Honda 450 watt premium upgrade help

[Leesi207]

Someone please help..
My 2020 civic si needs an upgrade. Even with the volume low the highs are super tinny and harsh.. even on audible. I don’t think it’s a speaker issue.
I’m having a subwoofer installed next week. I have four 6.5” Polks, four Polk tweeters (360$) total from crutchfield.
The guy doing the install has a 3000$ solution. Which involves bypassing the factory amp with an (Addison?). Which I think gives me complete control over each of the 10 channels. He mentioned some other stuff as well.. but I don’t know my equipment that well, or terminology.. He was including speakers and tuning but lost me at 3000$ anyway

Can I use something like the Kicker key 200.4 amp? I was thinking about having 2 of them.. for the eight speakers I bought. If nessecary disconnecting the front center channel speaker, maybe the rear 8”. I wouldn’t have full control over Each line. But I think their DSP self tuning would be worlds better

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[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Someone please help..
My 2020 civic si needs an upgrade. Even with the volume low the highs are super tinny and harsh.. even on audible. I don’t think it’s a speaker issue.
I’m having a subwoofer installed next week. I have four 6.5” Polks, four Polk tweeters (360$) total from crutchfield.
The guy doing the install has a 3000$ solution. Which involves bypassing the factory amp with an (Addison?). Which I think gives me complete control over each of the 10 channels. He mentioned some other stuff as well.. but I don’t know my equipment that well, or terminology.. He was including speakers and tuning but lost me at 3000$ anyway

Can I use something like the Kicker key 200.4 amp? I was thinking about having 2 of them.. for the eight speakers I bought. If nessecary disconnecting the front center channel speaker, maybe the rear 8”. I wouldn’t have full control over Each line. But I think their DSP self tuning would be worlds better

audison dsp. The guy sounds like he knows whats what, if he knows how to tune and RTA the system, then i'd definitely just leave it up to him to design and tune the system the proper way and take your thoughts out of since you dont really understand how proper sound quality audio systems are setup. All the issues you have is a tuning and install issue. for 3000 dollars that should include gear, installation, full on RTA tuning and sound deadening. I hope you didnt buy coaxials and a tweeter, thats gonna be horrible. You dont need an amp like kicker key if you have a dsp, just need a solid 100 rms per channel which can be had for much less than the 50 x 4 kicker key which is pretty shit for power.

 

[Leesi207]

audison dsp. The guy sounds like he knows whats what, if he knows how to tune and RTA the system, then i'd definitely just leave it up to him to design and tune the system the proper way and take your thoughts out of since you dont really understand how proper sound quality audio systems are setup. All the issues you have is a tuning and install issue. for 3000 dollars that should include gear, installation, full on RTA tuning and sound deadening. I hope you didnt buy coaxials and a tweeter, thats gonna be horrible. You dont need an amp like kicker key if you have a dsp, just need a solid 100 rms per channel which can be had for much less than the 50 x 4 kicker key which is pretty shit for power.

ideally I would love that. But I don’t have the money for it hence my question here. I have an approximate 1000$ aside from the speakers.. I’m not sure what they are.

Polk Audio DB 6502

DB+ Series 6-1/2" component speaker system — also fit 6-3/4" openings

www.crutchfield.com

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

ideally I would love that. But I don’t have the money for it hence my question here. I have an approximate 1000$ aside from the speakers.. I’m not sure what they are.

Polk Audio DB 6502

DB+ Series 6-1/2" component speaker system — also fit 6-3/4" openings

www.crutchfield.com

If you want a cheap solution but with good audio, id recommend you bypass the stock head unit completely. It'll still be there as a decoration or ornament but it will serve no real audio purpose because any kind of signal from a stock head unit is really bad its legit the cause of all your tinny sounds because of poor dacs and built in high pass crossovers etc..

I'd get a dayton DSP and bluetooth dongle for 180, Stream all your music to that bluetooth dongle via BT, you can do all the tuning you want on the app, no need to pull out a laptop.

Get two 4 channels and some speaker wire. Run the wires to the front tweeters for channel 1 and 2 of the DSP. Channel 3 and 4 will be front mid, 5 and 6 will be rear(, 7 and 8 will be subwoofer yes you can bridge a pair of the 4 channel amp to your current factory sub and get more oomph out of it. Reason why the front mid and tweeter has separate amplifier channels is you can finally control the crossover point between mid and tweeter and you can have a perfect blend which is the main source of your harshness issue not the speakers itself, Not to mention you can time delay each one individually to achieve a perfect soundstage which is like a live studio recording in your car where you can see sound through hearing pretty much. New wiring is needed because we dont know if the factory wiring has any kind of inline crossovers or splits. We'll be leaving the center speakers alone, they are not needed. If you want to add more bass you can always add an actual subwoofer to replace that factory 8" but the bass should improve when wired to the new amp with a lot more power. DSP and amps and wire+rcas should set you back 600 which leaves 400 for the install or if you do it yourself, you can go buy a share of tesla stock with the 400 you save

4 channel choices. all these amps are backed with amplifier dynos that show they do more than rated power.

