I made this thread to see why people would need one or not in any install regardless of the goal at hand, and which ones are a good choice (SQ/SPL for competition or not, Daily Drivers, or just trying the squeeze the most out of their speakers). This tread is also good for people like myself to help decide to see if they worth getting. So would all the car audio gurus please chime in with this one, and hopefully we'll get this threat turned into a sticky. Thanks

 

I like to run external processors as you can really fine tune your system exactly how you want it. For example with the Zapco DSP6-SL you can adjust x-over settings, time delay's, phase adjustments as well as a fully customizable 10 band EQ per channel. I just love that I could boost say 2181Hz or low pass my subs at 72Hz or something like that. You can choose your own frequencies and aren't stuck with the assigned frequencies like all the other EQ's and x-over's out there. There's no sense in spending thousands on the best equipment only to have it sound like crap because you didn't spend any money on a processor.

 

The room acoustics in a car are just crazy bad mainly due to the internal volume and the geometry. The car cabin height, width, and interior length are almost the perfect disaster ratio of 1:2:3. No acoustic engineer in his right mind would even bother starting on a room started off this bad but we car owners do.

It's been three years since I did an acoustical analysis of my Z using a calibrated lab microphone (borrowed from work), a noise generator, and spectrum analyzer to scope out my Z but I do remember some just amazingly terrible resonances. Working the math I found them to be at the three primary axis of the vehicle. A parametric equalizer was able to tame each one of them a bit. I would have loved a +30 band 1/3rd octave equalizer to tweak them out but stopped playing with my system before adding it.

As a purest I may choose to argue silk purses and sow's ears but it is fun to try to get good sound out of a car. There is a fairly low point of diminishing returns just as there is with home systems. I don't go for $1500 speaker cables or $800 AC outlets nor do I think that $8000 worth of speakers, headends, and amplifiers need to be poured into a Z to get a decent sound - figure about half of that.

 

Right now I'm stuck between buying one and not, and if I do I'm kinda stuck between the RF 3Sixty.2, the Alpine PXE-H650, and the Audio Control DQXS.

http://mobileaudiocontrol.com/produc...47&l1=5247&l2=

http://www.alpine-usa.com/US-en/prod...model=PXE-H650

http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/produ...item_id=106187

But what I'd like to know is how hard is it for a novice like me to program, and what are some conciderations one needs to take when self tuning with a DEQ

 

If those were the three I'd have to choose from, I'd probably go with the RF 3SIXTY.2. Are you planning to tune this by ear or RTA?

 

ear since IDK what RTA is

 

What is RTA? Real Time Analyzer?

 

Yep.

 

Do you mind expaining what it is and what it does?

 

Basically it analyzes frequency reponse in real time. Google it.

 

It's a spectrum analyzer which measures the amplitude of the sounds frequency-by-frequency normally displaying them in a bar graph. I use TrueAudio and have an AudioControl SA-3050A analyzer.

http://www.trueaudio.com/rta_faq1.htm

http://www.audiocontrolindustrial.com/

 

Alpine Imprint. Done. I have set mine up one time and love it.

 

I've read a little about the imprint. I heard its a good system, but people have been having a hard time with the system tuning out bass/

 

i think whether or not you need a true trunk mount EQ depeends on the system yo uhave and the ultimate goal oyu are trying to achieve.

for me and my installs, its a pretty clear distinction the types of installs i get an EQ for, and those i dont. almost always, the ones that i get a outboard processor for features fully active front stage installed in SQ oriented locations...

as far as good digital EQs, i dont really like the 3sixty.2, its not very open sounding and the cleanest processor out there, the imprint i dont really consider in the same breath as a real digital EQ, you have very little real control over it. I feel its more like a SQ for idiots type of system, very easy to get your system to sound very good, but beyond that, you dont have much control over the finer details.

audio control units are very clean, but for me, they lack a few key features that made me shy away from them, for one, lack of time alignment, and two, the in ability on many units to overlap or seprate crossover points, meaning say i want the midbass to cut offat 1500hz but the tweweter to not start until 2000hz, the audiocontrol units cant do that...

for me, the trunk mount eqs, i use most is the zapco DSP6, alpine H701 when used in conjunction wtih an alpine double din....there are many others, but those two for me are the ones to use unless you really have boatloads of cash.

 

I have a buddy that works for a car audio shop here in Dallas, he did mine, one shot, and I have had no problems. Sounds great, and the sub setup is perfect too.

 

anyone try zapco eq's?

 

what do you need to know? i have one in my car nad have sold and installed quite a few dsp6s and DC reference amps

b

 

That alpine system looks pretty awesome.

I have an Onkyo home theater amp with the auto speaker setup and it works awesome. Now I'm tempted to spend more money.