Is anyone running this setup? It seems like the PXA-H701 is almost perfect for this.

Outputs:
2 Front1 L/R,
2 Front2 L/R,
2 Rear1 L/R,
1 Center,
1 Subwoofer

It's only missing a pair of outs for the rear door speakers.

I had an Alpine head unit in my old vehicle w/ time correction & 6-band parametric EQ (not per-channel, sadly). I did the setup with a RTA I bought off Craig's List. Even with the OEM speakers and no outboard amp, I was fairly pleased with the sound staging and tonal balance.

Compared to that, my A4 w/ the Symphony II+ 3rd gen changer is just awful!! Sometimes, it has this hollow & extremely artificial sound and I'm like WTF iz that?!? And sound staging? Um... yeah.

Anyway, I'm just a little worried that the number of EQs per channel might be a bit low, on the Alpine (4 Bands Front, 4 Bands Rear, 2 Bands Center, 1 Band Subwoofer). Any thoughts or feedback?<ul><li><a href="http://www.alpine-usa.com/US-en/products/product.php?model=PXA-H701">http://www.alpine-usa.com/US-en/products/product.php?model=PXA-H701</a</li></ul>

 

The H701 has outputs for 4 front, 2 rear, 1 sub and 1 center. The center is really useless unless you're going to listen to 5.1 encoded music or movies all the time. Also, to make use of all those outputs, you need to have individual channels of amplification for each one.

I ran an Alpine W200/H701 combo connected by toslink cable for awhile and with the proper tuning it was one of the cleanest systems I've heard. However, if you have no idea how to tune a 31 band EQ, it can sound like the worst system you've ever heard too.

 

OEM system just sounds wrong. Time correction &amp; EQ would make a huge difference.

I was assuming that the PXA-H701 will convert 2.0 ch -&gt; 5.1. You're saying it doesn't?

That's the big advantage I was hoping to find over a proc or head unit designed for 2.0 ch. Basically, the ability to make use of the additional speakers.

Like I said, I have a RTA and some clue how to use it. That said, is the 31-band EQ for all channels?

 

It will decode 5.1 material or it will do pro logic. Listening to 2 channel encoded music in pro logic really doesn't sound all that great. It will be dominated by the center channel which is probably the weakest speaker in the system. I never used the surround sound features of that processor for music because 2 channel music should be listened to in 2 channel. The only time I used the 5.1 is when a movie was playing. Even then, the decoding was setup as 2.1 because I didn't have center or rear speakers.

The PXA-H701 can have separate 31-band eqs for front left and right, rear left and right, and the center. The sub has it's own 10 band eq. The thing is, you won't be able to use all those different outputs unless you have dedicated amplification for all those channels. So if you're going to use 4 front, 2 rear, 1 center and 1 sub output from the PXA-H701, where are those signals going after they leave the processor. You can't put them back into the factory HU to use factory amplification because it doesn't have that many channels of dedicated amplification and it doesn't have that many line level inputs. You will need to have 8 channels of amplification somewhere else that can send amplified signals to the speakers.

Finally, an RTA will help you see what the response of your system is but there are things about how your system sounds that you just can't see on an RTA. If you really plan to do this, get the help of an experienced tuner because that can make or break your system. I was lucky enough to have a friend who was a former IASCA competitor who had tons of experience tuning cars. Even with my many years of experience in car audio, I never could have tuned it as good as he did.

 

...to get the sound you are looking for.

Plan ahead, and do the system once and the right way.

 

For what it's worth, I'm using the 701 with the stock Symphony 2 in my B6, but just taking the front line level feeds that were going to the Bose amp and then to a full aftermarket system with an active front stage and sub (no rear fill). I also run an optical in from my laptop on trips (701 has three digital inputs).

Anyway, it works great for this with lots of flexibility and I got to keep my stock HU.

 

I forgot, you can't use the PXA-H701 without the RUX-C701 unless you have an Alpine head unit to control it. When used with the RUX-C701, the RUX becomes your master volume control.

 

&gt; I never used the surround sound features of
&gt; that processor for music because 2 channel
&gt; music should be listened to in 2 channel.

Well, there's this whole debate about rear fill. I've found that I preferred the system in my old car w/ the rears. For one thing, the front speakers couldn't do bass as well as the rears. Again, everything was properly time-corrected, so it had proper imaging &amp; everything.

Now, that's a different scenario, since it's still really 2 channels. I understand what you're saying about 2.0 -&gt; 5.1. If I'm the only one in the car, I'd agree that this would be sub-optimal. However, if I've got passengers, it would probably be an improvement for all.