KeithL

OK so I was trying to fix some of the back deck buzzing without removing the seats and decided to see what I coudl do via the trunk. I did manage to quiet some of it by sticking rubber and foam up under the back deck in the few spots visible form the trunk, but what I think surprised me was when I was testing I had not yet put back the trunk liner that goes under the rear deck and from within the cabin noticed that the lows sounded fuller and more punchy. I'm thinking the trunk liner under the rear deck is muffling the sound and not giving (especially the sub) the air volumes it needs to move to produce decent lows. Anyone else noticed this or try this? I'm thinking I am going to pull that liner and cut holes below all 3 speakers to allow better air movement, any thoughts?

SteveP66

hummm, sounds like it might work............

HQTL6SPD

interesting.. keep us posted on results...

KeithL

OK So I did 2 things now, on the trucnkliner that goes under the rear deck there is this white padding, so first pulled all of that off then I cut a rectangle out of the trunk liner under the rear deck. I bascially started where the cutout for the truck release is and cut it big enough to expose the sub and all large openings under the rear deck. This cut out is not noticable from the trunk unless to lean down into the trunk and look up. My inital review is that it does improve the low end a tad, mostly under mdeium to high volume it gives the lows a little more depth an d richness. Now don't expect miracles as from what I am learning the ELS sucks all around. I was in a 07 Atltima yesterday with their Bose system and it blows the doors off the TL ELS as does the 07 Camry 440w JBL system. Both have deeper richer lows throughout the power band and cleaner crisper highs. With all the hype Acura put aroudn the ELs they shoudl shoot the guy they hired for it, even the 650W Sound system in the 08 Mitsu Lancer makes the ELS sound pale in comparison. I hope Honda gets with the cmpetition and on the 08 Accords, and 09 TL offers a good sound system. After $34K on the TL I really can;t afford to drop anoutehr $1500 or so to puts new amps and speakers in to get it up to par with the competition.

norcal21jg@yahoo.com

hmm i'm going to have to keep this in mind

I hate cars

The ELS system is actually a good system. It completely lacks in bass. That is its single biggest fault. First thing I added was a couple JL 12W6s. It's amazing how much better the mids and highs sounded with a little bass in the trunk. Stock for stock my friend's 06 IS350 has better sound but add a little bass and the TL's mids/highs are on par with pretty much any new car that's offered.

Shop around for the front sound stage. I have a local shop that hooks me up pretty good. Got the Infinity Kappa 3 ways for the doors, and infinity reference for the tweets and center for ~$200 total. No need for an amp with these speakers and it's a world of difference over stock.

The W6s might be overkill for some but I saw JL is coming out with a new thin line of speakers that would mount in the stock sub location.

KeithL

Still not sure I agree, I can;t compare it to your suggested config, but even at low and moderate volumes the mids and highs are much cleaner on the Toyota JBL, that is by far once of the cleanest sounding sotck systems I have heard in a non-luxury car. The Altima Bose is clean and the bass is richer, but it starts to flatten out under high volume. The ELs just lacks power all around and I thinks they over hyped it, sure the 5.1 is cool, but truthfully music in 5.1 unless done really right is useless, now the DVD-A soudn resolution I feel us what woudl benefit most if the ELS speakers has some decent sound.

I hate cars

I should've added a couple things in my first post. With the addition of the subs, I turned the bass on the head unit way down, taking some load off of the midrange which made it sound much cleaner especially at high volume. In addition I had the treble turned all the way up. It sounded good enough that I considered not upgrading the speakers. I also wanted a little more volume so I eventually decided to start with the speakers since they would have to be upgraded if I added an amp. With the addition of the Infinities, I doubt I will ever add an amp to the front speakers. Before the Infinities I had a problem balancing them with the subs. If I had the subs balanced to the mids at low volume, as soon as I turned it up the subs drowned the mids out and vice versa. The Infinities are much more linear with the subs and get much louder with the stock amp. If you're considering an upgrade I highly suggest starting with the front speakers.

pete94tsi

Cutting a hole in the rear deck cover in the trunk does help some. I'll be working on building a completely stealth sub enclosure that starts at the factory sub location and runs behind the factory panels to a box in the spare tire well where it will get its airspace from. I want to keep a completely usable and factory appearing trunk while adding some aftermarket sub bass. I'll post pics and updates as I get further into this project. Has anybody else done anything like this in a TL yet?

3rdGenHybrid

My TL-S system compared to my 05 TL is a MAJOR diffrence, With the TL-S im not even going to put a sub in it, It sounds amazing alone, what i did to to my 05 was take out teh factory sub completely, and just run the 15" L7 in the trunk, with the fac. sub out, it sounds way cleaner, for the TL-s i might just throw some component speakers in the doors and call it a day, ill have to try the rear decklid liner in the trunk to see if i can get more bass, but its not that bad stock i guess, now that the tl-s can play mp3/wma cd's...