2010 TSX Aftermarket upgrade Guide
11-09-2012, 09:32 PM
#1
2010 TSX Aftermarket upgrade Guide
Hello all.
I have been reading these forums ever since I picked up my Acura TSX 2010 with tech package, and often found myself still eager for more advice in regards to custom aftermarket stereo installs. After finding out all the pieces I needed to get the job done, I went all over Houston looking for an installer who had worked on a TSX w Tech Package and only found one. He estimated 2600$ for installation, and that was a bit much for my taste. So after several hundred hours of debating if I could do it myself, I finally grew a pair and started the work.
I want to walk through the methods and equipment I used and want to ensure any DIY'er out there that this was not to terribly difficult. I would rate the difficulty around a 6/10, and that is with previous install experience. You do not need to be a pro to do what I did even though you can still get pro results.
I will start off with the equipment I used and then move into the install. I hope you all enjoy my first write up.
A few warnings first:
1. The Acura TSX is built pretty soilid, all the trims pieces fit very tight. This is great for keeping vibration down after the install, but makes it difficult to tear down. I would suggest getting a nice set of trim panel tools. I bought these: These get the job done and will help you tear down your TSX and get on with installing your new sick gear.
2. The firewall may look hard to get through, but after following what I did you will be successful and not have to drill any additional holes through your firewall. Please do not try to run your power outside of the vehicle; this could cause a short in your system which will cost you thousands to replace.
Equipment:
Power wire . This is 4 gauge wire, which will fit through the firewall grommet(more on this later).
Speaker Spacers. Buy two sets of these, as you will not want to replace your rear door speakers at all. You will need these for rear deck, and for the front doors.
Distribution Block. 4 gauge to 8 gauge, for both power and Ground. Will power up to two devices, amp +dsp.
Dyna Roller. You will want to install Dynamat on your front doors, especially the inner panel and around the speakers themselves. To do this, you will need this tool. You can buy this if your cheap like me, and just put them around your speakers and directly behind the speaker.
60 ft of Speaker Wire . This will not be enough if you plan to run new wire to your front speakers from the trunk. I chose to use existing wire, I cannot stress how much of a pain in the ass it will be to get the wire into the doors easily. Buy two of these if you are bad at math, as each one is 30ft.
All the other basics:
Power Drill, Good set of screwdrivers, short ones and tall ones, always magnetic tips. Electrical tape, zip ties (a lot of these), Cable sheathing (to wrap cables) + heat shrink for the ends. Wire snippers, wire strippers.
2 sets of 3-6 ft rcas, one subwoofer RCA (got mine from Best Buy home theater section).
Lots of speaker wire termination ends (variety is best).
Some sort of spacer for the amp and DSP mount, I bought these easy slide circular spacers from Home Depot, you put them on the bottom of tables to make them slide easier. In this case they will help you put some space between your mdf mounts and the back of the seat. (Pictures later).
Nuts and bolts for the rear deck speaker. I chose to use the butterfly nuts as they are easier to fasten.
A Dremel. Any DIY’er must own a dremel. Seriously, just go get one. You also need a plastic cutter bit for your new dremel.
5 Channel Amplifier. Insert any 5 channel amplifier here, I plan on upgrading to a nice Alpine soon.
JBL MS8 – This is the most important piece to the entire system. They are cheap enough now that you shouldn’t even consider anything else. After all my research, the MS8 is really the only way to make this work and sound clean. The Cleansweap is garbage for this car, as well as the BitOne. Just get this and you will thank me later. This will essentially sum your signal from your factory amplifier into a full range signal. All you have to do is take out the right trunk liner, and the factory amp is easily available to work on. I will explain the rest later, but suffice to say you will want this product.
Any 6 ˝ component set you want will work, just make sure the depth of the speaker is shallow enough. I chose the Morel 6.6 602 Virtus 2 way for the front and the for the rear deck. The Morel line are shallow speakers, but I debated between Morel and Focal, and I like rich sound so I chose Morel. Either way its all up to your own taste.
