I just changed my front door speaker system (tweeter and speakers) with a 2ohm JBL front component system and oh boy, it was a simple installation as I used the stock OEM factory wires and amp.

It is so much better than Factory OEM front system. Much more clear, richer, louder, and smoother. Mid-bass seems to be significantly stronger as well.

I took a reference at other Front Component system DIYs but it seems like no body did what I did.
I noticed that quite a few of those front component DIYs here had put the driver's side crossover either
in the door panel, kick panel, near fuse box, in the steering wheel column, etc and quite a few of them had difficulties with wiring if they were to use the factory amp and factory wire.

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-a...nstall-948176/
One of the best DIYs I found were a couple but one of them is the link above.
From the link above, he put the passenger crossover in the kick panel by ziptying the crossover with the amp wire housing together.
Then he put his driver's side crossover inside the steering wheel column.
According to him, it is difficult to get the driver's side factory audio wire and connect it to the crossover due to the factory wires being short + the limited space makes it difficult.

So this DIY is basically the same as that link above EXCEPT that I put the both crossovers on passenger side kick panel by
adding a pair of wires which are long enough to reach the kick panel from driver's side location.
This makes you no need to worry about sticking your hand into the limited space behind the steering wheel.
I used a coat hanger method.

So if you have some experience with audio DIY, you would know by now but if you are a beginner just like me, I hope this post will help you because I was in your shoes until recently.
I'm a lazy and practical person so I want to make things as simple as possible (so do we all?).

I wanted to put the xovers either in the glove box or by the kick panel so I have easy access to the +3db on/off button.

So for the main DIY with pics, look at that link above to get some basic concept and ideas if you want to DIY.

Use 16 or 18awg wire long enough to reach from driver's side tweeter location to passenger side kick panel.

This is just a simple DIY to upgrade your component system for the front system only.
After an extensive research, it's the best to leave the rear speakers as just fillers. For those who are thinking of changing the rears too, maybe it's better to save that money and spend that money on better front component speakers.

Since there are many DIYs here, I will skip most of the stuff and I didn't have a chance to take photos or videos much as I don't have a mount or a tripod stand.

Some stuff to keep in mind : Factory amp is rated at 2ohm thus if you want to use the factory amp power, then you better buy a 2ohm speaker system.

Here is the whole DIY in point form.

Tools you need : 10mm hexagon bolt socket (the bolt says 8 but my 8mm socket was too small)
a screw driver (+ philips)
audio wire stripper/cutter (I wish I had this, this took most of the time as I had to carefully strip the wire with a knife)
wire crimping tool + terminals for 18-22 gauge(to connect factory wire) and terminals for whatever the gauge you are using for your tweeters

*It's up to you but I unplugged the minus terminal from the car battery before I began and I recommend you to unplug it too.
*If you have a factory Head Unit, then you must need the headunit security codes. Contact any Acura service dep and ask for the code by providing your VIN.

1. Remove Kick Panel to remove amp (2 hexagon bolts on bottom and + 1 on top(*no need to take out the top bolt. Just untighten it enough to take out the amp)
2. Remove Glove Box (takes only 1 minute or so)
3. Remove Steering Wheel Under Column (Also 1 minute I guess?)
4. Remove Tweeters both left and right with a flat-bladed driver. Takes only 5-10 second)
5. Unplug Factory OEM Tweeter from the factory wire both driver(left) and passenger(right) tweeters
6. Remove Door Panels on both sides (4 screws, (2 by the door knob), 1 by the door handle below the door knob, and other hidden near door end (covered by a rubber near B pillar) (I didn't unplug all the wireharness. Just only 1 and pushed the door panel slightly to get enough space to work on the speakers)
7. Remove Factory Front Speakers(Woofers) and swap it with your aftermarket (depending on your aftermarket speaker templates, you may need to drill holes or customize the housing but I simply drilled new holes to use the oem speaker housing ** becareful when you drill because you might puncture the speaker accidentally and I did so, another learning there)
8. Remove the factory tweeters from the covers and replace it with your aftermarket tweeters. I used strong glue to hold the tweeters in the factory cover and it worked fantastically.
9. Connect the tweeters with aftermarket wires that are long enough to reach from driver's side tweeter location to passenger kick panel.
10. To make things easy, use a straightened metal coat hanger, tape the wire end with the hanger end. For passenger side, it's okay wherever you tape it but for driver's tweeter, I recommend you to tape the wires to the end of the coat hanger rather than front.
11. Push the tweeter wires down with the hanger. You will be able to see the hanger reaching the floor easily
12. For driver's side tweeter, after the wire came down to the floor, don't stop there, find the empty hole space behind the climate and audio headunit. You will find it eventually. Here is a pic. I don't exactly remember which hole was it but you will find one.

