TooLate

I will be getting my TL soon, I was wondering if I should put my Bazooka into it? THe Bazooka always did well in my current car, it adds that low-end, deep bass that stock systems usually can't produce.

Anyone add a sub to their TL system?

JetJock

If you want to destroy the balance of sound that was designed into the DVD-A system do it. Some people just want un-natural sound. I'll probably get flamed for this comment, but most people just don't know what a proper balance of bass and treble sounds like. I think engineers like Elliott S. probably have more understanding about proper balance than the "average joe" on the street. Most people just crank up the bass and treble in their car, and think that when they hear a thumping from the bass, and overly bright high frequency's, that the sound is correct....WRONG!! But...if it makes you happy, go for it!! It's your ears that you have to please, correct or not.

TooLate

Ok, I understand what you are saying, but I have a question I would really like you to answer.

Who makes this "correct balance of sound"? Who specifies what the "correct balance of sound" is? And who says we have to go by this "correct balance of sound"? And does the Acura TL have this ""correct balance of sound"?

We are not allowed freedom of choice? We all should go by this one "correct balance of sound"?

I do not understand, please explain this Nazi idea to me.

Until you explain it, I am just going to continue believeing that different people enjoy different sound, and that there is absolutely not one "correct balance of sound".


I enjoy deep bass, I like to hear and feel the low down bass that most music has. I was wondering if people hooked up after market subwoofers and how it went. Did too many interior panels shake loose? Where did they connect it too for the sound? Stuff like that.

cliff

you can add it. some people do it with fm modulators and some people buy head units.
there is 2 possible situations
1. they install it and the next time you go to service, they find out that you added a sub, and they might not void your warrenty on the spot, but they can add a little comment saying you have a sub into their computers saying if something goes wrong wirh the navi/head unit, they will use that against you and void the warrenty.

2. they might not care if no wires are cut behind the stock head unit. if the stock wires are cut, theyre most likely going to void your warrenty.


i personally enjoy subs too, had one in my last car. but i would seriously think it over before adding it. i put subs in my car, but it was hooked up to my friends car, so it was just the bass that i was getting to see how it sounds like. it definitely has more bass. but the rear deck lid also rattles like a mofo. thats y i decided not to get subs in my car.

heres my opinion, but if you like it, go for it

TooLate

cliff, thanks a lot for the reply.

How can you use an FM Modulator when adding a sub? I've never heard of that.

Normally I would connect the sub to the rear speakers, this way I don't have to do any cutting behind the HU.
That round speaker in the middle of the rear deck, is that a stock subwoofer or a rear center channel speaker for the Surround? If it is a sub I can hook my aftermarket sub directly to it.

I'm just pondering ideas, I probabbly won't install it anyway.

ComptechType-S

Some people should really think before the start typing nonsense.. If you want to add a sub for richer sound and a broader range of frequencies just add a line out converter (LOC) and add a amplified sub or a amp and sub.

The crappy free air sub that in the car now prolly only produces bass in the range of 70-90 hz. "Authentic" bass (what people can here) has a range of about 20hz and up to over 100hz. For a more "realistic" sound an enclosed sub will fill in the missing bass frequencies the factory sub wont.

jcl_cls01

I added an Infinity Basslink to my TL. It sounds better to me.

999999

I replaced the whole system in my '99 TL and the dealer never said "boo".

Acura has never offered "balanced sound" in any system they have ever put in any vehicle. I HAD to get rid of the Bose for that very reason.

An adequately powered sub is an important part of any good auto sound system, especially with mid-bass drivers no bigger than 6.5". That does not mean that you have to "boom". That does mean that the low end is there and quite abit of the punch is there (that a lot of people think is coming from up front). The ELS system sub is not adequately powered. i don't know if it can even handle adequate power.

Go for it.

Anyone looking for a cheap alternative, I think these are good deals on Ebay thes days:

Soundstream changed over the Rubicon amps and must have dumped a bunch of them. The 300-2 (75x2 or 300 x1 at 4 ohms). They can be had new for about $120, less used. Not as nice as ome amps, but should adequate. Not too noisy.