Install:
[Firewall] This part was honestly the hardest part. You will want a friend to help you for this. So here is what I did. There is a hole with a rubber grommet right behind the brake pedal. Take the grommet out and drill a hole into it with your Dremel. Make sure to cut it just a tad bit smaller than the 4 gauge wire to help make the wire seal better. Here is the tricky part, essentially that hole leads to a box, that’s right a fkn box. This box has one hole in it, but it is clearly visible by shining a flashlight into the role. It is directly to the right when your inspecting the hole from inside of the car. So this may sound ghetto, but I took a BBQ Skewer and pushed it through both holes, pointy end first. I had my buddy with me to assist me with the next step. Get your power wire and feed it down to where the skewer is poking out, hold an end up to it, and have your best friend push hard to lodge the skewer into the power wire. Now carefully bend the skewer 40 degrees in order to push it through the first hole straights. Otherwise you will be trying to push the hard wire with a 4gauge wire into a hole at an angle, which is impossibly, do the physics Im right. Once you get the wire through make sure your buddy is still gently applying pressure so that your wire does not slip off. Gently and carefully feed the wire through the hole and have your friend pull it out from inside the cabin. Tadaa!! No run your wire all the way to the trunk along the driver side floor trim panel. Hook up the wire to the battery, try not to unplug the battery if you do not know your Head Unit code (My code was on a sticker inside my glovebox. However, I did the entire install with the battery plugged in. (DO NOT PUT FUSE IN UNTILL YOU ARE COMPLETELY DONE WITH INSTALL).
[Front Speakers]
There are a few walk through guides on this forum about front door panel removal, so I will not go into this. Just know it is a royal pain in the ass, unlike the rear doors which are quite easy. Add your dynamat, install your spacer (drill holes), and install your speakers. Make sure you run the passive crossover that came with your two way speakers, I am unsure is the MS8 will allow for you to run active with only a 5 channel amp.
[Rear deck speakers] Despite what any car stereo shop will tell you, you DO NOT need to remove the entire rear deck +c-pillars. The C-pillars have a special metal fastener, and unless you are magic you will be unable to remove the c-pillars without damaging these special fasteners. Bottom line, the rear desk speakers have grills that are easily removed using your trim panel tools and a small amount of pressure. The sub woofer grill does not remove, so don’t try it or you’ll be forced to re-glue it in (Guilty). If you plan to build a custom box and want the subwoofer removed for a port, them by all means you will want to remove the entire rear deck panel (have fun sucker). My sub slams with not port, plus I leave the back seats down when driving anyways to help cool of my amp. You will need the spacer to install these, and most likely the space that came with your coaxials, you know the one that holds the grill in. You will want a flat fit between the rear deck, the spacer, the speaker grill mount, and the speaker. I only used two bolts on each side since drilling two holes was easier for me to lineup. Once you get the rear desk speakers in, the fun can begin.
[JBL MS8] Ok, so here is what you have to do to get your MS8 installed correctly. Remove the right rear trunk liner, this will expose the factory amp. Unplug both wire harnesses from the amp. The larger 16 pin is the output, and the smaller harness is the input. You will want one wire off the input, it is WHITE and on pin B3 (it is the only white wire that is 3 holes from either end). This White wire is your remote wire that you will send to the “Remote In” on the MS8.You can tap in but I chose to solder my remote, zip tie it and used liquid electric tape. Next, you will need to start cutting wires on the larger wire harness for the speaker outputs. You only need the front left and right signal + the subwoofer signal. I took off my rear door panels to remove the rear door speakers in lue of just cutting the wire on the harness for the rear door speakers. Do not worry about the center channel, leave it as is.
The wire colors are as follows:
Wires should be twisted together so identifying them is easy
Front Left(+) Black (Pin= B3)
Front Left(-) Blue (Pin= A16)
Front Right(+) Red (Pin=A15)
Front Left(-) Green (Pin=A6)
Sub(+) Gray (Pin=A10)
Sub(-) Light Blue (Pin=A1)
Cut about 2-3 inches off the harness to give yourself some wiggle room. Have all your speaker wires prepped and labeled. Attach 3 sets of wires roughly 4-5ft long to your front right, front left, and sub wires coming out of the harness. Attach 2 sets of speaker wire to the other end that runs back to the front speakers, these will go to your amp channel 1 and 2. Run 8 gauge power and ground wire from your distribution block to your MS8, and attach the remote lead coming off your factory amp(white wire). Use whatever method you like for cable management, that’s up to you how shitty you want your whip looking. Make sure to zip-tie each speaker connection on the wire harness in order to reduce pressure on the connection itself. Connect all your newley attached speaker wire to the MS8 high level speaker input wires. I only used channel 1,2,8. These channel have nothing to do with the channel output numbers for the MS8, it can be confusing. Run rca’s from the MS8 to your amp. I utilized the following output channels: channel 1 for Front right, channel 2 for front left , channel 3 for rear right, and channel 4 for rear left, channel 8 for sub. These RCAs will go into your amplifier, which I should not have to explain how to wire up. Google MS8 setup and you will find more info on tuning it after the install. I chose not to mount the lcd that the MS8 comes with, rather I am keeping it in my center console detached, I think drilling into the dashboard is for chumps. Plus you only need this when setting up and you will find that you do not want to have to run the setup very often.
Install your amp, this is very easy and anyone can Google how to do this, so no explanation is needed.
