[Afnan]

Hi,
I recently purchased 2008 Accord VTI-L (Australia) and surprisingly even though it is a luxury version, does not come with premium sound. I had Audi A4 05 before and its BOSE sound blew my mind. I do not enjoy the current quality.

Do you believe it is possible to upgrade to premium sound without too much pain and $$? that is to install OEM woofer and improve tweeter quality.

If that is not possible then do you think if I put component speakers in front and back with tweeter upgrade will make difference?

I do not like very high volume. All i want is nice crisp clear sound.

Furthermore, if i install compontents, they do come with crossovers. Do I have to use them or there are built in crossovers? my car does have tweeter but they are very dim

 

[WILLYumD]

The premium audio is not very good, in my opinion. The amp is pretty weak and the speakers pretty muddy to maximize midbass because midbass sells cars.

In reality, the premium audio subwoofer is underwhelming at low volume and a rattling mess at high volume. To install a sub in the factory location (the rear deck under the plastic cover), you will go through a tedious journey of disassembling the rear deck, cutting a hole in the sheet metal where the sub would go, and being disappointed by the infinite baffle performance of such a flimsy mounting platform.
Point being: if you want to upgrade to a subwoofer, get a box/sub/amp that isn't the factory one. You will lose trunk space but get a much better result than any free-air sub in the rear deck.

If you have stock tweeters there should be a crossover network under the driver and passenger dash. I can't tell you their frequency response and would recommend bypassing the factory crossovers for your new components' set.

After you upgrade your speakers, you'll likely realize your audio is lackluster and quiet. Not crisp and clear like you'd want. The factory amp can't keep up. A line-out converter to take speaker-level input and a nice aftermarket amp will power your new speakers nicely.

By now you've spent probably $AUD 250+ on new speakers, an amp, and maybe $AUD 400 on a decent sub/enclosure/amp setup.
Not to mention time if you're doing the upgrade yourself (expect a few hours for the upgrade) or labor cost.

Whatever you do, don't transplant factory premium audio components and expect much better than your current sound.

 

[slimm1469]

^^ I agree. I'm saving some coin to rip it all out and replace. The factory head unit sounds horribly EQ'ed, the buttons are awkward to use, speakers cheapie sounding. The good news is our model Accords (I think they're the same, right? N. America vs. Aussie?) don't have IMID. It's a major undertaking but if you're a music freak and you plan to keep the car, a good shop can find a set-up that's not outrageously expensive. There's a lot of audio product out there.

 

[Scott C.]

I agree with the comments here. Years ago, I replaced all speakers with Focal and added an Infinity 200w powered sub (pretty compact). That made a huge difference in sound quality, even with the stock head. In retrospect, I should have replaced the factory crossover, but that time has long passed.

Scott C.

Scott C.

 

[sanJ_01]

I agree with the comments here. Years ago, I replaced all speakers with Focal and added an Infinity 200w powered sub (pretty compact). That made a huge difference in sound quality, even with the stock head. In retrospect, I should have replaced the factory crossover, but that time has long passed.

Scott C.

Scott C.

Any pics of your setup and did your car have nav? I'm going to be putting in some focal components up front, jl coaxials in the back and put in an old Infinity sub in the back as well.

 

[Scott C.]

No, my car is an EX sedan without the NAV. I did add an aftermarket NAV/DVD/Bluetooth/Sirius radio/Etc. unit, however. Works great with the stock factory head unit. I don't believe I ever posted pictures, since my aftermarket setup matches numerous other installs from years ago.

Like most, you'll likely need to disable both noise cancelling modules (I'm forgetting the correct name at the moment) for the aftermarket sub to work correctly (lots of previous discussion on this topic).

Scott C.

 

[sidlish]

I'm not sure but if yall are keeping the stock (non-nav/non premium) head unit, make sure to find out if it outputs differential balanced signal like the premium/nav unit does (sorry, I can't recall whether it's the premium or nav aspect / whether it's mutually exclusive, etc)... Anyway, point is that if you have diff. bal. outputs there is no reason to be using a line driver. Instead, try a JL amp that accepts differential balanced (not all of their amps, it will say in the advertising though). That way you've cut one box out of your chain. I'd try even regular single-ended amps w/o a line driver as well just to see if it works. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Scott C.]

I'm not sure but if yall are keeping the stock (non-nav/non premium) head unit, make sure to find out if it outputs differential balanced signal like the premium/nav unit does (sorry, I can't recall whether it's the premium or nav aspect / whether it's mutually exclusive, etc)... Anyway, point is that if you have diff. bal. outputs there is no reason to be using a line driver. Instead, try a JL amp that accepts differential balanced (not all of their amps, it will say in the advertising though). That way you've cut one box out of your chain. I'd try even regular single-ended amps w/o a line driver as well just to see if it works. Just my 2 cents.

