Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Audio Dnewma04???????

Dave, In planing my system I have come to a delema. The delema is to equelize or not to eqeulize? I like the idea of an EQ that mounts uder the head unit for ease of access. Do you recomend any particular EQ's? I only want the EQ to make fine adjustments and minor tweaking. Since I started researching EQ's I have become very confused! Do you recomend any particular brands or models? Any I should stay away from? Just a list of the brands I've looked at so far is Lanzar,Pyle,Audio Control and a few PPI's. Any help you could give on this subject would be great. Any one may chime in. Thanks.

PPI and Audiocontrol kind of stand out from the rest of the pack as far as easy to find consumer products. I would somewhat hesitate to recommend an in dash unit unless it is a 4-5 band parametric EQ. They allow you to customize the freq and the Q (width of the freqs affected). I haven't come across a 7 or 11 band EQ that I have found that is worthwhile for much. An EQ is one of those things that should be set once and left alone. I don't buy into the philosphy that different types of music should have different EQ settings. If you set up your system correctly, the recording (CD) should handle all of the bass boosting, treble cutting, not the listener. Basically, if you adjust it for certain types of music, it's fine if you like your music that way, but if you want an accurate representation of the music on the recording just leave them alone. now after all that babbling, based on the above, I really think that a multi band Audio control (EQL) would be the ideal solution for you. It has somewhere around 18 bands (i'm doing this from memory), it is incredibly reliable, has some pretty good tuning options, and is very cheap on ebay.

does that help?


gotta go to a wild game dinner so i won't be replying for the rest of the day. but i'll check in tomorrow. There are a number of others on the site that can probably do a great job of getting you the info you want.

Obviously Dave has wayyy more experience with car audio than do I, but perhaps I can provide some of my personal thoughts on the use of equalization devices.

Like Dave said, many professional installers will honestly state they do not condone using EQ's or similar equipment in their own installations. This is primarily because you are introducing another device into the signal path that can degrade or otherwise alter the system's sound in subtle & not-so-subtle ways that were never intended.
In other words, the simpler & more direct the signal path, the better. I am not an audio/electrical engineer so I can't explain the technical details of why this is true, but suffice to say this is the rule of thumb. Perhaps Dave can go into more detail.

Also, the belief of installers to avoid using such devices is due to the fact the head unit should provide enough adjustability (bass, treble, mid range, etc.) to satisfy just about anyone. Adding another device that allows even more adjustments can result in horribly unnatural music reproduction due to the potential for someone who is unfamiliar with an EQ's operation & limitations to become confused.

Likewise a competent professional installer will be certain that the basic component selection & location of the various speakers adequately compensate for any sonic "holes" or other deficiencies in a particular vehicle's interior that an EQ or similar device is intended to remedy via its adjustability.
Of course not everyone can afford or would necessarily want to have their vehicle interior completely rebuilt so that all of the speakers will be installed in their ideal locations, therefore the popularity of EQ's & similar components.

Such is the case with the system in my SVT. Originally I did not have the Eclipse 2101 parametric equalizer installed as I thought the adjustments on the Nakamichi CD-40z head unit would be sufficient. However, after several months of highly critical listening & making adjustments almost continuously in an attempt to tailor the sound to my preference, I ultimately decided to add the EQ. Now I am completely satisfied with the overall balance in my car.
Although I must admit to being a bit curious about the Audio Control HPX Spatial Expander device, if only to see how it affects the sound compared to just the EQ.

I guess I'm just a hopeless gadget twiddler... :rolleyes:

I got this advice from an old pro that won several world finals,

"If you need 30 bands of equalization, your doing something wrong"

Now that would not apply if your going for absolute flat response (which doesnt sound good to your ears) So i would go with a parameteric EQ, I loved my Alpine H600 processor, time delay and a 5 band parameteric EQ in one. It is no longet in production, but silimar models are available, and its not too far out of the price range of the EQT's by Audio Control or PPI's 30 band EQ. The H600 also had an adjustable Q for even better control of each band.

I am of the opinion that an EQ is instrumental in car audio. The car is far from being an ideal listening environment, and you have to compensate for alot inside the car.

You have to contend with outside noise,resonant frequencies within the car, imperfect speaker enclosures, speaker placement, etc... You'd be amazed at what good door and cabin preparation and equalization will do for sound quality.

Anyone on this board that has heard my system will vouch for that. (I'm not trying to brag, just trying to make a point. :p )

I am using a Phoenix Gold 215ix Equalizer, and I love it. It really has made all the difference between having a mediocre soundsystem and a great soundsystem.
If you are going to spend money on an EQ, I would suggest getting one that is versatile and precise, preferably trunk mounted,with multiple bands, and separate controls for both left and right channels.
Once it is set, you shouldn't have to go back to it. Like Dnewma04 said, set it and forget it. BTW, I find that when you resort to the bass and treble settings on the HU, it "muddies", or colors the sound. The adjustments are much cleaner on a good quality EQ.

My 0.02$.....

I'm in agreement with just about everything posted here. You shouldn't need a 30 band EQ, but if you don't have a parametric EQ, you may be forced to get a 20-30 band because every car reacts differently and freq boosts and drops can occur anywhere.

Only issue with parametrics is the cost.

SVT Contour, the biggest detriment to a system from an EQ is dial happy users arbitrarily boosting and cuttin freq. The signal chain applies more to home systems then it does to cars because of the much higher ambient noise of a vehicle.

For competition purposes it can mean the difference between first and last, for a non-competition vehicle, it's debatable whether it's necessary.

Dave,
I believe that was what I was trying to convey when I stated the following:



Perhaps I didn't express it clearly.

Yeah, i meant to point out that i read that, but I wanted to say that any noise added to the signal chain by using an EQ would be negligible.