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How do I control the tower speakers (on or off)?


dougs09chally

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I am adding 4 tower speakers and an amp to my system but I want to be able to control if they are on or off independent of the rest of the stereo. Can I run the amp power through one of the empty dash switches so I can shut it off if I don't want them on or do I need to buy a seperate control unit to either control the amp power or the output to the tower speakers?

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there are some options for you. But either way you can have an external adjustment knob that you can locate on the drivers side. That way you can even adjust the volume from off to full power. Lots of people will install a PAC-LC1 to do this.

0910rc_12_z+music_solutions_for_vintage_cars+pac_lc1.jpg

I am sure that you will get lots of ideas from other members.

Good luck.

Edited by Malibuzer
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This is great, I've been wondering this for a long time. I anchor in all the time and have the tower facing the beach, but to get the music loud enough to enjoy on the shore I have to crank all of the speaker up so high it feels like I'm wasting valuable battery power on the interior speakers which are pointless when I'm out of the boat.

Is this something a normal person can install or do I need a stereo guru to do?

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The pac connector volume control pretty much just plugs in.

If you just want an on/off switch then a switch on the remote turn on wire for the amplifier is all you need. Of course, this assumes you are using a different amp for the in boats versus the towers.

No guru needed, but if you are really not handy a competent friend might be in order.

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It's not hard at all. You just find the rca cables going to each amp from your deck and put this in line with them.

Now your talking about running the towers loud without the interrior and sub correct?

If so you'd need to put the lc1 on the interrior and sub so when you are sending a large signal to you towers to play loud you can lower the signal strength to the sub and interriors using the LC1.

It's kind of hard to see but if you look below my switches you can see a panel with 3 dials on it. This is how I control my system using LC1's. One for sub one for tower and one for interrior. 774221AB-0A17-47A8-BE7D-3755FE263B4D-2466-000001AC8A46218A.jpg

They are cheap and easy to install.

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or if you don't mind spending $300 you can pick up a wetsounds 420 eq which can individually control the volume and frequencies of boat speakers, tower speakers and sub. Also includes a PA system

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Or if you don't like how the overpriced WS420 works, I'll sell you a pretty darn nice and lightly used clarion eqs746 for cheap (probably not more than two pac lc-1s, but with more functionality).

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I don't think the ws 420 would work for what he want to do, if I'm reading right he wants to be able to independently turn off the inboats speakers and still run the tower and sub. With the 420 if you turn the inboats off it also turns the sub off also (at least that's how mine works)

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I don't think the ws 420 would work for what he want to do, if I'm reading right he wants to be able to independently turn off the inboats speakers and still run the tower and sub. With the 420 if you turn the inboats off it also turns the sub off also (at least that's how mine works)

zactly.

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I have triple zone control with the EQS-746. I can independently control the volume (from off to max) on sub, in-boat speakers, and tower speakers. There's nothing ground breaking or unique about 95% of the EQ's on the market, they all come from the same place. http://www.easoco.com.tw/eqalizer1.html

I like the current EQ's from Cadence, they both have USB inputs.

http://www.cadencesound.com/categories/Signal-Processors/

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  • 4 weeks later...

there are some options for you. But either way you can have an external adjustment knob that you can locate on the drivers side. That way you can even adjust the volume from off to full power. Lots of people will install a PAC-LC1 to do this.

0910rc_12_z+music_solutions_for_vintage_cars+pac_lc1.jpg

I am sure that you will get lots of ideas from other members.

Good luck.

I just installed this in line with my amp driving my tower speakers. It works fantastic! I plan to add another one to control my sub. Thanks for the tip!

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If you can wait....W/S will be cmoning out with a signifacntly upgraded EQ with Triple Zone Control and major improvements over the last one. I would expect a spring time launch!

of course they are, i just installed my ws420 this year. :sarcasm:

I wish I could truly turn off my amps, not just turn the volume all the way down. Reason being I can hear the faintest hiss from my tower speakers when the volume is at 0 if I stand anywhere close to them. The gain on my tower amp, harpoon, is only 50-60%. no one else notices it, but it bugs me. Maybe my winter project will be to wire amps to accessory switches.

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I purchased a JL Audio Amp for my tower speakers because they offer a true remote "volume" knob for their amps (not tone control like the RF amps). The volume knob uses ethernet cable (I purchased the appropriate length cable from monoprice.com for a couple dollars) and I just ran it around the nose of the boat and zap-strapped the cable to the existing cables up there. I then mounted the volume knob in the helm area. I like being able to independently volume control my tower speakers. I don't like blasting my neighbors on our lake. When I'm close to our dock, I turn the tower speakers down/off, when we get a little further away, I crank them. It's also convenient to be able to quickly control the volume when you turn around to pick up a down boarder/skier.

When I get my next boat, I also intend to put the bow speakers on independent volume control--no need to blast music up there if no one is sitting up there.

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Could always use the fader...pending how you have it wired. And spend ZERO

True, but it is not very convenient to have to go into the menu on my head unit, find the fader option (which is at least 5 steps to navigate to it on my unit) just to adjust the volume of the tower speakers, not to mention where Malibu puts the stereo on these boats is not the easiest location to make stereo adjustments especially while you are driving. This control is mounted right on the dash and it quickly adjusts the volume (or turns them right off) without ever having to take your eyes off the water. And at 20 bucks it is the best money I have spent on my system. Like I said, I plan to add more of them to control all of my zones as it is so much easier than going through the head unit even though, yes, it is possible.

