What is the stock system in an 05' Acura TL? I don't believe it's Bose, I think it's ESL but I'm not sure.

Any thoughts?

 

ELS, sir. ELS

 

Yup, ELS. I believe the brand is Panasonic.

 

Well I'm planning on replacing the speakers, do you think I would be best sticking with ESL, or getting a new brand?

 

Well the issue with new speakers is its hard to find 2ohm speakers that fit. If you replace the speakers you more than likely need an amp as well. Infinity makes a set that works in the front doors. You looking to upgrade or just replace a blown speaker?

 

Stock.

 

There's a million threads on this but to put it shortly, you can replace the stock speakers but it's not going to wow you at all. I put in Infinity Kappas (2 ohm) in the front doors and it's a hair clearer but not really much. I also swapped the tweeters in the dash and noticed more brightness, some people like that mod, some don't because it can be a little too bright and get hard on the ears, I still think it helped but I adjust the treble way lower now. There's no real way to make an awesome system retaining the stock amp and speakers. I only put in subs cause I had stuff lying around the house taking up space so adding subs cost me nothing but my time, I only did the Infinity "upgrades" cause the bass was overpowering everything else even with my gain turned almost all the way down. On songs with a lot of guitars I'd say it was worthwhile but won't blow anyone away, definitely more clarity on mids and highs than stock. If I'm listening to rap most of the time the door speakers sound way underpowered but the speaker swap did help a little, not much. If you're not replacing the sub with a mild upgrade it's just gonna make the stock system sound brighter which won't really help. If you want to vastly improve sound, go with an aftermarket amp and the speaker of your choice.

 

i have two options, to do a 10in kicker sub with aftermarket rear speakers with a 5 channel amp and els in the rears*ive already installed memphis audio mids with built in tweeters in the front sounds good clear* or change it to infinity in the rears? i still wanna be able to enjoy music with a little more juice, just not something thats gonna rattle or or make me want to never listen to music again.

 

If anything will make you never want to listen to music again it will be Infinities. Stock speakers sound good when run off of an aftermarket amp. Adding aftermarket speakers is a waste of money. Put the money saved into a better front stage and a better sub.

You said you're running "built in" tweeters in the front. Are you running coaxials? Did you disable the factory tweeters in the dash or are you running 2 pairs of tweeters?

 

I don't know if they're coaxials but there more like mids with built in tweeters. But you think I should keep els and get a good sub and amp?

 

I don't know if they're coaxials but there more like mids with built in tweeters. But you think I should keep els and get a good sub and amp? And no didn't disable the other two tweeters.

 

Mids with built in tweeters are called coaxials. ELS is the name for our audio system, not the brand name of the speakers themselves.

 

So yeah I guess I have coaxials, but you think running an amp will make the rear sound good along with a sub?

 

IMHO, nothing will make rear coaxials sound good. Buy a set of really nice front components and a sub, get an amplifier for them, and enjoy a good sounding system.

 

Is there a rear component that will sound good?

 

If you want sound quality, most people ditch the rears. If you want rears just to get louder at the expense of SQ I would not use a coaxial. Use a regular mid bass/midrange and drop the tweeters.

Back when I had the rears going I had a 75w per channel amp on the stock rears and it sounded surprisingly clean and loud. I'm sure they weren't getting the full 75w but the amp really woke them up and I would bet they sound better than any coaxial back there. You will have to use the high pass filter on the amp and set it to at least 110hz if you want to play them loud without hurting them. The stock speakers with an aftermarket amp sound better than some of the aftermarket speakers I've tried.

If you want the biggest bang for the buck improvement just do a sub for now. If you're on a budget the Alpine type R measures really well and most people really like the output and sound quality. Shoot for a class D amp for its efficiency. It will draw less power from the car for a given output.

 

So the rears isn't really worth the time. And yeah I just want a clean nice loud sound in the car.

 

keep rears and center on OEM amp. new components and sub on new amp

 

New components all the way around or just the
Fronts?

 

front only

 

Alright thank you! Last question, is it better for me to get a single channel amp just for the sub or should I go multiy channel like a 4 or 5 so that all speakers get more juice and the sub gets some too. And also I listen to alot of hip hop with deep base, should a 12 be enough or 2 10's or 2 12's.

 

If you want to go simple, look into a 5-channel 1 amp system. Not many 5-channel amps will have enough juice to power 2 subs (depending on the enclosure type), but if you listen to hip-hop with deep bass, then 2 12" subs would probably make you happiest.

If you need help with some sub option, PM me and I'll help you the best I can.

 

Thank you this has been very helpful. Hope you don't mind but I still have a few questions. will I need any type of adapter in order to keep my stock radio with the system and have the speakers running off 2 different amps like you explained? Could I have the "sub" control on the stock radio control the aftermarket sub I would put in? I am cheap and broke so i would probably only be getting a sub and amp NOT components so in that case should I just leave all stock speakers on the stock amp in fear of blowing them?. when you say "rears" do you mean the two up on the back window deck? and is the "center" the one upfront in the middle on top the dash or the middle one on the rear window deck? Do the tweeters run off the stock amp or just powered by the radio? Sorry for the long post and so many questions you just seem knowledgeable about this and I don't know where else to ask. THANK YOU AND PLEASE HELP!!

 

crutchfiled has many simple to understand articles on car audio, some with pictures

you've guessed all the speaker locations correctly
once you set the gain on a sub amplified you shouldn't need to tweak it much outside of the stock HU subwoofer volume control

you will not need any devices other then an amp and a sub if you take the sub signal before stock amplifier, just verify that a particular amplifier could be used that way, the stock signal is balanced

a safer way, which will take the guesswork out will be to use an LOC to take the signal after the stock amp

 

Thanks abirvalg! So to make sure I understand this correct if I use a LOC the gets hooked up after the stock amp? And if I use a LOC I don't have to worry bout the aftermarket amp not being able to be used that way due to the balanced signal? With the LOC do I still have to run a power cable from the A/M amp to the battery and a remote too? Thanks again.

 

And is there a LOC you would recommend?

 

i'm not using one, google some reviews
or search diymobileaudio
but they are a simple device, i doubt any of them are really bad

power and signal wires will have to happen regardless
it's better to have long runs of speaker level and power wires than of preamp wires
low level may pick up RF noise easier
don't run power and any signal side by side, if you need to cross them, cross them perpendicularly

to add a sub only (no other speaker upgrades), you'll need to run power and remote to the trunk, LOC in the rear deck picking up the signal from the stock sub and the new amp for the sub somewhere in the trunk

if you choose to add a powered sub box, the wiring remains, you just won't have to worry about mounting a separate amp

 

What is a Powered sub box?

 

http://www.crutchfield.com/g_51000/P...rs.html?tp=114

 

Big help thanks.

 

I am just looking for some replacement speakers for the rear deck. Im not really trying to upgrade just get them working again. I had a brick thrown through my back window and it messed up the speakers. Can anyone point me in the direction of stock replacement or some speakers that do not require that much modification to fit in the slots? Thanks in advance.

 

im guessing you're talking about the subwoofer and not the rear speakers..
cheapest one i could find in working condition on ebay.. here you go
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Acura TL Rear Deck Sub Woofer Speaker Tested 04 08 | eBay