For my 2010 Accord EX, I kept and continued to use the stock head unit. I replaced the front and rear speakers, and front satellites, with Focal as previously noted. However, I also added bass blockers to the two rear deck speakers, so they were not outputting, or trying, the same bass as the 200w power Infiniti subwoofer. This provided an overall well-balanced and good sounding system. With the bass removed from the head unit amp, the factory head unit struggled less to supply the needed power. I fully admit that adding a more powerful amplifier was the next step, but I felt the sound was a considerable improvement and good enough for my needs. Comparing the sound of my 2010 to my 2017 Touring and I think the sound was better in my 2010 (the 2017 has less bass and less high-end clarity).

Scott C.

 

[DIY Fan]

I have to agree 100% with Will above.

The 2008-2012 Accord "premium" sound system is crap. In 2020, I bought a 2012 Accord EX-L with "premium" sound system Non-Navi. First, I installed new speakers and that sounded better but not a huge improvement. Then, I installed a new HU and that sounded slightly better but still not the quality I was looking for. Finally, I bypassed the factory amp with a new one and everything is good. I installed a "mini" 4-channel amp which is hidden inside the dash behind the head unit. Hiding the amp behind the dash reduces the work of running power, input, and output wires. The car does not have a sub but sounds better than with the factory amp and factory sub which are disconnected. Recently, my daughter bought a 2010 Accord EX-L also with "premium" sound. I replaced the speakers, head unit, and amp in one shot over a weekend. Our Accords have what I consider to be a basic and decent sound system which is a vast improvement over the factory "premium" system.

2012 Accord EX-L
Kicker 46CSS674 6-3/4" Component Speakers in front doors and rear deck
Pioneer MVH-S622BS Digital Media Receiver
Kicker KEY180.4 45W x 4 Car Amplifier w/ DSP w/ 12gauge power

2010 Accord EX-L (daughter's car)
Kicker 46CSS674 6-3/4" Component Speakers in front doors
Kicker 47KSC6704 6-3/4" 2-way Speakers in rear deck
Sony DSX-B700 Digital Media Receiver
Sony XMS400D 4 Channel Micro Amplifier w/ 12gauge power

2005 Chrysler Town & Country
Pioneer DEH-X6700BT CD Receiver
Infinity Kappa 692.7i 6"x9" 2-way Speakers in front doors
Infinity Kappa 52.7i 5-1/4" 2-way Speakers in front dash
Infinity Reference 475a 75W x 4 Car Amplifier
Rockford Fosgate PL2-110 Stage 2 10" Hatchback Subwoofer

 

[emeron]

...
I installed a "mini" 4-channel amp which is hidden inside the dash behind the head unit. Hiding the amp behind the dash reduces the work of running power, input, and output wires.
...

Any heat dissipation concerns with stuffing the "mini" amp in the dash behind the HU?

 

[DIY Fan]

Any heat dissipation concerns with stuffing the "mini" amp in the dash behind the HU?

I played Toto Rosanna as a test tune and cranked it up as until it started to be deafening. The Sony amp was room temperature (in my garage). I have not tried the same with the Kicker amp but it has clipping protection which has never kicked in although to be honest I have never given it a torture test (my ears start to ring if it is turned up all the way). This might partly be a benefit of the Kicker speakers I have in both Accords which have pretty good efficiency of 90db @ 1W. Both amps have maybe an inch of space on 3 of 4 sides except for the mounting side. Immediately behind the head unit there is a metal bracket near the vent ductwork and which the factory radio screws into. The screws are installed pointing up and thread into the bottom of the factory radio mounts. One of my Metra kits (now discontinued) has plastic mounts which are similar to the factory radio mounts. Those plastic mounts are in the way of installing a mini amp onto the metal bracket near the vent ductwork. But the newer Metra kit has different plastic mounts which do not bolt to the metal bracket near the vent ductwork. So, in my daughter's car, I mounted the Sony mini amp directly to the metal bracket near the vent ductwork. This location seems to have adequate "airgap" for the Sony mini amp. Both amps are Class D so maybe that helps them to keep cool. After going through the work of installing a full size (big) amp in my van with remote power, input, and output wires - I now prefer to install mini amps behind the dash whenever practical. I also installed an Alpine KTP-445U mini amp in my daughter's Ford Five Hundred. The Alpine is bolted (zip-tied) to a convenient bar which is in the dash behind the head unit. So the last 3 car audio installs I have done are with mini amps. The very first car I ever bought was a new 1995 Mercury van which I brought to a pro shop and spent $1200 on the audio including a sub. They put the bulky amp under the drivers seat. After that car I always did the audio myself. Class D mini amps are cool (literally) as long as you do not need/want a sub.