20 Best Eq For Car Audio (2023 Updated)

I do like the sound improvement this puts out. One problem I bought 2 of these and both eminate quiet sound through the opposite source by using the CD/AUX switch. You will hear background music using the opposite source is still playing.

This is on 2 of them. Just wanted to put that out there considering its a sound improvement tailoring device. Another caveat that i would have liked is the volume knob to be a bit larger than the rest as you tend to use these as volume once added in rather than the source unit.

Durability i have see reviews are mediocre but we will see, it does have some heft to it and seems well built.

This equalizer works perfect for me. Its nice and small and easy to hide. The blue lights behind the knobs is cool. Having the ability to tune everything on the fly is great. Especially when you listen to all kinds of music like I do.

I got this eq installed with a new amp and new head unit. Its very stylish, nice color blue , not to bright a night also. You hear the power with just a push of a button. Its very easy to use. This would be a nice add on to your sound.

If you like bass. Look no further. With 7 bands this thing puts outs the best sound for the price. The only thing I didnt like about was. When I went to write this review I saw the same exact EQ for $17.

99 from California. And here I paid about $37. 00 from New York. Thats why I say shop around for the best price. Dont get me wrong its still a great value what ever you pay. Im still happy with the purchase.

I would recommend this EQ. You cant go wrong with this Rockville.

The LCQ-1 works great. There is a lot of confusion out there about a hiss being present, or people having trouble getting certain functions to work, but this product 100% does everything it claims it can do.

If you have any issues or questions, email AudioControl customer support. The hiss in my case was a product of a gain staging issue as claimed in a FAQ section on Audiocontrols website. The way to eliminate this hiss or greatly reduce it is to properly maximize the gains of your sources.

By this I mean you need to start with as high of signal from your head unit as possible without distortion, then move to the LCQ-1 and maximaze its gain in accordance with manufacturer procedure. Only then should you tweak your amplifier gain.

Your amp gain should be very low when all is said and done because the output coming from the LCQ-1 should be between 5 – 7. 5 volts. My amp gains are at roughly 40% of full scale. Your amp gain should not need to be at 50% or above.

The reason for maximizing your earlier sources is that each stage of amplification magnifies your noise floor worse than the previous stage. So you want to keep your amp gain as low as you can by maximizing the input signal from the radio and LCQ-1.

Hope this helps and I love this product.

I got this product to connect my VW’s Dynaudio (Some of the best speakers a car can get stock) NAV/Stock Headunit. I wanted to keep the clean look of stock. In order to keep the speakers I had to “Sum” my highs to the front channel with the second channel being the lows.

I then simply used an RCA splitter to get my 4 channels. The sub channel was then from the rear speakers. Great concept! The speakers are now able to be plugged into my two amplifiers with the 4 channel amplifier leading to passive crossovers.

The sound was very, meh, however. The EQ settings are so sensitive you might as well keep everything flat and continue using the headunit’s very basic EQ. After a lot of tweaking I did get the speakers to a very listenable level but it is far from where the setup could be.

To be specific the middle spectrum of sound is very muddy. The bass is almost overpowering and required a lot of tuning to hit the sweet spot and even then it’s still not the most accurate in songs that my old basic Alpine setup could handle.

All in all – it does the trick. At the $200 mark this is a great deal for what it can do and to most people it will deliver great results especially those who will not be summing channels. I’ll be using this unit until I can afford an aftermarket receiver.

Thatshould remedy the majority of my sound quality issues.

This is a remarkable product in the sense that it is a great way to integrate aftermarket amps to your factory stereo or infotainment system if your wish to retain certain features. However, you will not see this products full potential unless you connect the ACR-2 remote knob to your LCQ-1.

Only then does the LCQ-1 become an active line output converter/EQ.

Made such s huge difference in my car. For those of you who own a Lexus GS from 06-11, you know there are no really good name brand stereos you can swap the stock one for, so your stuck with very little to nothing adjustments to enhance the sound on the stock stereo.

With this clarion EQ and my JL audio components front and rear, 4 channel JL audio amp, 2 channel hi fonics Brutus 2,500 what amp and two 10 kicker L7 Q class speakers, It made a huge difference in sound.

My highs and mids and mid bass on my components sound amazing. Its like they came alive. I would Recomended this 100%. Thank you clarion. One thing I do need to add, there is a little bit of static noise, but its soo little that once you start to turn up the music, you wont even notice it.

Hope this helps you guys out that are on the fence about buying this unit. Clarion makes good products. I had many stereos from them and they are great, so I figure they have to make a good EQ and they do.

small and yet powerful equalizer; gives you total control of your audio system; makes your highs and vocals sound loud and crisp, makes your bass loud and deep and the background music comes out nice and clear.

The 7 buttons let you adjust the music to your taste and the sub level button lets you adjust the subwoofer volume higher or lower to your desire, you can achieve better adjustments than the receiver’s factory settings.

the difference in sound is like day and night; real simple to install; hides neatly under the dash; really recommended if you want better sound.

