mkcb19904

Please any one tell me were I can find the harness in the thread for the rockford 300x4 amp. I'm wanting to replace my stock amp and don't wanna cut wires.

honda98civic

I know the stock amp comes at 225 watts or so, how much of a difference would it be going to a 300 watt amp?

GGUG12345

Anybody have or know someone who wants to sell the Rockford Fosgate plug n play amp setup for 3g??? 954-601-6338 Thanks

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Why did this venture die?

pohljm

It was not a very good sonic solution or a very reliable solution. much better options available

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

I remember there being an uproar about it frying...and the ohms being wrong. But not much follow up from people that bought it and whether or not they ended up moving on or what?

DomGSR-T

iTrader: (1)

I don't have any problems with mine ...

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Yeah, I thought it was hit or miss. May be lucky

Joey tl

Mine is still running strong.... No issues

dwb993

iTrader: (13)

Mine is still running well, too.

rockyfeller

iTrader: (6)

Mine is still running fine too. One big thing I will let you guys know is that the amp runs HOT. And I mean hot! I worry about it because there are now a bunch of wires jumbled up in that kick panel and it's kinda scary after a 3-4hr ride because it heats up in there. Someone mentioned putting a cooling fan in. Seriously. It needs it. I know the amp is decently made, but it's a matter of time before something happens. I have the gain sorta turned down. Gotta look into it in the summer.

You may think I have regrets of the upgrade, but nope. It is def worth it. Sound is leagues ahead of what it was. I would want more midbass punch and clarity, but that will require better speakers than the Infinitys I have in there and a redesigned enclosure. Meh. Future car dreams. For this TL, I'm good.

There was much talk about the harness and the center channel solution. To recap, the issue was about the updated V2 harness that had the center channel spliced into the front left speaker which cut it's audio sound. Some didn't notice any problem. I definitely did. The left front channel sounded like crap and it bothered me. Why maintain the center channel? I don't care about 5.1 either. It's the navi prompts of course!

I never updated everyone on my solution: It required experimentation. I decided to get the V1 harness back. (The one that puts full power to all 4 channels and provides an unamped center channel rca) I then wired one of those cheap Chinese mini-amps up. The first one I bought was defective and I threw it out instead of returning it, lol. Not worth the postage. I got a second one. Cheaper design ($8) and in my mind I was like "This ain't gonna work! lol!". Gotta try anyways, right? It is a bit risky but I spliced into the power source for the RF amp and ran it's own fuse. Mind you this stupid amp is like 5watts or something and only draws like 2A, lol. I think excessive draw is not a problem. My experiment was to really know if it was enough to drive that tiny center channel speaker. I mounted the mini-amp under the passenger seat.

By the way guys: I mentioned this before. You DO NOT have to send an independent wire OUT to the center channel. Too much work. Just splice into the OUT harness that comes out of the RF amp. I've mentioned the wire colors before.

Once wired in, the power of that stupid thing was enough to drive the center channel! Except I was getting CRAZY ground noise! Very annoying, even when the radio was off, it would hum the minute I turn the car on. As long as the amp got power it would hum away. I had to buy a ground loop isolator. I didn't expect it to fix the problem. Guess what, that thing was awesome. Fixed the hum 100%! I adjusted the gain on the mini-amp, needs only 50% gain and has room for more! Navi prompts back. Thank you!

So now 100% satisfied!! I have 4 strong channels of clear audio power and maintained my center channel by making it work independently! Everything is hidden away and as if I still have my OEM amp. Except LOUDER

dwb993

iTrader: (13)

Rocky----link to the small amp? Also, can I use the V2 harness with the setup you describe?

geekybiker

That would be the balanced (excuse me, differential) input pre-amp on the TL. Had the same issues with a non-balanced amp that went way with the isolator or a amp that accepted balanced signals.

rockyfeller

iTrader: (6)

I had an original plan for the ultimate solution to actually buy a 2 channel amp that has independent gain for the L/R channels and High/Low filters. This way I could send one channel with low gain and high filter to the center and send the other signal to the stock sub (remember that thing? lol.) with high gain and low filter. I abandoned it because it was more work than I wanted to do. Running amp wires throughout the car? Taking out the seats, carpet, etc. No thanks, did that once before. Besides, my 12"s in the trunk dominates everything. It would have been a nice fill-in but 'm not missing that stock sub much.

