line driver

is anyone using a line driver? if so, what do you think of it? i have looked at the phoenix gold TLD66 and seems to be the best one out there.

Shawn, Audio Control make a killer line driver.
As well as the Phoenix Gold.

What are you trying to do, The reason I ask is because I was trying to bump up my rca voltage to compinsate for low RCA votage from my clarion XMD-3 (2 volts) and I ended up getting a Pre Amp that works as a line driver.

P.S what state is your Epiic in now. Did you sell the ID max's

i was looking to bump up the volts to the amps from the deck.

i am still in san diego, and as far as the max's, i still have them. every day i go into my garage, i look at the box and i can't even think of getting rid of them. one day, when things calm down, i am going to put it back in and do a couple of up-grades. possibly a video system. i would like to put a 15" screen that folds down from my tower box.

i was also thinking about your system and thought that a great place for a screen would be when your passenger seat is flipped up, have a screen flip down from it. it would be blocked from the sun and a great spot for your rear passengers.

Im allready on that, This winter time Im going to do just that.

I think the Audio Control Driver is the best line driver, This is what I have been told by most people, Im sure the PG driver is just as nice. What is the price of the PG driver

the TLD66 is 129.95 at cardomain.com. is the audio control an EQ as well? i tried to find some info on them but didn't find much

Could a line driver be used to boost the signal of my i-pod? I'm currently running it through ecplise eq.

Tom thats exactley why you would want to use a line driver. I bought a ecplise eq and it did nothing to boost the RCA voltage. Look it up some EQ's boost the voltage some dont, I have heard that 8 volts threw your rca's is what you would want to run

Grant, what are you using now?

Tom : Im using a Earthquake PE-4000. Its a Pre Amp EQ/Line driver with a adjustable RCA voltage up to 12 volts.


Im not a big fan of any Earthquake products (they look cheep to me). I was looking for a EQ that boosted the RCA voltage and had a 2nd imput for my DVD system and had a Sub control as well as a fader for my tower to hull volume control, Believe it or not this was the only unit that had all of the requirments. The Audio Conrtol 4.1 is a awesome unit. It only had 2 out of the 4 things I needed, So I relucutantly bought the Earthquake EQ. I took it home and tryed it out, Im happy with it so it stays I just try and hide it LOL. I would recomend this EQ/Pre Amp. It cost $400 but it makes a big differance in my system. I had the Eclipse 21010 and the Rockford Pa-2. The Pa-2 was the better of the 2. Zapco has a few nice Eq's in there line up. None of them would do all the things I needed. Look around. These are the things I would look for
#1. RCA voltage 8-12 volts
#2. Fader
#3. Sub Volume
#4. 2nd Imput

Take a look at the US Amps eq's they should do the trick, and they are great crossovers. Or try the Image Dynamics stuff, I hear they are pretty good too.

http://www.usamps.com/products/crossovers.htm

thanks grant, I used to have a audio control 4.1, but I couldn't fade tower and hull with a seperate sub gain. I switched to the 21010 because it had all the inputs and outputs i needed. Could I run my i-pod into the line driver then to the eq aux input? Audio control makes an overdrive line driver that looks like it might work that way.

Yes that will work fine. The only reason I didnt go that route is beacuse I didn't want to add another peice to my system. and the Earthquake did all the things I wanted.

If you have the XMD-3
I would get the AC overdrive line driver and run it in between your Clarion's out put and Eclipse 21010 imput that way the 2 volts that your clarion is putting out will be boosted,

Also if you have the XMD-3 there is a adjustment that gives you more RCA output for the AUX imput that you would run your I pod into. look threw your owners manuel for directions

If you dont have the XMD-3 then yes the I-pods output in to the AC Line driver and then into your Eclipse 21010

Thanks for the info Grant. I'll pick one up and let you know how it works. I didn't realize the 4.1 was a pre-amp. Now it makes sense why I'm not getting as much volume as i thought I should with my new set up.

I picked up a pheonix gold line driver today and ran it between my i-pod and the eq. What a difference! It's like steroids for the i-pod. I'm now able to run the i-pod at about half to three quarters output and was able to turn the gain on the amps down while still getting more volume. I'm stoked! I think my ears are bleeding

(Message edited by tlb on August 06, 2004)

I'd like to dig this post up from the dead. Is the Audio Control 4.1i a good eq/line driver? I have the XMD3 and the voltage loss has made a big difference in my system compared to when I had a alpine dry deck.

Grant you said you didn't use the 4.1 because it was lacking 2 of the 4 things you wanted. What was it lacking? Looking at the info from Audio Controls website, it looks like the 4.1i has fader, auxilary input, and the voltage boost. The only thing lacking is the sub volume. Am I reading that correctly?

I'm very interested in all this right now because I'm about to add a JL 10W7 to my kick panel.

Paul

After Grant convinced me that i needed a preamp I bought the Audio Control 3.1i and have been very happy with it. It boosted the voltage to 13v which made my XMD3 system come alive. The 3.1 has sub volume. I am running twin JL 10W3's
in place of the SAN cooler.

