How should I hook up my new sub (2004 Acura TL)

mechE2004

I just recently purchased a new Acura TL 2004. It came stock with a premium sound system. I believe it has 8 speakers. I just bought a MM10 for it. I want to make it a little more premium.

I talked with a buddy of mine who worked for Circuit City and he said my main problem is going to be the factory amplifier. I plan on getting an amplifier to power the new sub, but hooking it up seems like its going to be my biggest difficulty.

I want to keep everything in my car stock except this sub. If I don't my car will get broken into at school. (Arizona State University has at least one car break in a day) So I need to at least keep the stock stereo. The stereo also had an adjustment for the factory sub. I would ideally like to be able to control my new sub with this feature as well.

So here comes the problem; the simpliest way to hook it up would be to run it parallel with my factory sub. Since the sub runs off the factory amplifier I'm going to have problems. If I run it parallel it will cut my Ohms in half. From my little research I get the feeling the standard car stereo is running 4 ohms. (I'm a newbie, if you couldn't tell, so bare with me) I doubt the factory stereo is made to handle different ohm setting. This will fry it. Not good.

I'll probably need to by-pass the factory amplifier, but I'm worried I won't have control over my new sub like I can the factory sub. I'm hoping there is a circuit I can buy that will help with my problem. Maybe something that will kick the ohms up to 8 so when I split off my factory sub wire to go to my new amp it will be running 4 ohms. I haven't bought an amp yet, so I don't have any issues with that yet. I figured I better figure this out before I go purchase one.

If anyone can help I would greatly appreciate it. If anyone has done any work on a new 2004 Acura TL and has some advice that would be great too.

Thanks,
Mark

neomagus00

in what way does your stock stereo (known as a headunit or HU) control your sub? if it's just bass/mid/treble tone controls and the like, you can remove your stock sub from the equation entirely. the mm10 is a 4-ohm box, so as long as there's no sophisticated computer control attached to the sub (and i don't know why there would be) you can just rip out the old and pop in the new. run an 8-gauge power cable from the battery to your new amp if you're not going to upgrade after this. if you are planning on more amplifiers later, 4-gauge wouldn't be a bad idea. run good cable from the amp to the new box. make sure everything's attached well. enjoy.

mechE2004

The stock head unit has all of the bass/mid etc., but also has a Subwoofer control. I think it turns up the volume of the sub. The factory sub is also in the back dash? that place where one normally has 6X9. I'm not exactly sure what to call it. Its the board right under the back window. So I can't replace it with my new MM10.

I'm not even sure of how the car is wired. Does anyone know where I could get some schematics on how this particular car is wired. I'm sure professinal installers need them to do installs.

My main issue is what to do with the factory amp. I'm guessing it runs all the speakers so it might be a real pain to just bypass it.

Mark

neomagus00

if the headunit has a volume control for the sub, that's probably a gain control for the sub amp. i dont know that particular vehicle, but the sub should have an external stock amp somewhere, and the sub volume control on the headunit controls that amp. i'd think that another amp or two controls the rest of the speakers. thus, removing the sub amp from the line won't affect anything except that sub control. a professional installer should be able to tell you whether it can be integrated into your new system (it should be, many amps come ready for an external gain). you shouldnt need schematics unless you're doing a really thorough install. if you do for some reason need them, your local acura dealer should be able to get them. actually, there's a bill in congress now whose intention is to give you free access to this stuff - as of now, the manufacturer doesn't have to give it up if they dont wanna.

even if u dont find the stock sub amp, just disconnecting the stock sub shouldn't affect anything else. you will have to find the stock sub amp if you want to use the headunit's remote gain feature (the subwoofer volume control).

and the mm10 should be secured in the trunk, facing towards the rear of the car. if the hole in the rear deck from the stock sub is smallish, you'll want to seal it. otherwise, you may get the equivalent of port noise from it. if it's a largish hole, you can just cover it with a grille and it looks all clean and pretty.

sntnsupermen131

dude, good luck doing ANYTHING at all to a premium stereo...they are wired SO f***ing wierd its unbelieveable, my friend had a car with the "premium" stereo, it was good for a car stereo, but he wanted better, but i told him i wasnt going to work on it unless he replaced EVERYTHING
headunit, speakers, the works
even still, sometimes they are integrated with navigation systems, sometimes are even wired in with the cars main computer
sorry to tell you this, but unless you have a lot of knowledge about your cars electronics, chances are youll make things worse before they get better
premium systems are really a rip off...it costs too much extra when i can install something thatll sound better and the wiring would be a lot easier to deal with in case something ever happened
-Cody

neomagus00

i dunno... i drive a pretty heavily-computerized car (saab 9-3) and i didn't have much trouble with my mm6s. i didn't have the premium system installed (which would have been 6 speakers) but the stock speakers included the wiring for the premium (there were holes and grilles in the doors with wire running to them, but no speaker. wtf?). anyway, it took the installers a while, but they got everything in perfectly. but i would agree w/ cody that premiums are a ripoff.

geralopez

I have a 300M Chrysler 2002 with premium sound and it sound like ****, I changed all, HU, amp, spk., wiring. I agree with Cody: premium systems are a rip off.
But in other hand, I rented a car in Frankfurt Germany, it was a Volvo S-80, and the stock premium sound was excellent, the bass, mid high was perfectly balanced, no distortion a high volume level, compared with other stock sound systems, it was OK. I can give a (+7) to the S80, to my 300M, I give a (+3) in sound quality.