IIRC the V2 harness had the 4 outputs and the center spliced into the left front. I THINK the center channel RCA pigtail is left OUT because of that. The V1 definitely had 4 + 2RCAs (Center and Subs) If your V2 is as mentioned, you would have to either:

1) Get in touch with Uncald4 and swap your V2 for a V1 harness (That's what I did. Will make your life MUCH easier!) or
2) Cut the wire out yourself.

If you cut the wire out yourself, look for the left front wire output wire and you will see where he spliced the wires together. Before you do anything realize that this is an RCA wire. It is ONE wire. You have to figure out how to either splice a male RCA onto the cut end OR convert this into a two wire (+) and (-) configuration to make the speaker wire work. Make sure the mini-amp you buy is compatible. Some only accept RCA, some accept only bare wire (some call em high input even though this center channel is just pass through. Not amped at all)

Extend the wire so it will reach the length of under the front seat and wire as I described. Here is the type of amp I used, possibly the cheapest and stupidest amp on Ebay but it has been working fine for 1yr now.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-MA-150-...item337e7ac0d5

I initially bought a much nicer one for $25 but it was defective. I used this smaller one and it works for the purpose! I was concerned because I THINK it drives 4ohms and the OEM speaker is 2ohm? If that is the case the amp might run hot. But like I mentioned, it's only running at 50% and is used only for navi prompts so draw may spike sporadically like 1% for the total duration the amp is in use. It is stereo, and you only need one channel. So even if one channel blows, I'll just switch it to the other. And even if that blows, I'll just keep buying new amps till I sell my car. lol. I don't care. It all just works, I'm happy!

Oh yea, be forewarned you may need the isolator as well. This is the one I have, 100% worth every cent.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CNS-NI-1-PRE...item4d02d5ef45

pohljm

Sounds to me like you should just place a good amp under the seat that will drive all your critical speakers and leave the oem to take care of the center channel and rear fill. And avoid the shortcomings of this setup completely. Its not any cheaper. It does not sound as good. Whats the point?

rockyfeller

iTrader: (6)

There are more than 1 solution to get good sound. This one is for people who want PnP ease and no running anything anywhere. Amp goes where the old one goes. That's it. Can you get better sound a different way? Of course! More work. So that is the compromise. You can go all out and do a much more complex install on your own, but this suits the needs of at least 75% of people who just want a bit more bump and clarity.

So the down side really that this is a 4 channel solution instead of 5.1 That doesn't bother a lot of people. Navi prompts are the main reason to preserve the center channel. What I explained is one possible solution. Losing the sub is only a down side if you don't have an external sub setup like most of us. I do, so it doesn't matter to me.

So the point is: different needs, different solutions, different setups. This one made complete sense to me.

psbsoccer

I have a 2004 acura tl and the stereo is really quiet now all of the speakers work fine but its not near as loud as it used to be. About 1/3 of the original volume. Took it to the dealership and they gave me a quote of 800$ to fix it! They said the problem was the amplifier. Would this amp solve my problem? Could I install it myself without adding any new speakers, just using the factory presets?

Superunknown

Replacing your amp with an OEM amp from a 2005 or newer model will probably solve that problem. Five minutes tops to replace the amp. Mine developed a buzzing noise and had an almost-gone center channel, seems to be common with the 2004 amps.

cipdagr3at

Like ^^ said the amp is def gone. Samething is happening with mine.. I lost all bass and volume is at 40 sounds like its at 15 .. Funny thing when I have my CD player going and only the Disc 1 I get all sound back .. Im upgrading my amp.. I was going to stick to stock but I changing out the mid's and didnt want the OEM pushing those bad boys.. Good Luck

GrimReaper36

hello new here. hey uclad4 do u have the plug and play harness? with the center speaker?

rockyfeller

iTrader: (6)

It probably is your amp indeed. But there is no way in telling unless you had another amp to test it with. $800 from the dealer??? Lmao, ya.....that's why you are on this forum. So you won't be like the regular folk that keep throwing money out the window keeping the stealerships alive.