Mounting MS8 and Amp
I chose to mount my amp and dsp on the back of the rear seats. I used ˝ inch MDF board and spray painted them black. I tapped four holes that aligns with the baffling boards inside the seat. I used spacers so that the MDF does not dig into the carpet. I drilled the spacers down, and then screwed down the amp/DSP to their respective mounts. This will help take some weight off the back of the seat and put it on the board itself. You can alternatively create your own fancy fiberglass panel and then put some plexiglass over it and etch in “I’m radical” so everyone knows your cool. No seriously be cheap and do what I did, I love the results.
That’s it, one word of advice, if you mount your MS8 on the right seat, be sure that you realize you will have less room once you put the trunk liner back in. Don’t do what I did and slam it closed only to break off an RCA in my MS*. If you do this get a needle and bend the tip, heat that shit till its red hot and go directly into the rca jack and poke the broken rca plug. Then use a different channel (you can set the channels during setup) because most likely that channel will be super fcked.
It took me around 12 hours to do the entire install myself, and I only got help with the firewall. Here are the pictures from the install.
https://plus.google.com/photos/11171...681?banner=pwa
If you have any questions please let me know and I will try to answer them. Please read before asking a question as it may have already been answered.
I have been reading these forums ever since I picked up my Acura TSX 2010 with tech package, and often found myself still eager for more advice in regards to custom aftermarket stereo installs. After finding out all the pieces I needed to get the job done, I went all over Houston looking for an installer who had worked on a TSX w Tech Package and only found one. He estimated 2600$ for installation, and that was a bit much for my taste. So after several hundred hours of debating if I could do it myself, I finally grew a pair and started the work.
I want to walk through the methods and equipment I used and want to ensure any DIY'er out there that this was not to terribly difficult. I would rate the difficulty around a 6/10, and that is with previous install experience. You do not need to be a pro to do what I did even though you can still get pro results.
I will start off with the equipment I used and then move into the install. I hope you all enjoy my first write up.
A few warnings first:
1. The Acura TSX is built pretty soilid, all the trims pieces fit very tight. This is great for keeping vibration down after the install, but makes it difficult to tear down. I would suggest getting a nice set of trim panel tools. I bought these: These get the job done and will help you tear down your TSX and get on with installing your new sick gear.
2. The firewall may look hard to get through, but after following what I did you will be successful and not have to drill any additional holes through your firewall. Please do not try to run your power outside of the vehicle; this could cause a short in your system which will cost you thousands to replace.
Equipment:
Power wire . This is 4 gauge wire, which will fit through the firewall grommet(more on this later).
Speaker Spacers. Buy two sets of these, as you will not want to replace your rear door speakers at all. You will need these for rear deck, and for the front doors.
Distribution Block. 4 gauge to 8 gauge, for both power and Ground. Will power up to two devices, amp +dsp.
Dyna Roller. You will want to install Dynamat on your front doors, especially the inner panel and around the speakers themselves. To do this, you will need this tool. You can buy this if your cheap like me, and just put them around your speakers and directly behind the speaker.
60 ft of Speaker Wire . This will not be enough if you plan to run new wire to your front speakers from the trunk. I chose to use existing wire, I cannot stress how much of a pain in the ass it will be to get the wire into the doors easily. Buy two of these if you are bad at math, as each one is 30ft.
All the other basics:
Power Drill, Good set of screwdrivers, short ones and tall ones, always magnetic tips. Electrical tape, zip ties (a lot of these), Cable sheathing (to wrap cables) + heat shrink for the ends. Wire snippers, wire strippers.
2 sets of 3-6 ft rcas, one subwoofer RCA (got mine from Best Buy home theater section).
Lots of speaker wire termination ends (variety is best).
Some sort of spacer for the amp and DSP mount, I bought these easy slide circular spacers from Home Depot, you put them on the bottom of tables to make them slide easier. In this case they will help you put some space between your mdf mounts and the back of the seat. (Pictures later).
Nuts and bolts for the rear deck speaker. I chose to use the butterfly nuts as they are easier to fasten.
A Dremel. Any DIY’er must own a dremel. Seriously, just go get one. You also need a plastic cutter bit for your new dremel.
5 Channel Amplifier. Insert any 5 channel amplifier here, I plan on upgrading to a nice Alpine soon.
JBL MS8 – This is the most important piece to the entire system. They are cheap enough now that you shouldn’t even consider anything else. After all my research, the MS8 is really the only way to make this work and sound clean. The Cleansweap is garbage for this car, as well as the BitOne. Just get this and you will thank me later. This will essentially sum your signal from your factory amplifier into a full range signal. All you have to do is take out the right trunk liner, and the factory amp is easily available to work on. I will explain the rest later, but suffice to say you will want this product.
