Speaker amp install?

[_silvy]

Hundreds of threads on subs and mono amps but nothing related to the shitty speakers that nobody likes. Anybody have any guides or info on wiring up a multi-channel for the rest of the speakers? Is it unanimously decided that upgraded speakers and no amp is the way to go? Or screw audio quality altogether and throw in a 12 inch sub to drown out the stock speakers with constant noise? Very odd how a Honda Civic of all cars has virtually no info on aftermarket audio upgrades.

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[Mcclaughry95]

https://www.civicx.com/forum/thread...-speaker-audio-of-sport-touring-type-r.52248/
Would be the best method.

 

[ManfromRI]

Hundreds of threads on subs and mono amps but nothing related to the shitty speakers that nobody likes. Anybody have any guides or info on wiring up a multi-channel for the rest of the speakers? Is it unanimously decided that upgraded speakers and no amp is the way to go? Or screw audio quality altogether and throw in a 12 inch sub to drown out the stock speakers with constant noise? Very odd how a Honda Civic of all cars has virtually no info on aftermarket audio upgrades.

What are looking for?? A guide to install an aftermarket 4 channel amp and door speakers???

BTW, our civic has multiple aftermarket options for audio upgrades. I'm not sure what you mean by your statement??

 

[dstix747]

I had a JL DSP interface installed as a go-between from the Honda amp to my amplifier (Model FIX-86). This captures the primary 4-channels from the Honda amp, processes and cleans them up, and passes a cleaner sounding line out signal to my amp. The dash and rear hatch speakers still operate through the Honda amp, but at their loudest, they can't be heard over my amplified audio. The dash speaker still handles Waze and phone chime alerts for my Android Auto, which is independently volume controlled. Not sure how that's managed for an iPhone.

With the JL DSP, all of the head unit controls retain their functionality, so I don't need any extra knobs or switches. The DSP also picks off the sub signal from the inbound audio, so the final amplifier is a pretty straight forward hookup to the speakers. I use a JL 12" sub in a box, and Alpine reference component speakers in the doors. I use a JL amplifier, but I don't think you need to for this type of setup.

The FIX 86 costs around $500 though, so if you're budget constrained, it may be cheaper to look for another option. I won't tell you how much my whole system set me back, but it sounds amazing.

 

[_silvy]

What are looking for?? A guide to install an aftermarket 4 channel amp and door speakers???

BTW, our civic has multiple aftermarket options for audio upgrades. I'm not sure what you mean by your statement??

I was a little agitated when I wrote this, I'm looking for a general consensus if a 4 channel is even necessary with aftermarket speakers. I haven't seen anybody mention installing one with their upgraded system and experience with my last car was upgraded speakers required an amp no matter what to get good sound, so I never bothered upgrading. Plenty of great info about installing a sub + amp and an LC2i but nothing good for door speakers.

Is the factory amp sufficient for new door speakers? If I add a mono amp for a sub, would that free up more power to send to the doors? Have you seen any guides or heard anybody saying they needed a multi channel? I have no audio knowledge besides speakers need sufficient power to work as intended and have no idea where to even start with installing an amp.

 

[GGinMP]

I went with a 4 channel amp, DSP, Focal K2 2-way speakers in the front and a Focal sub. I didn't bother trying just the speaker upgrade alone, though.

A big sound improvement was adding sound-deadening to the 4 doors and in the sub enclosure. That does add weight, but it's worth it IMO.

Edit: I forgot to mention that the upgraded sub in the stock enclosure sounds good with the sound-deadening, but it's not bass-intense.

 

[ManfromRI]

I4 channel is even necessary with aftermarket speakers. I haven't seen anybody mention installing one with their upgraded system

Is the factory amp sufficient for new door speakers? If I add a mono amp for a sub, would that free up more power to send to the doors? Have you seen any guides or heard anybody saying they needed a multi channel? I have no audio knowledge besides speakers need sufficient power to work as intended and have no idea where to even start with installing an amp.

I was a little agitated when I wrote this, I'm looking for a general consensus if a 4 channel is even necessary with aftermarket speakers. I haven't seen anybody mention installing one with their upgraded system and experience with my last car was upgraded speakers required an amp no matter what to get good sound, so I never bothered upgrading. Plenty of great info about installing a sub + amp and an LC2i but nothing good for door speakers.

Is the factory amp sufficient for new door speakers? If I add a mono amp for a sub, would that free up more power to send to the doors? Have you seen any guides or heard anybody saying they needed a multi channel? I have no audio knowledge besides speakers need sufficient power to work as intended and have no idea where to even start with installing an amp.

If your interested in installing aftermarket speakers, the most common option is using a set of components (mid woofer and seperate tweeter) for the front doors.

Technically you could power them with the Factory amp but I wouldn't bother, it wouldn't be that big of a difference sound wise to your factory speakers. If your spending the money on a decent pair of components, you should be running then with an amp anyways.

The factory amp on our cars is junk. It only allows for limited frequencies to come thru each channel and severely cuts bass when turning up at higher volumes. Which is why alot of people (including myself) are using DSP's (Fix-86,Helix, audiocontrol, minidsp, etc...) this allows you to flatten (digitally) the signal coming from the factory amp and use it as an input for your Amp.

I could go into wayyyyyy more detail here with setting up your DSP (Time alignment, gain, polarity, etc....) but I'll keep it light.


