Do the highs still sound loud enough compared to the base.
Does the stock deck have inputs for rca's? How many and what if I need more for numerous amps?

 

What brand is the premium sound in an 03'

 

alpine deck, panasonic speakers.

You'll want to turn the bass on the deck down... and turn the volume up to what seems to be a good listening level to you, if you get distortion, turn the bass down more. THEN, power up the sub amp, and with the deck at the volume you like, adjust the sub till it sounds right.

Im assuming you mean RCA outputs? The stock deck has neither, inputs or outputs... you can add an auxillary input with an adapter available from autotoys.com, and you can get preamp outputs by adding a line output converter that connects to the speaker wires. You'd then run RCA cables from the LOC to your amp(s). Many amps available today have speaker level inputs though, so a LOC may not be needed. You can pretty much add as many amps as you need.

 

My 03 EX had noise in the stereo straight off the lot. It sounded fine, but certainly not as good as an aftermarket stereo. Plenty of highs.... enough low for a stocker, but definitely some engine noise right off the bat.

 

My 12W3v2-D2 sounded VERY bad in my accord, but it wasn't the sub causing the problem. I'm not sure of the exact dimensions of my box offhand, but I know it was within the size range recommended by JL. The sub was a 12W3 with dual 2 ohm voice coils. I had them wired in series, creating a 4 ohm load. I had a Rockford Fosgate Punch 200S amplifier which is advertised at 200Wx1 @ 4ohms, but the certification inside the box said the actual tested power output was 265W RMS @ 4 ohms.

This was my first time using line level inputs. In my previous car, I had to use a RCA converter box since my amp didn't have line level inputs, and that sounded great! (JL 12W1 powered by a Rockford Fosgate Punch 40ix)

The sub wasn't bad, because my brother hooked it up to a Sony headunit (using the RCA inputs of his amp) and it sounds great. In my case, the sound was awful! I tried experimenting with all different settings, adjusting the high and low gains on the amp, and adjusting the bass on the headunit, and no matter what I tried I couldn't get it to sound good.

I assumed that the Honda headunit was less than perfect and gave up on the whole thing, since I'm not ready to install an aftermarket headunit. My brother told me that the line level inputs on the amps aren't good to use and a separate RCA converter box is much better. I didn't get to try this out.


On a related topic, my rear speakers in my car (03 Accord LX 4cyl coupe) sound awful! If I have the bass set anywhere above 0 and the song has heavy bass the back speakers rattle like crazy. I mentioned this to the dealer and they replaced them, but the problem didn't go away. I went to another dealer and mentioned the problem and they told me that there was nothing wrong and I just had the bass set too high, and the other cars on their lot do the same. They even had the balls to write on the service report "Tested customer's HOMEMADE CD and determined that music has too much bass." What would it matter if my CD was an original or a burned copy? Are these fools aware that it's a DIGITAL copy which is exactly like the original?

 

yea the rear speakers rattle too much. and i barely got my bass on 3. ill most likely go wit the RCA converter. btw how much watt amp should i get for the JL 12"w3v2?????

 

make sure it's not something else on the rear deck rattling... I really doubt the rear speakers are rattling! bang around on the rear deck from inside the trunk. There was a TSB on something rattling.

 

yea i think my head lining thing is rattling too.

 

Yeah I checked on the TSB for the rear deck, and my service mgr confirmed that the fix was made by the previous dealer (most likely the same time the speakers were replaced) The speakers still rattle. It sounds like poor-quality speakers.


I banged around on the deck, and there is nothing rattling. I also checked the headliner in the back - that doesn't rattle (but on a different topic, that headliner creaks/cracks whenever the car twists (driving over a speedbump at an angle, making a turn into a driveway or parking lot as I cross the sidewalk at the lowered section of the curb)

It sucks that the stock speakers rattle like this, but do any stock speakers ever sound good enough? I'm going to replace the rear 6"x9"s one of these days, and when I feel gutsy enough I'll do the front speakers as well.

 

JL states that the 12W3v2 can handle 300W RMS. My amp was only putting out 265W continuous, which is less than the sub can handle, but still OK. I had the W3v2 (dual 2Ù voice coils), and when you wire them in series it's a 4 ohm load. Having dual voice coils doesn't matter much if you have a single subwoofer. It gives you more flexibility when wiring multiple subs. I'd say try to go for an amp that can push 300W continuously. You could even use a more powerful amp, but don't set the gain too high.


Make sure you have an adjustable crossover as well. That Rockford amp I used only had a selectable low pass or high pass crossover, but I couldn't select which frequency I wanted as the limit. 80Hz is OK, but I would like to be able to vary that to tune my system better.


Let me know what amp you decide to go with, and let me know how it sounds. Maybe I can talk my brother into giving me that sub back!