Any 6 ˝ component set you want will work, just make sure the depth of the speaker is shallow enough. I chose the Morel 6.6 602 Virtus 2 way for the front and the for the rear deck. The Morel line are shallow speakers, but I debated between Morel and Focal, and I like rich sound so I chose Morel. Either way its all up to your own taste.
Install:
[Firewall] This part was honestly the hardest part. You will want a friend to help you for this. So here is what I did. There is a hole with a rubber grommet right behind the brake pedal. Take the grommet out and drill a hole into it with your Dremel. Make sure to cut it just a tad bit smaller than the 4 gauge wire to help make the wire seal better. Here is the tricky part, essentially that hole leads to a box, that’s right a fkn box. This box has one hole in it, but it is clearly visible by shining a flashlight into the role. It is directly to the right when your inspecting the hole from inside of the car. So this may sound ghetto, but I took a BBQ Skewer and pushed it through both holes, pointy end first. I had my buddy with me to assist me with the next step. Get your power wire and feed it down to where the skewer is poking out, hold an end up to it, and have your best friend push hard to lodge the skewer into the power wire. Now carefully bend the skewer 40 degrees in order to push it through the first hole straights. Otherwise you will be trying to push the hard wire with a 4gauge wire into a hole at an angle, which is impossibly, do the physics Im right. Once you get the wire through make sure your buddy is still gently applying pressure so that your wire does not slip off. Gently and carefully feed the wire through the hole and have your friend pull it out from inside the cabin. Tadaa!! No run your wire all the way to the trunk along the driver side floor trim panel. Hook up the wire to the battery, try not to unplug the battery if you do not know your Head Unit code (My code was on a sticker inside my glovebox. However, I did the entire install with the battery plugged in. (DO NOT PUT FUSE IN UNTILL YOU ARE COMPLETELY DONE WITH INSTALL).
[Front Speakers]
There are a few walk through guides on this forum about front door panel removal, so I will not go into this. Just know it is a royal pain in the ass, unlike the rear doors which are quite easy. Add your dynamat, install your spacer (drill holes), and install your speakers. Make sure you run the passive crossover that came with your two way speakers, I am unsure is the MS8 will allow for you to run active with only a 5 channel amp.
[Rear deck speakers] Despite what any car stereo shop will tell you, you DO NOT need to remove the entire rear deck +c-pillars. The C-pillars have a special metal fastener, and unless you are magic you will be unable to remove the c-pillars without damaging these special fasteners. Bottom line, the rear desk speakers have grills that are easily removed using your trim panel tools and a small amount of pressure. The sub woofer grill does not remove, so don’t try it or you’ll be forced to re-glue it in (Guilty). If you plan to build a custom box and want the subwoofer removed for a port, them by all means you will want to remove the entire rear deck panel (have fun sucker). My sub slams with not port, plus I leave the back seats down when driving anyways to help cool of my amp. You will need the spacer to install these, and most likely the space that came with your coaxials, you know the one that holds the grill in. You will want a flat fit between the rear deck, the spacer, the speaker grill mount, and the speaker. I only used two bolts on each side since drilling two holes was easier for me to lineup. Once you get the rear desk speakers in, the fun can begin.
[JBL MS8] Ok, so here is what you have to do to get your MS8 installed correctly. Remove the right rear trunk liner, this will expose the factory amp. Unplug both wire harnesses from the amp. The larger 16 pin is the output, and the smaller harness is the input. You will want one wire off the input, it is WHITE and on pin B3 (it is the only white wire that is 3 holes from either end). This White wire is your remote wire that you will send to the “Remote In” on the MS8.You can tap in but I chose to solder my remote, zip tie it and used liquid electric tape. Next, you will need to start cutting wires on the larger wire harness for the speaker outputs. You only need the front left and right signal + the subwoofer signal. I took off my rear door panels to remove the rear door speakers in lue of just cutting the wire on the harness for the rear door speakers. Do not worry about the center channel, leave it as is.