Great EQ!! Made such a different in my car. Easy to install, great sound on highs and mid bass sound amazing. Extremely clear on high volumes. I’m extremely satisfied with this product I purchase. I truly recommend.

all adjustments are right on the top plate. Nice to look at. There was a little confusion on how exactly to use the input and output maximizer lights. Product manual differs from audiocontrol technicians.

Also there was a spike in 5k-8k hertz that could not be attenuated to zero. This range always seemed to be boosted, could have been my vehicles environment and acoustics. The real time aspect was the worst part about this unit and the only reason I purchased.

I went through the set up instructions line by line. When an issue showed up I would reach out the either the knowledge base or asking a Technician. The instructions I received differed from one to the other.

I also noticed that when the real time is initiated from bass knob it would cut my overall output by almost half of the normal output. Me being the audio nut that I am I stopped using the real time feature on the DQDX and measured and used the time alignment built into my radio.

Overall I felt that this does not seem to have the sound quality that my old 3xs had. Also this brought back some ground loop noise that I had eliminated. Well I thought it was !.

The sound processor helped my system. Made it better. It instantly sounded cleaner and clearer. It s possible using an EQ could give similar results but the unit is almost magic. I found using filters on my amps or head killes some of the dynamics so I end up turning them off but the crossover/filter in this must be exceptionally better.

Using the sound app I made changes I may not have considered that improved clarity and removed distortion. My system is louder. The input output controls gave me more bass and helped balance two 15 MTX on different amps.

The delay really moves the imaging and moves the subs when is crazy. It was fantastic until I started the car and I had alternator noises for the first time in this system. I moved the internal jumpers and removed it but there is some rumble way down and I had noise once trying to split to different amps.

I since added a few filters. It s hard to accept that mid bass is the downfall of most systems I have tried to build a system to optimize mid bass but the graphs are correct and the processor can dial everything in.

Sonic had a nice price and usual there by Thursday shipping but more importantly had it available to consider. Looking for places to install equipment is tough but this worked out well and gives a professional look and sound.

I recently bought this but havent installed it yet moving out my EPICENTER, EQS an 6XS replacing them with the DQDX single processor well wish me luck..

A little confusing at first to understand but getting thru it a little at a time. Probably every adjustment that you could want to make at your fingertips, it has graphic EQ, it has Parametric EQ, delay settings, threshold settings with attack, crossover’s, I mean everything! Great deal because along with all the adjustments you can make, it also sounds great and clean.

I was first going to send it back because the display was only showing up in a foreign language, there’s even a setting for that!.

I really like this product. Was looking for an eq and in the end I’m glad I got this. It’s got way more than any equalizer at this price point not to mention time delay. My only complaint is that all the channels are controlled as a whole with it’s left or right counterpart so individual speaker control is not an option so I may end up just getting two of these and splitting up my channels left and right so I can individually control each speakers delay.

The quality of the sound it’s a lot better you need to know a lot of sounds frequency and all that stuff if you don’t it’s a little hard to equalize it but it half a lot a few EC set ups you make it sound really really good.

This is a nice eq. I was getting vocals through my sub on a taramps smart 3 amplifier and this allowed me to fine tune the sub out to the perfect hz. Thanks Rockville

I like these so much I put one in my ladies 2013 Miata and in my 2005 Subaru Outback. In my car it crisps up the highs and deepens the bass amazingly. Every song is vastly different in its recording levels and quality that I am fine tuning for each new song and especially when someone pulls up next to me at a stop light bumping something.

I make a quick adjustment and at least I don’t have to hear thier music anymore.

Could not install this, the tiny Phillips head screws stripped out on one side, had to hack-saw it to get the bracket off. They need a coarse, bigger screw for the bracket. Probably going in trash.

I love Audio Control, I had a three. 1 for about 15 years in four different vehicles, worked great. This arrived with the sub level and gain level knobs already falling off, hooked it up where i swapped out the old one and get lots of echos in the music, even has output with the volume all the way down, which tells me right away this unit has problems.

Still doing 4 stars because i know this company, and they make really great gear.

Awesome proscesor . It really does what it suppose to do. I hook it up along with Indash epicenter and ohhhhh boyyy… great great great great sound overall

I highly recommend this product. Never been disappointed with any audiocontrol equipment.

I got this EQ to replace one I had from a competitor (DS). At first glance they would appear identical but far from it. Just picking them up side by side you immediately feel the difference. The CT one is much heavier and sturdier feeling.

Seriously it’s like comparing a Prius to a C-10 truck and the difference is much more than just the gauge of the sheet metal. You can literally feel the night and day difference in the knobs. One feels like a cheap toy and the other feels like a quality built piece of “pro audio” equipment.

Hell even the manual and packaging are far superior. The other brand didn’t even come with any diagrams on how to install it or nothing it literally said “ it should be installed by a professional” and something to the effect of if you don’t know how to install it bring it somewhere.

