Stereo Help! Head Unit vs Equalizer

[bwhitfield85]

Ok guys this may be a battle but here goes.

I am tired of the head unit in my 2002 sunsetter but before I start looking at other head units should I just put an equalizer in its place since all of our music is on iPhones or other devices. The boat does have Sirius radio but that is its own device also.

Let me know your thoughts or if you have done away with your head units let me know how you like it.

[Ronnie]

I don't have or need a HU. Bluetooth to the EQ from the iPhone. Stream my playlists, a Guest's playlist, Pandora or NoShoesRadio.com. There's internet radio too if you're so inclined. I do have good internet reception on the lake though (LTE).

[Bobby Light]

I think given your listening style is a logical choice. Just keep in mind that your iphone/ipod or whatever then becomes your remote for music selection etc.. I have no head unit either.

[bwhitfield85]

Well my transom remote and driver remote have not worked since I took out the POS head unit that came in the boat when it was new. So I am not worried about not having the remotes in the boat. My question is will the EQ run the amps? I am kinda stereo knowledge challenged so as long as they will work the same as the head unit and its little blue remote wire which what that really does I have no idea. Any help guys is appreciated or pics of your EQ's installed. Also did you put yours under the arm rest where the head unit goes or somewhere else.

What brand should I even consider?

[shawndoggy]

Yes an EQ will run the amps (and only amps... so for instance if you currently power any speakers from the headunit, you'll need to get them on an amp).

You need to wire power, ground, remote turn on, and in some cases illumination. If you wire the whole thing to a switch on the dash, power and turn on can be a single lead (from the switch), with a jumper between the two on the EQ. Purdy easy to wire up. Alternatively you could take your HU's red (remote turn on) yellow (B+) and black (B-) wires and run them to the eq and it'd work the same way that your HU does.

Clarion EQS746 -- cheap(ish), lots of people have used them, sounds great, price is right. Some might find tiny knobs and fixed sub xover cutoff limiting. Best bang for the buck by a country mile.

Exile ZLD -- big knobs, sounds great (a little better than the Clarion on the subwoofer section). Really low noise floor (must stick head inside tower speakers in a very quiet garage to hear any hiss).

Wetounds WS420SQ -- newly redesigned kid on the block. functions differently than other popular EQs, with tower and cabin EQs in one, and a hollaback mike to use your tower speakers as a P.A. system. Have used the predecessor ws420, but not the new "SQ" version. You'll love it or you'll hate it.

Audiocontrol 4.1 also looks really interesting. Haven't ever used one but have read lots of good stuff about them.

[bwhitfield85]

All of the speakers both cabin and tower are on 2 separate amps so there are no speakers being powered by the head unit. I understand about the ground and power wires as I plan on running those from the same place the amps pull power from. I guess my question is about this remote wire..... does that need to go form the EQ to each sub or how is that wired? I know that is prolly a dumb question but I am much better at rebuilding an engine then electronic s*** lol.

[shawndoggy]

oh the remote turn on lead to the amps. Gotcha. You can do that with a relay.

you can use whatever you want to trigger the relay (pin 86)... probably just use the power signal to the EQ. So whatever turns on the EQ also turns on the relay, which in turn turns on your amps.

Here's five for about $10. Use one to setup your amp turn on and keep four more to impress your friends or use as spares, or whatever: http://www.amazon.com/Pack-Relay-Harness-Bosch-Style/dp/B007M47SW0/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1366662347&sr=8-11&keywords=bosch+relay

Edited April 22, 2013 by shawndoggy

[Ronnie]

Audio Control EQ & turn on switch. Switch turns on EQ and Amps. Switched totally separate from key switch.

[bwhitfield85]

Stereo electronics gives me a headache lol I think I understand what you are saying ............ sometimes its like reading Chinese literature hahahaha. I need to recruit a friend that is good at audio wiring and just buy him a 12 pack of beer.

[shawndoggy]

Ronnie's way totally works too, but IME it could possibly result in some "turn on thump." It's not a guarantee that it will, but it could.

