I am looking for a good eq for my new system, having a linedriver built in would be nice but not necessary. At this point, the AudioControl THREE.1 is the front runner. I like that it's a half din unit that is just an arms reach away, it's got a dedicated sub control and 4 band eq with a 13volt max linedriver. I am not looking for show quality stuff here, just something to help clean up the sound a little bit. Any other suggestions on good eq's? And does anyone have any experience with this particular one and can offer some pro's and con's to it?

 

I had it running with my Nakamichi CD45z and then my CD400. Overall if you have a tweet that needs extensive EQ tweeking then the limited bands available on the Three.1 wont cut it for you and I would look into a 13band one... but as a whole the the 24db crossover with the build in chips were annoying when trying to figure out how low you want your midbass's to play by swapping in and out those chips... the line driver (as your raise the gains on the dual pots) the sound does get a bit metallic..

But overall I had the unit for about 1.5yrs and it gave no trouble and NO noise(keep the jumper on isolated ground). It's a great unit and the color choice of amber or green matched the Naks perfectly.

 

i just purchased an audio control EQS, sweet unit. The three.1 is also a good unit, but you do sacrafice flexibility and adjustability to have an in dash unit. The EQS is pretty much Audiocontrols best piece, before their digital stuff, which gets VERY expensive. It is a 6 channel (front L & R, rear L & R, sub L & R) EQ, has RCA and speaker level inputs (yes, you can use it with a stock deck, even Bose), subsonic filter, line driver (with the same 13 volt max). Its a very slick unit, I have yet to install it, as I just bought it today, but i'll post my thoughts once its in.

 

oh yeah, dont buy an EQ without a line driver, thats just asking for noise and distortion. When you start boosting frequencies without the additional power in the signal, you'll run into problems and probably do more harm than good for your music. Once you choose one, its all a matter of properly tuning the unit to your deck and amp(s). If you can, have a local shop use a RTA to actually "tune" the EQ, they'll probably just charge you their hourly labor rate (so figure about $60). If you do it yourself, which by all means is possible, just throughly read the manual and make sure you understand what all the knobs actually do before tuning anything. Improper tuning will lead to noise and poor sound (like a metalic sound), and possibly damage your speakers if you're really careless.

 

thanks for the insight sumaccordguy. I really like the convenience of the indash 1/2 eq's so I think im gonna stick with them. I had a Clarion EQS-560 before and it did the trick, anything more than that and im just doing too much. I really do like the AudioControl line of eq's so I'm gonna do some searching around and see how much I can find one for, and I'm thinking the EpiCenter would be nice too:rick:

 

the epicenter is a "bass restoration device", for the most part its a line driver... but has some other features to tweak the bass more. This is best when its used alone, or with an EQ that does NOT have a line driver... which Audiocontrol pieces do have. If you go with the Three.1, i would say save the extra money and DONT get the epicenter. Once you start amplifying a signal too much, you'll start doing more bad than good.

I'll talk to my stereo guy today and see what I can get a Three.1 for... I got $100 off when I bought the EQS ($250, versus $350), so i'll see what he can do for the Three.1 as well. I know he has a couple in stock too, I was looking at them as well when I was getting the EQS. I THINK the retail on those is in the range of $300... I dont really remember though. Once I find out the details, i'll let you know... then if you decide you want a Three.1 i'll pass the price along to you if you like.

The reason i'm selling the EQS and not returning it to the store is because he was willing to give me such a good price, I dont want to kick him in the ass after he helped me out.

 

Oh yeah, i'm probably going to keep the EQS anyway... i'd really hate to see it go... i'll just wait till I can afford to re-do my stereo to put it in. Want to get some nice Alpine or Boston Acoustics amps and replace my alpine deck with a Sony c90, if I can find one for a good price.