Troy nice set up. Paul It might have only been that it didnt have a Sub volume control. All audio control products like the 3.1 and the 4.1 have a built in line driver. Like i said I wanted a unit that was or has a line driver, Sub Volume control, Fader and A/B imputs. Audio control didnt make a unit that did all 4. I have a Audio Control "Line Drive" on order.

Even though my Eq is a line driver and works well I dont like to use it as one. I would like to use the Audio Control for RCA volume and turn down the gains on my Eq and throw in the Line Drive unit, and completley re-tune my system with gains on everything set at Zero. This will also help when we link the boats together for sound I wont be passing of a week signal

There is a way to test your RCA voltage. I was told that you can get a test CD with a 70 HZ signal and turn you head unit up to about 3/4 volume and then using a volt meter you should have around 8v at your RCA's leading into your amp's

Hey what do you guys think about the Zapco SP4-SL? I here Zapco has some good stuff. Does it have a line driver in it?

Paul my brother has the Zapco SP4-SL unit in his lightning. Yes I do believe it boosts your RCA voltage as well. And yes IMO Zapco is real nice stuff

just owndering when you use a pre amp do you use the high level inputs on the amp? or still interconnects?

Interonnects. RCA's

thanks

Hey Shawn:

Here is the Audio Control line driver I bought. I havent got a chance to install it yett, but Ill let you know.

P.S Harold said he ran into you at the delta, and you guys were able to hook you systems up together. I wish I could have been the to hear that.

Anyone able to suggest a preamp suitable for my application.

It only needs 1 input (2 preferred though) and then 2 outputs for amps (@8 volts)

Catch is, i want to independantly control the 2 outputs volume, so i can turn up my tower speakers and boat speakers individually. this way i can run one amp for the inside speakers and one for the tower speakers.

any help?

Thanks

ok having thought about this a little more.

I need a line driver with a fader/volume control.
I guess i can install 2.. but 1 is preferable with 2 inputs/outputs

No one know of something that would work?

I jsut want to independantyl contorl the sound levels to 2 amps without having to move seats in th eboat to the glovebox to then swop the fades around.

grant:

did you get a chance to install it yet, if so, what do you think?

harolds boat is pretty sick, great work on the install, sounds really good. when we linked up both systems, i lost alot of volume, but between the two, they still sounded pretty good.

we were up there for 10 days staying in disco and i was hoping to run into you or harold again so we could share some ideas and stories.

hey shawn how did you link them together? fm modulator? wires over the gunnel? we tie up to alot of other boats, and that would bew awsome.

i have an aux input option with my deck and i am not sure what harolds has, but some people use an EQ.

you get some long rca's, connect them from one boats pre-amp output to the other boats aux imput. then have the deck with the pre-amp output set their volume level where they want it, and turn up the volume on the other deck in aux mode to the same level.

hmmmmmm thats what i thought you might say. sure would be nice to be wireless. my stereo has an imput or two and i have a set of rca out im not using but, the other peoples boats are the ones im worried about. how far do you think a fm mod would work? probably not 20 ft {a couple boat widths} wonder if you can add a antenna to a fm mod?

grant

what made you choose the "overdrive" over the "matrix"?

I never saw the Matrix. who makes it? Everyone I ever asked said the AQ overdrive was the only line driver to use. So I took there advice.

We all have the rca's that we use to link out boat's. A FM modulator IMO would be a joke.

the matrix is made by audio control too. it's a six channel line driver. check out there website, lots of stuff.

Hey 882001, We use an FM modulator in our boat for the XM and we have rafted up and it works over a couple of boat lengths. Not much more than about 35 feet without a great deal of degredation.

Eric

Eric: How many volts do you think your FM modulator pushes?

Hi.. I have installed facal utopia speakers powered by mcintosh amps.... heres my problem: I have a bmw with the radio/nav system and as a result, I could not change the head unit. From what i am hearing, the signal from the radio is too low and as a result is lowing the sound quality. Does a line driver such as the matrix make sense to install?

James: Check and see what your BMW raido is pushing as far as volt's. Audio Control says most amps cant take more the 5-V with out clipping. Grab there teck note's to learn how to test line voltage. And have it tested. If you have week line voltage then Yes the Matrix can and will help you.
My stock Clarion XMD-3 pushes a wopping 2 volts so I know right off the bat I have a problem especially when you are going thre processers like EQ's and mulit amps. Line voltage drop's
http://www.audiocontrol.com/MobileAudio/Products/SpecialProcessors/Matrix.html

Holly $hizz, he line driver woke my system up big time. All my gains on all 4 amps are set at Zero. And its still way louder. There is a Att 12+ DB button on the amps and thats turned off.

Any one thats running the XMD-3 I can highley recomend this unit. The line driver that is a in the EQ is a Joke. This unit is the real deal. Im sure my system will run cooler/cleaner now that my gains are set at Zero.