So I have the 4000NEX and I was reading about the Auto EQ feature.  I don't have the mic, so I looked it up on Amazon.  Some of the reviews said it was worthwhile, but quite a few said it made it worse.  Not sure if they got some bad mic's or what.

What has been your experience, and did you use the standard Pioneer mic, or another brand?

I got the Pioneer mic and it made a noticeable difference for me. I have a Honda CRV with a factory amp and component speakers (tweeters/mids/sub). My Pioneer now makes much better use of the tweeters and sub using Auto EQ. When I change the listening position to Left Front (Driver), I get perfectly balanced stereo sound.

Some tips:

1. You need to do the calibration somewhere COMPLETELY quiet. Engine off, no talking, no cars passing, no planes overhead, no birds chirping.

2. Put the mic as close to where your ears are when you sit and face the mic forward (usually the front of the driver's headrest).

3. The calibration takes time, wait patiently outside your car for a solid 5 minutes.

4. If you have a system with an external amp, disable LPF/HPF and set the crossover as high a possible on your sub so the Pioneer can calibrate the proper crossover freqs.

My suggestion is to get the mic and try it. If you don't notice a difference or it seems worse, you might be able to return it depending on the store, or just sell it on eBay for the same price you bought it for. If you like what you hear, keep it since the Auto-EQ settings get deleted if you disconnect the battery (so annoying).

In my experience I think it improves the sound. It brought more clarity to the midrange and helped to bring it out front more. It provided a more studio monitor-like sound quality that is balanced across the frequency spectrum. Some people may perceive it as "flat" sounding. I consider it to sound natural. It works for everything from talk radio to rock, hip hop, and electronic and it doesn't fatigue my ears like heavy treble/bass can do. If you're a fan of high treble & bass, with subdued midrange, then Auto EQ may not be for you. 

 I found it to be a little gimmicky, it's not for me. I have a fairly complex stereo and mostly didn't to have a little fun when I first bought the unit, I have since tuned with SMD devices. However if you want to use it and then tweak it a little it might work out. 

Can you explain what SMD devices are? I'd love to know more about how to tune my setup. Thanks.

My brother (lifetime friend) gave me a set of TS-A6969's.  My truck comes with 6 speakers (2 in dash and one in each of the 4 doors).  I understand & believe in "less is more" when it comes to other endeavours and in this case, it's true, too.  

On his advice, I defeated 4 of the 6 speakers, utilizing only the 6x9 TS-A6969's in the front doors.  He asked me to install it and listen to various music, then perform the auto EQ.  He didn't let on of what to expect, but knew I wasn't knowledgeable enough to tune it. However, I know what I like & the difference was truly exceptional.  

I tuned it in the garage, at night, following the instructions and I hung the mic on the driver's headrest. Once it starts, it gives you 10 seconds to get out of the vehicle and shut the door.  I even made sure there was nothing in the rear passenger area that might throw off the adjustment. It goes through a couple different series of white noise and solid repeating "taps".  Once it's done, IMHO, it made a distinctive difference in all around sound quality.

I'm getting a 6100 installed very soon and I'd like to give this a try myself.  Anyone happen to know where you plug this in on a 6100?  I'm hoping somewhere on the front. Looking at images of it, I can't tell if there's a place for it. If it's on the back, would it be okay to just leave it plugged in at all times if I have the installers just plug it in and leave it?  I won't bother with it if I have to take the head unit out to plug it in and use it.  Thanks in adv.

IIRC the mic plugs into either the A/V input or the Aux input in the rear of the head unit (double check the manual). If you were planning to extend those inputs to your dash or center console then you're good to go (just plug the mic in when you need it). If you weren't planning to use those inputs then have your installer run the appropriate cable to a place the input into more accessible location where you wouldn't have to remove the head unit.

In my truck... the TA was way off, so was the phase of the sub. While I loved what MCACC did for my HT, there are too many boundaries and speaker directions in my truck for this thing to succeed. Maybe better than nothing, but I got much better results using a tape measure (for the TA) and my ears.

The AutoEQ makes a lot of difference in my case.

I'm using a Component Speakers in the front, a Sub under the drivers seat and Coaxial at the back on a Honda Fit 2015.

After the AutoEQ procedure you can notice that the soundstage it's better and you can't notice the location of the sub directly. (Only if you put high volume on it). The voices and sounds are balanced and well distributed.

Remembering that AutoEQ also measures the timing/delay difference between speakers.

Just one tip if you have a Sub, don't leave it with full gain when using AutoEQ. Use something like 1/3 of the gain so you can adjust it after the AutoEQ procedure.

In my truck... the TA was way off, so was the phase of the sub. While I loved what MCACC did for my HT, there are too many boundaries and speaker directions in my truck for this thing to succeed. Maybe better than nothing, but I got much better results using a tape measure (for the TA) and my ears.

Tape measure worked great for my RSX till I get my Helix Dsp installed.

