QuestionQUESTION: Hi there,
I have acura tl 2006 with navigation and voice activation system.
and my brother just give a whole set of speakers (6 of them) and 2 subs, and 2 amps (1 for speakers and 1 for the subs). I just wonder if I can keep the head unit? (I hope I can keep it because I dont want to screw up the nav and steering control system). and hope you can help me on installing them.
Thanks a millions.
ANSWER: Hi,
You can certainly run your new audio system using the factory navigation unit; in fact, you don't really have a choice, because I don't know of any easy way to replace the head unit in these vehicles. You'll need a set of line-output converters to change the factory speaker wires to low-level RCA outputs that can be used with the amps.
You might want to consider using a specialty OEM interface device, such as Rockford Fosgate's 3Sixty or JL Audio's Cleansweep system. These are much more expensive than standard line output converters, but for a full audio system upgrade like you're planning, they're a good investment.
This will be a pretty complex installation job, so you might want to look into having the system installed professionally. If you decide to tackle it on your own, I'll try to answer any specific installation questions you have. I should mention, though, that this is a very busy time of year for me (like all car audio installers), so it might take me some time to answer your questions.
Hope this helps!
Brian
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Hi Brian,
Thanks for your help, I think I am going with the LOC right now, and I have one question on how to install the loc after the stock amp.
From what I understand is: output from the stock amp includes 2 fronts, 2 backs, center (2tweeters and center) and sub, so total are 6 channels. Which loc to use? I looked at David Navone, but there is only 4 channel so how can I hook it up? do I have to buy 2 channel and 4 channel LOC?
If yes, please show me how to bridge the 2 channel LOC for front speaker and Sub.
One more question is how do I connect the output from the LOC to the RCA cable that going to the aftermarket amp? since I see there are many output line from the LOC>
Again, thank you very much.
Thuc
ANSWER: Hi,
You would need a 4-channel and a 2-channel LOC for your system. The tricky part will be retaining the center channel speaker. My suggestion would be to let the center speaker continue to play directly from the factory amplifier; I doubt there's a practical way to use your new amplifiers to drive it. (Is your subwoofer amp a 2-channel design, or a mono amplifier?)
The left and right dash tweeters are driven by the same amplifier outputs that run the left and right door speakers. They're not tied into the center channel output.
In your case, the 4-channel LOC would be connected to the factory amp's left front, right front, left rear and right rear outputs; then you'd have two sets of RCA cables running from the LOC to the 4-channel amplifier. The 2-channel LOC would have both sets of inputs connected to the factory amp's subwoofer output; then one set of RCA cables would run from the LOC to the sub amp. The factory center channel output would be left connected to the stock center speaker.
I'd need to know more about your new speaker systems (ie, how many speakers, of what sizes) to determine how they should be connected to the amplifiers.
If you have more follow-up questions, please give me more details about your new after-market equipment; ie, brand and models of the amplifiers and of the new speakers.
Hope this helps!
Brian
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Hi Brian,
The system I got from my brother was installed professionally in 2004. it is Kicker, ZR360 for the sub and ZR120 for speaker, from the original set up, I figure that he bridge the ZR360 (2 channel) for 2 Kicker subs (square sub).I understand that part, the only thing I dont understand is the ZR120 is also 2 channel amp, and he used it to wire up 2 rears, 2 fronts and 2 tweeters. I am not sure about the rear and tweeter (label was lost) but the fronts are Kicker I690 (4ohms). I think he parallel the fron and rear, and have 2 kicker passive cross over connect to front wire output from the amp and the split to front and tweeter. That s the current set up.
My question is, is that set up correct? and for my car, I think the tweeter is already connect after the front door speaker (I think it already have a stock cross over). Should and I parallel the rear and front to my 2 channel ZR120? (no kicker cross over needed) and just replace all the speakers tweeter.
Or would you suggest to get a third amp (another 2 channel amp) for either front or rear?
Thanks very much
AnswerHi,
Thanks for the additional information about the amplifier and speaker system. This definitely changes a few things.
You said the I690 was the front speaker, but that's a 6x9" speaker; it would be the rear speaker in your car. From your description, it sounds like the front speakers are a component set, including a 6-1/2" woofer, separate tweeter, and crossover unit.
It's not uncommon to run two sets of speakers from a single 2-channel amp, but it involves some sacrifices. (For our purposes, the front woofer/tweeter/crossover system counts as one set of speakers; more on that later). As long as the speakers are 4-ohm, you can combine two speakers on one amplifier channel; they'll both play the exact same thing and get about the same amount of power. The sacrifice is that you can't adjust the relative volume of the front and rear speakers; ie, there's no way to use a fader control. If the rears overpower the fronts, you can't do much about it.
In most cars, the fader control isn't a big issue, and the front and rear speakers play the exact same thing anyway, so running four speakers from a 2-channel amp works fairly well. However, your car is not like most cars. Your Acura's factory system includes a 6.1-channel surround processor. That means, in some cases, the front and rear speakers do NOT play exactly the same thing; a 6.1 surround system might send a totally different signal to the rear speakers and the front speakers. So if you want to keep this setup working correctly, you cannot use the ZR120 amplifier to run the front and rear speakers together.
If you don't want to buy another amplifier, my advice would be to just use the ZR120 to run the front speakers, and let the rear speakers (and center dash speaker) continue to run from the stock amp. Alternately, you can replace the ZR120 with a 4-channel amp, and use it to drive the front and the rear speakers; or add another 2-channel amp to run the front speakers while the ZR120 runs the rears.
The center speaker complicates things even more; it's just a little 3.5" speaker, so I'd hate to waste an amplifier on it; on the other hand, if you leave it on the stock amp, it might be hard to balance it with the rest of the system. Personally, I think I'd leave it on the stock amp for now, and see how it sounds. However, if you decide to upgrade to a 4-channel amp for the front and rear speakers, you could always just use the ZR120 to drive the center speaker.
As for the front speakers: if you're using the Kicker woofer in the door and the Kicker tweeter on the dash, then you'll definitely want to use the Kicker crossover as well. It's true that there's an in-line crossover on the factory tweeter, but the factory crossover is designed for the factory speaker, and the Kicker crossover is designed for the Kicker speaker. You really don't want to mix and match--the Kicker tweeter might not work as well with the factory crossover, as with the crossover that was designed for it. This will probably mean that you'll need to run new speaker wiring to the tweeter location, instead of using the factory speaker wire. The woofer, tweeter and crossover set make up a complete speaker system, from the standpoint of the amplifier wiring. In other words, if you connect the tweeter and woofer to the amplifier, through the crossover, then the amp "sees" about the same 4-ohm load as it would see if you connected the Kicker 6x9" 2-way speaker. If you wire the woofer and tweeter to the same channel, but don't use the crossover, then you'll run into problems (and probably blow the tweeter).
As an edit to my earlier answer: if you decide not to add another amp or upgrade to a 4-channel amp, then you'll just need two 2-channel LOCs (or a single 4-channel LOC). Two channels, connected to the factory amp's front outputs, would be connected through RCA's to the ZR120 amplifier; the other two channels, both connected to the factory sub output, would connect through RCA's to the ZR360 amplifier.
Hope this helps!
Brian
