Could use advice - replacing speakers on 2018 Accord EX-L

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

Sorry - I'm not sure what is the right term. It doesn't have a real equalizer - just a gain control for midrange, bass and treble.

It sounds like your wanting good sound out of your system ..with simple bass mid and treble adjustments that will be hard to do as you need to look into the Audiocontrol DQ-61 and have it professionally tuned by a shop that knows what an RTA is to get a smooth sound curve ..the JL components up front should sound good ..a single quality 8 can do wonders ...as far as rear speakers and I know it sounds crazy but leave what you have on factory deck power for just rear fill or a presence ..I’d recommend about 75x2 component or preferably 50x4 active and about 300 ways on the sub ..JL use to make and may still make a nice little 3 ch amp ..that would be perfect ..I have one in the center storage pocket of my 76 Stingray ...also the JL 5chs could be something to look into

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

It sounds like your wanting good sound out of your system ..with simple bass mid and treble adjustments that will be hard to do as you need to look into the Audiocontrol DQ-61 and have it professionally tuned by a shop that knows what an RTA is to get a smooth sound curve ..the JL components up front should sound good ..a single quality 8 can do wonders ...as far as rear speakers and I know it sounds crazy but leave what you have on factory deck power for just rear fill or a presence ..I’d recommend about 75x2 component or preferably 50x4 active and about 300 ways on the sub ..JL use to make and may still make a nice little 3 ch amp ..that would be perfect ..I have one in the center storage pocket of my 76 Stingray ...also the JL 5chs could be something to look into

outdated dinosaur equipment. Not relevant to modern SQ standards of car audio at all. Everything factory integration is full blown DSP or bust. Audiocontrol doesnt de-equalize or fix the signal in any way. The accubass feature is just an artificial bass boost, the EQ is limited, no active network mode options at all. Completely useless for any real SQ setup. You might want to get updated on the current META buddy, you've been away for awhile.

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

outdated dinosaur equipment. Not relevant to modern SQ standards of car audio at all. Everything factory integration is full blown DSP or bust. Audiocontrol doesnt de-equalize or fix the signal in any way. The accubass feature is just an artificial bass boost, the EQ is limited, no active network mode options at all. Completely useless for any real SQ setup. You might want to get updated on the current META buddy, you've been away for awhile.

I’ve ran the MS8 and several of the Alpine processors ..I have an rta and enjoy fine tuning the sound manually ..as far as crossover the JLs come with a nice set of passive crossovers and I doubt one would be needed to hp the mids in the factory rear or front components ..since he’s wanting to keep the factory sub and the rear mids should be fine on deck power ..the dq61 would be overkill on that setup since just the highs need amplified ..his best bet and cheapest is to find a good clean old school Japanese made Sony XM 405EQX ..and bridge the 4chs to the JL component set it would give him 10 bands of EQ capability for fine tuning and they have the built in LOC converter so no other adapters needed ..just make sure you get one made in Japan not China it says so on the bottom sticker ..though they look identical the insides are different ..usually nice examples can be found for about $200 sometimes even lower

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

I’ve ran the MS8 and several of the Alpine processors ..I have an rta and enjoy fine tuning the sound manually ..as far as crossover the JLs come with a nice set of passive crossovers and I doubt one would be needed to hp the mids in the factory rear or front components ..since he’s wanting to keep the factory sub and the rear mids should be fine on deck power ..the dq61 would be overkill on that setup since just the highs need amplified ..his best bet and cheapest is to find a good clean old school Japanese made Sony XM 405EQX ..and bridge the 4chs to the JL component set it would give him 10 bands of EQ capability for fine tuning and they have the built in LOC converter so no other adapters needed ..just make sure you get one made in Japan not China it says so on the bottom sticker ..though they look identical the insides are different ..usually nice examples can be found for about $200 sometimes even lower

None of that matters if the stock head unit's EQ curve along with agressive high pass filters arent addressed.

from my post # 15 on this thread.... Stock head units have built in EQ curves is that is inherent and unchangeable along with aggressive built in high pass filters. Manufacturers do that to make up for the garbage speakers they use to make them sound better than they should be. What that means is if you just swap the speakers out, your brand spanking new components are subjected to that garbage EQ tune and boosts Meaning all sound quality is out the window. You literally cant EQ away all of these things especially with a basic graphical EQ with no Q factor nor means to change the EQ points. All you are doing with an LOC is boosting that already sh*t garbage signal instead of a flat clean signal.

