Alpine BBE processor?

[cjv998]

Hey everyone, my Alpine head unit (3DA-W882) has a BBE (Barcus-Berry Electronics) processor with 3 levels (4 if you include "off") built in. I know what the description says it does (something along the lines of "corrects phase distortion inherent in loudspeaker design while increasing low and high frequencies"), but I want to know what it actually does. Does it just increase my equalizer levels for the higher and lower bands, or is there actually phase correction involved?

Oh, also, it has an S.P.S. feature (sound position system, or something like that) which adjust the sound based on where you're sitting in the car. All this seems to do is change my balance and fader settings. Does anyone know if it does any more than this?

[kapone]

ive never heard of that model how old is it ..?

[Phempa]

The BBE Sonic Maximizer is an amazing technology that can be applied with hardware (ie. your CD player, standalone unit, rackmount) or by audio program plugin on a PC or mac.

I transfer, master, track and flac a lot of live music recordings, and in the mastering phase, BBE is almost ALWAYS used.


I will try to describe it as simply as possible, by describing it as it was to me the first time.

Sound frequencies have opposite frequencies on the other end of the sound spectrum which have the power to cancel the opposing sound out to the human ear. For example, many people who live in noisy areas use sound emulators at night time to cancel out whatever noises that may be there. They may use some sort of white noise to cancel out traffic, or maybe a static gray noise to cancel out the sounds of the restaurant downstairs when trying to sleep. These noises contain frequencies that attempt to "cover" the undesired noises. When in unison, the person would hear nothing at all.
When listening to music, the same formula applies. Inadvertently, some of the lower frequencies may cancel out the higher frequencies.
Now, I'm not sure where the line is on the frequency scale, or how to define where the frequencies opposing frequency is, but this is basically what that "phase cancellation" nonsense is all about.
BBE attempts to adjust the release of certain frequencies so they hit your ears either slightly after or slightly before (depending on your processing desire; low or high) so one doesn't cancel the other out.
Usually, bass is the culprit, and takes over a recording making the vocals and higher frequencies less evident (although they are still there, just harder to hear).
Applying a bit of Process will make the higher frequencies release sooner, making them more "hearable".
It works the same way with the bass, but is usually not needed unless the recording has too strong highs or vocals. Applying some Lo Contour will make the lower frequencies release sooner, canceling some of the nasty highs.
I recently needed to fix a source with some severe high-pitched static, and using the Lo Contour worked wonders.
I should also note that different sound frequencies travel at different speeds. BBE will adjust accordingly to make the sounds hit your ears at the appropriate times.


Here is one song from a show I taped in December.
The first one is the raw file, unedited.
The second one is with about 60% BBE processing.

http://phempa.net/media/strom1.ogg (right click, save as...)
http://phempa.net/media/strom2.ogg (right click, save as...)

That should give you an idea of what BBE does. It definitely inproves the sonic quality of the music.

Here's what the BBE module looks like in Steinberg Wavelab 5


Here's a rackmount BBE unit


Here's a BBE standalone


/me droooools

[cjv998]

Thanks Phempa, awesome post. So now I understand how BBE in general works. Is the sound cancellation you mentioned similar to the noise reduction algorithms the new noise-cancelling headphones work? Don't they just produce the same frequency, but have it out of phase with the original so it interferes destructively?

Also, the 3DA-W882 was Alpine's top of the line head unit around 1997 or 1998 (double-DIN, 3-disc changer, 7-band EQ, etc.)

By the way, I notice when I set the BBE processor to 2 or 3 (the higher settings) my tweeters and sub seem too loud. Would I be better off leaving the BBE setting higher and lowering those frequencies on my equalizer, or should I leave the BBE at 1 or off, and have the EQ set higher?

[accordztech]

hehe i have the 3da w880 which is the one with no preouts just sub out and all those features.

i like bbe, dont like sps...didnt feel the need for it with my 4 channel amp.

its a cool deck, ai-net that came out in like 98?

its in my accord =)

[casterX]

anyone got a BBE 3012(car audio) for sale? i've been hunting this thing for some good years now..