Hi guys. I own a Canadian Acura EL. I believe it uses the same stereo system as 5th gen Preludes, less the door tweeters (same head unit, same 6x9s in the rear, and same 6s in the doors. Or were they 6.5s?).

Assuming I'm right about all that, what are my upgrade options? I've been told the 6x9s in the back have separate amplifiers? Is that true? Does that mean I can't just replace them with a better 6x9 speaker without other upgrades (and if not, what would those upgrades be?)? Does the head unit have any sort of pre-outs that I could connect to a sub? Does anyone have specs on the stock head unit? If I wanted to add tweeters, would it be feasible to replace the 6s in the doors with some sort of 6" package that includes a crossover & tweeter? What are the ohmage ratings of the speakers (I recall someone saying they were 2ohms..)?

I don't want to spend thousands on this. Just wondering if there are any general improvements I could make for a couple hundred bucks, and what the best way to go about it would be.

 

Sorry can't help with much of the specifics... but for research purposes.... www.crutchfield.com can be a great place to look for new parts and get a good rundown on specs and tech sheet info for the new parts.

Most of the time I'll look it up on Crutchfield... then goto google or some other reputable car audio site and compare prices. Crutchfield sometimes has the better price, but lots of times you can find just what your looking for other places. Just a thought. :P

 

If you are just looking to upgrade the head unit and mabe the speakers, there is an easy trick you can do. You can bypass the rear amp by joining the rear speaker inputs to the outputs. The amp is a little black box mounted under the back deck. Right next to the seat back fold down lock. Just follow the wires back from the speakers to the box, but make sure you are following the wires to the speakers and not the Accoustic Feedback System (the little microphone and circuit mounted on the speaker itself). You can leave the power to the amp connected, since it will only turn on with the factory head unit. The door speakers are 6.5's with 1" tweeters by the door handle. I suggest getting a matched speaker pair with a passive crossover between the tweeter and 6.5" mid range. Running speaker wire through the doors is impossible, since all the factory wiring is harnessed through the door gromets. I just tapped my speaker wire at the head unit end, then connected the crossovers from the main factory speaker wire in the door.

 

Cool, thanks. Any idea what the ohmage ratings of the stock rears are? And what their power handling is? Or what the power outpit of the stock head unit is?

 

The stock speakers are 4 ohm, paper cone, not anything spectacular. The factory head unit might be rated at about 40 watts peak per channel, so about 15 RMS. Again, nothing stellar. This stereo was meant to be clean, but not very loud or with much depth. The factory head unit is Panasonic.

 

So if I found a 4ohm headunit rated at maybe 25W RMS per channel, I could pretty much just drop it right in and go without any major work (with the exception of maybe bypassing the amps for the rear)?

That way I could upgrade to better speakers when I can afford later. I'm not really looking for deafening loud. Just a bit louder, a bit better quality sound than stock. Nothing a good head unit and good speakers can't do.

 

Sure. Once you find a head unit you like, it's an easy install into the dash. All you need to do is bypass the rear amp and you're all set.