SoSoGuju

hey guys i know the topic is pretty self explanatory but here are sum specifics on what i am thinking... i have an 05 tl w/nav.

i dont wanna change all the speakers in the car (too much $$$ plus its too much hassle right now) BUT i used to have a setup in my 01 330ci bmer which had a Pioneer Premier DEH-P940MP headunit powering the factory HK system w/2 kicker solobaric l7 12" subs powered by a MB QUART 1000.1 amp.... i took all this stuff out and i have it sitting im my room gathering dust.

i like the sound of the ELS system in the TL BUTTTT:
1. its not loud enough
2. if i turn up the bass the sound distorts (i listen at minimum level 18 and comfortably take it anywhere from 24-34)

problem is that if i add more bass using my subs and turn the factory subs and bass down completely im afraid that my subs might over power the highs and mids from the factory system??? i went to a local stereo shop and he tried to sell me a JLAudio cleansweep which is all fine and dandy and totally gonna blow anything away IF i replace all the speakers in the car... not what i had planned...

any suggestions? any regrets if any of yall have done it? would changin the factory sub to some other brand work if powered by the factory amp(pull one out and drop another in)?

thanks in advance for any help

oh and by the way its too much $$$ right now b/c i wanna save for sum rims... any advice on those? (i have the a-spec kit)

2LOW4U

I did the sub route with factory speakers, and added an amp to the stockers as well.. Still has 5.1, still has the same sound but its about 40% louder, and has some nasty bass... 12W7. I don't regret it at all, still trying to tune the line outs to make it sound best, but its getting darn close... Where abouts do you live? I had mine done in Dallas at Tweeter.

ed99

Since you have the product all you need is to install it. Yes it will better and you won't regret it. You don't need the Clean Sweep I think unless you are planning to upgrade your mids/tweets and an aft mkt 5channel amp. Otherwise it is a waste of money. All you need is to add a aftmkt sub amp to power some aft mkt subs and it will sound pretty good. Oh don't forget to buy a good LOC.

SoSoGuju

i live in sunnyvale (right by towneast mall)... question though, how did you add an amp to the factory speakers??

and what is a LOC? (im challenged)

lilvinnyb

I swapped out all factory speakers with JL audio and added a 12 inch sub and clean sweep. The previous post is correct, I probably could have done without it, but I really did not want to use the FM modulator for IPOD hookup. IT runs directly throught the clean sweep.

I did lose the center channel and the surrent stock sub is turned off, but its really no concern for me. Most R&B and Rap doesn' t come in that format.

Im happy as a pig in "S$$T" though.

Ram4

:rave:

ACURA`TL`TYPE-$

ye i got a pair of 1000 wat audiobon subs in a super sick big a$$ box i am still depatig to plug it in or not, i am afraid itll rip my car apart.

Aznpersuasion

I had 2 12' JL Audio subwooofers W6'S than I blew one so I bought 2 12' MTX 7500 haha
~Jason

ACURA`TL`TYPE-$

so should i hook my shit in too, i just don't want o car to sart skweking and shit after a period of time. do u guys know any products that can prevent the whole vibration damage from the subs?

Aznpersuasion

most likely Deadskin, Keeps the sound enclosed, and alot louder, most of the time I have the bass turned off on a daily day basis now, I just bump the music when i'm at car shows or when someone else is blasting there's next to mine. haha
~Jason

KC-Dub

I'd say use only one of your two SoloBaric L7's. I just installed 1 L7 12" and a 750W amp in a 2.0 cubic foot sealed enclosure and it sounds excellent. The bass does NOT overpower the factory speakers once you get it tuned right. Make sure you get your signal from the stock sub using a quality Line-Out Converter and disable any low-pass crossovers on the amp. Install is everything here. A quality box and wiring job will make or break the sound. If you want to see how mine looks, see this thread:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=151431

Using both of the SoloBaric's will probably be too much for the car's factory component speakers and will take up a lot more space than only having one installed. Now that my sub is in and tuned up, I really am amazed at the quality of the ELS system (by OEM standards at least). Once you disable the crap stock sub and take the bass load off of the midrange speakers by turning the bass EQ down to -2 or -3, the system will CRANK and hits all frequencies with surprising accuracy.

krue92

so all you need to do is unplug the stock sub, t-tap those lines run those to an LOC and run wires from there to amp?

all i want to do is add a subwoofer to my stock setup, and disable the stock one.

sunny201

Thats what i did except I kept my stock sub plugged in and put a switch for my rockford amp in front so i can turn it on and off with a flick for when i take it into service or my rents wanna drive it.

