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Madtown Mobius
04-14-2008, 08:15 PM
I'm in the process of upgrading the stereo in my LSV. We're looking at adding a pair of Wetsounds 60 along with a sub and two amps. I would like to have seperate on/off and volume control for the tower speakers and the cabin speakers. My audio dealer is pushing the Wetsounds talkback EQ. It's a $350 item, a little pricey for an EQ, IMO. I'm curious what EQ or wiring setups everyone is using with their tower setups. Thanks!!

tazz3069
04-14-2008, 08:42 PM
Try to get a hold of Jesse C. He is a wiz at that kind of stuff. He has helped me out with my system.

newty
04-14-2008, 09:02 PM
I would have gone for the WS EQ but they are a little out of my budget. I went with this one. http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_6655_Clarion+EQS746.html

I have heard a lot of good things about them. I haven't quite finished my system yet so I don't first hand experience. It will do what you need to do, and do it for 300 dollars less. They have factory refurbs on ebay for around $40 with 1 year manufacturer warranty as well.

04OUTBACK
04-14-2008, 10:26 PM
I just installed one this weekend. BEST money I spent on my system yet.
My wife had just complained about the music being too noisy when it was loud enough for riders to hear. I added an amp on the rear 4 cockpit speakers and the Clarion allows you to fade the volume to the tower more than the cockpit.
I wired the front two speakers to stereo front. Tower to factory amp/rear and the 4 rear cockpit speakers to new amp out of the Clarion. Sub is on the clarion too.

Try here if you don't mind a refurb for $20 cheaper!
http://www.hookedontronics.com/show_product_details.jsp?cid=46994&c=0804Froogle&b=Clarion_EQS746

The clarion takes one RCA in and you can split that to Sub, Front and Rear sets. Separate sub controls. I have the fader set at 75% tower and 25% rear cockpit speakers.... this allows for much more volume on tower and less in boat!! WIFE HAPPY!
I set the stereo bass/treble levels at 0 and utilized crossovers in Amps to keep low bass off the tower and cockpit speakers. Plus, amped cockpit speakers sound much better than fact. stereo powered!

I am very pleased with mine for the money!

bradcraig78
04-14-2008, 10:29 PM
I 2nd what outback said

byronkoz
04-15-2008, 12:28 AM
Im running the clarion unit with 3 amps and it works awsome. They can be had brand new on ebay for $40 all day long.

JesseC
04-15-2008, 09:45 AM
One of the methods Tazz and I used were relays on the "Remote" wire on the tower speaker amp. With the flip of one of the unused factory switches we can turn the tower on and off without changing the other six in the boat. The reason I did this was to kill the tower speakers when they were not needed. When my boarder falls, I can flip the switch which cuts out the tower speakers and the rest of the speakers continue to play at normal volume. Also if we are doing an evenging cruise or just floating in the water with a few beers there is no need for the tower to be on so we just leave the switch in the off position and the 6 main speakers play. This has worked wonderfully in my opinion. Adding an EQ to fine tune your setup and the ability to turn the speakers on and off would be perfect.

Cost of adding relay option - about $15.

ian ashton
04-15-2008, 10:17 AM
One thing I used to use when I was really in to car audio seems like a great 'cheap fix' for this issue as well;

http://i17.ebayimg.com/07/i/000/e2/77/8e33_1.JPG

http://cgi.ebay.com/PAC-Audio-LC-1-Signal-Controller_W0QQitemZ190207513495QQihZ009QQcategory Z50552QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trks idZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

The PAC LC-1 is just an inline RCA volume control; they advertise it as being a Subwoofer Volume Control, but you can use it to remotely adjust the input level on any pair of RCA's. If you have your tower speakers on a seperate amp or its own pair of channels this will work perfectly, and cost you less than $20. There are a lot of other companies that make a similar product, this was just the easiest to find online.

byronkoz
04-15-2008, 11:23 AM
From what I understand you will see a voltage drop through the LC-1's. I know there being used by alot of people and work well thought. An eq on the other hand will usually give you better votage, mine has 7v outs.

ian ashton
04-15-2008, 11:31 AM
Signal voltage is very important in SQ installs, however for tower speakers on a boat I'm pretty positive that any difference would be completely inaudible over the engine noise, water noise, passengers, etc.

cab13367
04-15-2008, 09:14 PM
The EQ sounds like a good solution if you want to stay with the stock head unit. But you are taking a 2V pre-out signal, splitting it three ways, then boosting it to 7V. I'm no electrical engineer but doesn't that deteriote the sound quality some?

I decided to replace the head unit with the KDC-X692 that has three sets of preouts, each at 4V. I figure I'd get cleaner sound that way. I paid $148 for the head unit and if I can get $50 out of the stock one, I'm in it for about $100. So it's a more expensive solution for sure but hopefully, it results in cleaner not just louder music which is what I am after. It also has a lot of nice features such as being able to control my iPod directly from the head unit, a wireless remote control, etc.

Also, this head unit allows me to fade front to rear as well as control volume to the sub and has built in high and low pass filters.

Anyway, it's another option to consider.

Al