Help needed with my audio system!
 

Hey guys id like to start by saying whats up! got an acura tl 2006 non navi a couple weeks ago, and of course the first thing i want to do is install a car audio system in it.. my budget is about $1500, and i thought i would go with 2 SA 12"s in a custom box (still needs to be built) and i already ordered a Hifonics Brutus BRX2400.1D for $230 shipped, only got it because of price... I checked the manual of the BRX2400.1 and it says it can accept balanced input from 0.4v - 18v, now im guessing because of the low pre out voltage of the HU that i would have to turn my gain on the amp to near max? Although i wasn't planning on using the amp's full power yet because im still on stock electrical. so if i still had the gain turned down to probably around 3/4 or 4/5, would the subs still get decently loud? Would it be possible to give the subs around 800 RMS each or is that near impossible because of the low pre out voltage? Both are D4, going to be wired to 1 ohm, i heard other people saying they don't get much noise from their amps, so would i need a LOC?

Also i plan on getting front components, although i may first just upgrade the factory amp and see how much of a difference that makes, i have yet to choose an amp for that but my budget is any amp <$250, im guessing i need a line driver unless i find a compatible amp? Sorry i know a couple of those questions have been answered in other threads but it was hard to find concrete answers for the first part regarding the subs, lots of mixed answers.

Also, not sure if this is in another thread, but is it possible to install a single din aftermarket HU and still keep the climate control part of the screen? That's the only thing that really keeping me from just upgrading the HU, i dont want to lose the screen showing climate controls, i figure after that mess of an install, everything else would be easier to hook up/troubleshoot? Definitely a noob but trying to learn :D

Also im planning on getting a JL 300/4 amp for the fronts, im guessing it can handle the preamp signal from the HU without any problems and without a line driver? It can handle 200 mv - 2 v input voltage, so i should be able to crank up the volume and get no distortion/clipping right? Assuming i set the gain correctly.. Also on the hifonics brutus amp i'm getting, is it better to use the post amp sub wiring and just hook it up to the amp via RCA splicing or getting a pre amp signal and connecting that directly to the new amp? It can handle 0.2 v - 9 v as well as 0.4v - 18v..

anyone?

Upgrading the OEM HU will be difficult cosmetically and really does not need to be done sonically, the HU performs very well. The JL amps work well with the low voltage from the HU. A line driver isnt necessarily needed, but it isnt a bad idea. With the fequencies your reproducing with your sub there should be no problems using the high level signal going to the stock sub. You will not get any noticable noise. Amping the stock speakers is always a good start, but you will be getting components at sometime.

Thanks a lot pohljm, those were the answers i expected i just wanted confirmation... Also, what exactly is the voltage of the high level signal from the post amp stock sub wiring? I guess as long as it's under 18v i should be okay... couldn't seem to find that anywhere...

I do not know that answer but you should be fine. Are you going to run the front and rears off the JL to start? They will prolly sound much better. Once you get components i would bridge it to the components and ditch the rears. If you maintain the OEM amp for the center channel you can always put the rears back on that for some rear fill if you ever wanted too.

Yup that's exactly what i was going to do, thanks again man.

Agreed with the above. If doing subs only don't waste your time pulling a pre-amp signal, the hiss associated with the stock amp will never be heard through the subs. Just grab the signal from the stock sub wires.

When you add fronts you will probably want to consider going pre-amp.

The stock speakers sound surprisingly good when put on an aftermarket amp. Most upgrade the speakers first but doing the amp first is not a bad idea. I had to highpass my stocks at 100-120hz for reasonably loud listening. 140hz to keep them from bottoming if you want to crank them.

I prefer class D amps. I've got a pair of JL HD600/4 amps under the seats and a 1200/1 in the trunk and I have no headlight dimming at all. My subs require very little power so that's probably part of the reason. The extra efficiency of class D is a lot nicer to the stock charging system. Even most diehard A/B amp guys will run a class D on their subs.
A good AGM battery like the Sears Diehard Platinum is a very good idea with any system.

Ok sounds good man. Yea i was worried how much power i can get outta my system on stock electrical, i really don't want to upgrade the alt unless i have to, thanks IHC. So if i wanted to set the crossovers my only option is basically setting them at the amps, is that ok to do? Especially with the sub amp, since apparently the HU has a crossover of 80 hz for the sub already? And i'm assuming i'll have control of the sub levels from the HU? Saw mixed answers to that in a couple threads but i think i'll have control right?

You'll still have sub control from the HU.

The part I'm not sure about is the crossover. Some say the stock sub is bandpassed. I can say for sure it goes down to 20hz and below. I've also played it way out past 80hz up top. Maybe it changed with the different years, I don't know.

