a few weeks ago i hooked up my mono alpine MRD-M605 amp and jl 10w3v3 sub. i disconnected and removed the rear deck speakers and connected my LOC to each speaker wire. it sounds really good except for low low bass.

could the stock amp's crossover for the rear 6x9 be causing the distorted bass? it sounds like the woofer just farts at low (near 20hz) bass. im not overpowering the sub either. the amp puts out 250rms at 12v and 400rms at 14.4v.

ive tweaked with the gain, bass boost, subsonic filter, etc. any suggestions?

luther

 

No, you've pretty much got what its giving you. The oem amp cuts off the lows somewhere above 20hz for that rear signal. Its good for 98% of people, but the purist wouldn't accept it. Elduderino did some experimenting a while back and discovered this, but didn't isolate exactly where the cutoff is. Replacing the signal with a straight signal from the HU is the only way around it.

I have a similar setup. JL 250/1 w/ DLS premium 10. Removed both rear 6x9 speakers (useless) and tapped their signals for the amp. I dont listen to too much rap or heavy low bass, so I just deal with it.

 

ive gone through the DIY on using the signal from the HU as a preamp output before the stock amp but it seems people have been having problem with noise. whats your take on it? could a LOC with noise cancelation still be used when tapped into the HU signal?

second, the wire colors from the DIY dont seem to coincide with the wire colors i saw goin into the amp. any chance they are different for the 06?


luther

 

If you tap the deck outputs before the factory amp just to power the sub, you'll never have any type of noise. The bass will be alot better. I original tried running bass of the rear deck and it sound like crap. The frequency is crossover almost like a mid bass than a sub. I tried some test discs and at about 40 hz, I lost almost all bass output this way. So finally I tapped all the low level lines before the factory amp and the bass came to life. As for the noise issues, its seems to be alittle different for everybody depending on who installed it, type of amps and even some differences in the head units being noisier than others(makes no sense but seems to have happened) I have all my doors and subs running off a JL 6450 amp and there is no noise unless you have the air on. The noise I get isn't constant. I get a very light, almost unheard 'tick' sound about every 20-30 seconds. Its only with the AC on, probably some noise from relays on the compressor turning on and off. If you turn the volume to a normal level, you never hear it. I'm always bumping so I never notice it, but I'm @nal so I know its there and still bugs me. My wife only heard it once ever in the past year.

 

I suspect that the cutoff is fairly high. Maybe if I'm bored enough, I can try testing to see if I can figure out about where it is. If your amp has a low-pass filter, you could turn that on just to be sure you're not getting upper-bass sent through. I'm not sure why that would affect the low bass, though. Normally, I would think it wouldn't matter where the cutoff is, because you just want the lower bass, but it's not like you need it cut off at exactly 50 or exactly 100....

Did you use the sub in another car, and it sounded OK? If it were new, I think I'd also try to make sure that the sub is in the right sized enclosure.

Maybe the stock amp is not clean all the way down to 20hz, since the stock speakers would never need to play that low? My new 6x9s get down into the 40s easily, even stretching to the 30s, and sound pretty decent for 6x9s, so I dunno.

One thing you can try is a test CD that has various tones on it, to try to isolate which frequency range it is. It might give some clues. Then again, maybe not, but at least it's something to try.

Oh yeah, and as for alternator noise, if you tap different signal wires, when you power the sub, make sure you run it with a low-pass filter turned on, and it should strip it out anyway. One of my setups had noise, but it was fine for the sub, once I added a filter.

 

PhiSigBrotha,

Although I have not done it, there are many stories of tapping the HU signal without noise. Eldude swears by it, and I defer to his knowledge in this area, since I have not done it myself. There are 2 things to look out for as I understand it:

Interference: The metal box on the floor below the HU is the ECU. This is a known noise emitter, and can ruin your signal. Likewise with the driver's side airbag sensor. I believe the best way to tap that signal is to run shielded pair from the trunk, up the passenger side door channels, back behind the glovebox, and directly over to the HU with at little extra cable run as possible, especially behind the HU. This is the advice I got from Eldude, but again, I ended up not doing it, so take it with a grain of salt as second-hand.

LOC: Also something that is completely not necessary with the HU tap route. Its a low power signal, and your LOC will, if anything, degrade it slightly more. The loc is mildly useful as a step-saver and converter with the rear speaker tap method, but if you're going to bother with a new cable run, just do it straight to the amp.

Also, yes, the 06 wire colors are quite different from both 04 and 05s. I suggest an 06 ETM before you go much further. If you need a few pages scanned only, let me know via PM, I've got one.

