flaxion10

I've searched and searched this forum for a solution for putting an aftermarket head unit in a 99 TL while still keeping the stock amp. I have yet to find a solution to the problem. It seems that people have ideas but nothing that actually works. Can someone please give me a detailed solution to this? I would prefer to wire everything in back of the dash if that is at all possible. Thanks for the help!

greengo

In the 99 TL, the amp that drives the four door speakers is built into the head unit itself. The subwoofer is driven by a small amp behind the rear passenger seat. There is also an outboard equalizer, located inside the dash near the head unit, which is there to compensate for the poor quality door speakers. The EQ also acts as the low pass filter for the subwoofer amp. So, first of all, if you replace the head unit, you will need to replace it either with another powered head unit, or a head unit combined with an external power amp.

The way that the stock HU interfaces with the EQ is that it has low level outputs to the EQ (left, right, and summed), and then the EQ'ed left and right signals are fed back to the HU, where they are amplified and sent to the four door speakers. The summed signal is run through a low pass filter in the EQ unit, and then sent to the subwoofer amp.

Trying to use the stock EQ unit with an aftermarket HU would be a hassle, and using the stock door speakers without the EQ will sound terrible. If you really want to replace the HU, consider replacing the door speakers as well, and bypassing the EQ altogether. However, this would leave you without the stock subwoofer.

The stereo in the 99 TL is a highly integrated system, and replacing some components while retaining others is difficult. The stock door speakers can be fairly easily replaced, but it is recommended to bypass the outboard EQ if doing so.

Myself, I'm doing the following:

-retain stock HU
-replace 4 door speakers
-tap off low level signal (before EQ), and run that signal to a new amp in the trunk
-run amp outputs back to car wiring harness, out to new door speakers.
-later on, add a second amp in the trunk for a sub, and put a sub/enclosure in the trunk.
-blitzsafe HON/AUX DMX V.1 into aux. input of HU
-Harman-Kardon Drive+Play iPod interface into the blitzsafe unit.

So far, I've replaced the speakers and connected the blitzsafe unit and Drive+Play. Hopefully the weather will co-operate enough so that I can mount the amp and run the wires from the HU to the trunk this week.

Your best bet would be to examine the wiring diagrams for the 99 TL, available here (along with a fantastic and detailed install description, with lots of pics):

http://users.adelphia.net/~krisnlore...o/spkframe.htm

wiring harnesses which connect to your stock HU, and to your stock wiring harness are available here:

http://www.installer.com/wires/index.html

Finally, check out this link, which covers lots of the stuff I've already discussed:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ht=remove+head

Hope this helps,


Dave