I am looking into getting an EQ for my car but I need to see a pic of the Alpine EQ fully installed. If anyone has one please post . If I am not mistaken the EQ goes where the cig lighter used to be?

Also, can you use any other EQ other than Alpine's even though my main unit is Alpine? If so, any better Eq's that anyone care to mention?

Thanks again !

 

Diesel - Which unit do ya have? Some of the Alpine units like those with Ai-Net will only interface with other Ai-Net pieces. I personally like my RF Symmetry but it's a tad expensive with the 28 band EQ card. Audio Control & Precision Power make good ones as well.

 

Mean Gene, I got the IVA-C800 as a head-unit. The EQ goes for around $600 if I am not mistaken? I remember waaaayy back on the old CL , that I saw your sweet setup. I remember you had that EQ in place of the cig lighter

Would the Audio Control and Precision Power both be compatable with the IVA? Thanks again man !

 

dont forget Zapco & Arcaudio EQs. Pretty sweet pieces for the price.

Heya Genie...are you considering ID ONE yet? That unit will definetely be the first on the market of car audio EQs!

 

If you use the ERAG-320 eq with your IVA-C800, you can install it without the din sized face, It will plug straight into the hide away brain of the IVA and all the controls will be displayed on the IVA. It works very well. However if you're looking for a nicer eq for competiton purposes, may I suggest an AudioControl or Phoenix gold 1/3 octive eq, but if your just looking for some extra control on the system and a few more bells and whistles, then the Alpine is definately the way to go with that head unit.

 

I'd stay FAR AWAY from the ERAG320. The absolute WORST eq/processor that's been in my car. The system had more dynamics without the 320 in the chain. Signal to noise is ok but the channel seperation and digital filtering is just plain awful with the 320.

It's not too hard to install the Audiocontrol or other EQ's in the system. Just take it from the output of the head unit, feed it into the eq and then take the eq output to the amp of your choice. Easy!

I dumped my ERAG320 pretty quickly. Don't go for the PXAH600 model either...muddiest sounding parametric with limited adjustability. Tried fiddling around with one of those and it didn't impress me at all.

Percy

 

The best car audio eq/processor is alpines new h-900 it is very expensive $4000.00 but nothing will touch it, you can eq each individual speaker, Dolby digital decoder, 9- burr-brown k-grade d/a converters etc.......

As far as a units that if affordable I would go with a audio control, some of there parametric eqs are nice if you like to constantly play with the setting, there 1/2 octave and 1/3 octave units are a bit of a pain to set up with the little ***** everywhere but once set they are not easily bumped out of position like a phoenix gold piece.

 

Diesel - Like reLex says, if ya want just a little more tunability then an Alpine graphic EQ is probably all U need. To compete needs at least a parametric EQ & with the advent of 5.1 processors, that might be my next step if I decide to keep competing. In my ride, that's actually the RDAT for the Symmetry in place of the ashtray - the brain is back in the trunk. Haven't put the pics here - been sending everyone to my friend's website since he's already put the pics up there. www.aceaudio.net & click "Custom Installation". Haven't heard the ERAG unit but if Percy has a problem with it, then I'd steer clear of it. The other units should interface with your IVA. How do things sound w/o any EQ? If it's OK then U run the risk of adding a piece of electronics that isn't necessary & might inject some noise into the system. Some of the best systems I've heard rely on very little processing because the basic equipment was first rate & well laid out & installed. Let YOUR ears be the judges!!

 

kobiejohn,

The H900 sounds interesting. Any other info on this piece? It sounds like an offshoot of the XESZ50 since they were also using PCM1702K grade 20 bit d/a's. If Alpine is smart, then they'll use the PCM1704K 24 bit d/a's. Sony's xdp4000x is using the CS43xx series which was a bitstream converter. Actually sounded (from others feedback) identical to the XESZ50.

If you're comparing units with identical d/a's (20 bit or 24 bit ladder type) then the difference is in the analog op amp "front end" which is the first and last component a input signal will see. I know that Zapco and other companies will still use the decades old TL074 op amp. Crappy sounding but cost effective. But the company would rather pay a nickel for an op amp versus 5 to 25 bucks for an op amp. Helps cut down on cost.

As Gene says, let your ears be the judges. I'm just here to sort through the technobabble hype.

Percy

 

Thanks guys. I'll let my ears do the judging now