Add my to the list of people where the Auto EQ made a big difference in the overall sound. I'd definitely say go for it, it doesn't cost much compared to what you already spent.

Just used the Auto EQ mic on my 6000NEX in my Escalade with stock Bose speaker set up. Wow. Major difference. Put the mic on the drivers headrest. Worth the $20 for sure. Sounds amazing now.

Yea,tried it with my 8000nex using the mic that came with my home theatre receiver.Worked just fine and the results are much improved sound,worked well for me.

Yea,tried it with my 8000nex using the mic that came with my home theatre receiver.Worked just fine and the results are much improved sound,worked well for me.

was it a Pioneer mic? I have the mic that came with my Sony home theater receiver, would it work>

was it a Pioneer mic? I have the mic that came with my Sony home theater receiver, would it work>

As long at it plugs into a standard AUX jack, then yes it will work.

As long at it plugs into a standard AUX jack, then yes it will work.

thank you, I will try it after work this evening and report back

was it a Pioneer mic? I have the mic that came with my Sony home theater receiver, would it work>

The only concern is whether or not the Sony and Pioneer mics have the same frequency response. If the sony mic "hears" differently then you'll basically be running auto EQ with an "uncalibrated" microphone. 

It's worth a shot, but if the results sound funny, it might be worth it to try the Pioneer mic.

was it a Pioneer mic? I have the mic that came with my Sony home theater receiver, would it work>

Actually it was an Onkyo mic,worked just fine for me,made an very noticeable improvement in sound.

The only concern is whether or not the Sony and Pioneer mics have the same frequency response. If the sony mic "hears" differently then you'll basically be running auto EQ with an "uncalibrated" microphone. 

 

It's worth a shot, but if the results sound funny, it might be worth it to try the Pioneer mic.

 

yeah true, I may just wait, but as you said, cant hurt to try I guess

Actually it was an Onkyo mic,worked just fine for me,made an very noticeable improvement in sound.

 

 

thanks!

I did both the Pioneer mic and a Denon Audyssey mic. The Denon mic was so much better. The Pioneer totally killed the mid bass and left a high frequency in my upper range that gave me a headache. I couldn't EQ it out without affecting frequencies I didn't want to.

I got the Pioneer mic and it made a noticeable difference for me. I have a Honda CRV with a factory amp and component speakers (tweeters/mids/sub). My Pioneer now makes much better use of the tweeters and sub using Auto EQ. When I change the listening position to Left Front (Driver), I get perfectly balanced stereo sound.

 

Some tips:

1. You need to do the calibration somewhere COMPLETELY quiet. Engine off, no talking, no cars passing, no planes overhead, no birds chirping.

2. Put the mic as close to where your ears are when you sit and face the mic forward (usually the front of the driver's headrest).

3. The calibration takes time, wait patiently outside your car for a solid 5 minutes.

4. If you have a system with an external amp, disable LPF/HPF and set the crossover as high a possible on your sub so the Pioneer can calibrate the proper crossover freqs.

 

My suggestion is to get the mic and try it. If you don't notice a difference or it seems worse, you might be able to return it depending on the store, or just sell it on eBay for the same price you bought it for. If you like what you hear, keep it since the Auto-EQ settings get deleted if you disconnect the battery (so annoying).

These are good tips, spot on.  Make sure to disable the amp crossovers so that the unit can figure out the crossover points.  I ran with and without my amp crossovers and had very different results with xover/EQ.  The great thing about it is the Time Alignment was perfect after this whereas I never could get it quite right manually using a tape measure.  Also the EQ settings get stored as the default  so you can still tweak it as if you were tweaking flat, so in my case i can drop 1k down a bit and still benefit from the auto corrected measurements.

Just one tip if you have a Sub, don't leave it with full gain when using AutoEQ. Use something like 1/3 of the gain so you can adjust it after the AutoEQ procedure.

Good point here as well.  Most people prefer a higher bass output in car due to road noise so when I first ran it, it ended up dropping my sub level by 13db.  So on the second run I set my sub amp level down to normal output level more matched with the components and that allowed me to increase the amp gain after measurement.

I too used the Denon Audyssey mic that came with my HT receiver to Auto EQ my 4100NEX, definitely brought up the mid and sound stage, imaging is improved too.  You still can fine tune it further with the 13 bands EQ afterward if there's certain frequency range seems off to your ears.

On 2016-04-01 at 4:04 AM, ben805 said:

I too used the Denon Audyssey mic that came with my HT receiver to Auto EQ my 4100NEX, definitely brought up the mid and sound stage, imaging is improved too.  You still can fine tune it further with the 13 bands EQ afterward if there's certain frequency range seems off to your ears.

Just curious, for those that used the Denon Audyssey mics, were they those black Eiffel towel looking ones? And did you follow the same instructions, sitting on driver seat  headrest facing the front windshield?

Where did you guys get your Denon Audyssey mics?

Looking at the Denon Audyssey mics online, there are many models designed for specific Denon receivers.

How would you select which version to use?

Thanks,

Jim