Some of the best cheaper subs are the Infinity's. The 10" and 12" Reference series are going REALLY cheap on Ebay - no need to pay over abour $45 delivered. The 10" uses a rvery small sealed box. The Kappa Perfect is nicer, but then you start competing with some nice subs (new price range).

tlguy99

For the average listener the TL system is good, most won't complain. In fact most will think it is really good. IMHO they TL system has alot to he desired. I think Comptech hit it right on the head. The free air sub is just not enough. It does not extend fully down the audible range. The speakers are ok, but will suffer under songs with alot of midbass. The system was a great idea and shows some great thinking, although I think it's execution was on the poor side. I'm not bashing the car at all. I think for the amount of features they packed into this car, it's ~$35,000 is amazing. But they had to save money somewhere and I think it was the stereo. My ideas are always changing and I haven't come to a final decision but as it stands now, the stock amp is coming out getting replaced with a butler tube driver TDB575 and a Orion 2500D with Dynaudio components up front and focal in the rear and 2 Digital design subs. Anyway, in the end, it is YOU that will be listening to it. If you like it then great!! stick with it. If you think it needs more bass, there are pleanty of good options.

No_Remorse

I would love to overhaul the TL sound system. The only thing I miss about my '02 Mustang GT was the Mach 1000 stereo. The factory system pumped out 570w RMS and peaked out at just over 1100w. After that, the TL factory sound system just doesn't cut it for me (I like loud ). However, I do agree with a lot of the people in this forum... the TL sound system is very well put together, and modifying the sound system would likely compromise the music quality as a whole; unless you upgrade the entire system to keep it balanced.

That being said, everyone has different tastes, so depending on the type of music you listen to, and your personal preferences, you may or may not want to upgrade the sound system. Personally, I don't much like the idea of ripping apart my car to upgrade the stereo (Not a big enough gain when weighing the cost)... Also has the wonderful side effect that it makes it a little more inviting for thieves etc to break into your car.

Just my 2 cents.

greaTLakes

I've added a sub ans thinks it sounds much better. Even the dealer ws impressed when he heard it. I used a line out converter off the factory sub wires in the back so I can control the volume with the factory sub level in the head unit. Works sweet IMO

automophile

FIRST - try replacing the stock sub driver. ALL stock car speakers are barely useable - you would not believe that the real cost is for the drivers. This stuff is SO cheap! A GOOD rear driver could do all that you need - extending the bass downward and also having increased efficiency, the same as increasing amplfiier power! I'd also change out the tweeters for the same reason.

SECOND - Turn the Bass adjustment DOWN to -2. The system is very short on upper mid-range, and cutting the bass and raising then overall volume brings the upper mids right up and GREATLY improves the clarity and overall quality of the system.

JetJock

TooLate, the person who decided the correct balance of sound was Elliott S., the engineer who designed the whole system. He's an audio engineer and has a pretty good idea about what the sound engineers wanted when they recorded the original sound. Granted, everyone has different hearing, and there is nothing wrong with wanting more bass or treble in your car. That's why they put tone controls on most consumer audio equipment, but if you check out the professional equipment, there are no tone controls on most high-end equipment. The idea being that you taylor the sound by proper speaker choices, balancing the room acoustics, and other system choices. It's all a matter of how you hear, and what you want, so if you would like a subwoofer, get a good one with fast response, tight bass, and something that won't drown out the midrange and treble from the rest of the system.

999999

Jetjock,

I serioulsy doubt that the ELS system is something that Elliott would put in his living room. I'm sure that he is a good engineer and is into good sound, but he had to live within Acura's budget and constraints. There is absolutely no doubt that this system can be seriously improved and that is not a matter of taste.

Having said that, I'm personally glad that the head unit is a Panasonic rather than a Bose. How did they not put int an auxiliary input in today's world, though.

UWISHUWEREME

Toolate,

I added two 12" Kicker Comp VR subs and I have a Kicker 600.1 amp powering the subs in a sealed Obcon box. It sounds great. It gives more than enough bass for me and I have a remote bass knob that runs my amp. This allows me to adjust the amount of bass that comes from the subwoofer box without messing with the adjustments from the radio. Basically, this allows me to listen to hiphop with all of the bass I want and to listen to jazz with little additional bass. It's all up to you but I think my configuration works perfectly. The guys in the service department heard my system and they thought it added alot more fullness than you get with the stock sub.

BTW- I keep my radio setttings at -2 for bass and -3 for subwoofer.

cybermatrix

Does anyone know what is involved in hooking up a Bazooka tube to my 04TL without splicing (and possibly creating warranty issues). I checked Crutchfield's site and they have a T-Harness (link below) that allows you to add a Bazooka tube to Acura/Honda's (it says 98 and up) but after calling them to confirm, they state that they do not have the specs on the 04 TL's. They said their 30 day return policy would apply, but it's not the $30 harness I'm worried about, its the $30K car...

I want to hook up a 100W 10" SAS that I had in a former car (it has the A80 wiring config)
http://www.bazooka.com/productAutoAc...FAST.asp?id=23

SLVR04TL6PD

My modification days are over. Been there, done that. Keep things stock, or at least stock looking. I would rather find a nice replacement Free- Air sub to replace the stock one and use the high level inputs into a nice mono sub amp mounted somewhere hidden. That way you will keep the stock appearance and have a little better quality bass.

