Anyone installed an EQ w/ Navi?

The poor sound quality coupled with that empty din below the radio has me thinking about adding a nice digital EQ.

My eventual goals are to

-add an EQ
-replace OEM amp with 4 or 5 ch amp, at least to power the front components and rear doors better
-replace front speakers with nice components
-replace rear doors
-possibly remove 6x9's from the mix
-add a small enclosure with a small sub

nothing too crazy, just paying attention to sound quality along the way...

Anyways, if we were in fairlytale land and could still get a harness from Mercman, could you use a set of preouts from the harness for the EQ's input, and then run your preouts from the EQ to your amp(s) without a hitch?

 

Adding an EQ is going to be worthless without first tossing the factory amp and putting in some real equipment. I'd set your priorities in that direction first.

 

Thanks for the comments.

Yes, it will probably be a all at once upgrade for the most part... sub might be the only variable in the beginning as far as when it will get rolled out.

I am just wondering about the feasibility of using the stock head unit but adding an Alpine 11 band Digital EQ or similar with a set of preouts created from mercman's harness, or a DIY job...

Will there be a problem with sound quality?
Will there be a compatibility issue?

These are questions that are beyond my scope unfortunately.

Hopefully someone has some insight that may help answer them.

 

You should be able to use either the Mecman harness or some kind of LOC type device (not sure what wires carry your signal to your factory amp, sorry) to give you some pre-outs. These you would use a RCA cable to connect to your EQ, and then RCA's from your EQ to your amp(s).

As for compatibility, you shouldn't have a problem. The EQ is just going to add signal at the given frequency you're adjusting (i think, someone correct me if I'm wrong). so there should be no problems...

 

Sounds like I will be good to go if I create a set of preouts off of the oem harness.

I just read in the custom harness thread that sometimes you will need a BALUM so I guess if someone can chime in as to if this would be needed for hooking up to a signal processor, I would appreciate it.

Also, is there a kit for installing a headunit/eq(single din audio appliance) in the din under the factory stereo or have people just been fabbing them themselves?

I am wanting to try to retain the din's factory 'cover' for security / cleanliness.

 

i got nothing on your BALUM question, but on your single din space, i think you'd have to fab your own... especially if you want to keep the "cover". I'm going to assume that the cover you're talking about is a flip up plastic piece that would keep the EQ hidden when you wanted it (right?). If so, you're definitely going to have to fab something up...

 

Ok, so it looks like Acura has a mounting kit for the factory MP3 player that can be used to add a single din appliance... but you loose the door... Not the end of the world, but I might try first to retain the door if its not going to turn into a huge project.

 

It shouldn't be that big of a project. Just take either MDF, thin aluminum, etc. and make a ring that the EQ can mount in. Then mount that to the back of the factory dash... that's it. Heck, my EQ is held in simply by friction (and a really tight fit with the dash kit)...