OK, so I have been in my 09 Accord coupe v6 (no nav, dual climate, 7 speaker premium) for about 6 months and the factory system has been a big letdown. Not that it is bad for a factory system... I have just had high end aftermarket equpiment in all my previous cars. I am looking for ideas for getting this car to sound like it should.

what I have already (just laying around the house):

2x Focal Polyglass 33v1 13 inch subs
1x JL 12w6v2 sub
2x JL 300/2 amps
1x JL 500/1

All my media is digital, but I refuse to buy anything from Apple. A USB HU would be a must, and I would prefer one that has a very high end DAC.

I would apprecaite thoughts on the following:

1) component speakers that fit well and sound great in the Accord
2) USB HUs that have high end DACs and can utilize the steering wheel controls
3) any advice on vibration dampening. These doors shake like hell with the factory system, I can't imagine what they would do at 1100W RMS.
4) advice on whether I can even do this on a leased vehicle. I imagine whatever I do can be undone, but I might be wrong
5) subs in the Accord. Is it reasonable to try and squeeze 2x13s and 3 amps in the trunk?
6) alternator. Is the stock alternator beefy enough to handle a decent aftermarket system?

 

Sorry...I have no clue what your talking about when you describe components, however, I do have the same car/system in the coupe. It's fine for me but then again I'm not an electronics junkie either...AM radio sounds good to me.

 

no worries, mate. I am well aware that some of my passions are unreasonable, absurd, and cause me to spontaneously erupt into fits of acronym dumping which to the untainted appear to be little more than alphabet soup vomit

You should see me when I go off on my programming rant about service oriented architecture...

 

what i recommend right off the bat, is to look into getting an after market deck. To power a system properly u need an after market deck. Then go from there. What i also recommend is not going with too hard hitting of a sub. jls are perfect cause they hit low bass so nicely u dont get as much rattle but i still recommend the dynamat trunk kit from best buy, 200 retail. after that no matter what sub u throw in, itll sound amazing. i had 1 jl w6 competition in my coupe, hookd to a pioneer single din dvd and dynamated trunk, and sounds amazingly clean

 

what you have to do is get a dash kit with harness for the bottom tray part that you have under your console. and now since u dont have power going to ur factory console, recommend running a seperate source of power to it so u not only have power to your console but also to ur deck. and all you need your console is for using the climate controls and stuff like that

 

1. For component systems you should look into Dynaudio, Morel, Hybrid Audio Technologies, and Focal. Make sure you deaden and seal up the doors, make quality baffles, etc. as you know, installation is key.

2. Double Din or Single Din HU? I don't know if the Pioneer DEX-99RS or DEH-P7100B has steering wheel controls or not. An Alpine CDA-9887 would give you everything but USB (not sure if that is a separate adapter or not). A steering wheel adapter will be from PAC (Pacific Accessory Corporation). you can search for your car and see what accessories are available.

3. Second Skin Audio - Damplifier Pro. (google it) anything else is a step down.

4. The trunk is plenty large. you need to decide what you want to do for an enclosure -custom i assume. Who would do the install/fabrication? fiberglass or MDF and carpet?

5. The stock alt MAY be large enough. the Big 3 is recommended #1. Then install the system and see. Just because you have 1000W of available power doesn't mean you'll ever want to use that much (volume control and gain settings). if you notice you can't maintain >13.5V with the car on/system on, think about an upgrade then.

 

Thanks for the response. What's killing me now is the "who is going to do the install?" question. I live in NE Ohio and I have not found a single shop I would trust with a SQ install. I will most likely go all Focal if I jump in to this project. I have a pair of 13" Focals I could use for this and my home theater is all Focal. I love me the sound of those Beryllium tweets


I have made the mistake of trusting the local boomshops before, and every time I have paid them money I spent the next 3 months undoing what they did. Is there a good way to find a good installer?

 

I met an installer in Butler, PA. that was pretty good, the place was called Speed of Sound. The best thing to do is talk to the installers, not the sales staff. Look at their photo logs and past experience. Make sure the same installers are still there and talk to them about what you want and what they can do.

Sound deadening, baffles, wiring, customization, etc. all take time. A great sound system isn't built in a day and I would be wary of any shop who says they can do a complete system in a short amount of time. A week is a good time frame for an good quality build (assuming there is some fiberglass work in there).