this is an example

Also not running active means you are playing lottery with your component set. Either the passive crossover works with your vehicle acoustics or you are just completely sh*t out of luck. While actually having a proper DSP and going with an active network setup, it doesnt matter what vehicle or driver, you can have a perfect blend between mid and tweeter every time. which not only needs your basic mid high pass, but you need a mid low pass to prevent the mids from playing tweeter frequencies along with a tweeter high pass with adjustable slopes. Not something those dinosaur AC units can provide.

Again there's a new standard in sound quality in the modern age, you are still stuck in 2010-2015. Vehicle integration and install/tune techniques and overall general understanding has evolved a lot since then.

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

None of that matters if the stock head unit's EQ curve along with agressive high pass filters arent addressed.
from my post # 15 on this thread.... Stock head units have built in EQ curves is that is inherent and unchangeable along with aggressive built in high pass filters. Manufacturers do that to make up for the garbage speakers they use to make them sound better than they should be. What that means is if you just swap the speakers out, your brand spanking new components are subjected to that garbage EQ tune and boosts Meaning all sound quality is out the window. You literally cant EQ away all of these things especially with a basic graphical EQ with no Q factor nor means to change the EQ points. All you are doing with an LOC is boosting that already sh*t garbage signal instead of a flat clean signal.

this is an example

Also not running active means you are playing lottery with your component set. Either the passive crossover works with your vehicle acoustics or you are just completely sh*t out of luck. While actually having a proper DSP and going with an active network setup, it doesnt matter what vehicle or driver, you can have a perfect blend between mid and tweeter every time.

Again there's a new standard in sound quality in the modern age, you are still stuck in 2010-2014.

All the new fancy stuff is just more to go wrong .. I believe in keeping it simple and making it sound good ..I don’t need no digital crap to do that ..I have plenty of car audio trophies to back it from shows at over 100 first place wins

 

[boe_d]

You need to eliminate the stock deck from the equation completely with a DSP that can signal sum and flatten the EQ signal along with restoring the bass.
The shop's recommendation is garbage, audio control lc6i belongs in museums, literally does nothing other than boosting voltage, you are still subjected to the built in stock EQ curve that is inherent and unchangeable along with aggressive built in high pass filters. Manufacturers do that to make up for the garbage speakers they use to make them sound better than they should be. This literally gives you a horrible signal that will sound like absolute garbage regardless of what setup you put on your car.

While a proper DSP actually flattens and signal sums all the high level inputs and outputs a flat, clean and full audio signal of much higher resolution. This is literally the core part and the first thing you take care of in any real sound quality setup.

I'd skip that install place and find some place that knows how to do proper sound quality setups. That shop is outdated and cant keep up with the times and current standard of sound quality which is extremely high and is most likely out of their capabilities if the best they can recommend is an LC6i which is a red flag.

Thanks - I know nothing about car audio so I have much to learn. Are you suggesting something like this? FiX-86 - Car Audio - Processors - OEM Integration - JL Audio

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

Thanks - I know nothing about car audio so I have much to learn. Are you suggesting something like this? FiX-86 - Car Audio - Processors - OEM Integration - JL Audio

That looks like a nice processor

 

[boe_d]

It sounds like your wanting good sound out of your system ..with simple bass mid and treble adjustments that will be hard to do as you need to look into the Audiocontrol DQ-61 and have it professionally tuned by a shop that knows what an RTA is to get a smooth sound curve ..the JL components up front should sound good ..a single quality 8 can do wonders ...as far as rear speakers and I know it sounds crazy but leave what you have on factory deck power for just rear fill or a presence ..I’d recommend about 75x2 component or preferably 50x4 active and about 300 ways on the sub ..JL use to make and may still make a nice little 3 ch amp ..that would be perfect ..I have one in the center storage pocket of my 76 Stingray ...also the JL 5chs could be something to look into

Thanks - I apologize for my ignorance - are you saying an 8 that can do wonders as in an 8" sub in the rear deck? Leave the existing 6.5" and .75 tweeters as is and leave them on the existing head unit power? I'm not sure what my options are for the 8" sub as it is tied to the system ANC and people changing out the sub are reporting problems on the Honda forum.

