amd64bit

Hey guys, im rather new to this site on account of the fact that i just traded in my 06 honda civic to an 04 tl, but just bear with me. This appears to be a somewhat common subject here, but trying to compile all the data is seeming to prove difficult.

(Btw i have read thru uncald4's thread 'Plug and play factory amp replacement" thread but i still have questions)

To start off, my knowledge of car audio systems is limited, which is odd cause i know everything there is to know about computers and home electronics, but im tryin=P
So anyway in my old car i had an alpine 12 type r powered by a kenwood 1000w amp/500rms in a huge ported box, which is exactly what the sub is rated for, and i must add that this was quite a nice pair up, bass was always ridiculously loud yet amazingly clear and undistorted. The system was all tapped into the stock setup in the car(via stock sub line), stock deck and all, which was all i ever needed.

Now i got my tl, and after driving it for a few months i noticed that sometimes the volume would be abnormally low, like i could turn it to 40 and still comfortably talk to someone in the back seat. Didn't happen all the time but tended to occur quite frequently.
I hadn't payed much attention to it at first cause i hadn't done anything to it yet, but just last week i had my amp wires run thru the car( cause i found it too difficult to do it myself and only just recently managed to get a job to pay for it, we all know how that goes sometimes) and i got a cpl good days out of the system(random goods and bads throughout the time period), hit its peaks very well like a decent system should and it was great. Just when i was enjoying it enough to deal with the random "blackouts" (low volume encounters), it seems it has decided to permanently stay in its low volume state now...=((

It rather pisses me off honestly because im ocd when it comes to sound, i mostly listen to bass heavy music(rap and dubstep), and from doing research and talking with the guys at the audio shop, this kind of problem is not usually the easiest to deal with, especially with these higher end cars.Plus im working with a rather low budget. Tho i am bout to get a second job, bills n junk still gotta b paid..

So here are my questions:
Im thinkin just for now, id like to try to find somewhere to purchase a direct oem replacement amp, does anyone have the hookup on an online source for one of these? Ive called all the nearby junk yards and they have nothing of the sort..

Second, if there is another more efficient way of fixing this problem, without costing too much more, what are ur suggestions?

Third, later on down the line when i got more income coming thru, what would be the most ideal, most improving option( as if money weren't an issue(to an extent kind of thing))

Any and all suggestions and tips will be much appreciated. Thanks

chefboyardee

I know this post is incredibly old, and I'm sure the OP has replaced his amp already, but I just had the same issue with my 04 and wanted to share my solution. I was hearing noise in the stero whenever it was on (engine spark noise). The volume was also significantly lower than it should have been. As the OP said, it would be at 40 and you could still comfortably hold a conversation.
I too looked into replacing the amp, but I didn't want to waste $400 on a new one or even $150 on a sketchy eBay one from a wrecked TL. I figured it was worth pulling the amp out, opening it up, and seeing if I could fix it.
It turns out that its really a pretty easy fix if you know how to use a soldering iron.
Capacitors. 27 of them. I must have gotten a bum batch of caps in my amp, because almost every one of the small 5mm electrolytic capacitors in my amp was bad. I replaced them all with comparable caps I had laying around, and now it is back to sounding brand new! No noise, loud output.
If anyone wants me to, I'd be happy to put up a short explainer for replacing the caps. Its a little tedious, two hours tops if you have no idea what you're doing. The parts are maybe $20 at the most, and there's nothing particularly tricky about it. You just need a screwdriver, a soldering iron, a solder sucker, pliers, and the new capacitors.

chefboyardee

I posted the howto here:

https://acurazine.com/forums/audio-b...volume-922588/

Hope it helps!