AFtermarket car stereo equipment can have many gremlinis that an uniformed person finds out only after spending hours and hours installing it. So do your homework first and it will make the installation that much easier.

ps- Bazooka tubes aren't worth the money. I bought the 10" amplified one a number of years ago and liked it, but it never really pounded. It echoes good bass, but a nice solobaric or JL audio sub will crush the Bazooka tube in my opinion.

-Chad

cybermatrix

I already had the Bazooka from a former car, and I did not want a sick amount of bass (just more than Elliot). I checked with a local installer, who said that since it is amplified there is no modding involved, just using T connectors to the existing sub, and a high/low converter. They want $80 for the install ($40 for the converter). The thing I don't get, is that the tube has both high and low level inputs, so why does it have to be converted to low level? Is this dude trying to jack-up the price or is there some advantage to using the low level inputs?
Frank

SLVR04TL6PD

Tell him that your sub has high level inputs. there is no reason to have two sets. I'm curious to see how it comes out. post some pics when you are done..

-Chad

DeMAN

I agree and I think you answered your own question in the first paragraph
I have ~1k invested installed in another car featuring Alpine HU that flat blows Acura setup away. That includes HU, Sub, Amp, and upgraded wiring. I will be looking to set if some first aid can be rendered to the current sound system to see if it can be saved. I wont bother to show this system as one of the TL's strong suits.

These can be found on ebay at a reasonable price.

SSM6MTNAVI

I plan to do the same in a about a week or so. In my previous ride - 00' Accord I had a 5 channel amp powering upgraded components and 6x9s for the back and a Visonik 750w competition 12" sub running off of a Kenwood 11 band Eq from the Honda factory stereo. Lets just say that even some stereo shop guys were amazed at how good it sounded from a factory stereo input. The Best Buy and Circuit City stereo gurus said it couldn't be done. I can't stand those 'don't know nothing' folks.

Anywho - greatlakes do u have pics of this amp install and where did u run the remote turn on wire for the amp from, factory head unit or other place? Also what LOC did use and how did u hook it up to the sub? Is ur factory sub still working after the install or did u just have the aftermarket sub feed u the lows. Damn thats a lot of q's. I appreciate any feedback. Cheers!

greaTLakes

I actually had a local shop put the amp in. I had heard some horror stories about adding an amp to the factory head unit such as if the aftermarket amp turned on before the factory unit, the head unit may be damaged, etc. After carefeul consideration I determined $120 for the shop to take the risk instead of me was worth it. I do know the factory sub has been disconnected. The other questions could be answered by Classic Stereo an Video in Grand Rapids, MI @ 616-957-2130. Sorry not much help but good luck! I will try to post some pics shortly.

SSM6MTNAVI

Thanks I'd appreciate that very much.

LegoGT

When some one refers to a "correct balance of sound" they just mean that they want the music that they hear to be as close as possible to what the artist heard when he originally recorded it. So, if you're listening to a live recording of a band on your stereo then your ultimate goal is to make it sound like you're sitting in the audience.

When people set up complex equalizations and start tweaking speaker locations and such, they're just trying to make the frequency response of their system as "flat" (no artificial frequency peaks) as possible. When a track is put on a CD, it's meant to be played on a system where every frequency intensity recorded is played back at the same intensity.
Another aspect of speaker placement has to do with the imaging, and that refers to your speaker setup working as a composite system to create an environment where your ears are fooled into thinking that sounds are coming from places where there are no speakers.

Now, the problem comes in the way that the ear perceives sound. For example, they have done countless studies on how the ear is much more sensitive to a certain range of frequencies (Your ear does have a frequency response!). In this light, they started designing standard filtering schemes (An "A-weighted" filter for a microphone is one example). Most of the time there's some sort of boosting on the lower frequencies and then a drop off to a flat response in the mid range with the response rising through the upper frequencies. It's meant to compensate for what your ear perceives versus what a meter would read.

That little "loudness" button on your stereo does just that. It's really noticable at lower volumes (bass and treble are boosted) and then this effect eases off as you turn your stereo louder. Most audiophiles and stereo calibration experts despise this button because it alters the natural equalization of the recording.

The point is: when all is said and done, it only matters what YOUR ear hears, so if you think that more bass sounds better, then happy tweaking!

taschroth

Where do you pull an output for an aftermarket sub... Do your use a line level adapater? Do you got to the OEM sub from the trunk or interior?