I saw this quote on another thread and though it would be a good topic to start a thread about since it's become a hot item as of late..........
For some odd reason, people have just come to realize this year with the release of the Alpine CDA-7998 that this magical thing called "time correction" exists. No one has noticed that you can get these same features of the $800 CDA7998 for hundreds less in the 7897 ($600) and 9815($500), and they come with a built in amp that the 7998 lacks if you don't plan on investing in separate amps along with the cd player.
Anyway, digital time alignment has existed for years in pro audio, and in car audio for that matter. The original Sony Mobile ES systems built over 10 yrs ago featured a 3/4way crossover with up to 72db/octave slopes and time delay for each channel. Pioneer made a head unit about 5yrs ago with a built in 3way crossover and time alignment for each channel, called the P1R, which can be found on Ebay every now and then and is an excellent unit.
Time delay is a very simple concept. If you delay your driver's side speakers their output will be milliseconds behind the pass side signals. This allows both driver and passenger speakers output to arrive at your ears simultaneously, creating the sought after centered image and a realistic soundstage. This delay of the driver's side speakers output would be much like moving the speakers away form you so that the driver would essentially be centered between the left and right speakers, like in a home setup.
Time alignment does have severe downfalls however. If you "push back" the drivers side signal to be centered for the driver, then the passenger seat's image and stage becomes that much worse. If you are competing, there will be a judge in both seats, so you'll have one good score and one bad score. Time alignment is often very dependent upon crossover slopes and speaker placements to be effective. Speaker positions can also wreak havoc on an attempt to time correct a system when reflections come into play.
The bottom line is this: The time delay and related processing in head units right now isn't powerful enough to be anything more than a bandaid for a poor install and gadget to mess with for kicks. A well designed and installed system can image realisticly without digital manipulation. If you can tweak your system to be its best by messing with speaker postions and angles, and then add time delay to help correct small issues, you'll end up with a much better sounding car than one that depends on time delay to be a magical fix for every acoustic problem in the vehicle and have a car that sounds good from both seats as a result of the well executed install.
Some good time delay units to try out are the Sony ES systems from years ago (P1 and X1 units), if you can find one in good condition, the Pioneer ODR systems (D2, P1,P50 and current DEQ/DEX-P9 combo) and a slew of pro audio pieces, like QSC and dbx. Just get ready to spend some money on the Pio and pro pieces.
For some odd reason, people have just come to realize this year with the release of the Alpine CDA-7998 that this magical thing called "time correction" exists. No one has noticed that you can get these same features of the $800 CDA7998 for hundreds less in the 7897 ($600) and 9815($500), and they come with a built in amp that the 7998 lacks if you don't plan on investing in separate amps along with the cd player.
Anyway, digital time alignment has existed for years in pro audio, and in car audio for that matter. The original Sony Mobile ES systems built over 10 yrs ago featured a 3/4way crossover with up to 72db/octave slopes and time delay for each channel. Pioneer made a head unit about 5yrs ago with a built in 3way crossover and time alignment for each channel, called the P1R, which can be found on Ebay every now and then and is an excellent unit.
Time delay is a very simple concept. If you delay your driver's side speakers their output will be milliseconds behind the pass side signals. This allows both driver and passenger speakers output to arrive at your ears simultaneously, creating the sought after centered image and a realistic soundstage. This delay of the driver's side speakers output would be much like moving the speakers away form you so that the driver would essentially be centered between the left and right speakers, like in a home setup.
Time alignment does have severe downfalls however. If you "push back" the drivers side signal to be centered for the driver, then the passenger seat's image and stage becomes that much worse. If you are competing, there will be a judge in both seats, so you'll have one good score and one bad score. Time alignment is often very dependent upon crossover slopes and speaker placements to be effective. Speaker positions can also wreak havoc on an attempt to time correct a system when reflections come into play.
The bottom line is this: The time delay and related processing in head units right now isn't powerful enough to be anything more than a bandaid for a poor install and gadget to mess with for kicks. A well designed and installed system can image realisticly without digital manipulation. If you can tweak your system to be its best by messing with speaker postions and angles, and then add time delay to help correct small issues, you'll end up with a much better sounding car than one that depends on time delay to be a magical fix for every acoustic problem in the vehicle and have a car that sounds good from both seats as a result of the well executed install.
Some good time delay units to try out are the Sony ES systems from years ago (P1 and X1 units), if you can find one in good condition, the Pioneer ODR systems (D2, P1,P50 and current DEQ/DEX-P9 combo) and a slew of pro audio pieces, like QSC and dbx. Just get ready to spend some money on the Pio and pro pieces.