Forscan, Audio Upgrades and Problems

[ThatWhiteCoyote]

Hey guys,
I had a few questions that I haven't had answered by my audio shop after trying again and again.

Question 1: I disabled the factory EQ on forscan via another shop. When I had the new shop re-do my entire system, they obviously disconnected the battery. Does this reset the Forscan changes? I now don't have a clean signal passed volume 23.

Question 2: I have a white noise sound from the speakers that does slightly increase with higher volumes and can be heard no matter the circumstance. (except in loud parts of a song)

The build:
-Fully Active and Time Aligned
-RF T600-4 Powering rear fill speakers and door woofers
-Alpine 0850X DSP Powering Mids and Highs
-Focal Access Series for all the speakers (disconnected center channel)
-RF T1000 powering two 12" P3's in a ported box
-The most sound deadening you could possibly do to the doors

The Problems:
-White noise that the audio shop rejects as an issue
-Lacking clarity and volume especially in midrange
-Muddy, Echoey, Distant sounding vocals
-Can't go above volume 23 as stated above, the shop told me I would have to buy a head unit to do it
-Massive quality/sound loss when driving, no not because of road noise. It's literally as soon as the car starts moving.
-Overall unbalanced and unhealthy sounding on 85% of my music

I had mix matching low end mids and highs running off the stock amp and the clarity was twice as good. There's no excuse for the equipment I have. It should sound much better. Thank you to anyone who took the time to read this, I would kill for some advice.

Side Note: Before going active with I had the T600 powering everything and the same hissing sound was there.

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[FreePenguin]

Well let me clarify this for you, resetting battery does not change the forscan settings. Those are permanent until you reset them back or refresh the modules back to stock. Battery changes and dead batteries dont reset that.

you got other issues going on with your audio install, but it isnt forescan, someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I do not believe it to be. I had a battery taken out for awhile, and I didnt lose any of my forscan settings ie, eq, disable noise cancelation, no honk when lock etc. all that stuff remained.--- unlike the time/radio settings etc, (like your sliders and all that) I believe those do reset, not sure. but the actual coding inside the modules stay what they are wrote.

otherwise you'd lose your engine tune everytime you got a battery change lol. same concept I think


do not listen to them.. if you have premium head unit, its a really good unit. people here go balls to the walls using it. I had a wonderful audio system using the stock headunit, in fact it would be hard to get the same quality aftermarket imo. other than lack of wireless CarPlay.

I am going to bed, look forward to hear what people think in morning. goodluck

 

[ThatWhiteCoyote]

Ok thanks, that definitely helps narrow it down. Definitely wishing it was forscan though. Also I do have a 400A car with the touch screen.

 

[FreePenguin]

It’s possible they may have the wrong sound code programmed into forescan. There’s multiple eq settings, flat, variable line out, stock, etc. diff modes for diff cars. All the modules have this in the coding. It’s changed by just a simple digit or number between each setting.

I’d verify yourself what setting your forescan actually is. It may not be off/flat

just tossing out an idea. Buy the dongle off amazon check it. Lol look at other stuff you may want to change while in there. Takes a minute to do.

Then return it if you want. Disabling eq was a permenant choice for me. Once I changed the settings never looked back. The honking etc seat belt chime, all that can be turned off and disabled.

not saying it’s smart, but god I hate seatbelts.

The stock head unit will send clean signal to max. Is it possible your amplifiers on the speakers are set too high or something, so once you hit 23 they just muddy up? Like peaking way too early.

 

[FreePenguin]

If the noise starts degrading as soon as you leave.. Do you have active noise cancelation stock on this car? If so, if it isn’t actually disabled by eq, itl muddy up damn near instant from interference with the anc and speakers and sub and all that.

the anc is there to get rid of our exterior noise, and it thinks your speakers is the noise it doesn’t know. So it starts fighting it.

idk. You may be right tho.Could be forescan code related if it isn’t right code actually programmed in

These are just educated guess and theories. I will let the pros chime in. Too bad you aren’t local. I could of done it for you in like 10 minutes. I helped a few local members with forscan stuff myself.

 

[ThatWhiteCoyote]

It’s possible they may have the wrong sound code programmed into forescan. There’s multiple eq settings, flat, variable line out, stock, etc. diff modes for diff cars. All the modules have this in the coding. It’s changed by just a simple digit or number between each setting.

I’d verify yourself what setting your forescan actually is. It may not be off/flat

just tossing out an idea. Buy the dongle off amazon check it. Lol look at other stuff you may want to change while in there. Takes a minute to do.

