1st question:
I was thinking of upgrading my Radio unit with an 03 but than was thinking with the amount of money Ill be spending on a stock deck I can get an aftermarket set up for it. Still deciding though. But lets just say I was going to go with an aftermarket deck but wanted to keep the speakers stock. I know its a Bose system so its pretty tricky. Would this be possible to upgrade the deck and hook it up with a wiring kit? Or is it more to that like by passing the stock amp and running new wires? Or do I have to change the speakers all the way around? If I do go with a new head unit at least when I do my sub and amp it will be easier. But if I dont do the head unit and go with a stock than Ill have to do the removal procedure as stated in one of these threads.

2nd question:
How do you remove the stock head unit? Im assuming that you have to take off the wood trimming to get to the screws on the side of the deck.

Thanks,
Johnny

 

Not sure about your car...

but i will give you some advice having spent a TON of money on various systems.. (I can't install my own although I probably should have learned and saved a TON)

Get it done at the same time. Get the sub, amp, new HU and stock speakers changed out. You will save ALOT of money.. If you can't do it at the same time.. save your money til you can. Cause it will be easier on your pocket in the long run.

One other thing... You SHOULD DEF go with an aftermarket HU IF you are changing out and going with a sub and amp. Stock unit often do NOT have very good preouts for the amp and this will underpower your whole system.

I should say that I have the theory down but actually doing is the problem.. Kinda like a coach who can't play.

Ryan

 

Thanks for the advice. But there are guys in here who have taken out there stock sub amp and sub and hooked up a aftermarket sub and amp to the stock system and they said it sounded just fine. I believe they used a high/low RCA adapter from one of the sub amp preouts. So you think I should do everything. I was hoping to keeping from doing that.

 

Derrick tried to go OEM HU an dit didn't work out so well... but I personally feel that the Acura HU's are much better than most and I think if he had it to do over again he could pull it off : )

I am specializing in doing jkust that with my shop so I might be a bit biased. It is true that for the ultimate in SQ you need a new HU, but I also know that an IASCA-winning competitor and installer on the East Coast told me the other day that The TSX HU is teh cleanest he's ever heard from a factory HU and... so maybe yous is pretty good too.

Is the 99 the same as the 02? If so your HU has preamp outputs to a trunk-mounted amp, and I don't think you need any line adapters.

There are basically only a few types of preamp OP signals, and for this discussion you can basically call them two-wire unbalanced and three-wire balanced. Two-wire are RCA's (just usually lacking the connectors). Bose has used 3-wire balanced in many OEM cars, but so far as I know not in the Acuras. (Anyone with info to the contrary please correct me ont that one!)

Lemme get the wiring info on that car and I'll return later : )

 

The hu on the 99 and 01 are the same. The hu on the 02-03 are the same. Im having problems with my hu playing cdr's and its bugging me. I was told the newer years 02-03 can play them and also come with a indash 6 disc changer which I thought was pretty cool too. As for the Pre-Outs...uncertain. I do know that my car 99 has a amp but uncertain on the hu out put. But let me know what you find out. Thanks again for everything and the info.

 

I know the '99 HU doesnt have any preamp outputs - though I didnt know the '02 TL HU did either? I have never heard that before. Just get rid of that stock HU and go aftermarket. The door speakers are 4 ohm so they will work fine with a new HU - Metra makes the dash kit and you can just use the stock wires to hook up the speakers - if you want to stay stock (though I have no idea why). You could get some decent 2 way speakers for about $100 for a pair and it would sound so much better.

Ya taking the stock deck out is really just self explanatory - take off the wood trim and you will see screws and go from there - nothing hard, sorry I dont remember the exact instructions. Your stock sub wont work anymore, but it sounds like you will get a new one with an Aftermarket amp, so that wont be a problem.