Something Like this. The red wire is the tweeter wire going through behind the Audio HU and climate device. The blue wire is passenger side tweeter wire.

13. Once all the wires are gathered at the kick panel side, unplug your amp(just need to unplug the 14 pin (grey wire-harness) one.
14. From a diagram, #7, #14 are front passenger door speaker and tweeter wires. Red is - and blue is +.
15. #6 and #13 are front driver door speaker and tweeter wires.
16. I cut #7, #14, and #6 and #13. It seems like the audio wires of USA TLs are taped in pairs unlike Canadian version which the wires are just twisted only without tape. (2005 model)
17. After I cut the wires, I connected it with aftermarket wires using wire crimping tools to send power to crossovers, and to send signals to the woofer.
18. Lastly, I connected the tweeter wires to the crossover.
19. If your battery is unplugged, plug it back and then TEST the system!
20. After you finish testing, put all the stuff back. You can put the crossovers together in the kick panel or glove box. For me, I decided to put it inside the glove box for easy access.


Such a mass

I cut #7 & #14 wire.

JBL WOOHOO!!

Yeap! It is the FACTORY OEM Cover! But under neath the cover is a JBL tweeter! I glued it with a super glue and it worked fantastically.

You see that metal coat hanger?

Here is a pic of where about the coat hanger is behind the HU.

#6, #13, #7, & #14 are cut and modified.

Crossover. Since I'm putting the crossovers together on the same side, to make sure I won't get confused which side is which, I put a name tag on it.

A pic of all the wires connected. The sound is significantly better.

Tomorrow, I'm going to work on the subwoofer. My car's previous owner already had attached a 8 awg wire to power the amp for sub in the trunk so that saves me much time and effort.

I will just need to remove the rear seats, deck, and the factory subwoofer. I will also try to remove the infamous rattling noise at the same time.

I just have purchased a JL 12" subwoofer in a JL ported enclosure (350watt rms) and it will be powered by a Sony Xplod 2 channel amp (will bridge it. 400 watt rms @ 4ohm) (purchased it 13 years ago and never used it as I never did any DIY til now)

I prefer to leave the trunk space but well, if the JL 12" subwoofer doesn't satisfy me, I will probably just return the sub and purchase an Image Dynamics ID8 and replace it with the factory sub though it will be powered by the sony amp.

I heard many good things about ID8 but 1 person from a different forum said he hated ID8 and loved Dayton Audio 8" instead as a free-air sub.

We will see how it goes.

I will update photos tomorrow after the sub as well.

 

Installed the sub today, a 10+ years old Alpine Type S 12" subwoofer in a ported enclosure powered by a Sony ZR 1252 (340 watt RMS @ 4ohms).

I had to immediately change the audio setting from Subwoofer +6 to -5 ~ -6 and the bass was still at least 2x stronger than the factory subwoofer.
The bass is much deeper and so strong. Wow. I used to have that Type S in my old car (hatchback) powered by an Alpine 4 channel amp (bridged) but oh boy, WOW, this sony amp produces totally different sound despite it is the same subwoofer.

Since I tapped into the factory subwoofer wire-harness, as you can see from the above, I still can control the volume of the subwoofer from Factory HU setting.

Very satisfied though it may change when I put all the seats back.

I have a JL subwoofer sitting in my room and will swap it tomorrow to test which one works better.