Then return it if you want. Disabling eq was a permenant choice for me. Once I changed the settings never looked back. The honking etc seat belt chime, all that can be turned off and disabled.

not saying it’s smart, but god I hate seatbelts.

The stock head unit will send clean signal to max. Is it possible your amplifiers on the speakers are set too high or something, so once you hit 23 they just muddy up? Like peaking way too early.

Volume 23 is truly not even loud, I would go as far as to say, not much louder than stock when driving. The gains are set pretty low from what I understand and the amps are pretty high end. They used a microphone to test the sound waves and showed me that when it goes from 23 (clean waves) to 24 it's a MASSIVE difference. Also it doesn't sound like it should even when it's not above 23. Thanks for the input.

 

[ThatWhiteCoyote]

If the noise starts degrading as soon as you leave.. Do you have active noise cancelation stock on this car? If so, if it isn’t actually disabled by eq, itl muddy up damn near instant from interference with the anc and speakers and sub and all that.

the anc is there to get rid of our exterior noise, and it thinks your speakers is the noise it doesn’t know. So it starts fighting it.

idk. You may be right tho.Could be forescan code related if it isn’t right code actually programmed in

These are just educated guess and theories. I will let the pros chime in. Too bad you aren’t local. I could of done it for you in like 10 minutes. I helped a few local members with forscan stuff myself.

GT's do not have ANC.

 

[FreePenguin]

GT's do not have ANC.

Didn’t think so. But I don’t know all the models and their configs.

still, he may very well have a gimped eq setting instead of disabled:flat. That would be the first thing I check if was me

Double check the code to see if it’s actually the correct code to disable eq. If not, fix it then try sound. Stock premium hesdunit and stock speakers the car with eq off. Gets loud as hell really and still sound clean.

Here’s a tell tail, if you notice the bass die off at around that volume 21-23? If it just goes off a cliff. Your bass roll off is still on. Meaning eq is still on. Not sure exactly what number. But if it does fall off a cliff instead of getting louder and louder. Hunch says eq is on. Bass roll off disables bass in higher levels to prevent rattles and eq can also save speakers from being pushed.

Atleast this is my understanding that companies do to defeat rattles/unwanted vibrations nvh that customers would complain about.

 

[ThatWhiteCoyote]

Didn’t think so. But I don’t know all the models and their configs.

still, he may very well have a gimped eq setting instead of disabled:flat. That would be the first thing I check if was me

Double check the code to see if it’s actually the correct code to disable eq. If not, fix it then try sound. Stock premium hesdunit and stock speakers the car with eq off. Gets loud as hell really.

They did the 00xx code for a flat signal

 

[FreePenguin]

They did the 00xx code for a flat signal

Check for bass roll off. I’m not saying they didn’t. But your bass will fall off if it’s still on. Maybe it’s possible the code didn’t take or something or even put it in the wrong code line. - if it is indeed off. Atleast that’s confirmed. Now for technical stuff. Wiring and adjusting

 

[Cathul]

Regarding the white noise.... yes, the headunit (ACM) is known to have a relatively high noisefloor, but that noise floor should not change with the volume setting.
And i think 23 should be really really loud. I can barely turn up the volume higher than 15 before my ears start to fall off.

 

[ThatWhiteCoyote]

Regarding the white noise.... yes, the headunit (ACM) is known to have a relatively high noisefloor, but that noise floor should not change with the volume setting.
And i think 23 should be really really loud. I can barely turn up the volume higher than 15 before my ears start to fall off.

Once I start driving 23 feels like 15.

 

[Cathul]

Then (in my opinion) something is off with your gain structure and tuning.
15 is giving me ~90dB of sound pressure in the car (and gains are set with 0dB testtones, so no amp is set to ever clip at all even at volume set to 30).

 

[StangTime]

How did the shop interface your aftermarket amps with the factory head unit? Did they use a harness? Did they tie in before the factory amp (low-level) or after (high-level)?

I have low-level signals feeding my DSP and 5 channel amp. I have my gains set properly to use the entire range on the volume knob. I can turn the volume all the way to max before clipping starts.

Sound to me like the shop tied into the high-level signals which are going to be noisier and start to clip right around 23 on the dial.

The road noise is likely drowning out the music. These cars have a lot of road noise. Sitting still I comfortably listen at 10 but rolling down the street I will need to turn it up higher a few ticks on the dial. Nature of the beast.

 

[Cathul]

DSR1

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