If you go through with this, or any other method, please post up your results and let us know how it sounds.

 

Reach this is whut happens when i try to PM u. yeah just a few pages of the colors would be awesome.

PhiSigBrotha, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

1. Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
2. If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.


luther

 

PhiSigBrotha,

New forum rules require new users to have some number of days and 30+ posts activity before their ability to PM is turned on. Something about spammers recently has required it.

I think these might help. These are 2006 specific.
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/7989/AcuraTSX161.jpg
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/7936/AcuraTSX164.jpg

 

And some context: (view these first if you don't already know where the above is...)

Back of the console where you need the harnesses:
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/6646/AcuraTSX166.jpg

And the harness diagram:
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/7124/AcuraTSX165.jpg

 

pimpin! thanx reach. i think on my next day off ill do this the right way. as long as im not too hungover.


luther

 

tapped into the rear speaker wire before the amp this afternoon. bass is much cleaner. i still get some bottoming out of the sub but its not as bad. im playing around with polyfill and its helping.

i noticed noise coming out of the rear door speakers tonight after dinner. also sounds like they are gargling with listerine. doesnt change with engine speed. once i turn the volume up some i dont notice it. but like dizzy it bugs me to know its there even where volume is up and it drowned out.

also kind of embarrassing when its the first time the girl i just started dating rode in my car.

looks like i have another project for sunday.


luther

 

well i been trying to put 2 10'' subs in my 06 TSX for the past two days, i have everything hooked up right, and amp comes on and so does my cap. BUT i need to tap into my reer 6x9s..and im not sure if i want to cut those wires or not...but i have a question, you guys are saying if you tap into the wires from the reer 6x9s it will give noise because those lines are hooked up into the stock amp?? ...Soooo if i tap into those lines before it goes into the stock amp it wont give as much noise??
new to this place! my first post lol, you guys have been alot of help so far.

 

if you tap into the rear 6x9s after the amp you have to use a line output convertor. i did this first and had zero noise. but you will lose some low frequencies. its unsure exactly at what hertz but its definately above the lowest human ears can hear (20hz)

recently i tapped into the wires BEFORE the stock amp and can tell the difference. subs hit lower than before. much cleaner too. only problem i have is noise. sometimes its there. sometimes not. really annoying when using the HFL since the noise is coming from the rear door speakers only. also annoying when riding in the car with a girl i just started dating so the radio is turned down to talk and the static drives me nuts. im too stupid to just turn the radio off.

some people get noise, some dont.


luther

 

Noise is going to depend on how cleanly you tap the preamp wires. stipping them and adding copper adds an 'antenna' to it for ambient emf. Use shielded stranded wires, clean and small solder joints, and extra shielding if possible to avoid introducing noise.

 

I've done everything to get rid of the noise and it's still there. All my wires are soldered. Some amps just have a better input filter and some places turnt he gain on the amp all the way down so you don't hear the noise. But most get the noise.

The thing about this thread that I don't understand is... the noise from the rear door speakers. They are being run off of the OEm amp right? You just parralleled the rear HU output to the amp right?

 

CJams, you STILL have noise? I thought you had gutted / fixed it. Crap like this is why I'm nervous to do the mod at all. Judging by you and others, seems like I could do everything right and still have noise. That's the only reason i'm still rockin the stock amp.

 

yeah soldered t-taps to the rear HU output for now. i might try just soldering the RCAs to the HU output when i have time.


luther

 

Yep! I still got noise. It's very very low, but it's still there. Not everyone that has noise will admit to it. I've seen a few other TSX's without noise, but that's because the gain on the amps were way way low. Not only is there noise, but there is also bleed through. You can pan everything right and fade everything to the rear and if you stick your head up against the right front speaker you can still hear music. SUX! But when you turn it up its all good! So I just keep it loud.

 

I'll agree with Cjams, you can get close to noise free, but I doubt anyone has truely gotten it noise free. If you not real @nal, you'll probably never notice and say its noise free. I don't have noise all the time, only with the A/C on, I get a very faint tick about every 30 seconds. Its on audible if the volume is low. And the fading/balancing bleed thru, I've got that too. But like Cjams said, under normal use, you'll never notice, but its there and will bug you even if your the only one that can hear it.

 

geez..well I just put in my 2 10'' subs and a 2000wat RMS amp, and i got ALOT of rattle from my trunk i couldnt tell any noise from my subs, but i could tell that in some songs they didnt hit as deep as my buddies truck that uses a aftermarket headunit

 

even with the same amp and subs the vehicles will sound different. time for you so sound deaden the trunk. also the noise im experienceing isnt from my sub but from the rear door speakers.


luther