lordkythe

I wanted to share with this community my experience with Jesse Kelley's Phantom Audio OEM ELS Amp upgrade. This was a custom job; some of you may have noticed Phantom Audio is offering an Amp upgrade for TLs with the ELS sound system, however this was limited to 2G and 3G platforms. I reached out to Jesse asking if there was anything offered for 4G owners like myself. Because of how tightly integrated all elements are, changing to aftermarket gear requires you to invest in changing EVERYTHING, which can get really expensive.

I have a 2013 TL with Tech Package (SH-AWD, 6-spd manual with 3.7L V6). While it already came with a decent (for an OEM) sound system, I found the RMS wattage coming out of the small 10-channel amp was lacking, not to mention the high distortion issues. While Jesse confirmed he had no off-the-shelf solution for the 4G yet, he suggested I send him my stock ELS amp for a custom upgrade. And a custom upgrade there was...




As an example, see the stock capacitors (left) that were replaced by much, much better ones (right). This is one of the several elements that were upgraded during this process. The OAMPS (sound processing units) were also upgraded (four units).



There are four large caps on the board:


They are on the right side of this picture. You can also see the four swapped OAMPS at the top of this picture. Now look at the upgraded board:



Just from the size, you can see what kind of capacity we gain after such an upgrade. However, this upgrade is not about quantity as much as it is about quality. Sure, the upgraded amp does push out a significant bit more wattage per channel, but the real gain is in sound clarity and fidelity. Crisper, sharper, clearer sound; the distortion problem has also been greatly mitigated. The system would fall flat at higher volume before the upgrade: ramping the volume over 20 would rapidly degrade the signal and would not affect the intensity by much. Now, I get significant power and, most importantly, no degradation from 20+ volume. I do not go there often as it gets LOUD. But it is there when I want it. You will also finally be able to appreciate the difference between compressed audio sources (such as imported on the internal HD or MP3/AAC source) and lossless (such as CD or digital connection with a device with ALAC/FLAC/AIFF/WAV playback).

Along with the amp upgrade, I chose to upgrade the front speakers (upgraded stock tweeters, aftermarket door and center speakers) as well as dynamat extreme in all speaker bays in the car (doors and rear deck). Jesse recommended Audible Physics as they were optimized for OEM systems, taking advantage of lower RMS wattage systems. Again, I was not disappointed. And the added power allowed me to get much more out of those speakers.

The next step will be to upgrade the rear speakers/subwoofer and perhaps add a dedicated subwoofer amp working in concert with the upgraded stock amp. I plan once again to do so via Phantom Audio, as Jesse really knows the ELS. My objective is to free up the power the amp is pushing to the sub to further increase the signal sent to the other speakers while getting a much more powerful bass (which my current upgraded setup already does better, but you know what they say when you start fiddling with improving your audio... You always want more!).

A lot of you might be wondering how much this amp upgrade was, all I will say is that it was MUCH cheaper than installing an aftermarket amp. To get an aftermarket amp and keep the ELS head unit so you can still use the stock screen and controls, you need a sound processor in between the stock amp and the aftermarket one for all 10 channels, that's in the four digits for a decent setup that will not garble your sound further, not to mention the space and power it will take and the cost of the amp itself. See the upgraded ELS amp cost for 2G and 3G models offered by Phantom Audio (just google it) for a reference. 4G is a different beast, but in the same ball park. I highly recommend it.

thewun843

Can I get that info so I can try and get my stock amp upgraded. I've already changed my front and rear speakers and I'm not impressed what so ever. My audio guys are pushing for me to do an aftermarket head unit and add an aftermarket amp but being that I have the tech package I'm in the same situation are you were in

lordkythe

Depending on your location, it can take days or one to two weeks. It also depends on your TL’s generation and their current stock.

I would strongly recommend to reach out to Phantom Audio through their Facebook page to get an accurate idea. They had to do a custom job for mine (4G) so special capacitors had to be ordered and I’m in Canada, the amp was ready in two weeks, but then I had him fit some oem brackets on aftermarket high end speakers too, which he had to outsource. It can be very quick if your model is in stock though.