Relays aren't hard but it makes sense to play with one a little bit to figure out how it works. It's just a switch that is turned on by another switch.

[robtr8]

The blue wire from the old HU provides a 12 volt supply to turn on your amps.

The blue wire on the EQ needs to be supplied with a 12 volt source to turn on the EQ, just like the amps.

I added a "stereo" switch cover to an existing un-used dash switch and use it to power all of the blue wires.

I try to remember to pause or stop the music player before switching off the stereo, otherwise I get a thump, sometimes.

[bwhitfield85]

Thanks guys I appreciate the help and also to know others are just running the EQ and not a head unit. Again if you guys have pics of where you mounted post them.

[robtr8]

At some point this summer I want to do a mounting like Ronnie's. Looks great!. That'll be around the same time I properly wire in a relay to get rid of the thump.

[bwhitfield85]

Both look great I will probably mount mine where yours is also I think that is a good location.

[Ronnie]

The "thump" has me puzzled, haven't noticed it (3 yrs) but if I do I guess a relay is next. What exactly is causing your thump? Any Gurus answer that one?

The under dash location is a little better than your under the armrest IMO. You will use the EQ for volume control and it's much easier to go up or down with rider falls/starts when you don't have to reach under there to set the volume.

BTW...I would suggest a lighted switch to remind you that the system is powered. Don't want any dead batteries.

[bwhitfield85]

I planned on putting the relay and EQ power on one of my unused dash switches since there are 5 of them would that work? Do those already have 12V wired to them from the factory or would I have to run a power wire from the amp power block?

[shawndoggy]

It is super duper easy to make a plexiglass mounting plate so you don't penitrate that nice vinyl on the dash.

[shawndoggy]

I planned on putting the relay and EQ power on one of my unused dash switches since there are 5 of them would that work? Do those already have 12V wired to them from the factory or would I have to run a power wire from the amp power block?

It would be best to power the B+ for the EQ from the same place as your amps. So just pull a B+ to the helm and replace the power in from one of the rocker switches with the B+ you pulled. Should work fine. If you get noise, you may need to pull a ground wire back to the amps too (it would be best practice to pull both).

[bwhitfield85]

I think I am going to pull the power and ground wire from the same power block the Amps are on I don't want the "thump" everyone talks about

[Earmark Marine]

The 'thump' is caused when the source unit or EQ powers down prior to the amplifier or before the amplifier 'mute' function is engaged upon turn-off. The amplifier is actually reproducing the HU or EQ turn-off event. This can happen when all components are powered down simultaneously by the same switch.

It can be a problem when you don't differentiate between the B+ workload line and the remote turn-on lead, or when the HU remote no longer works, or the amplifier mute no longer works. This is less likely to happen with a source unit that remains on for a split second after removing the remote turn-on output. An EQ has a remote turn-on input but not an output. I would guess that a relay, diode and the right size of capacitor would take care of this, although I don't have an exact circuit. There may be devices to remedy this, probably by PAC.

David

[shawndoggy]

the thump is a separate issue. Power and ground from a common source will help you avoid alternator whine.

[bwhitfield85]

So the next question is which EQ should I purchase? I know everyone will have different opinions on this but there has to be one that is superior.

[FastFreddy]

It's hard for me to justify the $300 for the WS420. However I really do want dual zone EQ control. Just wondering if anyone had tried using two EQs, one for the boat speakers and the other for tower speakers?

The exile EQ is just a rebranded regular car EQ. It is not really a true dual zone. You can't independently adjust the tower and inboat frequencies or volumes.

If you think the Exile EQ will work for you than buy a clarion one for less than 1/2 price IMHO.

Edited April 23, 2013 by fredberg1414

[FastFreddy]

So the next question is which EQ should I purchase? I know everyone will have different opinions on this but there has to be one that is superior.

Wetsounds WS420SQ is the superior unit.

[Earmark Marine]

Yes, you could use dual EQs. In fact that was often done before a dual zone EQ was built in a single chassis.

However, the redundant zone controls and not being able to sum the bass from the two zones ( with separate EQs) if you want that ability, would make it a bit of a headache.

David