TLRIDA

nice, thats a good idea . i think i might try it

tehloxely

What' a LOC?

sunny201

A Line Output Converter

erick3

yeah...i have 2 p2s in the back. but it takes too much space and "slows" my car down believe it errr not...!!!

Hi There

It's device that takes the output from your factory amplifier, that would normally go directly to a set of speakers, and tones it down to the level of an input to an aftermarket amplifier. It's a simple way of adding a non-stock amp and speaker set to an otherwise stock system (read: you don't have to take anything out of the dash, and your head unit remains). You can buy a set cheap at Wal Mart for about $20 that'll do the job in a simple way; these don't require their own power source. If you want finer control over the signal and the ability to equalize the factory sound, you need a powered device such as the JL cleansweep.

I use the cheap set to get bluetooth phone sound back to my digital processor and aftermarket equipment in my non-nav tl, otherwise my music is sourced from a PC.

Hi There

...and by the way, the cheap, $20 Wal-mart LOC's sound absolutely superb handling CD audio from the factory head unit with a little tuning below 300 Hz via EQ/processor.

rodneyc77

iTrader: (1)

YES... I regret it...

(First I did the LOC with amp and one 10" Sealed
Then... I changed to 10" Vented
Then... I changed to 2-10" sealed
Then... I change all factory speaker added another amp, dynamat & 3sixty with 2-10" Vented...
Now I want 2-12" Vented...)

'cause I'm never happy...

MickyQ

Who did your sub box and does the trunk or anything else rattle ?? I was looking into doing the same kind of job!!

sunny201

haha x2!!!

I started off with just one 12" and now I got two, and pretty soon its not gonna be enough.

My system sounds amazing from the inside, but once I step outside, all I hear is the trunk rattling!! Its not even just the lisence plate, its the whole trunk! I think I might have to dynamat it, but I havent had a chance to do that yet. I dunno about you, but im a typical 18 year old and I love bass. I love to feel the vibrations haha.. 2200 watts RMS is probably gonna be alot so with a lesser wattage system who knows if the trunk will rattle as bad.

Knockz

Ya.. 2200W RMS will probably rattle the whole damn car haha..

I have 1000W RMS system and when I step out the car I can barely hear it. Inside the car its perfect.

The car feels solid. Little rattle but nothing big.

brifro

I have a 2006 TL and have done the tweeter and center channel mods recommended a lot on this forum. I can't even remember now what the tweets are--Infinity somethings. Center channel is Boston something 35. What I need now is to improve the overall sound further by changing out the mains and sub. Do I need expert advice? I mean, this system is supposed to be primo, designed by a famous audio engineer, so why does everybody screw with it? But, the upgrade I did improved the sound to my ear, so.....
I'd like to keep the amp. So, any advice for guaranteed improvement in sound quality by using specific speakers? (I'm a Pioneer fan, but that may be irrelevant. It's just that my fav system ever was mostly Pioneer). I'm a rock and roll fan (hard rock) mainly, with some rap. I also want to retain the 5.1 setup. Thanks for any input.

JD TL-S

iTrader: (1)

I had 2-10's put in my 06 TL. They added it to the stock system. It sounded ok, but I will not add to my 07 TL-S. It didn't sound consistant. Subs need to be connected to a new head unit the correct way to sound great! I guess I will just enjoy a bigger trunk. But I do miss more bass.

JD TL-S

iTrader: (1)

That looks great JL Audio RULE

Kennedy

iTrader: (2)

Many of the posters in this thread have extreme setups = expensive. The OP seems to be looking for cost a effective sub ungrade.
I for one am a bit older, and have grown past the 2 12's in the trunk and a 1.21 jW stereo's. I value my hearing too. I also believe audio equipment should be heard not seen. Big obnoxious useless trunks full of speakers is not what my trunk is for.

Most quality amps have high and low level inputs. If your amp has high level inputs, you don't need a LOC. LOC's take line level signal and reduce them to low level inouts (allowing you to use RCA's). Every device int he chain is another place to add noise, and using LOC's when thier not needed certainly adds noise.

