New sub, front speakers in 2019 LX

[TomMangan2019lx]

I decided to keep the factory head unit in my LX sedan - it's the stock, non-touchscreen version.

I added a Kicker 12" enclosed subwoofer and Kicker 6.5s in the front, plus a Kicker sub amp (400w) and DB Drive front amp (100w per channel).

It sounds a lot better than I expected - and it's practically invisible. The boxed sub slips in behind the back seat and the amps are under the front seat. I endorse letting the professionals do it.

One thing I'll say for certain: If you're powering up a new sub, get the optional remote-control knob. Music on streaming services is all over the map production-wise. One song will have great low end and the next one will be boomy, distorted and obnoxious. You need the option of fine tuning the bass on demand.

Sticking with the stock HU might make more sense for boomers like me - I need to save what's left of my hearing so I can't really risk blasting it all the time. With the stock HU, the more you amplify it, the more the flaws in the sound quality show up. If you don't go much over 20 on the stock HU, it can sound pretty damned good.

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[shoegazer]

It's not a bad unit. I agree it is under-powered. But the best feature is its lack of that awful DSP processing.

 

[TomMangan2019lx]

It's not a bad unit. I agree it is under-powered. But the best feature is its lack of that awful DSP processing.

The guy at the stereo shop told me if I had one of the so-called "advanced" head units with that DSP, I'd have to chunk down $600 to install another DSP, presumably to counteract the effects of the factory DSP. Crazy.

Back in 2004 I installed a system myself with pricey HU (plus a parametric equalizer no less), top-notch front speakers and a decent 12-inch enclosed sub, all powered by a 200-watt amp driving 50w apiece up front and 100w bridged to the sub. It sounded very nice - better than this one everywhere except the bottom end (Kicker really rules with subs and sub amps). But I also had CD-quality input because we were still using CDs back then. Today's MP3s sound a bit thin and muddy in comparison. Not apples to apples, but the sound is pretty solid - especially because all the speakers have external amps.

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