I want true high end audio on my 2017 Touring, Ideas?

[Dragon Systems]

Ok, so I thought I would post a thread here and let it sit for a while and see if anyone comes up with a better idea before I try something this extreme. So, what I want is not to simply hack in a line output converter and put in some better speakers, I want true high end full aftermarket audio, and I do not want to compromise any factory vehicle functions, such as the configuration for my gauge cluster. I want an aftermarket 4 channel amp, aftermarket sub, and all aftermarket speakers, the only way I can see to do this is to completely rewire the car and either somehow find a way to stuff an aftermarket head unit somewhere, or use something like the new 5 channel amp JL audio just came out with that has a digital optical input and install something like my in car computer in my 2007 and run that directly into said AMP... also, I absolutely must have an wired audio input, bluetooth is for casual music listeners, not serious audiophiles, which is another reason I am looking into doing this, plus even if I just wired all the stuff to the existing headunit I am pretty sure all the EQ stuff going on would kill quality and not let me do anything close to my custom system in my 07.. anyway, theoretically this should not be complicated to do, just somewhat costly and rather time consuming, so I wanted to see if anyone else has any ideas to achieve what I want here without compromise, or if anyone thinks one of the major aftermarket brands(Kenwood, Pioneer, Alpine, ETC) will release something that can go in without compromising ANY OEM function.

Sponsored

 

[UnknownCTR]

Ok, so I thought I would post a thread here and let it sit for a while and see if anyone comes up with a better idea before I try something this extreme. So, what I want is not to simply hack in a line output converter and put in some better speakers, I want true high end full aftermarket audio, and I do not want to compromise any factory vehicle functions, such as the configuration for my gauge cluster. I want an aftermarket 4 channel amp, aftermarket sub, and all aftermarket speakers, the only way I can see to do this is to completely rewire the car and either somehow find a way to stuff an aftermarket head unit somewhere, or use something like the new 5 channel amp JL audio just came out with that has a digital optical input and install something like my in car computer in my 2007 and run that directly into said AMP... also, I absolutely must have an wired audio input, bluetooth is for casual music listeners, not serious audiophiles, which is another reason I am looking into doing this, plus even if I just wired all the stuff to the existing headunit I am pretty sure all the EQ stuff going on would kill quality and not let me do anything close to my custom system in my 07.. anyway, theoretically this should not be complicated to do, just somewhat costly and rather time consuming, so I wanted to see if anyone else has any ideas to achieve what I want here without compromise, or if anyone thinks one of the major aftermarket brands(Kenwood, Pioneer, Alpine, ETC) will release something that can go in without compromising ANY OEM function.

A HU that seamlessly integrates with the factory functions of the car from a mainstream manufacturer is what I'm waiting for. For now, I did upgrade the speakers and installed an LOC and 2 amps with a sub.

 

[Blacklude4]

@Dragon Systems

Hard to give you suggestions not knowing your old system that you are trying to match...
I am a SQ guy myself, and yes a pain for all of us wanting to keep the factory unit.

A lot of us here have gone with a loc, quality dsp and out to amps/speakers. I personally bought a oem honda amp pigtail off ebay and used that to catch my signals coming out of the factory amp. Taking that to a loc with summing, then to a dsp to fix hondas wonderful tuning. From there to amps and new home run wiring to all speakers. As long as your dsp gets tuned 'properly' it will sound great. I highly recommend you spend the $$ and at a minimum sound deaden your doors. I am currently in this phase of my install, and they need it. From an audio perspective they are the noisiest/flimsiest panels I have ever worked with.
As far as inputs, with this route you retain the factory usb input plugs. I know some amps and dsp's have audio souce inputs as well. That would allow you to completely bypass the factory dsp with a mp3 player etc...my dsp has optical inputs for dvd players and such...I may try and find a way to use that for my mp3's, but that will require extra equipment to convert to optical, as well as control the source.


If you are dead set against this approach, you could mount a reciever in the trunk. I personally did this years back for a stealth install. Look into marine audio receivers, as they almost always have a pretty good Bluetooth remote 'contol unit', sometimes with Screen readouts. Only downside to this approach is you will lose any oem voice functions from nav and phone, aa/ac unless you figure out a way to tie them in...leave just the oem center channel hooked up is one way.

 

[Dragon Systems]

I would love to see an aftermarket, but after seeing the Chinese stuff(Phoenix brand or something) Im not incredibly hopeful, yeah, they look pretty, and add some function to the base model cars, but they where still crippled units, that being said, maybe now that even the most basic cars have this kinda tech not just high end luxury cars it will spur some advancement, my big thing is a wired audio input. As far as what Blacklude4 says, I dont know, I mean, it almost seems like all that would be about the same complexity level with all the gadgetry to make that work, im not knocking it, it just seems like the original idea I had would be about the same effort for a more capable system, honestly, the part am having the most difficulty with is figuring out where to put an aftermarket head unit. Grrrrr, I love my 07 to death, but it would be nice to get into my brand new car and get at least as good of an audio experience as my 11 year old car... seriously, Honda, you guys dropped the ball on Touring Audio

 

[darryldarryl]

Yeah, hoping that there will be an Alpine or Pioneer headunit available for us.

 

[Zerkom122]

I would recommend this.

Kenwood Excelon or Pioneer NEX HU. Alpine is good to but expensive.

For speaker brands you should look at Focal, JL, Audiofrog, Sundown, or Morel.

For amps check out ZapCo, Rockford, Alpine, JL, And Focal. I’m sure there’s more specialized ones to but those are what I can name right now.

Subs I would go with JL or Sundown. With a custom box. The JL pre fab boxes are good though.