If you go pre-amp one day for the fronts and subs, all you need to use is the front left and right unless you're using rears and want the HU fader control. They're full range and they carry the HFL so you'll retain bluetooth over all channels. You would need a 4 or 5 channel line driver depending on your amp configuration and if you want to run rears to split the signal. You can also run your center pre-amp into the line driver so your navi will come over all speakers too.

We have a 130a alternator from the factory so we're pretty lucky there. As long as you're not using the seat heaters and fog lights and rear defroster you have a good bit of headroom. The AGM battery really helped back when I did have headlight dimming. From what I can gather I think the internal resistance is one of the most important specs for those of us that need a quick burst of power when the bass hits but the electrical side of things is my weakness.

While we're at it, many people try to match their speakers' RMS rating to an amp with the same rating. I've had better luck running the most power I can afford and setting the gains correctly. Right now I have 300w going to my midbass that's rated at 180w continuous. More power has always resulted in better SQ. Speakers don't require much power at all for normal listening, so little power it's surprising and with only 75w it will sound loud. But on the flip side, the transients can require 10x the average power to reproduce accurately. More power will make the system sound more dynamic and effortless and realistic even if you're not cranking the volume hard. Just a thought for when you decide to do the fronts so you don't make the mistakes I have and waste a bunch of money upgrading over and over. My personal preference when choosing amps is to get a mid level amp that has the features I need and run a lot of power instead of getting a really high end amp with less power. More power has always made more of a sound quality improvement than a more expensive amp for me. Some will agree, some will disagree but that's what's worked for me. Sorry for going off topic, it's a slow day at work lol.

Haha don't worry about it, i appreciate the long, detailed answer! Thanks again, now when you say an AGM battery would help, you mean as a second battery, or as a replacement to the oem battery? Also i was planning on doing both the big 3 upgrade as well as running 0 gauge to the sub amp in the trunk, although i recently heard some people (on different cars, not acuras/hondas) couldn't fit two of these wires on one terminal of the battery. Is this something i have to worry about? Have any of you guys had trouble fitting two 0 gauge wires on the positive end of battery? One coming from the alt, the other going to the amp in trunk...

Just the single battery. I would only do dual batteries if you wanted a longer runtime with the engine off and have it isolated. Otherwise the alternator would be the first upgrade after the AGM starting battery and the big 3.

I haven't done the big 3 on this car but many others have. The charging wire from the alternator to the fuse box and fuse box to the battery don't look like a whole lot of fun. Negative should be no problem and by looking at it, the negative is probably the weak link.

Mine has no sign of headlight dimming or power supply issues. I have a total of 1200w on the front stage a s 1200w on the sub stage. I would guess the front pull more power than the subs. I know I'm not using all 2400w but with it very loud and the windshield with some scary amount of flex I have no problems.

Class D amps and the subs in a ported enclosure or infinite baffle will significantly lower the charging system requirements.

that's great to hear! I'll be running around 1500-1600 rms myself once everything is hooked up, i was paranoid if even that was too much but based on what you're telling me i should be okay. I saw some other thread talking about how much rms other people are using in their acuras and they said around 1600 ish with no problems on stock electrical, so i guess i should be fine, hopefully!

I can't wait to see what you end up doing.

In for pix......

Lol it's not going to be anything fancy but I'd still be happy to post pics! I have a question though. I just got my amp in the mail a couple days ago, and now i'm wondering how i'm actually going to hook it up?! Here's the first pic :P

http://s13.postimg.org/v1h95igr7/IMG_0230.jpg

It has the gain setting going from 0.2v - 9v but if im using the balanced signal from the post amp stock sub how will i set the gain on the amp? I'm supposed to splice some RCA's on the stock sub wiring to hook it up right? but how would i set the gain afterwards if the gain knob is only for 0.2v - 9v (unbalanced signal), instead of the balanced signal of the post amp signal which is 0.4v -18v? I feel like the answer might be easy and i'm just not seeing it for some reason lol, never had to deal with this before.

Also do i have to worry about sub level attenuation when increasing the volume on HU? Is it going to lower the sub level like i heard a couple people saying? Couldn't find much info on this unfortunately.

Rich was nice enough to post these graphs of the stock HU in another thread around here.

http://http://i460.photobucket.com/a...ps8607b3d4.jpg

If that doesn't work, here's the thread. I can't always post pictures from my work iPad.

https://acurazine.com/forums/showpos...3&postcount=11

I don't know if I would call the low end less boosted at high volume of the midrange less cut. Either way the FR changes with volume. I have mine set up to where 10 is louder than most people like, 15 is painful and if you have to go higher you're probably not going to notice the change anyway. This way there is less change in the FR since I hardly ever go beyond 10. The downside is its more prone to noise. If I were competing I would probably turn the gain down but for enjoying the system while you're driving as most of us do you never hear the noise floor.

It looks like 30 or 40 and below gets cut a few db when you get over halfway. Most systems don't get down that low anyway but it sucks for those that do.