2012 EX-L v6 sedan help/advice

[Tannerses]

Hey guys, I'm new to the forum. I just bought a 2012 EX-L v6 sedan in polish metal. Love, love, love the car, but there are a couple things that I'd like to improve. First, I will be installing some sound deadening to alleviate the above average road noise and I've got that figured out, I think. Second, I would like to get better sound out of the audio system without messing up the ANC or the Bluetooth systems. Any suggestions on a set up??? If you had $2000 to spend on the system components, what would you get/do?

Click to read more...

 

[tat2bass 10+ year member]

Congrats on the purchase. I had an 08 Accord Coupe and loved it. I still miss it.

Your $2000 budget, does that include installation or will you be doing that yourself? Cause installation will eat up a lot of that if you are not doing it yourself. If you have a moderate understanding of how to do installs or time to read up on it first I would recommend doing it yourself. The accord is actually a pretty simple vehicle to work on. Or at least my coupe was. Does the $2000 include purchasing the sound deadening? You will want to use a lot in that car cause like you said it does have above average road noise. When you start taking the car apart you will see that there is hardly anything for sound deadening stock. And if you install some good subs in there be sure to keep some extra deadener around cause there will be a lot of new rattles and creaks and all that it develops.

Are you looking for SQ or SPL? Did you get the upgraded sound system from the factory or the basic speaker package. Cause there is different speaker locations with the different packages. Are you opposed to getting an aftermarket H/U with the bluetooth features or keep the stock one?

 

[Tannerses]

So, for now, I want to keep the oem head unit. Just want to replace the speakers and add an amp or two. The car come with the "Premium" sound system which means it has 7 speakers (Tweets and 6 1/2 up front, and in the back deck a pair of 6 1/2 and a subwoofer). It is supposedly pushing 270 watts to those 7 speakers and also has the Bluetooth and the Active Noise Cancellation built in to it. The $2000 would need to cover just the components, not the sound deadening or the install. THANKS!!!!!!

 

[tat2bass 10+ year member]

Oh, wow. With that budget just for the speakers and subs and amp you will be able to get a sick setup. Are you going for SQ or SPL?

 

[TaylorFade 10+ year member]

You said you have the deadener figured out. What are you going with?

Honestly, I would leave the stock speakers and just add enough channel's worth of amplification and some processing. I think a LOT of people would be surprised to know or find out that it's not their OEM drivers that is the weakness of the factory setup. Throw in as much sub stage as to please you and you're all set. $2k can go a long way if you're doing it yourself.

Personally, I would leave the rears out of the equation and focus on the fronts and sub. Do you want to add an enclosure or just upgrade the existing?

Look at the JBL MS-8 for OEM intergration and processing. Find a nice 4 channel to run the fronts. Determine how much bass you want and if you are wanting to do an enclosure.

JBL will be ~ $600? I think. A nice 4 channel should run you $200-300 depending on HOW nice you want. Or if you're not a bass freak, a nice 5 or 6 channel might be the ticket. It's an all in one package deal. Only downside is that it's not enough power on the sub channel for a lot of guys on here.

 

[tat2bass 10+ year member]

^^^This. Definitely look into the JBL MS8. You can also look at the Alpine Imprint. The MS8 is around $500 on sonicelectronix and the Imprint is around $250. I personally hate factory sound systems and upgrade them myself. But any other advice would depend on whether you want it to just sound good (SQ) or get loud (SPL) or a little of both

 

[TaylorFade 10+ year member]

^^^This. Definitely look into the JBL MS8. You can also look at the Alpine Imprint. The MS8 is around $500 on sonicelectronix and the Imprint is around $250. I personally hate factory sound systems and upgrade them myself. But any other advice would depend on whether you want it to just sound good (SQ) or get loud (SPL) or a little of both

Have you ever just added amps and processing to the OEM stuff though? I have. As have a large number of the SQ freaks on DIYMA. Even those guys will tell you how amazed they were at what some clean power and more control can do.

The drivers are the weak spot in ANYONE's system. They introduce the most dostortion, are the toughest part of the install and are an all around PITA to change, tweak, adjust, whatever.

People drop in $500+ worth of component speakers and wonder why they aren't blown away. Think about it like this... what if you just added a Sundown/DC/DD whatever sub to the factory system? Would it be automatically awesome? No.

He isn't seeing 270w. I've done it myself. Took my factory system and just added a little 50x4. It floored me how good it was. I was convinced that "good drivers" wold take me to the next level. Well, a few hundred bucks and several hours of install later... I was wrong.

Look, I am not saying stick with the OEM stuff forever. I am just saying don't automatically swap them out assuming that it's going to magically transform our system. Get your foundation solid. Add some clean power and some slick processing and giev them a chance to shine. If after that, it's still not pleasing THEN start swapping drivers.

 

[tat2bass 10+ year member]

Have you ever just added amps and processing to the OEM stuff though? I have. As have a large number of the SQ freaks on DIYMA. Even those guys will tell you how amazed they were at what some clean power and more control can do.
The drivers are the weak spot in ANYONE's system. They introduce the most dostortion, are the toughest part of the install and are an all around PITA to change, tweak, adjust, whatever.

People drop in $500+ worth of component speakers and wonder why they aren't blown away. Think about it like this... what if you just added a Sundown/DC/DD whatever sub to the factory system? Would it be automatically awesome? No.

He isn't seeing 270w. I've done it myself. Took my factory system and just added a little 50x4. It floored me how good it was. I was convinced that "good drivers" wold take me to the next level. Well, a few hundred bucks and several hours of install later... I was wrong.

Look, I am not saying stick with the OEM stuff forever. I am just saying don't automatically swap them out assuming that it's going to magically transform our system. Get your foundation solid. Add some clean power and some slick processing and giev them a chance to shine. If after that, it's still not pleasing THEN start swapping drivers.

I havent ever used any of the processing with a premium system. I never really had a desire too as I knew they wouldnt be loud enough for me. I like my stuff to sound good but I want it to be LOUD. Anytime I have bought cars I have gotten them with the lowest speaker options. For my accord they were horrible. The tweeter weighed more than the midrange did. My Camry has 6x9's all the way around without any tweeters. Only the JBL system has the tweets. It might be a different story with the upgraded option like he has. I didnt say that they all ****, I just said that personally I swap my stuff out but again I have never had anything other than the base options.

 

[Tannerses]

SOund Quality, without being too bright...