Pioneer GM-D8604 Class FD 4-Channel 1200W Max Bridgeable Amplifier - Walmart.com

Free 2-day shipping. Buy Pioneer GM-D8604 Class FD 4-Channel 1200W Max Bridgeable Amplifier at Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

Amazon.com: Taramp's DS 800x4 2 Ohms 4 Channels 800 Watts Amplifier

Buy Taramp's DS 800x4 2 Ohms 4 Channels 800 Watts Amplifier: Mono Amplifiers - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

smaller brother of the one i recommended


the pioneer.

 

[Leesi207]

If you want a cheap solution but with good audio, id recommend you bypass the stock head unit completely. It'll still be there as a decoration or ornament but it will serve no real audio purpose because any kind of signal from a stock head unit is really bad its legit the cause of all your tinny sounds because of poor dacs and built in high pass crossovers etc..

I'd get a dayton DSP and bluetooth dongle for 180, Stream all your music to that bluetooth dongle via BT, you can do all the tuning you want on the app, no need to pull out a laptop.

Get two 4 channels and some speaker wire. Run the wires to the front tweeters for channel 1 and 2 of the DSP. Channel 3 and 4 will be front mid, 5 and 6 will be rear(, 7 and 8 will be subwoofer yes you can bridge a pair of the 4 channel amp to your current factory sub and get more oomph out of it. Reason why the front mid and tweeter has separate amplifier channels is you can finally control the crossover point between mid and tweeter and you can have a perfect blend which is the main source of your harshness issue not the speakers itself, Not to mention you can time delay each one individually to achieve a perfect soundstage which is like a live studio recording in your car where you can see sound through hearing pretty much. New wiring is needed because we dont know if the factory wiring has any kind of inline crossovers or splits. We'll be leaving the center speakers alone, they are not needed. If you want to add more bass you can always add an actual subwoofer to replace that factory 8" but the bass should improve when wired to the new amp with a lot more power. DSP and amps and wire+rcas should set you back 600 which leaves 400 for the install or if you do it yourself, you can go buy a share of tesla stock with the 400 you save

4 channel choices. all these amps are backed with amplifier dynos that show they do more than rated power.

Pioneer GM-D8604 Class FD 4-Channel 1200W Max Bridgeable Amplifier - Walmart.com

Free 2-day shipping. Buy Pioneer GM-D8604 Class FD 4-Channel 1200W Max Bridgeable Amplifier at Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

Amazon.com: Taramp's DS 800x4 2 Ohms 4 Channels 800 Watts Amplifier

Buy Taramp's DS 800x4 2 Ohms 4 Channels 800 Watts Amplifier: Mono Amplifiers - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

thank you! I am learning with each post, YouTube video and conversation.. I’m getting a basic understanding of how most of this works. Just not how it all intergrates, and the limitations implied.
I do have a sub and amp from my last car. So it’s a start.

 

[Leesi207]

It’s just frustrating.. every “premium audio system I’ve ever had. I could just throw a sub, a good aftermarket head unit, some speakers and be happy.
This car is a few weeks old.. operating it from a dongle is not where I pictured myself.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

It’s just frustrating.. every “premium audio system I’ve ever had. I could just throw a sub, a good aftermarket head unit, some speakers and be happy.
This car is a few weeks old.. operating it from a dongle is not where I pictured myself.

you can tap into the front, rear and sub speaker wires and have the dsp signal sum. Its a lot more work and the results will be more mediocre but it'll keep everything integrated.

 

[Leesi207]

you can tap into the front, rear and sub speaker wires and have the dsp signal sum. Its a lot more work and the results will be more mediocre but it'll keep everything integrated.

I appreciate you taking the time man. I need to think pretty closely about what I’m doing here. I definitely don’t want to find myself one or so years down the road having spent a bunch of money, on a half assed system.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

every “premium audio system I’ve ever had. I could just throw a sub, a good aftermarket head unit, some speakers and be happy.

You pretty much still can....provided you can live without the factory head unit (and all those include these days). Aftermarket head unit, one good set of components up front in a good location, and a single subwoofer plus a modest amp will = very good sound. Trying to add more shit or working around trying to make anything factory stay included will require lots of expertise and gobs of money because basically everything stock is a weak link once you start upgrading with that as the foundation.

Jeff has given some sound suggestions but my best advice is to keep it simple. You absolutely do not need 8 or 10 speakers to get plenty loud and sound good and you shouln't need to spend 3 grand at it either if I understand what you're after. The Audison is a very powerful digital processor and it is highly likely you don't really need all that to get where you're trying to go.