The EPICENTER

FAQs

• What is bass restoration?

  Bass restoration, achieved through a processor such as The EPICENTER, is a technology designed to rebuild the low-frequency signals that are often filtered out or compressed during the recording process or by factory head units. Many modern car stereos automatically roll off the bass as the volume increases to protect cheap factory speakers, resulting in a thin, lifeless sound even after you've added a high-quality subwoofer. A bass restoration processor digitalizes the incoming signal, identifies the harmonics of the missing bass notes, and then re-synthesizes a clean, deep low-end wave that wasn't there before. This process is particularly beneficial for listeners of older recordings, classic rock, or compressed digital files, as it restores the physical impact and "rumble" that would otherwise be lost.

• Is bass restoration the same as bass boosting?

  No, bass restoration is technically different from bass boosting, as the former creates new signals while the latter merely amplifies existing ones. A bass boost acts like a focused equalizer, taking the low frequencies already present in the audio track and increasing their volume, which can often lead to distortion or "muddy" sound if the original signal is weak or clipped. In contrast, bass restoration uses digital processing to analyze the music's harmonics and re-synthesize entirely new low-frequency waves that were lost during compression or removed by factory radio safeguards. While a boost makes what you have louder, bass restoration adds back what is missing, making it a much more sophisticated tool for achieving deep, clean sub-bass in systems where the source material is lacking. However, bass restoration can be viewed as a bass booster in the sense that it "boosts" bass by adding bass that is not there.

• How do I set The EPICENTER?

  Setting The EPICENTER requires a careful balance between the input gain and the "Sweep" and "Wide" controls to ensure the bass is both impactful and musical. For a more in-depth tutorial, please see this EPICENTER article.

• Does The EPICENTER go before or after an equalizer?

  In a professional car audio signal chain, The EPICENTER should always be placed before the equalizer. Because The EPICENTER is a bass restoration processor that digitally creates new low-frequency information by analyzing the music's harmonics, it effectively adds "new" sound to the signal. By placing it before the equalizer, you ensure that you have full control over the newly generated bass, allowing you to use the EQ to fine-tune or cut any frequencies that might become overwhelming or muddy after the restoration process. If you were to place it after the EQ, any adjustments you made to the bass frequencies on your equalizer would be bypassed or altered by the restoration logic, making it much harder to achieve a clean, balanced, and distortion-free output.

• Does The EPICENTER need a full range signal?

  You will want to send a full range signal to The EPICENTER. Due to how The EPICENTER creates the low frequencies, it needs to see a full range signal. If you just send The EPICENTER a subwoofer signal, say 120 Hz and below, it will likely sound garbled, or muffled, not very defined. If you are using The EPICENTER with an aftermarket head unit that has a subwoofer output, and if it is possible to defeat the low pass crossover so that the subwoofer output is sending full range signal, then you could connect the sub output of the head unit to the inputs of The EPICENTER.

  Also, the Epicenter needs to be in the audio signal path before any EQ’s and crossovers in the system.