The wire colors are as follows:
Wires should be twisted together so identifying them is easy
Front Left(+) Black (Pin= B3)
Front Left(-) Blue (Pin= A16)
Front Right(+) Red (Pin=A15)
Front Left(-) Green (Pin=A6)
Sub(+) Gray (Pin=A10)
Sub(-) Light Blue (Pin=A1)
Cut about 2-3 inches off the harness to give yourself some wiggle room. Have all your speaker wires prepped and labeled. Attach 3 sets of wires roughly 4-5ft long to your front right, front left, and sub wires coming out of the harness. Attach 2 sets of speaker wire to the other end that runs back to the front speakers, these will go to your amp channel 1 and 2. Run 8 gauge power and ground wire from your distribution block to your MS8, and attach the remote lead coming off your factory amp(white wire). Use whatever method you like for cable management, that’s up to you how shitty you want your whip looking. Make sure to zip-tie each speaker connection on the wire harness in order to reduce pressure on the connection itself. Connect all your newley attached speaker wire to the MS8 high level speaker input wires. I only used channel 1,2,8. These channel have nothing to do with the channel output numbers for the MS8, it can be confusing. Run rca’s from the MS8 to your amp. I utilized the following output channels: channel 1 for Front right, channel 2 for front left , channel 3 for rear right, and channel 4 for rear left, channel 8 for sub. These RCAs will go into your amplifier, which I should not have to explain how to wire up. Google MS8 setup and you will find more info on tuning it after the install. I chose not to mount the lcd that the MS8 comes with, rather I am keeping it in my center console detached, I think drilling into the dashboard is for chumps. Plus you only need this when setting up and you will find that you do not want to have to run the setup very often.
Install your amp, this is very easy and anyone can Google how to do this, so no explanation is needed.
Mounting MS8 and Amp
I chose to mount my amp and dsp on the back of the rear seats. I used ˝ inch MDF board and spray painted them black. I tapped four holes that aligns with the baffling boards inside the seat. I used spacers so that the MDF does not dig into the carpet. I drilled the spacers down, and then screwed down the amp/DSP to their respective mounts. This will help take some weight off the back of the seat and put it on the board itself. You can alternatively create your own fancy fiberglass panel and then put some plexiglass over it and etch in “I’m radical” so everyone knows your cool. No seriously be cheap and do what I did, I love the results.
That’s it, one word of advice, if you mount your MS8 on the right seat, be sure that you realize you will have less room once you put the trunk liner back in. Don’t do what I did and slam it closed only to break off an RCA in my MS*. If you do this get a needle and bend the tip, heat that shit till its red hot and go directly into the rca jack and poke the broken rca plug. Then use a different channel (you can set the channels during setup) because most likely that channel will be super fcked.
It took me around 12 hours to do the entire install myself, and I only got help with the firewall. Here are the pictures from the install.
https://plus.google.com/photos/11171...681?banner=pwa
If you have any questions please let me know and I will try to answer them. Please read before asking a question as it may have already been answered.
The following 2 users liked this post by GeauxTigers:
Avenger411 (05-09-2014),
MC MiYoung3269 (12-11-2012)
The following users liked this post:
GeauxTigers (11-11-2012)
12-10-2012, 12:44 PM
#4
nice write up man..been looking to install the ms8. You think zero gauge will fit through there? I currently have 8 gauge being run along the passenger side for a sub amp. But it was done by a pro. I wanted to get rid of it and run zero and the passenger side seems to difficult.
Also.. i read and looked at your pics. But i don't undestand something, Why are u attaching wires to both ends of the fr fl and sub wires on the output harness? I understand the end that goes back to the speakers needs to have attachments. But why also the part going into the harness if its getting detached?
Also.. i read and looked at your pics. But i don't undestand something, Why are u attaching wires to both ends of the fr fl and sub wires on the output harness? I understand the end that goes back to the speakers needs to have attachments. But why also the part going into the harness if its getting detached?
12-11-2012, 05:28 PM
#5
This is some really awesome information, thanks for contributing, I am sure it will help someone tremendously who is looking to do audio upgrades
how much did everything end up costing you with your selected components?
how much did everything end up costing you with your selected components?
12-11-2012, 10:18 PM
#6
Drifting
Damn, good shit man! I see you're from Houston as well? Come check out the Houston thread~
https://acurazine.com/forums/texas-319/official-houston-thread-691655/
https://acurazine.com/forums/texas-319/official-houston-thread-691655/
12-14-2012, 08:29 AM
#7
Does your system have a lot of static? I don't have a tech package, but my system has a good amount of static. Once the volume is up enough, the music overshadows the static. Other than the static, the setup sounds awesome. Crystal clear sound.
I've tried a few different signal converters and none have helped the static.
From what I've read, the stock HU sends a flat tone and the amp does all the conversion, but all the signals are dirty with alot of noise. So there's little that can be done.
I've rewired everything a couple times with high quality wire, shielded all my cables, and did a big 3 power upgrade.
How does the JBL MS8 compare to the Audio Control LC6i?
Currently running audio control LC6i, which also sums the input signals.
I've tried a few different signal converters and none have helped the static.
From what I've read, the stock HU sends a flat tone and the amp does all the conversion, but all the signals are dirty with alot of noise. So there's little that can be done.
I've rewired everything a couple times with high quality wire, shielded all my cables, and did a big 3 power upgrade.