Overall awesome experience and impeccable service.

FlyingDagger

I will revive this a bit. I just went this path myself so I will give a few thoughts.

I doubt you did, and I am not really going to either -- but really to give any sort of true opinions you gotta add each piece one by one and compare. Its inconvenient and thats why I am not doing it. But I did manage to try out the original system with the DAC upgrade before I went all out and honestly for most people that should be sufficient. Stop there.

Now some things you said that I take exception to:

Bro, how you getting the volume that high? Obviously there are differences in track levels (thus why replaygain exists) but for most songs anything over 12 is painful. The fact that you are ever even trying to go over 20 is suspect to me. Maybe I just dont have as much hearing loss? Idk..

What happens at volumes over 12? Well the tweeters start getting overly bright and tinny. Its a little piercing and painful, not quite sibliant though. This is why I can't go over 12 for the most part.

I think your priorities are a little of whack here. As we covered, the tweeters are a little sketch, that probably goes to #1. However, as I will mention below, it seems the internal DAC may be the source of some of the problem.

A good external DAC for your source. If you already have a fancy A&K DAP (etc) then it has an upgraded DAC already you are good. Most people are going to use their phone. In which case you want an external DAC.

Why would dynamat be the #1 priority? Cmon? Per dollar? Ok man...it really seems crazy. If you aren't having rattles then you probably don't even need it. The car isn't Lexus quiet, so its probably a better idea to focus on damping the external noise more than deadening. Just saying. Maybe you wouldn't try to turn volume up so loud all the time if there was less noise to compete with then there would probably be less rattles because of lower volume? Idk, my car doesn't rattle as is, so I wouldn't even consider dynamat a top priority. Would be nice if it was more silent though...but thats not what dynamat xtreme is for...

Mentioning the rear speakers at all...its probably better to remove them than to upgrade them. Just FYI.

One major thing you didn't mention is to rewire the tweeters so they aren't daisy chained to the door speakers. You will need a small secondary amp to really get the most out of this. Its only for the tweeters, they don't need much power. Just make sure its clean. This is a great play on its own, but even better when paired with a DSP. You make it sound like this is some crazy expensive upgrade. How much does it cost for that much dynamat and someone to install it?? Probably close to the same, hahahaha. I guess if you are DIYing it, then you save a lot on the dynamat side of things, but man, why not use another brand that costs half as much? Like, I just dont understand the recommendation at all. You want to use the most expensive possible deadener. You aren't even damping really. But then argue against actual sonic upgrades because of cost?


If you cant tell the difference between the 128 hdd rips and a 320 file before the upgrade...then idk man. Truth be told you probably aren't ever going to notice a difference between a 320 mp3 and a lossless file but that doesn't stop me from using the lossless. Just saying you aren't really very likely to notice, and you definitely wont if you cant tell the difference between a 128 and 320 before the upgrade...which is a way bigger difference in quality imo.

The best test to do before hand is take one of your CDs that is in good shape. Convert it 320 and 128 mp3s. You can test over the USB vs the CD player in the car. This is the best apples to apples comparison both before and after of just the system. It is going to be using the same internal DAC.

Now you mention taking source audio from somewhere else and feeding in. Well that is going to change the DAC.

Speaking of changing the DAC, once I did that, the tweeters were suddenly not so bad. Much more bearable.

My advice, just get the best portable DAC that you can afford and stop there. I would try to add a DSP and rewire the tweeters next (second small amp). Third I would do the Amp upgrade. 4th tweeters. If you are going to change out more than the tweeters then you might just consider a fully custom job at that point so you can use any amp, any speakers, any DSP etc. Its a pretty good system as is. The biggest issues are with the DAC and the head unit. Connecting a phone to an external DAC basically solves both of those problems and gives you way better turn by turn directions in the process. This was supposed to be a "budget build" right?

csmeance

OEM amp is large source of floor noise on TL even with upgraded amp from Levi. It's certainly better than it was with a broken amp but no as great as a DSP.