I've decided to stay w/ the factory HU in my Mazda3. I hate saying it, but I'm stickin' w/ that decision (unless you all kill it with the answer to the Q). So, naturally I want to make the sound coming from the HU better for the new speakers and I will be putting in.
Q: I see that most EQ's have seperate (from the HU) main volume controls, does this mean the HU's volume control needs to be set and left alone FOREVER?
My reasoning for that one Q is that I LOVE the steering wheel mounted controls and dont want to give them up. I know some after market HU's come w/ steering wheel mountable remotes, but I don't want to have useless controls on the steering wheel. Not to mention the after market ones ruin the flow of the interior, IMHO.
You can do things like the JL Cleansweep or yet to be released Alpine piece to flatten the EQ curve of the factory HU and then add amps/speakers after the fact with your own Equalization set on the amp.