My opinion is if you are going to upgrade, even a slight upgrade, get new speakers with a new deck and you will be much happier. The stock speakers are POS and belong in a clock radio, the magnet for the "full range" speakers is about as big as the magnet that my Focal tweeter has, made me laugh when I took it out.

BTW you can fit a 6.5 inch speaker in the door with some slight cutting. Good luck though - and dont get in a hurry and you will be happy with the results.

 

Okay heres a question for you. I have the Navigation system in my car. I was also told if I install a new HU than my voice for the Navi will no longer work? Is this true or not? And if it is...how would I go around that to make that work?

Also, do the wood trim just pop off or what? There has to be a special way of taking them off.

And I do want to go aftermarket but was thinking it may be more of a pain than anything.

 

as far as i know, the 02-03's dont have pre-outs either. All the installs ive seen use the same Line-Output-Converter tapped from the stock sub amp behind the rear seat.

 

I dont believe the 02-03's have the pre-outs as well. But I could be wrong as well. Ive always seen the way Dark Inspire stated with a Line-Output converter.

But this goes back to my HeadUnit swap with an aftermarket. How do I get the Navigation voice to work with my new headunit thats not OEM?

 

im sure there is a way to get the navi voice to work, i just dont remember how. I knwo StreetEffectz knows, we'll wait for him to chime in!

 

IF you have a separate amp you have preouts.

IF the HU has the same level of signal coming out of it as the TSX, it's an easy source to tap.

WHen I to the Tl speaker system in the shop soon I'll measure it : )

 

there are no preouts on the back of the TL HU - at least no low level RCA preouts that most people are used to. But you can find the correct wires and tap into them, just like a normal preout w/o an RCA end - the info is on this site somewhere, then you can take those to your new amp - just be sure to tap into the wires straight off the back of the HU, before they go into the POS Bose EQ that screws the sound all up.

and to johnny14 - that is correct, you will lose the voice, I personally thought the voice was annoying as hell anyway because it would always chime in in the middle of a song, so I never worried about it. I really dont know of a way to get it to work with a new HU, but I wouldnt worry about it because I dont miss it one bit. Also the wood trim does just pop off, just work your way from one of the ends and take your time. You will see what too do after you get that off - just be sure to keep up with all your screws and stuff.

 

Yes, there are no RCA connectors. The phrase preamp output in this case refers to the type of signal, not the connector type. OEM's hate RCA connectors and won't use them.

 

Now that you mention it.....it is kind of annoying isnt it. It wont mess up the Navi and should work normal minus the voice right?

 

correct, the only thing you will lose is the voice - everything works just the same other wise. So it is nice if you ever want to put the stock stuff back in, because you dont have to cut any wires or anything to keep everything working. Just put in your new stuff and dont worry about any of the old wires from the stock deck - (other than the power wire of course)

 

The two ways that have been discussed to make the nav voice work:

1) Use an amplified speaker like a cheap computer speaker

2) Use a source switcher like the SOundgate or the PAC on the F channels, and a low-voltage trigger like the PAC TR whatever to turn it on. As soon as the voice comes on the low voltage trigger will activate the output to trigger the switcher to go to the other input, and the nav voice will come through the aftermarket amp.

 

even more of a reason not to worry about it. If you do #1, you still wont hear it with the music up and that is just ghetto and with #2, with the music up loud, you will just be interupted with the gay navi voice but way too loud - just dont worry about it!!! it will be much better.

 

Okay I have a question....I was told that the stock sub amp was underneth the rear seats. When I took that off I didnt see anything? Im assuming there different on the 1999 TL from the 02-03??? So where is the stock sub amp? Anyone know?

 

the stock sub amp is right behind the rear seat back, on the passenger side

http://www.acuraautomotiveparts.org/...prddisplay.jsp

 

Im assuming it will be hidden in the trunk trimming on the sides so I will have to probably remove that to get to it correct?

 

yep.

 

like I said, if you remove the back seat, you will see a metal bracket, and the amp is mounted there.