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I have a Sony HU in my boat feeding 4 in cabin sony speakers (I know I need to upgrade them). I have a 4 channel amp that is controlled by the HU and I can kill power to the amp using a dash switch. I have 4 tower speakers and 1 sub. If what I am reading is correct, I should be able to place a PAC1 for the tower speakers and another for the sub to have individual control while just leaving the HU volume set to a standard level for cabin speakers. The cabin speakers are not running into the amp.

I am just looking for an easy way to have control of the tower and sub from the dash without having to flip the stereo cover and get into the menu. I am also tired of putting towels over the in cabin speakers while running the tower and I know I can unhook the cabin speakers but we use those a lot while parked. I was looking into a 4 channel preamp EQ but it looks like two of these would do the same thing. Is this correct?

EDIT- After reviewing my post, since I have the towers on 2 channels of the amp and the sub on the 3rd I guess if I put a PAC-1 in line then I would be controlling both the sub and towers since they are on the same amp (which really isn't a big deal as right now when I ramp volume I increase cabins, towers and sub).

Edited by wedge88
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I have a Sony HU in my boat feeding 4 in cabin sony speakers (I know I need to upgrade them). I have a 4 channel amp that is controlled by the HU and I can kill power to the amp using a dash switch. I have 4 tower speakers and 1 sub. If what I am reading is correct, I should be able to place a PAC1 for the tower speakers and another for the sub to have individual control while just leaving the HU volume set to a standard level for cabin speakers. The cabin speakers are not running into the amp.

I am just looking for an easy way to have control of the tower and sub from the dash without having to flip the stereo cover and get into the menu. I am also tired of putting towels over the in cabin speakers while running the tower and I know I can unhook the cabin speakers but we use those a lot while parked. I was looking into a 4 channel preamp EQ but it looks like two of these would do the same thing. Is this correct?

EDIT- After reviewing my post, since I have the towers on 2 channels of the amp and the sub on the 3rd I guess if I put a PAC-1 in line then I would be controlling both the sub and towers since they are on the same amp (which really isn't a big deal as right now when I ramp volume I increase cabins, towers and sub).

In reading your comments, I see where there are times where you are muffling the in-boats while trying to get volume out to the rider through the tower speakers. With those in-boats driven off the head-unit, no amount of PAC1 line level controllers will help with this dilemma. The Line-level controller only "turns down" the amount of signal to the amp thats passing through it. it can not create a signal above that of the head-unit. So n matter what, the in-boats will be playing at the level you have the head-unit volume set at and the tower speakers will play up to the level.

To have a more true zone control, you will need to install an amp for the in-boats and then use 2 line-level controllers or other zone controller/EQ type device. This would allow you to set the main head-unit volume at 75% of max, then use the controllers to independently adjust the tower and in-boat zone. You should be able to also have a 3rd, sub, zone as well. this would be dependent upon the zone controller you choose and how you configure the signal cables.

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wedge88,

You have a common situation where added or redundant controls will only give you more convenient control over the subwoofer and tower speakers, but not the source unit driven speakers. However, until you add a small external amplifier to drive the in-boat speakers, rather than these running off the internal source unit power, you will never have full control. Whether using RCA line level controllers or an EQ, the external amplifier will eventually have to be added.

In the short term you can fade away from half the in-boat speakers on the source unit and use a simple multi-pole on/off switch to turn off the dash speakers.

David

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wedge88,

You have a common situation where added or redundant controls will only give you more convenient control over the subwoofer and tower speakers, but not the source unit driven speakers. However, until you add a small external amplifier to drive the in-boat speakers, rather than these running off the internal source unit power, you will never have full control. Whether using RCA line level controllers or an EQ, the external amplifier will eventually have to be added.

In the short term you can fade away from half the in-boat speakers on the source unit and use a simple multi-pole on/off switch to turn off the dash speakers.

David

Thanks David. Do you have a recommendation for a small external amp for in cabin speakers? The current setup was the way the shop did our install initially as I didn't want the in cabin on an amp as we sit at the dock and park in a cove and run the cabin speakers for hours and I didn't want the additional battery drain but it looks like this is the way I have to go to achieve the control I would like. Your help is greatly appreciated and will surely return some business for Earmark.

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wedge88,

If you have no more than four in-boat speakers then you need a two-channel amplifier that is both 2-ohm stable and has a variable highpass filter. If you have dash speakers then you may want to consider a four-channel amplifier instead so that you can gain the dash speakers independently to offset for their positional advantage and better balance them with the rear cockpit speakers for example. I can only give you the applicational information on the forum. Others here may have specific brand/model recommendations for you.

David

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wedge88,

Also, if you are not a do-it-youself-guy and are dependent on a local dealer for installation of an amplifier and zone controls in one form or another plus the related cables, then I would see the local dealer about your equipment. If you don't know who to see then I know of and can privately refer you to some pretty good people in your area.

David

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