Granted I knew how to install it but still what kinda s*^t is that???. Also I want to add this is the 2nd CT sounds product I’ve bought and unlike the competition stuff it’s cheap but It last. The 6.

5” speakers I bought have been taking a beating for about a year at a little more power RMS than what they are supposed to take and they still hanging tuff. Sometimes they smell like I BarBQued them but after they cool back down they are fine.

Unlike that other company’s speakers that sounds great for about a week then like garbage and they keep blowing with less power than they are rated at. I plan on eventually replacing my subs and ALL my equipment with CT sounds stuff when I get my money right.

If you are skeptical about purchasing anything from CT sounds like I was the first time, don’t be , I’m an old head and have been beating up the block for decades and have used almost every brand over the years and CT sounds Is where it’s at !!! just pull the trigger already!!! You will not be disappointed.

Dollar for dollar you won’t find a better product.

1st i put in newer better OZONE 12s & Now the CT EQUILIZER i orderd to replace my NVX Eq blows it outa the water!!! With less distortion and a 18db boost & cut you just dont see anymore,the difference is quit big.

Highs clean and clear. And the bass is deeper and harder! Love it! Thanks CT.

I couldn’t believe the difference it made in sound quality. Not to mention db’s too. Nice crisp highs and the bottom end is killing it. Thanks CT for the amazing products at great prices.

I’m using this eq in a home surround sound. I have it hooked up between my receiver and a Crown xli1500 amp with no subwoofer control. I’m pushing a 12″ Power Acoustik Gothic. For my application it works great.

Price is right as well.

Works well. Does what it’s supposed to do. One knob is tight and hard to turn.

Love it, love it, love it the way it lights up n most of all the many different controls to get ur highs, lows and mids on point. Don’t let the name fool u Power Acoustic is making its way to the top of the line.

Don’t miss out!.

Some pros, some cons. Sounds great, love all the sound customization features. When connected to BT it periodically briefly skips, or pauses, like a scratched cd. Funny since it doesnt even have a cd player.

Other than that all good.

The sound this delivers is awesome. Clear cristal sound.

the only complain is the nobs are too close together and for big fingers is not easy to twist I like the old ones just up/down levers , other than that sound great and easy to install .

Top Quality Product at affordable price!!! Been using this product for years and I aint got no problem at all.

Got this amp wired it in lights came on but no sound from bass. Tried both in puts and outputs nothing. Waiste of money.

Works great now. After i fixed the soldering on the input channel. Love this eq.

Works as intended. Seems to be good made. Stiff and strong outside shell.

Easy to install and works great. Nice to have such fine control over my system’s frequency response. Also a great utilization tool for tweaking the signal to my subs to help them preform at their peak capability.

Pros: Worth the price, got more bass, easy to install and looks cool Cons: instructions for settings

Really impressed with this equalizer. I have it on my fronts after my crossover. Bought to solve a self made problem where I bought tweeters that were poorly matched (way to high sensitivity) for my mids.

With the 12khz set a tad lower it really took the harshness of my tweeters away and with the mids turned up a little my stereo imaging has much improved. It has bought the enjoyment back to my music.

I bought this equalizer for my latest sound system build. I used a different brand equalizer that cost twice as much as this Boss Eq in my last build. I am extremely happy how that build came out. With that being said I have the same subwoofers and amps in both cars, in comparison this equalizer is just as good if not even better than the more expensive brand equalizer.

I’m more than pleased with the product. I highly recommend this equalizer and I will definitely use it on my future builds.

Boss has exceptioal value at half the cost of the name brandS like BOSE which leads speaket inovation. The speakers have the ability to take alot of power 300 500 1000 w max but the need everthing added to them to be in the same ballpark as top dog competitors.

Bose, jbl sony.

I’m a fan of Boss but honestly this isn’t a good product at all, installed it and my bass started acting funny until it stopped working

The controls do not line up with the holes on the faceplate they are offset, bad quality control.

Works as described just what I needed.

This EQ/line driver is very good so far. i am using it in my house for my HT sys. feeding it from my pc and have it mounted to my desk. i can control all 3 of my car amps independently from my desk! it has excellent signal to noise ratio, i can tell because the static and pops from having to turn the gain all the way up on my amps are none existent now evan with the eq7 master vol all the way up! (static and pops were coming from my pc) if it has distortion when the vol is all the way up i cant tell, it sounds clean at all vol.

there is one thing i do not like about it and that is the control knobs, they are smooth and hard to get a grip on. i had to put some black tape on the control knobs however this will be temporary as the control knobs should brake in over time and the tape will come off.

a fast way to fix would be some fine sandpaper to the control knobs so not a big deal. as long as it lasts it will be the best 37$ i ever spent on this sys by far.

If your like me and like to have total control of your sound system then this is what you need. Its a high quality product with the exact input and outputs that I needed and controls everything I needed on the fly.

Able to fine tune every song and genre as I change the music.

works perfect for me, sounds great with no complaint. thinking about getting another one. i have 3 other brands and like this one best. one cost $30 more & other 2 about same price as this massive.