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For Black Friday I found a great deal on an iPad mini and want to use it as my new head unit. I have done some research on how to hook it up and now have a few questions. I found the iStreamer that takes the signal from the iPads USB connector and converts to RCA but right now that piece is way out of my price range. So instead I wanted to use a 3.5mm to RCA output to run my amps. What I was planning was running the 3.5mm to RCA into the aux input on a Clarion EQS746 and running each output to its amp. Front going to my tweeter amp. Rear going to my mids amp. And obviously sub going to my sub amp. Will the EQS746 act as a crossover so I can control my system actively out of the iPad?? Or do I need a crossover in between the EQS746 and the amps to get the right frequencies to the right speakers. Any input will help. Thank you in advance.

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No, it will not. You would need a crossover to high pass the tweeter and a way to band pass the mids. That unit does have a built in lowpass for the sub, but it's fixed at 60hz.

What is your budget and what equipment do you have?

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SO much easier with a Nexus if you haven't opened the mini up yet.

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Sweet. Somebody that knows what they are talking about. Right now I have nothing in the vehicle. I wanted to change to an active set up to gain control over my audio that I was missing out on with a passive system. As of right now I have my tweeters (FT1-SE x 2). I have my mids (PWX6.5 x 4). And I have my sub (FI BL 15). I also have an old MTX amp that will be pushing the tweeters at 50 watts rms @ 4 ohm x 2. And of course the iPad mini. I need to get a mid amp and a more powerful sub amp. I was allocating $500 to those two amps and was hoping to use the EQS746 for $60 to run the amps off the iPad. What would be the best way to get a signal from the iPad to the amps?? At the same time keeping everything active. I saw that clarion also makes a crossover unit with 3 RCA inputs and 3 RCA outputs. Could I split the 3.5 mm to RCA three ways into the crossover and then to each amp?? I feel like the voltage off the iPad aux would not be enough to spit three ways....

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Mini is open. It was to good of a deal to pass up...

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Can it run a USB Sound Card?

Anyway to hack it for boot time?

Can you plug in other USB things and have it plugged in?

*looked at Apple stuff a while ago so perhaps they can and if so there are tons more options.

If not, then you are going to need a processor and a rather exotic one or else you will need new drivers as the PWX and FT1 don't really play nice together.

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I found the iStreamer. That's the only device that plugs into the iPad via USB and outputs as RCA. The only problem is it costs around $200. I can get one. It's just longer I have to save up and more than I wanted to out into it.

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Honestly for that kinda money I'd opt for the new 8" alpine double din

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I was hoping there would be a way to just run off an 3.5 mm to RCA cord... Lol. Without having to plug into any head unit.

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Why couldn't he just use a 3.5mm to RCA into a miniDSP?  He would at that point have processing, crossovers, EQ's, the works all in a very powerful and tiny little unit.  Granted I'm still learning about the wonderful little device but I fail to see how that wouldn't be useful.

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I'm assuming the input voltage from a 3.5 mm jack is pretty low.

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It is and the output isn't so stellar.

BTW, you could buy a Nexus tablet and USB audio source for less than the price of the streamer. Would work better in a permanent install too as they have 1sec boot roms.

On top of the miniDSP you will need a 3 channel line driver.

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Could I use a 3 channel line driver to up the input voltage into a 3 way crossover?? With a high pass Band pass And low pass filter?? I chose the iPad because I wanted to use it as a source unit and then take it to class with me to take notes on and such. I didn't want it to be a permant install. Thanks for everyone's help so far. It's really helping. Is there a minidsp unit that could be used with a line driver?? What are some good line drivers that are fairly inexpensive??

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You will need 2 minidsp's.

ipad to minidsp's to line driver to amplifier. Probably $230 for the mini's and another $150+ for the line driver.

An active capable headunit that will control the mini (if there is such a thing) would probably be a better solution.

Not to mention you still need a different set of drivers since what you have will not really play together.

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