How does the JBL MS8 compare to the Audio Control LC6i?
Currently running audio control LC6i, which also sums the input signals.
Trending Topics
12-27-2012, 02:20 PM
#8
nice write up man..been looking to install the ms8. You think zero gauge will fit through there? I currently have 8 gauge being run along the passenger side for a sub amp. But it was done by a pro. I wanted to get rid of it and run zero and the passenger side seems to difficult.
Also.. i read and looked at your pics. But i don't undestand something, Why are u attaching wires to both ends of the fr fl and sub wires on the output harness? I understand the end that goes back to the speakers needs to have attachments. But why also the part going into the harness if its getting detached?
Also.. i read and looked at your pics. But i don't undestand something, Why are u attaching wires to both ends of the fr fl and sub wires on the output harness? I understand the end that goes back to the speakers needs to have attachments. But why also the part going into the harness if its getting detached?
You have to connect the FL, FR, and sub to the INPUT of the MS8- then the OUTPUT is all RCA to amp. I have made some changes to my config and will post in a few about those changes.
12-27-2012, 02:26 PM
#9
Does your system have a lot of static? I don't have a tech package, but my system has a good amount of static. Once the volume is up enough, the music overshadows the static. Other than the static, the setup sounds awesome. Crystal clear sound.
I've tried a few different signal converters and none have helped the static.
From what I've read, the stock HU sends a flat tone and the amp does all the conversion, but all the signals are dirty with alot of noise. So there's little that can be done.
I've rewired everything a couple times with high quality wire, shielded all my cables, and did a big 3 power upgrade.
How does the JBL MS8 compare to the Audio Control LC6i?
Currently running audio control LC6i, which also sums the input signals.
I've tried a few different signal converters and none have helped the static.
From what I've read, the stock HU sends a flat tone and the amp does all the conversion, but all the signals are dirty with alot of noise. So there's little that can be done.
I've rewired everything a couple times with high quality wire, shielded all my cables, and did a big 3 power upgrade.
How does the JBL MS8 compare to the Audio Control LC6i?
Currently running audio control LC6i, which also sums the input signals.
The MS* is really not a good comparision to a LOC. A LOC is a cheap and dirty way to get a full range signal. The MS-8 takes the FL, FR, and Sub and sums the signal, then it applies a shit ton of digital processing to the signal, then sends that out to your speakers or amp (i would get an amp if you get an MS-8). The LOC will give you a lot of engine noise, that is what you are experiencing. If you want to get rid of it you could go get some ground loop isolators and feed that into the signal. the MS-8 is only 400 bucks on amazon, and totally worth it. You setup soundstages for all your seat positions but only one can be the main soundstage while you drive(obviously the drivers seat). You have to move your head around during setup with the headphones to get the best sound, still working it out. It may take a few weeks/months to get the sound stage perfect, but it is worth the time.
I have noticed that turning the gains down on the amp prior to setup of the MS-8 gives you louder sound, turning the gains up gives you lower sound. What I do is set the gains to 25% and the sub to 25% and then setup the ms-8. I set the overall volume (db) to -10 after the setup which brings the volume back up, and then set my gains (with volume at 0 on HU) untill I hear static, then cut it down a notch. This prevents engine noise, static, and from getting any drop out in your sound.
I am about to update the post below because I made some serious changes to my setup.
The following users liked this post:
Asian Candy (12-31-2012)
12-27-2012, 02:53 PM
#10
Changes to system
SO I had to make some significant changes to my system. They are as follows.
The Rockford Fosgate was just not enough to push everything, so I RMA'd it. It kept going into protect mode and I think it had something to do with my Sub (JL W1-2-4). It was supplying enough power to the sub and ultimately I just gave up and returned it. I read a lot of forums stating that this could have been from a voltage fluctuation but I could not determine that being the cause. I also changed the wire gauge going to the amp from 8 gauge to 4 gauge, and with a DMM I was getting 14.5v constant at the amp with the engine running. So I just did some research and changed the setup.
I replaced the amp with a Alpine PDX-V9. It is a digital class d amp that has 140wx4 and 580x1 for sub. It can run at 2 or 4 ohm and the cool thing is it has built in circuitry that eliminates voltage drops, short circuits, and overheating. It cost me 540 bucks from Crutchfield. I advise getting it from crutchfield, and not amazon, as you have to get it from a certified dealer for the 2 year Manu warrenty. I got one off Amazon first and something really bad happened and luckily I was able to return it for a full refund. Essentially, the Alpine amp was TOOO much for the JL W1, and it basically overheated the sub and fried it. The sub no longer moves, completely fried. This then did something to the amp where it stayed in protect mode. After I got a new one from Crutchfield, everything is working great. I may have got a bad amp, or I simply destroyed it trying to run too much amperage through the sub. I added the RUX knob and mounted it between the center console and the drivers seat (where change falls down).