My 4 channel amp is running my front 2 way soundstage. (woofers & tweeters) everything behind my front doors is stock. (minus the subs)
Once you've powered your speakers with an amp, it's hard to go back to factory ??

I think Crutchfield has a good read on the install of a 10th Gen Civic that could provide some info for you as well.

Hope that helps some.

 

[ManfromRI]

I went with a 4 channel amp, DSP, Focal K2 2-way speakers in the front and a Focal sub. I didn't bother trying just the speaker upgrade alone, though.

A big sound improvement was adding sound-deadening to the 4 doors and in the sub enclosure. That does add weight, but it's worth it IMO.

I have a similar setup.

Audiocontrol d-4.800 dsp/amp
Focal k2 165krx2 for fronts
And 2 10" skar evl-10s

The focals sound great. I still have some tweaking to do though.

 

[DOZOIR]

https://www.civicx.com/forum/thread...speakers-to-premium-audio.64137/#post-1014995

 

[_silvy]

My 4 channel amp is running my front 2 way soundstage. (woofers & tweeters) everything behind my front doors is stock. (minus the subs)
Once you've powered your speakers with an amp, it's hard to go back to factory ??

What wattage are you running for reference?

 

[ManfromRI]

What wattage are you running for reference?

The audiocontrol d-4.800 is rated around 200 x 4 for 2ohm. So I would say atleast 150 watts to each speaker & tweeter.
I have the gains set very conservatively with an oscilloscope on the tweeters so it's sent a clean signal.

It's all going to depend on what kind of speakers you get to determine what kind of amp power you will need.

Generally, you will want to see the specs of whatever speaker you are going to buy.
For example; if the speaker says " 100w RMS with a 200w Max"

You can run any amp with a 100w/channel (RMS) rating. The RMS figure for the speaker is what it can handle continuously (safely) & the 200w Max rating is what it can handle for a brief sec or two.

This is similar for the RMS & Max ratings for the Amp. The RMS is what it can put out continuously @ the rated voltage it specified (some brands use either 12v or 14.4v). For example; 125w x 4 @ 4ohm (14v).
The Max is what it can put out for a couple seconds.

Also note, alot of brands will advertise & inflate this Max number to get people to buy their product.
Me personally, I don't even worry about the Max wattage. Usually amps (cheap) won't even come close to hitting that number anyways.

The other things to consider for any amps are x-over options, bass remote, 1 or 2ohm stable, Snr, quality components, etc....
This is what seperates the good from the bad amps. As the old saying goes, "you get what you pay for" ?

Anyways, I didn't intend to drag this out but it looks like I did anyway haha.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

 

[_silvy]

If I used an amp on the 4 front speakers, would that free up power for the rears or stay the same? Same question with a sub amp. What effect do ohms have? Do they need to stay the same as factory, match the new amp, or don't matter?

And the big question, would you have any pictures of how you wired your amp?

 

[ManfromRI]

If I used an amp on the 4 front speakers, would that free up power for the rears or stay the same? Same question with a sub amp. What effect do ohms have? Do they need to stay the same as factory, match the new amp, or don't matter?

And the big question, would you have any pictures of how you wired your amp?

If you wired up your 4 fronts with another amp, all the other factory speakers would still sound the same. There would be no "extra' power to recover.

Ohms measures the resistance of the speakers voicecoil. Manufacturers generally use 2 or 4 ohm for speakers and 1, 2,4 ohm (single or dual) for subs.

This gives you options for whatever install setup you want to do.

They don't have to match the factory speakers unless your going to replace them and still power them with the factory amp.

I have some pictures of my install, my speakers are just wired normal out of the amp. What are you looking for a picture of exactly?? I can try to help.

 

[dstix747]

Plenty of great info about installing a sub + amp and an LC2i but nothing good for door speakers.

Is the factory amp sufficient for new door speakers? If I add a mono amp for a sub, would that free up more power to send to the doors? Have you seen any guides or heard anybody saying they needed a multi channel? I have no audio knowledge besides speakers need sufficient power to work as intended and have no idea where to even start with installing an amp.

I mentioned that I installed Alpine reference speakers in all 4 door positions. If you want a part number, they are Alpine R-S65c.2 components. If you upgrade the door speakers, it is most likely that you'll need more power to feed them. I have a 5-channel amp. 1 for each door and a sub output.

In my opinion, you're just wasting time if you install just a sub. The stock speakers are garbage, and the OEM amp only feeds them about 40-50W per channel. A decent amp will push 75-100W per channel plus feeding the sub 300+.

Here is my entire setup if you want to compare specs...

JL Audio VXi-700 (Needs preamp FIX-86 for OEM bypass)
JL Audio TW1 12" subwoofer in JLA enclosure
F/R Door speakers replaced with Alpine R-S65c.2 components

 

[_silvy]

If you wired up your 4 fronts with another amp, all the other factory speakers would still sound the same. There would be no "extra' power to recover.

Ohms measures the resistance of the speakers voicecoil. Manufacturers generally use 2 or 4 ohm for speakers and 1, 2,4 ohm (single or dual) for subs.

This gives you options for whatever install setup you want to do.

They don't have to match the factory speakers unless your going to replace them and still power them with the factory amp.

I have some pictures of my install, my speakers are just wired normal out of the amp. What are you looking for a picture of exactly?? I can try to help.

Specifically where it's mounted and what wires you tapped in to and plugged into which ports on the amp

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