Scour Ebay for a used amp. Should be $30-$40, even lower if you are lucky. Junkyards salvage them all the time. The amp is in the passenger footwell and can be easily swapped out in 15 mins using the same pics shown in the beginning of this thread.

In case it didn't solve your problem, you can always sell your amp back on Ebay or the BM on AZine. There, you just saved over $750.

rockyfeller

iTrader: (6)

As he has mentioned previously he is no longer a vendor on AZine, so he can't reply to you here. I don't think he has been selling this mod recently but I'm sure if you contact him directly he'll be willing to help you.

stevemk07

FWIW, I do not see any problem using the factory wiring. In fact I would choose that over anything I find in the big box stores or car audio shops (car audio shops are the worst for car audio in terms of value). The factory wires do not break no matter how many times I twist and untwist them... unlike those overpriced aftermarket speaker wires you buy in the stores. If you do feel the need to change them.... go to a electronic components supply store and buy the good stuff for much less.

I hate cars

Factory wiring works great when you use it to get your signal to the trunk or if you're pushing the stock 20w per channel.

I've never had any aftermarket wire break but I know what to look for. It's not hard to choose OFC (if you feel the need) and fine strand. Problem solved.

Joey tl

selling my pnp RF, will be in the BM. upgrading my system.

THTL

iTrader: (2)

Anyone that have this amp. Do you experient a popping noise from the left front speaker after the voice prompted?

joeyboy248

do you sell the wiring harness separately ??

vladkarnafel

iTrader: (7)

anyone interested in this plug and play amp set up i have one for sale in BM, with all wire harnesses, custom enclosure to hold the amp in the kick panel, high low converter for sub output and positive and negative wires.

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...=893648&page=2

rockyfeller

iTrader: (6)

Although I am rehashing a bit of what I had said earlier, I just wanted to paste a PM I am giving to another member on this subject since I seem to get quite a few questions about a solution for the center channel. Good info for anyone searching the threads and considering if they should go for it:

This Rockford amp is of a newer and small design. It's amazing the power it puts out compared to the old generation of amps. The drawback is that the amp runs very hot. One main reason is because of a difference in resistance of the speakers vs. the amp. I have a 1000watt mono amp in the trunk that runs my subs. It's always just chilling. I can blast the hell out of it for awhile and that thing has power to spare. It runs cool. This little amp though gets so hot it almost burns your hand. I have been concerned about this because; what if it fries itself early? Or worse yet melts other wires around it. That kick panel on the passenger area is a tight area. So I make sure to not blast the music at high levels for more than an hour at a time. The real fix for this would be to install some kind of exhaust fan from a desktop computer kit or something. But so far no problems, it hasn't overheated/shutoff or had any issues.

Uncald4 made 2 different harnesses. One that takes the 5 signals from the car and outputs them into 5 RCAs. 4 channels go directly into this amp but that leaves the center channel totally unamped. If you connect it directly to the center speaker it is useless because it won't have power. Later he made a modification where it was a 4 output RCA. The center RCA is SPLICED into the left front speaker. This way the left front speaker acts as the center speaker too. The navi prompts would come through as well as music. The actual center channel speaker itself would be not necessary.

I thought what a great idea and I opted for the 4 channel harness. Come to find out it sounded like crap. It reduced the output of music by 50% and reduced the output of navi prompts by 50%; a logical outcome by splicing. You can get around this (sort of) by playing with the speaker level balance. While some people can live with that, I can't. My car actually has 11 speakers so it gets complicated.

I told Uncald4 to trade me back for that 4 speaker harness. So I had my audio back, I got everything sounding perfect. Only thing now was that I didn't have navi prompts. So I did an experiment that works. I got a stupid cheap "mini-amp" from Amazon.