 

[Dragon Systems]

I have a pioneer Avic 8200NEX with 4X JL C2-650X speakers running on a Rockford Fosgate 4 channel and a pair of JL 12W0's with JL Amp in my 2007 EX-L Coupe, once I figure out how I want a similar system in the 17, the hard part is finding where to put the Pioneer though, cause even with maestro you will still loose some functionality on the touring

 

[Zerkom122]

You could always get an LC2i and keep the stock headunit. But then you miss the features you get on Pioneers.

 

[Dragon Systems]

I have a pioneer AVIC-8200NEX right now in my 2007, before that I had a top of the line Kenwood, the amount of control these high end units give you over the audio is quite nice, but what I want is based on several factors. The first is audio quality, even if you use the methods that are available to install higher end speakers and a subwoofer to the factory head unit, the sound quality would still be limited by a crippled head unit that was never designed to be the center piece of a high end sound system. the next factor is the high end computer based system I have in my 2007 civic is absolutely epic, the entertainment systems in... ummmm... pretty much any other car is a joke, seriously, when you get used to having the massive media library I have in my car at your fingertips you will probably not want to give it up, we are talking 125,000 audio track, 8,000 television show episodes and 1000 movies, and with the way I have the LCD positioned I dont even have to look away from the road to use it, and, in order for all that to work to its fullest potential I need a hardwired audio connection. So far no one has presented me with an option that would not require me to "settle" in some way... if it exists, im all ears, that is why I posted this, but so far I have not seen it. I dont mind cost or complexity, ive budgeted north of $3K for this project... at the moment another issue is that if I do what I am proposing this no longer is a car I just keep for the length of my finance term, it becomes minimum a 10 year car.

If I can find somewhere to put a double din head unit, I will go that route and just rewire the car and bypass the factory head unit, leaving in place the front center channel for any audio that the car needs(nav instructions and the like) and possibly relocating its two front speakers to some yet to be determined custom location. If I cannot find a place for a double din, my best option will be a really high end single din receiver, or possibly the new 5 channel amp JL audio now offers that has optical data input, which would allow me to run the secondary audio system off my computer without even using a head unit, though, all things being equal I would prefer the audio centerpiece of the system to be a high end pioneer. Im not really holding out hope for an aftermarket double din with no functionality compromise once you factor in the complexity that a manufacturer would have to overcome to make it work with all the factory configuration capabilities in the higher end versions like my Touring... I would think we would be more likely to see someone offer a prepackaged variation of what I have described here as it would probably be simpler to implement from a technical side

 

[jred721]

Ok, so I thought I would post a thread here and let it sit for a while and see if anyone comes up with a better idea before I try something this extreme. So, what I want is not to simply hack in a line output converter and put in some better speakers, I want true high end full aftermarket audio, and I do not want to compromise any factory vehicle functions, such as the configuration for my gauge cluster. I want an aftermarket 4 channel amp, aftermarket sub, and all aftermarket speakers, the only way I can see to do this is to completely rewire the car and either somehow find a way to stuff an aftermarket head unit somewhere, or use something like the new 5 channel amp JL audio just came out with that has a digital optical input and install something like my in car computer in my 2007 and run that directly into said AMP... also, I absolutely must have an wired audio input, bluetooth is for casual music listeners, not serious audiophiles, which is another reason I am looking into doing this, plus even if I just wired all the stuff to the existing headunit I am pretty sure all the EQ stuff going on would kill quality and not let me do anything close to my custom system in my 07.. anyway, theoretically this should not be complicated to do, just somewhat costly and rather time consuming, so I wanted to see if anyone else has any ideas to achieve what I want here without compromise, or if anyone thinks one of the major aftermarket brands(Kenwood, Pioneer, Alpine, ETC) will release something that can go in without compromising ANY OEM function.

I have the EX which has only 8 speakers and sounds decent but much worse compared to the touring obviously. Like you it would be interesting to see what options are out there in terms of adding truly high end audio to it without messing with the stock HU because for me at least it runs pretty well and I dont want to lose any functionality. If only Honda partnered with harman/kardon or something and gave it to us out of the box...

 

[Dragon Systems]

I really have to say it comes down to what you are used to, Im guessing if you have never had really high end audio, then every time you buy a new car you will simply feel like it is a little better with each new model, but in my case, my 2017 is replacing a car that I put something like four grand into the audio system, so it just does not cut it... that said, I did some messing around with the settings(posted it in a different thread) and I have been able to get it to the point of acceptable until I really decide what to do

 

[Dragon Systems]

Hmmmm... anyone on here want to donate to my "install a kickass soundsystem in my 2017 civic" fund?

 

[Dragon Systems]

Honestly, at this point, im really liking the idea of installing a completely separate independent fully custom system alongside the factory... and I have been looking at super high end 3.5 inch speakers, JL even has a mid level coax set with integrated tweeters, with those I could custom install them relatively easily anywhere in the car, the only thing I am still having a problem with is where I could possibly put a head unit

 

[Zerkom122]

Honestly, at this point, im really liking the idea of installing a completely separate independent fully custom system alongside the factory... and I have been looking at super high end 3.5 inch speakers, JL even has a mid level coax set with integrated tweeters, with those I could custom install them relatively easily anywhere in the car, the only thing I am still having a problem with is where I could possibly put a head unit

Honestly man I don’t know if there’s anything that fully replaces every function the factory HU has in the touring. This is why I got the Sport with the LX stereo. An lc2i seems like the best solution so far for keeping the stock functions. Unfortunately as of now you can’t get all the stock functions to work with another HU it looks like.

 

[Dragon Systems]

I know, I have figured this out over the last few days, I was hoping some0ne here might have a brilliant idea, so as it looks now, I think the most flexible option is going to be to simply add a second independent audio system to the car coexisting with the factory system, right now the only thing I am stuck on is where exactly to stuff a second double din in dash unit

Sponsored