Alpine IMPRINT Sound Processing

I have always been a noob when it comes to audio systems, especially in car entertainment systems. There would be days where you would just want to drive slow and enjoy the scene with some nice music playing through your audio system.

And this is the time where I would start to get really upset because the stock sound system from Toyota just plainly couldn't cut it. Add on with the vibration and wind noise coming in from all over the areas of the car, it makes you feel like you just want to drive to the nearest petrol station and torch the mutha fucking car.

So I drove to my audio guy and I told him I want all the vibration and wind noise gone from the car. Then for the next couple of months I learned new terms like Dynamat, chassis foaming, heat insulation, under body spray etc.

Great! So now that the car has a lot less vibration and wind sound, I can now crank up the volume and listen to some music right?

NOPE.

Instead of the singer's voice all that I could hear was her trying very hard to murmur something as though someone has shoved the damn microphone down her throat. Well, I couldn't quite make it whether its a microphone or a banana but yeah so much for the factory sound system.

I am determined to remove that damn microphone (or banana) from the singer's throat so I turned to my audio guy again and he recommended me this - Alpine IMPRINT.

In a nutshell, this is a technology which requires a microphone to be placed in six different locations inside the car, hook up the sound processor to a computer, closed all the doors and let the system tune itself out.

Alpine Imprint Audio Processor


Placement of the microphone


Measuring in progress


Measurements of all 6 locations completed


Frequency & Time Response Graph
(Before & After)

Think of this as a standalone engine management unit for your audio sound system if you will. You are able to tune every single channel and frequency there is available.

There are inherent acoustical challenges in every car and they are all different. For example, your window will deflect the sound produced by your speakers. The car's cushion will absorb some of it, couple it up with wind noise, cabin size and location of the speakers, the sound produced will not be optimal.

(Source: www.alpine.com)

Alpine's IMPRINT technology basically overcomes this by measuring the car cabin's acoustic response with a omni-directional microphone at 6 locations to provide time and frequency corrections. The end result is optimum sound quality regardless which location in the car you're sitting at.

I know there are still a lot of audio fanatics out there who still might not be able to accept this new way of tuning sound systems, however this technology has been around for some time and its not something new. Home theater audio systems has been using this technology for more than a decade, its only recently the technology has been made available to the automotive industry.

Alpine is not the only company that uses the MultEQ from sound technology giant Audyssesy in their Imprint architecture, Toshiba, IMAX, Onkyo, Denon, Integra, NAD, Marantz and Jaguar also uses their technology just to name a few.

I fired up a CD and I was in audio nirvana. It has a very nice wide sound stage and the clarity is amazing. I can now hear things I couldn't hear in my car before. With human effort it will take a lot more compared to the what the software can achieve in under 30 minutes, and the results won't probably come close.

Now I am a happy man because there isn't any banana or microphone stuck in anyone's throat anymore.

16 comments:

Ju-Lian said...

haha never thought you into sound processing, must be got poison by someone =P

Chew Soon said...

no lah, i just cannot stand it when i wanna drive slow and enjoy the ICE.

if budget allows, some decent sound proofing work and an alpine imprint set really makes a diff man :)

kev said...

all i thought u were merely interested in hearing your turbo sounding off! haha. too bad i have no din slot to put anything in my car. its way too tiny! tinier than a kancil

Chew Soon said...

hi bro kev, haha as you get older u'll probably want to drive slow and start to enjoy things around u a bit more.

i can see that you're restoring a honda s600? wow......please keep us posted.....its really interesting and nice to be able to see the car being restored.

Ju-Lian said...

when u r driving slow means its jam =P no other reason XD

kev said...

no problems man, btw i found u from a couple of my blogger friends, haha, wanna swap links? no probs with me

i want to get some dyna-mat done to my car one day. want to insulate the gravel to car sound well. any contacts?

Chew Soon said...

julian, you really know me well ah haha! during traffic jam, must listen to some nice music man. celaka if you turn on the radio, then u hear some dude singing with a banana stuck in his throat how u feel leh?

bro kev, ok we swap swap links. if u're worried about dynamat adding weight to the car, there is a kind of paint u can use that will get the same job done without adding weight. its imported from germany, since your chassis is exposed this is the best time to do your sound insulation work.

i got just the right man for you, whats your contact i PM u. =P

hamzah said...

Hey bro.
Just wanna ask.
Ur car is standard ICE or what?
Did u add any speakers or woofers or change the HU?

Chew Soon said...

hi man, yah my head unit is also changed. all the speakers are also changed as well with added woofers.

im still a noob when it comes to ICE, i only know he added 2 amplifiers as i can see from my car boot.

and if im not mistaken he said its running on 4 channel active crossover or something.

its still all alien to me -__-'

btw, when u adding a turbo to your honda? :P

hamzah said...

Ouwh hehe nice2.
What HU are u using bro? And what 4 speakers are u using?

Mine is 4 standard speakers but is already very loud and i add a woofer in the boot with an amplifier and didnt change the HU because already got a stock KENWOOD player. :)

Turbo? Right now cannot add because im still studying u know, maybe after i graduate and get a job then can plan everything nicely :)
hehe

Chew Soon said...

the speakers, amps and head unit are also alpine bro.

hehe, ok can always plan your mods slowly :)

Firdaus Asri said...

I'm Alpine die hard fan too. Used to run Alpine 7998R, ScanSpeak drivers and TRU T4.65 :)

But bro, poisons runs deep on you from now on hahaha

Chew Soon said...

ah haha, damn right bro. im already beyond redemption now!

kev said...

i will see how things goes bro, even jay leno used dynamat on his s600 and other rides he has. must be good stuff i bet. i will have to listen from various feedback before confirming

hamzah said...

Alpine?
Very good choice bro.
Good luck in your future mods.
Do more mods la bro cos i always open ur blog.
hehe :)

Chew Soon said...

kev, please do post up in your blog if you really decide to do your sound proofing :)

thanks a lot for the support bro hamzah, the car will be sent in for the stage 2 turbo upgrade around next week. but i don't think there will be any mods till then.

if u can think of any do let me know :)