I bought my TL a few months ago and it had an aftermarket double din dvd player installed. The speakers were powered off the stereo (i think, since the volume was weak as hell even with the stereo turned all the way up). I sold the deck and am getting another cd player. But the shop said they wont install the deck in my car since the factory amp setup is super complicated. They said they wont install ANY deck. Can i bypass the factory amp somehow if i get a speaker amp? Or has anyone figured out a way to hook up an aftermarket deck to their factory amp? Im at a stalemate right now (no stereo in my car, and i dont kno enough about the newer fancy systems to try to rig somethin myself) the last car i installed a system in was a 90 CRX lol any help is appreciated thanks!

 

The double-din DVD player should have had (RCA) Outputs that connect directly to an amp of choice.
Which would be a 4-ch amp. Loosing the center speaker.

You could leave the OEM system in- let it power the center speaker.
Then buy a 4-ch amp with Hi-level inputs. Call Crutchfield and ask
Questions. They can help you decide.

 

The OEM audio system isn't that complicated. Any competent audio shop should be able to add a 4-channel amplifier to the existing audio system, or bypass the factory amp completely. I think in your case, since you want an aftermarket deck, you'd be better off completely bypassing the stock amp, and using a 4-channel.

 

I just bought my 05 Saturday. I'm assuming from this thread that the stock stereo is actually weak and it's not just mine? No bass at all also.

 

Check your settings. You should hear some bass, unless the sub is blown (which you would notice) or the previous owner turned the subwoofer power down or off. The stock system is not weak, it's one of the better oem systems you could get in the 00's. It's just not up to par with most aftermarket systems.

 

I have. Bass and sub settings are all the way up. Seems even a stock system with no sub would sound better than mine. Is there a factory amp I can check?

 

It depends if you are running a separate amplifie, which is the correct way to do it. If so u simply don't connect the speaker wires coming out of the radio and use rca instead. Then run the speaker outputs on the amp spliced into the correct speaker outputs at the factory. If you need specifics message me. I will give u all the info u need. I just traded mine in today and took everything out, but I had a double din with full jl audio stereo so I went through all of this

 

In my experience the stock door speakers needed some fixing. On mine the surrounds starting coming loose from the frame. I used superglue to fix them temporarily before changing them out for aftermarket drivers but it did make a big difference in bass output. Also you can actually increase the SQ quite a bit by just adding some deadener to the door speakers and making sure everything is sealed up fairly well. (I still have the stock moisture barrier up in my doors). You could try this and see if that is enough for you, but if you determine it is not, it takes quite a few dollars (or less with some know-how) to get aftermarket systems sounding better than the stock set-up (assuming everything is working properly to begin with). First thing I would do is check the condition of the door speakers though, then check the condition of the stock sub. My sub also had a flaw. I bought mine used so I never knew what it sounded like with a properly functioning stock sub, but that could also be the issue.

 

Hey, I just got an 05 tl and I'm thinking about replacing the head unit for a 2-din. Any suggestions for getting a dash kit for it? and how hard would it be to get the steering wheel controls to keep working?