Just received my new upgraded Elite series amp from Phantom Audio for my 2021 TLX A-Spec. Jesse Kelley at Phantom says this will be the first TLX of this generation that he has built an amp for. I found Phantom through this forum so I am very excited for this upgrade. The amp gets installed January 29th, will definitely post a review for anyone interested

 

Jesse is one of the best. He upgraded my 2020 TLX two years ago (amp and speakers) and friends have raved about the "night and day" improvement. My only regret is that I hadn't done it sooner. It is a very cost-effective way to significantly upgrade the audio while retaining all stock functionality and appearance.

At the time Jesse was mulling over the possibility of extending his product range to cover the 2021+ models. His concern was the extreme amount of time to research and develop a product that would match his high expectations. Jesse really knows audio and would only offer to the market something that was clearly better than the already-impressive stock configuration. His target audience is folks who enjoy top notch audio, so he had to get it right, or not proceed at all. The fact that he's proceeded is good news for those who want the best, at a reasonable cost.

We'll be interested in hearing your thoughts after installation and break in.

 

YES please post a review once its all said and done. If you're doing it yourself, maybe some pictures of the install? I found a service bulletin for the purposes of replacing the fakra connector, but it has all the steps to get to the amp. https://www.tsbsearch.com/Acura/21-032

did a phantom amp on my 16 TLX and it was amazing. I actually just put in a "contact us" message on their site asking if they had done one for the current gen yet. If it works well it's an immediate buy from me.

 

I can say already that Jesse has been an extreme pro right from the start of this whole process. I sent him a message on Phantom's "contact us" page as well and he got back to me the next morning. He was very happy to walk me through the concept of the upgrade as far as what it could do for my car amd answer any questions I had before I made the purchase. Then all throughout the build he sent me pictures and walked me through each step of the process from start to finish. He takes pride in his work and I never felt like he was trying to pressure or upsell me at any point. Really looking forward to getting his product installed.

As for the install, I am going to a local shop for the work as I wasn't confident enough in my wrenching skills given the location of the amp in the A-Spec. Work gets done on Wednesday, I'll definitely check back in with you guys as soon as it's done!

 

For sure, a total pro. When I was interested in it for my last car he gave me a call to talk through it when I emailed them some questions through the website, and he got back to me today about the upgrade for the 21. I won't be able to do much car stuff for the next couple weeks, but I will get on it as soon as I can.

 

So after a couple days, how is it?

 

Well I'm no audio expert so I won't be able to give any kind of technical breakdown. But to say that I've been impressed right away would be a massive understatement. I took a little bit of a leap of faith with this product because the factory ELS Studio 3D system is really good and I didn't have any complaints about it, but I am very, very glad I went through with the Phantom upgrade. Low-end bass was pretty solid to begin with and that remains unchanged. It's in the mid- and high-range sounds that the upgrade really shines. It's hard for me to put it into words but it's like it has opened up entirely new levels of sounds in songs that I've listened to a million times. I wish I knew a way to explain it better but it's one of those things you have to experience to fully appreciate. Jesse also advised me that it will take 20-40 hours for the new components to fully burn in and give me the full range of sound the new amp is capable of. It's extremely good already so I'm really looking forward to seeing what that has in store.

Again I wish I could explain it better but I can say for sure that my sound quality is already vastly improved, and I'm very happy with the product. Jesse has been great to work with and seems to knocked this build out of the park. I'm probably going to get back in touch with him soon about some speakers.