Factory amp/HU questions
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Factory amp/HU questions
Hey guys, I'm a new 2013 tC owner, and I am making some minor upgrades to the audio. I like the stock stereo, but I'm not sure how versatile it'll be for adding 2 amps. (Anyone have a photo of the rear of the stock HU? or know where there's a diagram of the rear inputs, etc.?)
Anyway, I'm adding a polk 8" and a polk amp for the back, and I was planning to upgrade a set of speakers in the front to keep up with the added low end. Which set should I replace? I'm going mostly for sound quality. I will be amping them (and 1 other pair of stock speakers with the other channels of a 4 channel amp)
I've done some searches, and can't find much info on the stock amp. could I use it to power the remaining set of factory speakers? If so, which speakers do you guys recommend I replace, and which set should get stuck being powered by the factory amp? My first thought was to get new 6x9's, and power those, and the front mid/tweets with the new amp. I could run the factory amp to the rear 6.5's. That way, if I wanted to upgrade further, the logical move would be to replace the rest of the front speakers, and the amp work would already be done.
So what kind of output potential does the base factory head unit have? RCA's for a sub amp and another at least 2 channel amp? or am I stuck with just the factory amp until I upgrade the HU-
Any advice is greatly appreciated, and thanks for reading this!
-Cris
Anyway, I'm adding a polk 8" and a polk amp for the back, and I was planning to upgrade a set of speakers in the front to keep up with the added low end. Which set should I replace? I'm going mostly for sound quality. I will be amping them (and 1 other pair of stock speakers with the other channels of a 4 channel amp)
I've done some searches, and can't find much info on the stock amp. could I use it to power the remaining set of factory speakers? If so, which speakers do you guys recommend I replace, and which set should get stuck being powered by the factory amp? My first thought was to get new 6x9's, and power those, and the front mid/tweets with the new amp. I could run the factory amp to the rear 6.5's. That way, if I wanted to upgrade further, the logical move would be to replace the rest of the front speakers, and the amp work would already be done.
So what kind of output potential does the base factory head unit have? RCA's for a sub amp and another at least 2 channel amp? or am I stuck with just the factory amp until I upgrade the HU-
Any advice is greatly appreciated, and thanks for reading this!
-Cris
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From: Under the bridge
stock audio
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So it looks like the only RCA's back there are for the subwoofer out. So am I to assume that one can not install an amp (or replace the stock amp)for the front speakers?(without an aftermarket HU?)
Also, I scoured this entire manual, and there is no real specs or info on the factory amp. So I guess my only option at this point is to upgrade the 6x9's and power them with the factory amp (whatever it's specs might be)
For anyone searching for this diagram in the future, it's the tiny almost unlabeled drawing on page 37 of the PDF manual.
Also, I scoured this entire manual, and there is no real specs or info on the factory amp. So I guess my only option at this point is to upgrade the 6x9's and power them with the factory amp (whatever it's specs might be)
For anyone searching for this diagram in the future, it's the tiny almost unlabeled drawing on page 37 of the PDF manual.
Last edited by Insight; Jun 6, 2013 at 05:53 PM. Reason: added detail
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As far as I know there is no factory amp other than the one built into the head unit. That would power the factory installed speakers. I added an amp and sub set up on the stock HU, the hardest part was tying the remote turn on wire into the stock wire harness. If you're considering adding both a 2 channel and 4 channel amp I would highly recommend replacing the HU with an aftermarket one...
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Just use the RCA Output from the OEM Head Unit for the subwoofer Amp and use high level inputs or line output converters for the 4ch Amp.
It may be easier to just swap out the OEM Head Unit with a nice Double DIN or something.
Also there is a small Amp that powers the 6x9 woofers in the door. All other speakers are powered off the radio.
____
It may be easier to just swap out the OEM Head Unit with a nice Double DIN or something.
Also there is a small Amp that powers the 6x9 woofers in the door. All other speakers are powered off the radio.
____
Last edited by MR_LUV; Feb 3, 2021 at 06:41 AM. Reason: Awarded 5 Yr Badge
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There is a factory amp under the seat it's a 2 channel one and its running band-pass from approximately 50hz up to 800hz. It's input come off the front speaker head unit output..
For the lack of adjustments the factory unit has or doesn't have like some here have said change it out for what you can afford...
The 3.5 and the tweeter in the doors of our car had caps on them acting as 6db cross overs !!!!
If you do change the H.U. And you like some may get some noise and have to run a ground wire.
For the lack of adjustments the factory unit has or doesn't have like some here have said change it out for what you can afford...
The 3.5 and the tweeter in the doors of our car had caps on them acting as 6db cross overs !!!!