I recently replaced all the stock speakers with Infinity's.
- 1011T tweeters, 32.7cf center, 62.7s in the front door, and 63.7's in the rear deck. That was tremendous upgrade, and the differene is quite noticeable, and it was only about $350

While doing those, I also replaced the sub with a JL Audio 8W3V2 which drops right in the hole, added some dynamat, and hooked it up with a JL e1200 amp stashed in the spare tire well. Although the 8W is not a free air, it's performing great. Much more boom than I need... I had to cut it back actually.

Needless to say, for what many guys have in thier systems, I have 10-20% of the investment, and couldn't be happier. I have an excellent sounding stereo, compromised no ELS 5.1 features, and gave up no space in the trunk... all for about $550

MichaelBenz

iTrader: (2)

My brother was recently fitted for hearing aids due to overexposure to this type of thing BACK WHEN HE WAS IN HIGHSCHOOL! It is a REAL risk for longterm damage....no joke.

HQTL6SPD

Kennedy, is it all totalled to $550, or is it $900? Hows the bass/treble compare now to oem?

I'm after the same thing, i want to upgrade without hurting my pockets or losing the ELS 5.1

Kennedy

iTrader: (2)

Infinity 62.7 - $130 New
Infinity 63.7 - $140 New
Infinity 1011T - $60
Inifinity 32.7cf - $30 (buy 2 resold 1 for $35)
JL 8W3v2-D6 - $70 lightly used
JL e1200 amp - $80
Bulk pack of Dynamat and amp wiring... dunno, about $100

When you add in the dynamat and wiring and shit, I guess I have about $600 in the entire audio system.

The 8W hits hard for it's size/ It is MORE THAN ENOUGH for the rest of the system. Using line level inputs direct tot eh amp, I had to cut the sensitivity way back, it was just too much bass/vibration.

The bass is great, just enough to give you some feel (SPL) to match the boom (dB). the treble is improved by the soundstage upgrade, AND the fact you know have active tweeters at all 4 corners.

I couldn't be happier with this setup as is... Still gotta tune it out a bit.

lusid

I've upgraded just the tweeters and i can notice a difference, love the vocals and highs.

60.00 for the Infinity 1011T's.

HQTL6SPD

a guy at my job wants to sell me a used amp called Rockford Fosgate Punch with 1500W and 700 RMS for $100. Anyone know the quality of it? and is that a good price? thanks

I hate cars

I turned my subs off yesterday actually. I noticed I was consistantly listening to the stereo at a higher and higher volume just to hear it and my ears have been buzzing all the time. The bass has been sounding weaker but my passengers seem to think it's the same. It's time to take a break before I do permanent damage to my hearing. Besides, I don't think it's a good idea to run a big system without dynamat. The car rattles like crazy on the outside and I keep the amp turned way down. When the stereo shop installed my new amp I thought the 12 W6s were going to blow. The roofline of the car was vibrating so bad I had to make them turn it down.

To answer the original question, subs really bring the factory system to life. Once you turn the bass down on the head unit it sounds much, much cleaner. Overkill is fine, you can always adjust the amp.

Pearly 06

the only regret i have about my subs is the rattlebox that i turned my tl into thats all other than that i love it

TSC17

Spend about 2 or 3 days tearing your car down and sound deadening everything and that will solve those problems. The only thing that rattles on mine is my exhaust system when I'm really cranking, and there's not much I can do about that! It also makes for a much quieter car when simply driving down the road.

robbie82

I want to do this as my first upgrade, this was a direct swap?

Did you do it yourself? How difficult was the install?

Did you replace the stock amp? If not is it still hooked up?

If it is still hooked up to they sound any louder? Or Just a lot more clearer/sharper?

I can imagine they can handle bass a lot better at higher levels? Unlike the stock ones?

If you can answer this thanks, also any other details about the change please tell!! Pictures?

HQTL6SPD

Kennedy your box is full..

robbie82

Gerosolina

I added a kicker comp VR 10" 4 OHM in a ported box with a rockford fostgate D-class mono AMP 600 watts 300 RMS. This one speaker by itself with stock system works great. Speaker cost $70. Amp Cost $200. Install $200. I have all factory controls, my stock sub is disconnected and I have brought my car in to dealership to have them add more lining to truck to eliminate rattle from stock setup before doing all of this. This sub and amp have clear sound and plentty of boom!

primo123

Took my car to the dealership three times to get the rattle that the stock subwoofer caused and showed them the bulletin, told them exactly where it was hitting and it still rattled even at low volume.

Put my single 12" Type R in and disconnected the stock subwoofer and all the rattles are gone! It really brings the stock stereo to life as someone mentioned above. No regrets adding it in.