What does the EQ Bypass really do? How would removing an EQ make the system sound better?

Thanks,
Dj Rekka.

 

There have been a lot of discussions about the EQ from Iggy and Soundbound. Basically, the EQ that comes with the stock HU is designed to work with the crappy factory door speakers. It changes the frequency curve that produced by the HU so that it sounds good on the stock speakers by producing more treble (high frequency).

If you want to add an aftermarket amp, bypassing the EQ will be the good move since you want the "Raw" signal from the HU to get to the amp.

Hope this helps. Browse this section some more or do a search and you will find lots of info posted by Iggy and Soundbound about bypassing the EQ.

Cheers !!!

 

as a follow up to what was said above, Bose is infamous for using a single cheap paper cone woofer to handle the full audio spectrum (except that in our car there is also a sub for bass). Even Bose reknown 901 home speakers use an array of about 11 4" paper cone woofers, and not a single tweeter. In order to compensate for the woofer's natural inability to play treble, Bose chooses to use heavy equalization. Why they dont just use a proper woofer/tweeter combo is beyond me, but its just not the "bose" way of doing it.

When you upgrade the speakers and add an amp, the Bose equalization will be all wrong for the new speakers since it was not a frequency curve designed for anything but a Bose speaker. The net result will be really harsh spikes at specific frequencies which will not sound the least bit musical. Especially noticable is the sibilance in certain vocals, which is an ear wrenching hiss that is the result of major boosting at certain frequencies being done by the Bose eq. IMO you must remove the eq when you do any system upgrade which involves keeping the factory head unit and adding new speakers. The result on any non Bose speaker will be like night and day.

 

Thanks you all for the info, it was exactly what I was looking for. This may explain why i might have blow out one of my subs. Now my other question about that is, when I remove the EQ, to add a sub, will I hear a diffrence in the door speakers, and if so will it be good or bad? Thanks in advance.

Dj Rekka

 

if you are using the Bose door speakers the result of not having the eq is that the speakers will sound worse. You ought to replace all the speakers, and it can be done without spending big bucks if money is tight. Remember, the system will sound only as good as its weakest part.

 

Would you recommend replacing speakers and use the HU to power them, or add an amp for the 4 after market speakers?

 

it all depends on what kind of cash outlay you have. The stock head hooked up to good speakers will sound pretty good. (search for a post on this board about using the stock head with Polk DX6 speakers all around.) Naturally, you wont need tremendous power for the sub if you keep the stock head, since it (the sub) will otherwise over power with volume the rest of the system.

I for one am not a big fan of using the stock HU with an aftermarket amp. I know plenty of people use the high-to-low level adapters to get an RCA output to an amp, but its not nearly as clean as going with an aftermarket head with true preouts. I suspect that many people who go with amplifying the stock head do so because of the difficulty factor presented by the TL in changing the head. Up til now you have to make your own kit. I just did a post on this last night of my car. I have heard rumor from a friend who owns an audio shop that Schoshe is about to come out with an install kit for the TL. Its shown in the new dealer catalog but i havent actually seen it yet.