If you do change the H.U. And you like some may get some noise and have to run a ground wire.
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Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 43
There is a factory amp under the seat it's a 2 channel one and its running band-pass from approximately 50hz up to 800hz. It's input come off the front speaker head unit output..
For the lack of adjustments the factory unit has or doesn't have like some here have said change it out for what you can afford...
The 3.5 and the tweeter in the doors of our car had caps on them acting as 6db cross overs !!!!
If you do change the H.U. And you like some may get some noise and have to run a ground wire.
For the lack of adjustments the factory unit has or doesn't have like some here have said change it out for what you can afford...
The 3.5 and the tweeter in the doors of our car had caps on them acting as 6db cross overs !!!!
If you do change the H.U. And you like some may get some noise and have to run a ground wire.
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Agreeing with you with detail !!
Factory HU ......junk
Factory amp ..... Limited out put and signal range
Factory speakers ...... Built in passive crossovers, 8ohm
When we changed the head unit a lot of engine noise could be heard in the new HU, adding 2 HID's kits and turning them both on at night suppressed FM radio by 1/2...
We ran a ground wire to the battery and engine noise was gone and FM improved
Factory HU ......junk
Factory amp ..... Limited out put and signal range
Factory speakers ...... Built in passive crossovers, 8ohm
When we changed the head unit a lot of engine noise could be heard in the new HU, adding 2 HID's kits and turning them both on at night suppressed FM radio by 1/2...
We ran a ground wire to the battery and engine noise was gone and FM improved
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does that mean I have to replace them with 8ohm 6x9's? or will 4ohm do? (I wish they were 2ohm!)
Could you explain this a bit more? Thanks, man!
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If you have read that the factory amp is 100watt I will say ok but what kind of watts are they! A amp with 100 watts with .005% or 100% destoresion or only has a range of 100 hz to 5khz at that rating is not going to sound good!
Most of the newer class D amps may have a eff rating as high as 75% and if you do the math 10 amp fuse and 14 volts with the motor running !!!!!
The factory speakers I removed were not marked but when I put a meter on them I got 6.9 dc resistance, So ill say 8ohm.
There is only 2 sets of wires running into the door for the speakers. 1 set goes to the 6x9 the other to the 2 remaining ones!
In order to keep lows and highs out of other 2 they installed passive Xovers.
Save your money buy a good deck and hook it up to the factory speakers till you can buy new ones and then amp them to your liking!!!
Most of the newer class D amps may have a eff rating as high as 75% and if you do the math 10 amp fuse and 14 volts with the motor running !!!!!
The factory speakers I removed were not marked but when I put a meter on them I got 6.9 dc resistance, So ill say 8ohm.
There is only 2 sets of wires running into the door for the speakers. 1 set goes to the 6x9 the other to the 2 remaining ones!
In order to keep lows and highs out of other 2 they installed passive Xovers.
Save your money buy a good deck and hook it up to the factory speakers till you can buy new ones and then amp them to your liking!!!
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From: SATX
Ok.... So, the amp under the seat powers the woofers, and the head unit powers the mid and tweeter in the front door, and the 6.5"s in the rear, right? How are these wired up?
I'm fine with the sound quality, but have considered adding an in-dash satnav unit with Bluetooth and such. I know that you can hook them into the steering wheel controls, but how does the under seat amp work? When I plug in the wiring harness from a new head unit, would the amp already be feeding off of the speaker-level outputs?
I have zero interest in installing aftermarket amps, and likely not aftermarket speakers unless these wear out. Been there, done that when I was a teenager.
(My first car was a 92 accord - it didn't rattle until I drove around for a year or so with an 800 watt 4 channel amp, both sets of channels bridged into a pair of 12" subs in a bandpass box.)
I'm fine with the sound quality, but have considered adding an in-dash satnav unit with Bluetooth and such. I know that you can hook them into the steering wheel controls, but how does the under seat amp work? When I plug in the wiring harness from a new head unit, would the amp already be feeding off of the speaker-level outputs?
I have zero interest in installing aftermarket amps, and likely not aftermarket speakers unless these wear out. Been there, done that when I was a teenager.
(My first car was a 92 accord - it didn't rattle until I drove around for a year or so with an 800 watt 4 channel amp, both sets of channels bridged into a pair of 12" subs in a bandpass box.)
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""""Ok.... So, the amp under the seat powers the woofers, and the head unit powers the mid and tweeter in the front door, and the 6.5"s in the rear, right? How are these wired up? """
Yes that's how they are powered from the factory!!
""""I'm fine with the sound quality, but have considered adding an in-dash satnav unit with Bluetooth and such. I know that you can hook them into the steering wheel controls, but how does the under seat amp work? When I plug in the wiring harness from a new head unit, would the amp already be feeding off of the speaker-level outputs?""""