-GLopez

sntnsupermen131

nemo-do you have an aftermarket HU?
that alone usually fixes 99% of the problems b/c all the weird wiring usually starts at the HU
but like i said, some of these premium sound systems, especially if your car came with a navigation system, 99% of the ppl out there dont know how to mess with it to put after market speakers without fking something up
but a professional installer should know how to do it...
and 99% of the time the speakers that come stock with your car are NOT 4 ohms
i think my 4x6s were like 8.5 ohms or something really odd like that
and some premium systems do sound pretty good...but i still dont think theyre worth the extra money to shell out...
i mean hey, if youre rich, and youre not big into audio, then its good for you, but if you ever want to replace something, i dont recommend it
-Cody

neomagus00

yeah, ive got a kenwood x469 (their entry-level excelon, it had all i needed for a fair price); no navigation tho

you should have seen the first install i had done... you'd have cried. they didn't have a harness available, so instead of telling me and waiting for a couple days, they went ahead and hacked the bejesus out of my wiring. i didn't figure it out until i moved and had the mm6's put in, then i had to pay to get it cleaned up. it looked like a spiderweb of wires... eew. all better tho.

sntnsupermen131

eXcelon es muy bueno
-Cody

mechE2004

I guess I'm still at a loss of how to do this.

1.) Can't change my HU because my car will get broken into at school.

2.) I have no idea how my system is wired to control the gain on the existing stock subwoofer.

I think my next step will be to go talk to Acura. See if they will give me schematics on the electrical system (they probably won't). Or even see if they are willing to install it (which will cost me a lot of money).

I'm worried about voiding my warranty for my electrical system so I have to talk to them anyway.

BTW, the MM10 I have came in a sealed box. So just replacing the factory speaker with the new one seems to be out of the question. I considered doing that, but the only speaker I could find that was allowed for free air was a rockford fosgate. I wasn't too impressed with it either.

If anybody has anymore advice please reply. I appreciate all the help you guys have offered.

Mark

neomagus00

bummer on the hu thing; shouldnt be a huge issue tho.

it's probably just as simple as a knob on the stock hu controlling the gain on the sub amp directly. there shouldnt be any problems with the warranty, so you shouldnt need the schematics. if u want them, tho, by all means get them. might wanna call to confirm warranty thing too, that was a good idea.

and simply replacing the stock sub was never an option. how big is the stock sub? you'll want to secure the new sealed mm10 in the trunk against the seatback, facing the rear of the car.

sntnsupermen131

if you go to a professional shop
ie. NOT best buy or circuit city, they could probably help you more than anyone...itll cost ya though...
-Cody

Systems

you need a audio link powerlink II line output converter cheapest priceis 29.95 at crutchfield. first you need to split the channel into two sets this will not drop the ohms because it is not going directly to the speaker follow the wiring diagram for the converter then hook up the amp and sub good luck
doubleonegative@comcast.net

disneyjoe7

Originally posted by mechE2004
I just recently purchased a new Acura TL 2004

I think the amp is under the back seat on the passenger side. I personnel won't touch this Radio in your car. It not worth your time, and agree that you need to change everything HU / Amps / Speakers it all.

BTW if you have NAV just forget the HU as something to do with this.

I own a 03 TL S, after looking into I forget myself, like to change the speakers from the Bose in there now. Get this if I did the Tweeters my ears will bleed because the equalizer that is under the HU is set to plus the high end to the "Bose Super Tweeter" to work.

I think it is OK sound and it not worth the time or the money to upgrade it.

exalted512

dude...this post is 10 months old...why bring it up again?
-Cody

disneyjoe7

Originally posted by exalted512
dude...this post is 10 months old...why bring it up again?
-Cody

Sorry didn't see that the first message was 10 months. I seen that it was new because of the new message.:o

exalted512

dont apologize, it wasnt you...i do that every now and then...the thing that set me off was i saw my old screen name that i havent used in a few months...
-Cody

MacLeod

LOL! Hadnt seen that SN in a while.

What does it mean dude? Howd you come up with it?

exalted512

sntnsupermen131
sntn=sinton
supermen was because thats what our defensive backs were called...some coach thing
131 is actually short for 1315, but the s/n was too long...13 is my lucky number, and i was 15 when i made it.

exalted512 came after months of searching for a s/n i liked...literally...lol
it got to the point where none of my friends would help me decide because i would always say no...lol, so one day i heard exalted...i didnt know what it meant, lol--so i looked it up and thought that it described me(or my ego...one of those) in some weird way. 5-12 is my birthday
where did MacLeod come from??
-Cody

MacLeod

My all time favorite tv show is Highlander. I own all but 2 of the seasons and Ive seen them all several times. The lead characters name is Duncan MacLeod.

Virtually everything I use in as far as names, passwords ect, I use stuff from Highlander.

The only thing I use not related to Highlander is one Ive been using since I was 12 is 'Axe'. When I was growing up, arcade games were all the rage and to get your name in the High Scores was an honor. But then you could only put in 3 letters and most put their initials but the really cool guys had nicknames so I had to have one and thought Axe was a cool name. I still use it a lot. Mostly in video games but my email and AIM SN is Axe1592@comcast. 1592 is the year Duncan MacLeod was born.

exalted512

you have got to be the buffest dork i know;)
-Cody