I have replaced the JL W1 with a JL Audio 12W3v3-4: 1 @ $179.95 from Sonic Electronics. I got a box rated at the perfect cubic in for the sub: Ground Shaker HB 1 12-BLACK: 1 @ $49.95 from Sonic Electronix. A local shop wanted to sell me the same deal for 390$ so getting it online saved me some money. This sub is rated at 500RMS and my Alpine amp birth cert said it has 580w, so this is a perfect match.
I ran new wire to the front speakers, because I was getting low ohm readings using the factory wires. This must mean there was a short or something, so I got some good monster cable wire from best buy, I think it was 50ft and cost 32$. I ran both wires down the passenger side floorboard since my battery power wire is running down the drivers side. I was able to use the rubber conduit that the other wires run through in the doors, you simple pull the rubber piece completely out, unplug the plug, and feed it through. The drives side door wire has to be run up under the left panel (hood latch)), then under the carpet (where the power wire comes through the firewall), and then through the center console (remove both panels on left and right to feed it through) then under the passenger carpet to the right front kcik panel (fuse box) . The passenger front door speaker wire was easy to install. Just make sure to double up your wire if you plan to run active to your fronts, but I am passive so I only needed one to go to the crossover for my Morel Components.
I installed the MS-8 display panel in the glove box, with the mount. This is the way to do it as you are always wanting to tweak the volume, the graphic EQ, or the levels (mid, hi, sub, bass). I ran the cord with the front speaker wire.
The key to all of this was the DMM I got from walmart, testing the Ohm of your speaker wire coming out of the Amp is key. You want anywhere from 3.4-3.8 Ohm on all your speakers to ensure you don't have any short circuits. Also don't try to hook up a shitty JL W1 to this Alpine PDX-V9, or it will just melt. The Alpine does not play around and is very small.
I have a few friends who install for a living and they are both very impressed, they say its the best do it yourself they have ever heard. By all means its no where near comp level, but for a daily driver this thing hits hard, is very clean, no rattle anywhere, and makes your teeth rattle. The sun-glass holder did rattle a lot, but I stuffed it with paper towels and now it does not rattle. I picked up a clip for the visor to hold my sunglasses, beats the hell out of a rattling piece of plastic.
All in total I spent roughly 2200$ give or take 100$.
Worth it. If anyone has any questions please email me as this forum does not allow me to reply to messages.
nuggiez1337@gmail.com
My next install will be a battery in the trunk and a capacitor. But I still need to research this more and see if it is needed. I don't see any problems with my headlights when the bass hits but I am concerned about my alternator. I may need to upgrade the alternator in a few weeks.
The Rockford Fosgate was just not enough to push everything, so I RMA'd it. It kept going into protect mode and I think it had something to do with my Sub (JL W1-2-4). It was supplying enough power to the sub and ultimately I just gave up and returned it. I read a lot of forums stating that this could have been from a voltage fluctuation but I could not determine that being the cause. I also changed the wire gauge going to the amp from 8 gauge to 4 gauge, and with a DMM I was getting 14.5v constant at the amp with the engine running. So I just did some research and changed the setup.
I replaced the amp with a Alpine PDX-V9. It is a digital class d amp that has 140wx4 and 580x1 for sub. It can run at 2 or 4 ohm and the cool thing is it has built in circuitry that eliminates voltage drops, short circuits, and overheating. It cost me 540 bucks from Crutchfield. I advise getting it from crutchfield, and not amazon, as you have to get it from a certified dealer for the 2 year Manu warrenty. I got one off Amazon first and something really bad happened and luckily I was able to return it for a full refund. Essentially, the Alpine amp was TOOO much for the JL W1, and it basically overheated the sub and fried it. The sub no longer moves, completely fried. This then did something to the amp where it stayed in protect mode. After I got a new one from Crutchfield, everything is working great. I may have got a bad amp, or I simply destroyed it trying to run too much amperage through the sub. I added the RUX knob and mounted it between the center console and the drivers seat (where change falls down).
I have replaced the JL W1 with a JL Audio 12W3v3-4: 1 @ $179.95 from Sonic Electronics. I got a box rated at the perfect cubic in for the sub: Ground Shaker HB 1 12-BLACK: 1 @ $49.95 from Sonic Electronix. A local shop wanted to sell me the same deal for 390$ so getting it online saved me some money. This sub is rated at 500RMS and my Alpine amp birth cert said it has 580w, so this is a perfect match.