When we changed the factory HU out for our kenwood we just needed to hook up the remote turn on for the amp and when that was done all 8 speakers in the car were working on the decks speaker level outputs.
""""I have zero interest in installing aftermarket amps, and likely not aftermarket speakers unless these wear out. Been there, done that when I was a teenager.""""
Well I hate to say I am 46 and are now able to pick apart sound in a car or home from working in that side of audio part time for 23 years and was the reasone we changed the factory ....... Audio!
Changing the speakers after the HU will really wake up the sound in the car!!!
Amping them with GOOD CLEAN POWER will just give you the ability to tune them.....
""""(My first car was a 92 accord - it didn't rattle until I drove around for a year or so with an 800 watt 4 channel amp, both sets of channels bridged into a pair of 12" subs in a bandpass box.)"""
Like the line in the movies "with great power comes great responseablty " or something like that, its all in the twist of the wrist... If you like sharing with the people down the street(( Teeager )) or just making your own personal Concert Hall for my drive to work..
We have the later and trust me it is 100 times harder to achive than making it loud .... And I too had the phase 147.7 with 2 12" subs and 21 speakers in a 89 grand am and at that time really knew very little about audio.
The head unit should be changed -- get a new 2 din with all the things you want it to do.. Not what it could do for you down the road because by the time you want to use it that format may be gone and newer better will be out!!
Just my .02 from old rambling man
Yes that's how they are powered from the factory!!
""""I'm fine with the sound quality, but have considered adding an in-dash satnav unit with Bluetooth and such. I know that you can hook them into the steering wheel controls, but how does the under seat amp work? When I plug in the wiring harness from a new head unit, would the amp already be feeding off of the speaker-level outputs?""""
When we changed the factory HU out for our kenwood we just needed to hook up the remote turn on for the amp and when that was done all 8 speakers in the car were working on the decks speaker level outputs.
""""I have zero interest in installing aftermarket amps, and likely not aftermarket speakers unless these wear out. Been there, done that when I was a teenager.""""
Well I hate to say I am 46 and are now able to pick apart sound in a car or home from working in that side of audio part time for 23 years and was the reasone we changed the factory ....... Audio!
Changing the speakers after the HU will really wake up the sound in the car!!!
Amping them with GOOD CLEAN POWER will just give you the ability to tune them.....
""""(My first car was a 92 accord - it didn't rattle until I drove around for a year or so with an 800 watt 4 channel amp, both sets of channels bridged into a pair of 12" subs in a bandpass box.)"""
Like the line in the movies "with great power comes great responseablty " or something like that, its all in the twist of the wrist... If you like sharing with the people down the street(( Teeager )) or just making your own personal Concert Hall for my drive to work..
We have the later and trust me it is 100 times harder to achive than making it loud .... And I too had the phase 147.7 with 2 12" subs and 21 speakers in a 89 grand am and at that time really knew very little about audio.
The head unit should be changed -- get a new 2 din with all the things you want it to do.. Not what it could do for you down the road because by the time you want to use it that format may be gone and newer better will be out!!
Just my .02 from old rambling man
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From: SATX
Most of my listening is NPR, podcasts, and mid-90's grunge/rock, with the occasion fits of punk, alt country (Drive-By Truckers!). When I want to listen to classical music with quality reproduction, it's at home with Seinheiser noise canceling headphones!
How did you wire the remote? I haven't messed around with any external amps in years. On the accord I wired the amp remote to the power antenna output (the antenna having been replaced with a static mast after being caught on a very low tree limb)
How did you wire the remote? I haven't messed around with any external amps in years. On the accord I wired the amp remote to the power antenna output (the antenna having been replaced with a static mast after being caught on a very low tree limb)
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The factory amp has a turn on wire and 90% of the after market decks today have a remote wire for power antennas were so 70 ish and I can't think of one in a car built in 2000+ ...
Style of music is your choice it's how your going to store it to play it is the big factor when looking for a deck????
Do you want GPS? Pick one the uses a known makers maps that can be up dated by you.
Do you need XM radio? Some decks have it built in or just a add on modual and preprogrammed ready to go just need to pay up!!!
DVD player? And line out for head rest players?
All CD format player ? For home made CD's
USB input? for memory sticks of all formats will it play movies as well?
Blue tooth music as well as hands free.
Remember not all the decks like I phones and android and crack berries try yours on the deck you want
Features --- the sky is the limited to your $$$$ supply here......
Shop around, take you phone and your music on what ever way you store it and test drive them in the store. Play with it and see how long to switch between players. Does the face require pin poin placement to operate try and use it like your in stop n go commute.