 

[boe_d]

You need to eliminate the stock deck from the equation completely with a DSP that can signal sum and flatten the EQ signal along with restoring the bass.
The shop's recommendation is garbage, audio control lc6i belongs in museums, literally does nothing other than boosting voltage, you are still subjected to the built in stock EQ curve that is inherent and unchangeable along with aggressive built in high pass filters. Manufacturers do that to make up for the garbage speakers they use to make them sound better than they should be. This literally gives you a horrible signal that will sound like absolute garbage regardless of what setup you put on your car.

While a proper DSP actually flattens and signal sums all the high level inputs and outputs a flat, clean and full audio signal of much higher resolution. This is literally the core part and the first thing you take care of in any real sound quality setup.

I'd skip that install place and find some place that knows how to do proper sound quality setups. That shop is outdated and cant keep up with the times and current standard of sound quality which is extremely high and is most likely out of their capabilities if the best they can recommend is an LC6i which is a red flag.

Thanks - I know next to nothing about car audio other than what sounds bad to me. Are you suggesting something like this - FiX-86 - Car Audio - Processors - OEM Integration - JL Audio instead of the lc6i? I've been to the top to rated places on Yelp in Los Angeles - I'd have no idea where to go next - I'm not saying there aren't better - I just don't know where to begin. Whoops sorry for the double post - I see that I posted the response already - just didn't see it as I got a fast reply.

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

Thanks - I apologize for my ignorance - are you saying an 8 that can do wonders as in an 8" sub in the rear deck? Leave the existing 6.5" and .75 tweeters as is and leave them on the existing head unit power? I'm not sure what my options are for the 8" sub as it is tied to the system ANC and people changing out the sub are reporting problems on the Honda forum.

I thought you were replacing your 8 at first and when I reread it I saw that you were planning on keeping it that you were over all pleased with the bass response..if JL makes a 4 ch version of that processor ..that you posted and then go with a 4ch amp about 50x4 and a nice set of JL components ran active should sound very good ..depending on factory tweeter location you may need them repositioned for better sound but they are small come with brackets and easy to do ..the processor you posted would be good for expansion if you ever though you might go with a higher quality 8 in the future ..also another thing to consider is deadening your front doors to make them more solid ..I know when I did my front doors on my Tacoma they sounded like you were closing the doors on an old solid Cadillac ..but it really helps bring out the midbass ..you might find the door mids sound almost as good as mini subs

 

[boe_d]

Thanks everyone for your help. It is kind of embarrassing to find out how little I know about car audio but this is a great place to learn. 1.) So do I still need the crossover that comes with something like the C5-650 - Car Audio - C5 - Component Systems - JL Audio kit or is that not necessary if you buy something like the FiX-86 - Car Audio - Processors - OEM Integration - JL Audio digital EQ? 2.) Also it seems like Alpine seems like the go to move for cheap but good amps at these places are they OK? 3.) I went to alpines web page and they have a lot of the home page dedicated to digital amps - no idea if I want an analogue or digital amp.

 

[bandit_kb]

Alpine amps are solid

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

Thanks everyone for your help. It is kind of embarrassing to find out how little I know about car audio but this is a great place to learn. 1.) So do I still need the crossover that comes with something like the C5-650 - Car Audio - C5 - Component Systems - JL Audio kit or is that not necessary if you buy something like the FiX-86 - Car Audio - Processors - OEM Integration - JL Audio digital EQ? 2.) Also it seems like Alpine seems like the go to move for cheap but good amps at these places are they OK? 3.) I went to alpines web page and they have a lot of the home page dedicated to digital amps - no idea if I want an analogue or digital amp.

For the money Alpine X components are really nice ..their DLX series is the best though

 

[boe_d]

Thanks so I still use the crossovers if I get the Fix-86?

 

[boe_d]

I just heard back from JL - you can install the FIX-86 with or without the passive crossover but it sounds like they recommend skipping the passive crossover at that point.