So I was leaving work yesterday, just started my car and my pasenger speaker started going in and out. Also making a cranking noise. So I stopped by the audio place, where i get my all my work done and had a pretty good convo about how to get the most out my system without me spending too much. Aight on to the questions

He told me i need to get rid of the regular LOC and mentioned I can get away with Audiocontrol lc2 doing the job. It will boost the watts and not make my speaker amp work as hard as it has been. Also i'll see night and day between the regular Loc and Lc2. Are the LC's types better then the Matrix types?What are you all thoughs??

Second I need some new components. I had Polk DB's, but thinking of going with something little bit better. Maybe Focal's, like the Focal 165 VB
and other brands around that level. Open to options, tho.

Third, I have the JL audio JX360/4 amp to power the speakers. I think of just bridgeing the front speakers and let the rear run off the factory amp. Thoughts??

Thanks for looking and reading

 

I'm having similar issues with my system. I created a thread and a few guys recommended to get a line driver which basically boost the volts which help the amp. I think the Audiocontrol is the best way to go bcs it's 6 channels. Do some research before deciding.

 

The LCi units are good quality and may be an improvement over the LOC you have, but if you're going to spend the money I think you'd be better of buying a line driver like the Rockford Fosgate BLD ($79) and taking the preamp signal. The problem with the LCi units and other LOC's is that you are stuck taking the post factory amp signal and you will have the "dreaded" noise floor hiss if you want any sort of volume.

My advice would be to first try running the preamp signal directly to your JL amp since it probably accepts balanced inputs. You would do this by either soldering rca's onto the preamp outputs or using something like this: http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...857-141-700-53

If you're not satisfied with the output or have noise issues then buy a line driver.

If you're really set on getting an LCi unit, I have an LC6i over in the black market that I can sell you for cheap

 

would like to avoid spending too much, but your saying the Rockford Fosgate BLD over the Audiocontrol and it does the samething but better. I wont need anything else, sorry a noob when it comes to all this stuff

I talked to the audio people and they said my amp does not accept balance input. i'll do some research

 

research some more, I believe the JL will accept balanced input.

 

They do different things.

The LC2i, LC6i, LC8i are LOC's. They take the already amplified speaker-level outputs and cool down (for lack of a better word) and convert into a useable signal for your amplifier. In many cases these are not necessary because most amplifiers have speaker-level inputs, so you could just run the post stock-amp speaker leads directly into your amp. The LCi units are different from regular LOC's in that they have some additional features like channel summing and level matching, but not anything that is necessary for a simple setup in the TL.

The Rockford BLD is a line driver. A line driver takes a line-level signal, like the pre-amp signal from the TL headunit, and boosts the voltage of the signal going into the amplifier. This is helpful in the TL because the voltage of the signal coming out of the headunit is pretty weak (less than 1v) Without a line driver to boost the signal, you will probably have to turn up the gains pretty high on your amplifier in order to get a reasonable level of volume. The more you have to turn the gains up on your amp, the more likely it is that you will introduce noise into your system (ignition noise, alternator whine etc.)

Another thing the BLD does is that it accepts a balanced input so it solves that issue if your amp doesn't accept balanced inputs.

The BLD is certainly not the only option as far as line drivers go. I suggested it because it is pretty cheap (same price as the LC2i) and has worked well for me so far. The most comparable model to the BLD from Audiocontrol is the Overdrive ($120). The Audiocontrol Matrix is another good option. It's more expensive but you get six channels instead of two.

 

Alright, I've been going back and forth between taking the post-amp signal and using and AudioControl LC6i, or taking the pre-amp signal and using an AudioControl Matrix. I think I've decided that I want to bypass the factory amp altogether, and take the pre-amp signal. I've read that HandsFreeLink will work fine without it (i don't have navigation, so that's not an issue). There's just one thing I want to be 100% sure of before I do this. Will I still be able to control the aftermarket sub, and aftermarket speakers, from the stock head unit? As in: Master Volume, Balance, Fade, Sub Volume, Bass, Treble, etc.

 

Yep

 

Hey Rich. If you did not have your PXE-H660 would you still go pre-amp? I have my signal coming post amp with very little noise. Did it this way because the processing is all there already (L-R level, TA, xover) and is tuned for the driver position. I am interested in sq and not excessive bass.

 

If I didn't have the H660 I would still go preamp because of the noise floor hiss. If you don't have the hiss, or it doesn't bother you, then I wouldn't worry too much about it.

The one caveat is that once you add an aftermarket amplifier the hiss will likely get louder. A high noise floor will ultimately limit your dynamic range and can be incredibly annoying, depending on how anal you are.

I also wouldn't worry too much about preserving the "processing" of the stock amp. I'm pretty sure it only consists of a high pass crossover for the stock mids and a low pass crossover for the stock sub. I would be shocked if it was doing any time alignment.

 

I have an amp. You would be shocked I guess. Thanks

 

That's good you're not getting any noise. I had to turn down my gains pretty far to get the hiss to an acceptable level.

Where did you get the info about the stock amp processing? I did a quick google search and I didn't see anything about time alignment or driver's seat optimization for the ELS system. The only thing I saw was how many Grammys Elliot Scheiner has won and then some marketing fluff with no substance or specifics.

 

I did not get the info. I have been driving a TL for a year now. I sat in the passenger seat to hear the difference and it is quite drastic in terms of output from the left and right side. Also, if you turn the balance all the way left then all the way right you will hear considerably more output from the passenger side. Part of that is due to the angle the door speaker is pointed compared to the driver side but the tweeter also has more output. I cannot be positive about the time alignment but my opinion based on the quality of sound and that the stage is almost directly in front of the driver that it is there.

It is my opinion that the stock processing is good for the drivrr of this car and has gotten a bad rap due mostly to poor installation of stock equipment.

I have stock speakers being driven by 65watts and they also have some deadening from the door metal which has made the system crisp and clear. I also have a sub in the trunk which you cannot tell is there unless you turn the sub control down to hear the difference.

 

Amping the stock speakers made a big difference for me. I probably would have stopped my upgrades there if the Rockford PBR could have run safely at 2ohms.