Rambling done where's my cane ?
Style of music is your choice it's how your going to store it to play it is the big factor when looking for a deck????
Do you want GPS? Pick one the uses a known makers maps that can be up dated by you.
Do you need XM radio? Some decks have it built in or just a add on modual and preprogrammed ready to go just need to pay up!!!
DVD player? And line out for head rest players?
All CD format player ? For home made CD's
USB input? for memory sticks of all formats will it play movies as well?
Blue tooth music as well as hands free.
Remember not all the decks like I phones and android and crack berries try yours on the deck you want
Features --- the sky is the limited to your $$$$ supply here......
Shop around, take you phone and your music on what ever way you store it and test drive them in the store. Play with it and see how long to switch between players. Does the face require pin poin placement to operate try and use it like your in stop n go commute.
Rambling done where's my cane ?
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From: SATX
Ramble on brother!!
I don't care a bit about XM (had that a while years back, cancelled it after two years because I wasn't using it in favor of Slacker Internet Radio. My top pri's would be iPhone/iPod integration (even better if it integrates with the apps like Slacker and Stitcher). I still am amazed that they don't somehow take advantage of the phones' GPS stuff.)
All in all, I'll probably just stick with the factory unit - it syncs well enough with the iPhone, and doesn't force me to use a touchscreen while driving. I may get the Bluetooth upgrade kit and add bluetooth to mine, but that's about it - I have a GarminGPS that I can pull out of the glove box and can always just use Google Maps on the phone. Every now and then I do think having HD Radio, in dash SATNAV, integrated bluettooth, etc. would be nice, but I'm not going to blow $500+ dollars on it!
I don't care a bit about XM (had that a while years back, cancelled it after two years because I wasn't using it in favor of Slacker Internet Radio. My top pri's would be iPhone/iPod integration (even better if it integrates with the apps like Slacker and Stitcher). I still am amazed that they don't somehow take advantage of the phones' GPS stuff.)
All in all, I'll probably just stick with the factory unit - it syncs well enough with the iPhone, and doesn't force me to use a touchscreen while driving. I may get the Bluetooth upgrade kit and add bluetooth to mine, but that's about it - I have a GarminGPS that I can pull out of the glove box and can always just use Google Maps on the phone. Every now and then I do think having HD Radio, in dash SATNAV, integrated bluettooth, etc. would be nice, but I'm not going to blow $500+ dollars on it!
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I like the factory stereo- the bluetooth is way better than the last pioneer 2din that I had, and the steering controls are great- The USB being difficult to search is the only real deficit in functionality (for me). I got a great Polk audio 8" sub in a factory box with a matching amp- it sounds great! Now I just want to get some new door speakers, and don't know what to buy that will match up with the factory amp. I would love to put in an external amp and run it to the speakers in addition to the power that's going to them to get a combined wattage, but I've never heard of anyone doing that before 
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From: Under the bridge
Ramble on brother!!
I don't care a bit about XM (had that a while years back, cancelled it after two years because I wasn't using it in favor of Slacker Internet Radio. My top pri's would be iPhone/iPod integration (even better if it integrates with the apps like Slacker and Stitcher). I still am amazed that they don't somehow take advantage of the phones' GPS stuff.)
All in all, I'll probably just stick with the factory unit - it syncs well enough with the iPhone, and doesn't force me to use a touchscreen while driving. I may get the Bluetooth upgrade kit and add bluetooth to mine, but that's about it - I have a GarminGPS that I can pull out of the glove box and can always just use Google Maps on the phone. Every now and then I do think having HD Radio, in dash SATNAV, integrated bluettooth, etc. would be nice, but I'm not going to blow $500+ dollars on it!
I don't care a bit about XM (had that a while years back, cancelled it after two years because I wasn't using it in favor of Slacker Internet Radio. My top pri's would be iPhone/iPod integration (even better if it integrates with the apps like Slacker and Stitcher). I still am amazed that they don't somehow take advantage of the phones' GPS stuff.)
All in all, I'll probably just stick with the factory unit - it syncs well enough with the iPhone, and doesn't force me to use a touchscreen while driving. I may get the Bluetooth upgrade kit and add bluetooth to mine, but that's about it - I have a GarminGPS that I can pull out of the glove box and can always just use Google Maps on the phone. Every now and then I do think having HD Radio, in dash SATNAV, integrated bluettooth, etc. would be nice, but I'm not going to blow $500+ dollars on it!
""""I may get the Bluetooth upgrade kit and add bluetooth to mine"""
If you talk real nice I may know where a factory Bluetooth unit is and for sale!