DSP Tuning Guide, Part 2: Taking Your Measurements

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1. Position the microphone

Mount the AMI's measurement microphone at ear height in the primary listening position — driver's seat, headrest height, roughly where your head sits when driving. Use a mic stand or tripod if you have one; if not, the headrest itself works fine for a first pass.

2. Keep the cabin quiet

Close the doors and windows, turn off the engine and fans, and get out of the car if your cable length allows — or sit as still as possible if you can't. Road noise and rustling both show up in the measurement.

3. Run your first sweep

  1. In DSP PC Tool 6, open the RTA (Real-Time Analyzer) module.
  2. Select the AMI as your measurement input.
  3. Run a sweep of the mic at a moderate, comfortable volume — loud enough to read clearly above any residual noise floor, not loud enough to risk your ears or your speakers.
  4. Take 2–3 sweeps and compare them. They should look near-identical — if not, check your mic hasn't moved and try again.

4. Save your measurement

Save the measurement file before moving on — you'll feed this directly into TuneEQ and ATM in the next step, and it's worth having a saved copy in case you want to re-tune later without measuring from scratch.

Don't have a DSP amp or processor to tune yet? Browse the full Car DSP Amplifiers range or our standalone DSP processors before you start.

Next: Part 3 — Auto-Tuning with TuneEQ & ATM →