Hey i was thinking of upgrading my sound system by putting 2 10 Alpine subs in the trunk and an amp. Would this be all i need or would i need a deck too. ALso is there anyone with experience with this sort of set up , does it sound good? , EAsy to install? I have an 04 tl by the way.

 

Should be good. No, you will not need a deck but u do need an Signal Reducer. Reason is you will be disconnecting ur factory sub and rewire it to the amp. Yes its a very easy install...

 

What does the signal reducer do? And is it expensive

 

what he is referring to is also called a Line output converter and no they are not expesive

IF you want to save some work pick one up then what you can do is tap into the factory sub wire harness and take that signall and run it to your sub with a RCA cable via a LOC. The LOC will reduce the voltage that your amp recives to a lower voltage so that is acceptable to your amp. THIS IS IMPORTANT depending on your amp you can damage your sub and your amp if your imput signal is higher than what the amo is designed for. NOTE: some amps allow for "HIGH" or "LINE" level inputs but most people prefer that you use a LOC or go from factory head unit.

Have you ever used the tape deck w/ an adapter to listen to music? if you do this and say you turn up the vol on your mp3 player and the factory radio the sound distorts badly as the starting signal for the factory sound is higher than normal. the same will happen to your amp id the input signal is too high. the amps "ratings" are bassed on the input being normaly about 1-4 volts.

I would suggest that you go to crutchfiled and get some acura/honda factory harness adapter. this way you wont have to cut your factory harness to the sub to run the signal to the LOC.

 

like its a big deal to cut into wires

 

its called a hi/lo converter and what that does is give you rca jacks because you stock radio doesnt have rca jacks.. now if you change your radio you dont need that but i would stick to the stock radio... the hi/lo is about 25 each in you case you will only need one. if you run a 4 channel amp you will need two hi los... i have 2 hi los in my car..

 

OR you could get an AMP with HIGH rated inputs, or get a rocksford fosgate 3.sixty EQ so you could get the HIGH to low signal done, and have the sound sounding much better.

 

would this also work for a 2gen TL?

 

Nope, 2nd gen system is 100% different, it has no factory sub, and the EQ sucks from what hear. Your best bet would be to get a new deck, new speakers, and get a sub.

 

or you can just get a eq like i did...

 

Yes it does.

 

really, wow... I feel like a dumbass now....

 

no its not but if he is LEASEing or may wish to sell and keep his extra goodies it gives him the option to ge back to stock

 

The hu on 3g's works great...but, having 2 10'' subs amped w/ stock mids and tweet will probably sound WAY out of balance. As you can see in my avatar, i've got 2 10's, but I have a whole bunch of other stuff as well...

 

i have a 2nd gen tl, and i just recently installed a 12 inch kicker L5 sub, which sounds great. i also have an after-market sony head unit which works pretty well and has subwoofer control, but you are right about the system sounding out of balance, since i am still using the stock speakers (i dont even use the stock sub). when you say you have a whole bunch of other stuff as well, do you think you could be a little more specific, because i definitely need to upgrade what i have. I am thinking 4 6.5 inch 2-way alpine speakers, one for each door, but do you think i would need an amp or would the after-market head unit be enough?

thanks a lot

 

by the way, i have a kenwood amp powering the sub, but i was wondering if i would need a separate amp for new 2-way speakers

 

What else would i need? Or What would sound better then two 10's?

 

willyfive- you need another amp to power those speakers.. if you put the sub amp to the speakers your amp if going to over heat and cut out and not only that but you amps eq is set for all bass not voice. so you wont get voice out of your speakers hooking it up to the amp.

joe5555... 10 inch subs are suppose to be the best for cars but make sure if you go 10 you get good subs... you can do one 12 and you will be good.. spend money dont be cheep because trust me you will buy another one in the long run.. i had 7 differnt subs till i got my kickers and love them. when its hot as hell out side they dont over heat or nothen...

 

thanks man.

i would definitely suggest kickers as well. I have one 12 inch kicker that is more than enough.

 

sorry i have so many questions, but would 6.5 inch speakers fit in the doors where the stock speakers are? i think the stock speakers are 5.25 inch, but i'm not sure, and i figure there is a way to make 6.5 inch speakers fit.

 

I don't have a TL, but you can check the size at Crutchfield.com. If u want run 6.5 you probably need some rings for it to fit in the car. Maybe, someone can chime in about this. Also, one 12" sub is more then enough. Unless, u want to shake the houses around you...