good music back and forth and back again.

[AFB24911S]

P.S.: I was able to check the resistance of my two door speakers, and they're the original-style 8 ohm units. Is it worth it to go to 4 ohm speakers with the vintage equipment, or should I only upgrade speakers if I get a new radio?

[917_Langheck]

Source-->eq-->amp-->drivers.

The total driver resistance value (per channel) should be equal to the amp resistance for best balance. More resistive speakers will be damped and muted, while less resistive can overdrive the amp, resulting in damage.

[tobluforu]

Keep the tape deck but put it in your closet for when you sell the car. Equalizers are old school as well, per-say, not needed. A 20x4 amp is also kind of meager as most head units will have that built in now. Hey, I dig old school as I have a pretty serious 2 channel system in my house that has speakers from the late 70's, 80's and 90's. But car stereos these days sound heads and tails better than most old school ones. It's up to you, but it sounds like, no pun, that you want better sound, so upgrade.

[wildthing]

Skip the tapes and go digital. Buy a decent HU, a 50W x 4 amp, installed under the passenger seat, decent separates for the front and 4x6 in the back and you're done. (You could also skip the rears if you want.) The 911 cabin is not ideal for SQ, unless you start adding sound deadening. And then you'll need a sub for the lows. But then now you have to think about the purpose of your 911.

[rwest]

A quality eq can make up for sound quality problems in an automobile, but a cheap one can also introduce more noise/distortion.

A car usually needs the low frequencies boosted and the higher frequencies need to be turned down. Many head units will have ways to do that with out an eq, but without as much fine tuning capabilities.

[ant7]

I think you meant Impedance, not resistance, most head units and amps are happy with speaker impedances ranging between 4 and 8 ohm.
Ant.

Originally Posted by 917_Langheck

Source-->eq-->amp-->drivers.

The total driver resistance value (per channel) should be equal to the amp resistance for best balance. More resistive speakers will be damped and muted, while less resistive can overdrive the amp, resulting in damage.

[EC900]

Im no audiophile, but I consider the acoustics of a 911 cab. I never expected concert hall sound in these cars but a modern radio and speakers will likely be sufficient to achieve satisfactory sound.
You’re playing cassettes and not ‘as ancient’ CDs, so a lot clarity is lost there. Remember “Is it live or is it Memorex”. Not use if that reference was reel-to-reel or cassette quality, anyway
a set of speakers matched to modern head unit and perhaps some strategic sound deadening material helps.

I had a Blaupt CR4096 w/2 oem door speakers, my PO replaced w/an ugly Pioneer. I ditched the cassette and went with a Continental TR7412 and kept the 48 yr old door speakers. I’m pleased with the media type features of this modern stereo but found no noticeable improvements with the sound, nor do I care (to replace door speakers). Plus radio looks good and bland, almost stock.

I once bought and installed a used double din stereo radio cassette that had a stacked equalizer (Nissan), with the mix of music genre and FM, fiddling with the equalizer each time was troublesome, even occasionally knocking the sliders out of sync. Nice radio worked well with stock 4 speakers but couldn’t really define the usefulness of the equalizer over just the stereo. Noisy car, sound bouncing around, etc. wasn’t worth the 2 DIN cut out effort.

I’m hard of hearing now, so Balance and Fade is my equalizer.

On new radios….do they even make single Din cassette players anymore, those with built-in equalizer modes (rock,jazz,talk) ?

Added enlightenment: https://www.hagerty.com/media/tags/obsolete-car-audio/

[PeteKz]

The acoustics inside an old 911 are terrible by new car standards. About all you can do is get the sound to where YOU like it. Better is very subjective. Having an equalizer will allow you to fiddle with the frequency response more, but will it be better or just different? Only in your judgment, which is all that matters. As for me, the bass boost and tone controls on the radio panel are good enough.

[AFB24911S]

Thank you for all the tips! I think I'll start saving for a modern radio, but in the meantime I'm going to fiddle with that equalizer and see if I can't get any better sound out of the car that way.

The first thing I should do is remove the driver's side door so I can reach the antenna to replace it, it won't retract and it looks pretty lame constantly in the up position I think. That Blaupunkt SQR 46 is $500!

[917_Langheck]

Originally Posted by ant7

I think you meant Impedance, not resistance, most head units and amps are happy with speaker impedances ranging between 4 and 8 ohm.
Ant.

I resist your imposition!

Ya, impudence, I mean impedance, if you want to be technical 🙃

[ccallana]

Originally Posted by AFB24911S

That Blaupunkt SQR 46 is $500!

Yes, but it looks *so* good in the dash I added a Blaupunkt self-powered sub under the passenger seat... the eq settings available in the Bremen seem to do well enough, at least for me... I left the speakers that came with the car, but I've faded all the way forward and aren't even using the rear deck speakers - they don't add much and tend to start clipping long before the rest of the system so it messes things up..

[ant7]

Ant.

Originally Posted by 917_Langheck

I resist your imposition!

Ya, impudence, I mean impedance, if you want to be technical 🙃