hi, I am a stereo installer about to start work on a 2004 acura tsx with no navigation.

the biggest problem I am facing is that I was told that the stock premium sound headunit does some processing with the bass output in that it raises the bass at low volumes and lowers it high volumes. So taht if I tap into the speaker wires to use a high level input, the sound the entire system will be affected. Is this true? or is it only true on the rear 6x9s? if I use the front speaker wire output and convert it into a preamp, will this front speaker wire also exhibit this problem?

also, does anyone know the stock premium sound sysem, if it comes with an external amplifer? how many channel is it? and does it automatcially high pass any of hte speakres or are the speakres high passed at the speaker itself with capacitors?

oh and one more thing, what is the maximum depths on the front doors? the car is so new I cant seem to find any information about it.

Thanks.

 

how long you been installing? damn they have been doing that for years on factory head units.
it's a very common thing, the manufacturer does that to prevent distorting the crappy speakers they put in cars.

oddly enough i just sent an email to soundgate this morning on this very subject to see if they could reccomend any way to disable it. ill let you know if i hear anything.

 

been installing for about 7 years now, but rarely work with the factory headunit, 99 percent of the cases they are replaced with an aftermarket one, i rarely do stock replacement but more into custom stuff...

this is something rather new for me...

so it is true that it does it on all the speakres? rather than just the rear deck 6x9s?

 

yeah, the TSX also includes the bass adjustment as the volume goes up and if you replace the rear deck speakers with a true sub, there is a HUGE bass boost ~50Hz. I spent a long time with a test disk and my EQX to get the low end smooth. Without the eq, the real low end (40-20Hz) is almost not there, but the car will damn near shake apart at 50Hz lol.


I don't know waht you install goal is here, are you just adding a sub or a full system? The reason I ask is because of the stock amp's built in crossovers and etc. If you are wanting to do a full install, it would be better to bypass the stock amp. If you are wanting to just add a sub, the easier way would be to remove the rear deck speakers, and do a hi-lo conversion on their inputs. Removing them would get around them interfearing with or blocking the sound of the sub.

If you have any more questions, just fire away! Oh, and welcome to the board!

 

well, the system plan is this: replace the front speakres with a good 6.5" component set, a rear subwoofer in a fiberglass wheel tub enclosure, and a four channel amp providng power to the speakers and bridged mono to the sub so basicaly, a full set up.

so what you are saying is, I should get a Davidnavone converter and conver the signal before it reaches the stock amp ,correct? if this is the case, do I still have to worry about the bass boost feature of the hteadunit?

b

 

Ok, now that I know you plan on replaceing everything, I can give some better guidance.

By taking teh route to replace everything, I would take the 4 channel output of the cdplayer, before it gets to the stock amplifier, and feed that into your new system. That would prevent you from takign the low voltage signal comming out of the cdplayer, converting it to high voltage, using a LOC to take it back to low volage just to feed it into your amps to make it high again. That's just asking for signal degradation.

The stock cdplayer, made by panasonic, appears to not have an internal amp. I would say to test them with a voltmemter just to make sure, but from the service manual manual, they look like low voltage RCA connections. These are shielded, with the shield grounded to the amp only, and I can't beleive they would shield non RCA level connections. If you go this route, you won't need any of the LOC converters, just some RCA cables that you can cut the ends off of and splice the stock wires to.

Here is a page mojo put up that shows all of the stock amp inputs and outputs so you can see what I am talking about:OEM amp connectors

About the bass boost.... I still think you would have the same problem. It's my guess that is built into the cdplayer, not the amp. If you stil have the problem, you could eq most of the problems away with an EQX, EQL, or similar. If the bass volume getting louder or higher with the volume still bothers you, there is always something like the N-22V at the top of this page: link I plan on getting one sometime soon to better control my sub.

 

only problem is he will loose the factory volume control or have to at least leave it set in 1 place.

 

thanks guys, you guys provided the anwer that I needed...I will be sure to post pics when its done

b

 

How will hw lose the stock volume control!?!? The volume control is part of the cdplayer, not the stock amp, so the volume will still work. If you are refering to the external volume control I ment for the sub, then the total volume will still be controled by the main volume control, its just a fine adjustment for when he wants more or less bass.

 

well he will loose use of the steering wheel control and the volume knob, he can still use it but your suggestion to use an external knob and set the EQ so that the bass level wouldnt change. you would then be using an external control.

 

Bass, maybe you're not getting me here... How could he possibly get a signal to the sub that was not controled by the stock volume knobs? The stock deck does not have some kind of fixed volume pre-out....


I suggested the EQ to reduce the stock radios built in eq settings. As an example; the large boost at 50Hz that is needed to make the 6x9's sound good, but is a killer when put through a real sub. The eq would make up for the built in pre-eq'ing the stock system does so he will have a flatter responce.

The added volume knob for the sub would just be another adjustment for him while listening. With my sub, I had to set the gain of the amp so that it sounded good, but not overpowering, when listening in the '20' range on the stock radio. The sub volume does still increase and decrease with the stock volume knobs, but the sub is a bit louder than the other speakers when the volume is low, and there are times during normal listening that I wish the sub was louder. By adjusting the sub amp gain with the added volume control set somewhere in the middle, I could turn the sub up when I wanted, or down a bit more when I wanted. There is no way that this extra volume knob would take away the use and functionality of the stock radio volume controls, be they on the radio face or the steering wheel.

Get it?

If not, tell me now adding the extra volume knob for bass adjustment would somehow turn off the voolume controls on radio or steering wheel....

 

why are you saying that he will lose the use of controls but that he can still use it?? he will NOT lose the use of the steering wheel control OR the volume knob. read what e_lectro said

 

guys what i mean is the only way to get a signal from the stock HU that doesnt attenuate the bass is to run a preamp signal from the HU and leave the stock volume set at 1 position, say 30 on the stock control. then adjust your eq's or controls , xovers whatever you have so that you have the bass you want and mix it correctly with everything else.
then you can use a separate volume control to adjust the whole setup.
what e_lectro is talking about is to use a separate volume control to adjust the bass only. im talking about using a master control to control everything. if you pick a stock HU volume setting and leave it there you wont have the problem of the bass attenuation when turning the stock volume up or down, because you could leave it in 1 position all the time and use a manuel control to control the whole system.

 

I see what you mean, that would work, but it sure would suck to not be able to use the normal volume controls.... and I know I would keep reaching for them, lol

 

i see your point,,,i am sure that would also give me a really low output voltage...

man, I wish I can just put a aftermarket HU in there, solves all this headache...:_

b

 

You can replace the HU in a non-navi TSX, it would just take a bunch of custom ABS work to make it look good. I do not believe there are too many integrated controls in the non-navi unit... but then again, I have a navi, so don't take my word...

 

well, my problem is not that I cant, is the customer doenst want oh well...

b

 

lol, customers dont know what's good for them and I thought you were going to do all of this for yourself!

Just make sure to show us the work you have done when you are finished

 

I'm interested in doing a total tear-down of the audio. My local installer says he would have to start the work before he can estimate the price, as he's never worked on the TSX before. 16psi (or anyone else), do you have any guess on the $$ it would cost to replace the stock HU outright? Any ideas on how the new dash would look? Thanks.

 

I read on another forum it could cost around $2K.