kmk42019

I just got an 04 TSX. The sound is not bad but I would like to upgrade. Ive used the SEARCH tool but still have questions. I pulled a 300watt amp and 10" sub out of my old car. Id like to use those components to upgrade my stereo using the stock headunit.
Questions.
1. Can I use the stock amp to power a sub or would I need the 300 watt amp?
2. If I have to use the aftermarket amp, will that be used also to power my speakers or would I use the factory amp AND the aftermarket amp in the stereo?

mercman

The factory amp won’t drive your SW directly since it is only 12w/ch. You can remove the rear 6x9s and use a LOC (connected to the 6x9 wires) designed for high-powered decks to feed your 300w (I assume it’s a sub amp). The rear two channels of the factory amp are crossed over to provide bass only to the 6x9s.

If you find the sub over powers your system you can bypass the stock amp and install a 2 or 4 ch amp and some components (or whatever speakers you like).

If you decide to upgrade and bypass the amp, pay heed to my posts on what amps work with the TSX and your good to go.

Insert TSX harness plug here.

jeff

DaMightyDonald69

I have a very similar question to the above and i need to contact you jeff but i do not have private messaging yet because of my number of posts. If you use your no splice harness with your BALUM (which i am interested in buying to hook up focal access series components and 6.5" rear speakers) how would subwoofers get a signal? I guess my question is how does the factory headunit send signals to the 6x9's since that harness only has the signals for the front/rear speakers? Please email me at damightydonald69@yahoo.com in regards to purchasing the harnesses and sorting out details. Thanks a lot!

mercman

The no splice harness provides the Front and Rear line outputs from the HU and a remote amp turn on wire. It does not provide speaker wire connections.

The factory amp in the TSX takes the front and rear outputs (4 full range channels) from the HU and divides them into eight channels to drive the speakers like this,

The front L+R channels from the HU is sent to the front door and front dash tweeters (2 way electronic cross over in amp).
The rear L+R channels from the HU is sent to the rear door and rear deck (Rear deck are crossed in the amp to provide the bass).

When you bypass the amp you are removing the entire speaker drive and cross over and starting with a clean sheet of paper. What you do with each location is entirely up to you. I just run front components and rear deck full range off a four-channel amp. Others run a sub, rear doors and front components off a five channel or a combination of amps. I any case, the harness will provide the front and rear feeds form the HU and the HU has enough drive to feed multiple amps.

If you decide to go the route of bypassing the amp I can’t stress enough the importance of using an amp with balanced differential inputs. This will avoid having to install the BALUN. If you can’t find an amp you like (or suites your purpose) with balanced inputs then you can use my BALUN. If you are looking for four-channel drive and a sub channel look for amps with pre amp outs. This will make connections easier.

Remember the Harness and BALUN are for the input side of an aftermarket amp. You will have to run/splice your own speaker wires.

jeff

DaMightyDonald69

Yes i understand that these are all preamp outputs and i will run my own speaker wire to each individual speaker. But i'm still confused with how to wire this specific to the products that i already have which are a 4 channel and mono amp (standard, not differential) front components and rear 6.5 speakers for the doors with a subwoofer/enclosure in the trunk. I understand the front stage (front R/L to 4 channel amp, amp to crossovers, crossovers to 6.5 and tweeters), but the rear stage is confusing me. I want the rear 6.5 in the doors to get full range sound/power from the 4 channel just like the front stage, but instead of 6x9's i want low frequencies to go to the subwoofer powered by its own mono amplifier.

once again i have these products already purchased so i can't go the easier route and get differential amps or a 5 channel.

Here are the products that i already have
-Focal access components for front, focal access 6.5 for rear door
-RE audio SX 12" subwoofer
-Orion 8004 4 channel amplifier
-Hifonics BXi 1206D mono amp

Do i need to purchase some sort of sound processor like the audiocontrol LC6? Since i can't use a crossover for the subwoofer/rear door speakers because they have two different sources of power (4 channel/mono)

Sorry if this post is a little confusing, any help is appreciated!!

DaMightyDonald69

Here is a crappy MS paint diagram i made for understanding. I omitted the BALUN for simplicity. Where does the signal come from for the mono amp?

mercman

You did all the hard work already.

I’m not familiar with your specific amp but check to see if it has a pass thru or preamp output for the rear channels. If it does you would feed the sub amp from the 4-chan amps rear pre amp out. If your four-channel amp doesn’t provide an aux out you will have to split the rear channels (after the BALUN) to feed the sub amp and the rear channels of the four-channel amp. Then you just configure your amps xovers to your liking. You can use a short “Y” cable for this. Of course the sub would fade with the rear channels just like the stock setup.

So basically the harness four channels would connect to the BALUN and the BALUN outputs would feed the four-channel amp. You would split the rear channels after the BALUN to feed your sub amp or feed the sub amp from the four-channel amp if it provides a pass thru or aux out.

Your good to go.

Jeff

I’m considering adding a second set of outputs to the BALUN to feed a sub amp off the rear channels. This is a way off in the future.

Reach

DMD,

Take the 4 channels from the harness and put them into a balun. Then take the 4 channels to the Orion 4 channel amp with a short rca cable. Then, take another rca cable and run it from the output of the 4 channel amp into the input of the mono amp. That is how you would run your setup.

Castles_Saloon

preamp/HU -> nosplice wire harness (now there are 4 differential channels available in RCA form)

This where you have a choice...

rca wires-> balun (converts differential signal to single ended) -> split to Orion to Hifonics amp ->speakers
OR
rca wires-> newly purchased 5 channel amp with differential inputs->speakers

If you connect up your preamp wires direct to your orion or hifonics amp, then you will likely hear an ugly buzz /hum coming from your speakers. Differential signals have the benefit of avoiding noisy ground lines. Without a balun (balanced to unbalanced) converter, you would be connecting a quiet non-gnd line to a potentially noisy gnd. In that case you just made your -signal as ugly as gnd and hence the noise floor.

Reach

I think we all responded at the same time.

I looked up that 4chan amp on the internets. Its got a pre-out, so he should be good to go running the balun 4 channels into the 4chan amp, then patching 1 rca over from output of 4chan to input of mono amp.

DaMightyDonald69

thanks a ton for all the quick replies, i know exactly how to do everything now, great advice by all lol. Now i just need purchase information for the BALUN and no splice harness. I have paypal so that would probably be the easiest route. Please email me for pricing information etc. DaMightyDonald69@yahoo.com. Thanks a lot guys!!

mercman

I’ll have to put a BALUN together for you; I’ll email you when it’s ready.

jeff

DaMightyDonald69

thanks a lot, i'll be gone until wednesday night so if you email me and i don't reply quickly, don't think i flaked, i'll check it as soon as i can. Thanks again jeff, really appreciate all the help!!