actually if ur eq is done right, 1 setting is more than enuff.....

diff eq for diff music is just mean that the sound are not producing as how it should be.

good installations and good placement for speaker, then sure will less EQ tuning, cos u have less acoustics problem into ur car.

bad installations or ban placement for speaker, sure got alot of acoutics problem, then u need EQ to help u settle it.

Less EQ tuning and more natural sound.

thats what id prefer

Nature Sound Design

just take my friend setting from pioneer unit , ( quit nice sound from he setup )

Features ( ASR )
-level 1

Audio setting
Equalizer
*select custom = 100hz ( +2 )
= 315hz ( +3 )
= 1.25khz ( 0 )
= 3.15khz ( -3 )
= 8khz ( + 4 )
*Loud = off ( if on , not nice for SQ )
*Sub-woofer = Normal
*Lpf = 50hz
*sub booster = 0
*Hpf = 50hz or 63hz
*Sla = +2

wow, proper RTA to EQ FR.
can you be my sifu to tune for me?

how bout pioneer 7250sd?

can tune for me?

i wan balance sound

so verdict about the 6350d is?

good and convenience hu
but doesnt not sq entry level...

argee with u.
HU design nice, but for sound quality。。。。。。。lebih kurang with entry level one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYTlN6wjcvQ
Suggest to spend some time to watch this video(acc shop operators may stay out from this), download the audio files from his website and listen to them. And when you really understand what this video means, you will know that a lot things are not needed in the first place......
Pioneer 2011 HUs are using rm8 BurrBrown DACs.
And like minivanman from DIYMA said : The ability to buy expensive equipment does NOT make you an audiophile.

Diyma are full with enthusiast~
quite true that just spending money doesn't make you an audiophile
but sometime they are quite stubborn, insisting their audio theory
without noticing the vast difference between a home environment and in car environment
But still, its a good place to learn more...

i think i can add also... the ability to talk jargons and able to state all technical stuff of one equipment also does not make u an audiophile

In an actual SQ ICE competition, what do the judges want to hear? Natural sound? or something else.

Suggest go to DIYMA, type EMMA, Focal disc...... Then you will know better how a competetion being done and the standard you need to have....
Or Yahoo/Google is another source for you....

a lot more than that...
the natural sound you are talking about are categorized as : listening pleasure
Then you got staging part (ultra far right, far right, right,center,left,far left,ultra far left) height & depth
Then you got level matching part ( sound from tweeter, mid,midbass,sub) if not balance then kena deduct
Then you got installation part (normally for sq experienced unlimited) certain category is sound only
Roughly about this... further information can check with google

I ask because recently went inside a car that won 3rd prize in a SQ competition. There's nothing special that I hear to make him beat other competitors. Perhaps my ear not audiophile enough.

Your ear no need to be an audiophile ears, it is a myth anyway....
What a judge need is, preception bias and expectation bias....
When a track is being played, the judge are expecting themself to listen to certain things. Like in 1:15 they need to hear kickdrum playing strong, if got, got point, else, lesser or no point.
That's why they need to have a "standard" CD for this.....
When there's competetions, there's hanky panky stories going on.... Do you ever see private individual can score more points compare to participants from acc shops? Somemore you have to see who sponsored the competetion....
That's another reason why competetion cars usually no for leisure listening....

it depends on whether u know what to listen for and what not to listen for... if the former, u appreciate, if the latter everything sounds the same to u.

oh ya... plz ignore the post above it as it is usually written by those who had not been to a competition, never been INSIDE a competition car, never PARTICIPATE in a competition nor never AUDIT a competition car.