I ran new wire to the front speakers, because I was getting low ohm readings using the factory wires. This must mean there was a short or something, so I got some good monster cable wire from best buy, I think it was 50ft and cost 32$. I ran both wires down the passenger side floorboard since my battery power wire is running down the drivers side. I was able to use the rubber conduit that the other wires run through in the doors, you simple pull the rubber piece completely out, unplug the plug, and feed it through. The drives side door wire has to be run up under the left panel (hood latch)), then under the carpet (where the power wire comes through the firewall), and then through the center console (remove both panels on left and right to feed it through) then under the passenger carpet to the right front kcik panel (fuse box) . The passenger front door speaker wire was easy to install. Just make sure to double up your wire if you plan to run active to your fronts, but I am passive so I only needed one to go to the crossover for my Morel Components.
I installed the MS-8 display panel in the glove box, with the mount. This is the way to do it as you are always wanting to tweak the volume, the graphic EQ, or the levels (mid, hi, sub, bass). I ran the cord with the front speaker wire.
The key to all of this was the DMM I got from walmart, testing the Ohm of your speaker wire coming out of the Amp is key. You want anywhere from 3.4-3.8 Ohm on all your speakers to ensure you don't have any short circuits. Also don't try to hook up a shitty JL W1 to this Alpine PDX-V9, or it will just melt. The Alpine does not play around and is very small.
I have a few friends who install for a living and they are both very impressed, they say its the best do it yourself they have ever heard. By all means its no where near comp level, but for a daily driver this thing hits hard, is very clean, no rattle anywhere, and makes your teeth rattle. The sun-glass holder did rattle a lot, but I stuffed it with paper towels and now it does not rattle. I picked up a clip for the visor to hold my sunglasses, beats the hell out of a rattling piece of plastic.
All in total I spent roughly 2200$ give or take 100$.
Worth it. If anyone has any questions please email me as this forum does not allow me to reply to messages.
nuggiez1337@gmail.com
My next install will be a battery in the trunk and a capacitor. But I still need to research this more and see if it is needed. I don't see any problems with my headlights when the bass hits but I am concerned about my alternator. I may need to upgrade the alternator in a few weeks.
01-22-2013, 05:59 PM
#12
More changes
So I noticed some clipping in my highs and subs, so I installed a Monster Cable 1F Capacitor. Now I don't have to worry about the amp starving for power. I also installed a ground loop isolator to my highs, this cleaned up the noise that I was getting when my gains were turned up. I added images to my gallary:
https://plus.google.com/photos/11171...681?banner=pwa
My friend helped me solder the power and ground cables, they came out very solid. He also hooked up some carbon fiber coating for the mount. All in all sounds better, and looks better.
https://plus.google.com/photos/11171...681?banner=pwa
My friend helped me solder the power and ground cables, they came out very solid. He also hooked up some carbon fiber coating for the mount. All in all sounds better, and looks better.
05-01-2014, 05:05 PM
#15
05-24-2014, 04:47 PM
#16
When you had the MS8 hooked up what happened when you adjusted the bass, treble, and other eq settings on stock head unit? Did that affect sound after being processed through the MS8? Or do the head unit eq setting not work after connecting the MS8?
The following users liked this post:
hokusai (05-25-2014)
06-20-2014, 03:17 PM
#18
Has anyone connected the MS8 to the stock head unit signal outputs while leaving the connection with the stock amplifiers? I know you may be wondering why would someone do this if the MS8 has a built in amplifier. Well, I want to install a Rockford Fosgate 360.3 to my TSX technology package, but the 360.3 does not have a built in amplifier. Thus, I wanted to tap into the high level output from the head unit to pass the signal to the 360.3 while simultaneously leaving the headunit connected to the stock amplifier. I would disconnect the front left and right speakers and replace them with a new component set that I would power through an amplifier connected through the 360.3. I later want to upgrade the rest of the stock speakers in the car and add amplifiers to them through the 360.3. However, at the moment, I only have one amplifier and one new set of speakers, which is why I would like to keep the rest of the speakers in the car connected to the stock amplifier. I was told by a car stereo technician that by tapping into the stock head unit signal and splitting it between the 360.3 and the stock amplifiers that the Ohms in the signal from the headunit would change and that could damage the stock amplifiers. Can anyone shine some light on this for me. Thanks.
06-21-2014, 12:08 PM
#19
I should clarify that in my last question, I asked that question from the perspective of connecting the MS8 at the preamp level, and not at the postamp level. I wonder if I will lose the ability to control the systems volume if I connect an MS8 at the preamp level versus the postamp level. I do not think anyone has connected a tsx tech version at the preamp level. Only a guy (or gal) named Vtec-something has connected at the preamp level, but with a non-navigation system, which appears to be somewhat different than the technology package system.
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