(This one was top rated but when I got it was DOA)
Yeah I know it is pathetic, it only puts out like 6watts, lol. I traced an amp +ve source into there. I looked at the factory manuals and determined the wires near the amp that lead to the center channel speaker wire from the factory amplifier "OUT" harness. (I think I mentioned it on the thread somewhere) It tucked the amp below the passenger seat and it is out of the way.

So this actually this worked like a charm with one little problem. There was a lot of noise and hum coming with the center channel, even when there was no navi prompts. So I bought a ground loop isolator from EBay for $6 to fix that. It worked PERFECT. The mini-amp has it's own gain control and it is at about 75%.

Navi prompts are clear and everything is as if it was OEM at the end of the day. Except everything works and everything is clear. Good luck.

dwb993

iTrader: (13)

I have had no problems with my amp, either. I will second all of the other info posted by rockyfeller. I decided to mute out my navi prompts so I ahve only music playing through the speakers. I should cut the center channel wire in the harness, but just haven't gotten around to doing it yet.

Likely a moot point since my navi is on the fritz now anyway. I'm replacing with a Nexus 7 tablet soon.

mle724

My amp is going out in my '04 TL. So I read this entire thread tonight. Lots of great info. Keeping my factory stock everything, but have to replace the amp. So going to scour the internet for a factory amp and be happy with what I used to have before it died. dealership said the price would be $250, but I am sure I can do better.

Thanks for all the insight.

Slpr04UA6

^If you don't want to do that, maybe consider this below. I replied to it in another thread you had bumped.......



This website below fixed my amp, and were very helpful in describing what I was experiencing. I had low volume even when cranked. You could always call them and ask if they have any suggestions..
It cost $125 to fix amp.

Carstereohelp.com

99986

is this rockford deal still available? I would like to buy one yesterday, or right now will do.

pohljm

Waste if money! Get something appropriate for the job

rockyfeller

iTrader: (6)

I don't think Uncald4 is a vendor anymore and AFAIK he stopped after that limited run. You could try to track him down and ask. Even if not for the amp itself, just for the harness because that is the part you're really paying for. I couldn't imagine the pain in the ass if I tried doing it myself. Doable yes, but I'm glad I paid to get it done PnP.

FLOORED

im not sure wether this was covered or not but does the factory wiring sufficient enough to power an aftermarket amp or do we need to run power wire to this amp. I'm planning on hooking up a jl d400.4 right in place of the stock amp. I'm pretty sure it will fit just not sure wether the stock power wire is sufficient enough. i looked up the current draw of the jl compared to the rockford and they are about the same so if everyone is using the power wire from the stock amp to supply the rockford then I'm good to go on my install

Lukieluc

What are alternatives to this amp and wore harness?

rockyfeller

iTrader: (6)

Keep in mind this is not some heavy duty upgrade from stock but if you are looking for a moderate upgrade from stock this will definitely do the job.

The whole point of this mod was that it was designed to be PnP. Yes that includes the power wires. That's why it seems hard to believe that this kind of solution actually can work without a risk or drawback. As with many novel mods on AZine some people don't think it's a good idea but if you notice these opinions are coming from people who haven't done the mod yet. I have yet to hear that someone's amp has fried, imploded or something negative has happened.

Absolutely there are alternatives do this. There is more than one way to achieve your goal of a PnP amp. But there is nobody else that has marketed one. You'd have to jig up your own solution that will work and turn out even better, I'm sure. You will just take a lot of time and energy to get it done.

I don't know anything about that amp cpozz. AFAIK all other previous installs replacing the factory amp meant running independent power wires. This PnP mod works because of the the newer architecture and efficiency of this tiny RF amp. If you say the specs really are the same on the JL amp then you'd have to take a chance on it and try it out. You'll probably be the first to pioneer it.

FLOORED

Thanks for the info rockyfeller. IM probably not going to attempt it for a couple reasons,mainly because I will loose the center channel for navi with my current amp. Planning on leaving the factory amp in place and cutting the other channels off the amp and sending the signal with speaker wires back to the jl amp.

Lukieluc

So I'd completely loose the center speaker if I were to install this PnP amp?
Also, is the kit still for sale?