Exile Audio dual zone knob

[gpd005]

Just wanted to give a quick review on this awesome product I got from Exile Audio. It gives me the ability to turn the tower speakers up or the bass and inside speakers down. It's awesome to have the control over the tower speakers so the rider can rock out while we can still talk in the boat. Very cool product for less than $100. Well worth checking out if you can't swing the bigger money for the Wet Sounds unit.

[5:00]

I have had the knob for a while and just received the RCA cable today. Hoping to find time this weekend to do an install and try it. Glad to hear you are liking it.

[trayson]

I have that exile 2 zone control knob (BRAND NEW) laying in my "extra parts" pile. I'd be happy to sell it off to anyone that's interested. $25 shipped to lower 48 usa.

[mazzyel2162]

Trayson....PM sent.

[David Analog]

Here's a little product education on zone controls you might find useful.

The only difference between an Exile/Roswell dual level control and two PAC LC-1s is that the Exile/Roswell is concentric in that both controls share the same axis verses the side-by-side dual PAC LC-1s. It's nice because it takes up less space. Keep in mind that all these are passive controls so a) you are typically adding long to and from transverse RCA runs that drop the voltage and may invite noise, and b) split the available source unit voltage in half once fed into the amplifier inputs. The passive controls are good for some applications depending on the length of cables, amount of pre-amp voltage you're starting with, and the proximity and locations of the source and amplifier. Certainly a lower cost option.

Another option are the line-driver/controllers. These are active devices with very strong preamp voltages and do not extend the signal path. The long extension cable is strictly a control cable and carries no audio. The RCA path is therefore very short. Voltage is not divided or lost. Voltage is substantially increased. These would include the Kicker or JL Audio line-drivers/controllers. This category is only slightly more expensive because you escape the cost of the long to and from RCA cables.
You could also include the Wetsounds 220 four zone controller in this category, although like an EQ it requires long cable lengths. However, you have the larger voltage levels to offset this.

Then you have the amplifiers that have built in ports for remote level controllers. These would include the JL Audio XD/M/HD/MHD series and the Wetsounds SD series. Like the JL Audio and Kicker stand alone zone control units, they do not incur a voltage loss and do not extend the signal path.

Then you have the EQs like the Audio Control or Wetsounds, etc. These are in a completely different class because they are so much more than a basic zone controller. With the WS420SQ you get dual zone EQs (two totally separate for tower and in-boat), a PA system, a three zone level control, and six channels of discrete line outputs with line driver type voltage. Smartly, both of these have no internal crossovers, or a defeatable crossover, and leave this job to the amplifiers where it should be. So much more expensive but not at all in the same category of product.

[trayson]

Trayson....PM sent.

The exile knob is on the way to Ed.

[5:00]

Thanks for the post David. I will have to try the knob at this point but good to have a backup if it fails.