Fade: What is the best setting

[sip]

What is fade?

Mazda 3 manual does not give details of Fade: F1 to F8 and R1 to R8. I know F8 means only the front speakers and R8 means only the rear speakers. What do F1 to F& and R1 to R7 mean?

I have Alpine 5*7 coaxial speakers in the front and factory speakers in the rear. I feel I get the best sound at R2. How can this be? Shouldn't "F" settings such as F2 give better sound, as it would give more weight to the better Apline speakers.

Which fade do you set the radio to?

Thanks

[aris]

which ever sounds better ..that's the way i set mine..i listen to which sounds better :chuckle

[Malcolm991]

I have mine at R2, I find I get the best sound that way!

[KenYork]

What is fade?

Mazda 3 manual does not give details of Fade: F1 to F8 and R1 to R8. I know F8 means only the front speakers and R8 means only the rear speakers. What do F1 to F& and R1 to R7 mean?

I have Alpine 5*7 coaxial speakers in the front and factory speakers in the rear. I feel I get the best sound at R2. How can this be? Shouldn't "F" settings such as F2 give better sound, as it would give more weight to the better Apline speakers.

Which fade do you set the radio to?

Thanks

Fade is to balance the sound throughout the cabin of the car (mainly to your personal preference). Putting too much the the front(your Alpine speakers) probably makes them sound flat as all the music is coming from the front reducing the surround sound quality.

I have mine at R2.

[Flagrum_3]

which ever sounds better ..that's the way i set mine..i listen to which sounds better :chuckle

Exactly, every car/system, or listener will have thier own likings.Just set it to what sounds good to you.


_3

[sip]

Exactly, every car/system, or listener will have thier own likings.Just set it to what sounds good to you.


_3

I feel stupid changing the front speakers and then setting the fade to R2 but R2 appears to give the best sound.

[dentinger]

even.

but i have an aftermarket deck, speakers, subs, amps, everything.
so mine sounds pretty good at even.

(well, maybe its because i mis-wired my amps, and then if i fade to the rear, im fading corner to corner.... but thats not the point! :chuckle)

[cwp_sedan]

I run mine at 0 with my sub. Sometimes I change it to F2 or F4 yet other times it's R2. All depends of the song, etc.

[Aitch]

I feel stupid changing the front speakers and then setting the fade to R2 but R2 appears to give the best sound.

You're doing that because the Alpines don't provide the same low bass output as the stock speakers. Most front components or coaxial speakers benefit greatly from being run with a sub, for the best all-around sound. The new speakers will play with much more clarity for most mid- to high-range sounds, with some decent mid-bass, but not the low end that the stock speakers can do.

Of course, don't forget that the stock speakers don't really do low bass well.

[Mazda3X2]

In good stock or aftermarket systems "surround sound" or too much "rear fill" is avoided. The goal; to produce a realistic "sound stage" in your vehicle's cabin.

With properly recorded material you should be able to sit back, close your eyes and imagine you are at a live recording. The stage in front of you extending out beyond the limits of your dash. Each instrument or singer should be distinguishable from the rest amongst this sound stage. Just the right amount "rear fill" would be dialed in to give a feeling of ambiance and spaciousness. Not to take away from the front presence.

Hope this helps, I used to install for a living years ago. Sometimes it's an unrealistic goal with factory systems unless they are fairly high end.