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2012 Sport audio upgrade?

5K views 33 replies 8 participants last post by  Awghao 
#1 ·
I'm about to buy a new 2012 Sport and one the few things I wished it had was the improved audio the higher models have. Was looking into adding something simple or upgrading the stock audio to improve the sound. Nothing drastic and preferably nothing that would eat up space. I would just like a better overall package and didn't know if anyone had recommendations on a few upgrades or an entire overhaul.
 
#3 ·
Biggest bang for the buck upgrade is laserguy's tweeter upgrade first. That will give you much better highs that the stock system is greatly lacking. You will likely be wanting a lot more in the low end next. So, the least expensive and somewhat easiest option would be to get one of the Bazooka bass tubes - the amplified 6" version. It will fit behind the rear seatback where the stock sub would usually be and you can tap into the rear speaker leads for signal. That would be about $200-250 or so. To have a heck of a lot better ability to tune the sound, I would highly recommend replacing the head unit. You can get a decent, regular single-DIN sized unit for around $125, but to really make that opening look right, a double-DIN unit is the way to go. If you don't get one with an LCD screen, you will spend about $175-250. If you do get one with a screen, you'll be at $250-500+. Then it gets more expensive from there if you want navigation built in. From there, the sky is the limit. You can look into a larger subwoofer, separate amps, speaker replacements, etc.

Since you want something simple and easy - value oriented - I would recommend the following which all can be found on Amazon with free shipping:

Pioneer FH-X700BT head unit - $163.99
Bazooka BTA-6250D tube amplified subwoofer - $189.99
Infinity Reference 1031t tweeters - $32.23
Dash kit, wiring kit, antenna adapter, misc. other things - around $100.

So, for under $500, you could have a VERY impressive audio system that will afford you great sound quality with the ability to make it very loud when you want to. If you're still not satisfied with the sound, you could then easily replace the door speakers, too.
 
#4 ·
I bought a 2012 Sport on Memorial Day weekend, and I've done three stereo upgrades myself over a period of months thanks to this forum and youtube.

1. infinity 1031t tweeters in the dash
2. infinity 6022i speakers in the front doors
3. alpine cde-23tbt double din receiver with blue tooth and a mic mounted to the lower left of the speedometer + an 8" 100w bazooka tube under the rear seat. I bought an amp wiring kit to tap the battery and use the RCA sub outputs to control the signal to the tube.

I did all this for under $500 and enjoyed the project of doing it all myself. First post here, but overdue thanks to the people who have posted their guides with pictures here to give a noobie like myself the confidence to try it!
 
#5 ·
Great story and great addition to this thread! Glad to have you here. Did you take any pics of your install?
 
#6 ·
Yea I had looked at the tweeter upgrade thread and was figuring I would need something more than that but Ian's route looks really good. Amazon Prime ftw ha. Just hoping I can find someone I know that's good with installing this stuff because that's not my area of expertise and I'm sure the price would shoot up with a pro install even with my parts.
Also, wasn't too clear on how this affects warranty etc? And if stereo is on a separate warranty or it's all inclusive.
 
#8 ·
The downside to going with a place like Amazon is that they aren't an authorized dealer of Pioneer products. I'm not sure about the Bazooka. I'm sure they have a website that will tell you. There is a list of authorized sellers on Pioneer's website. Their prices are typically a bit higher than Amazon, though. If you're stuck on the warranty, it's 1 year for parts and labor. I highly recommend Crutchfield if you want the warranty. The X700BT is actually only $149.99 right now plus shipping, but it's out of stock.

Honestly, by reading a bunch of threads and looking at pictures on here, I have no doubt that you'll be able to install all of this on your own. It seems frightening at first, but once you do it you'll wonder what the big fuss was about. If you ask tpevehouse, he was in your position just a few months ago. He built his own enclosure for a shallow subwoofer and did a bunch of wiring on his own. He'd never done it before and wasn't totally comfortable doing it. With some research and a little coaching, he pulled it off easily. These are not difficult things to install at all.
 
#9 ·
I highly recommend Crutchfield as well. The installation kits they include for everything, along with the detailed instructions make everything simple. If you look online for Crutchfield online coupons, you can occasionally find something that will save you a few bucks. I paid $180 for that Alpine receiver (plus the dash kit and wiring harness). Well worth every penny. I had an amazon gift card to spend which I used to get the door speakers.

When all was said and done, my friends and family couldn't believe it wasn't a professional install. I don't have any pictures of the process, but I can certainly take a few of the finished product. There's something really satisfying about sitting back and appreciating the end result of a project you did end-to-end yourself!
 
#10 ·
Another thing is that Crutchfield typically includes the dash kit, wiring harness and antenna adapter along with that instructions sheet that Pemulis mentioned. It will save you some cash and is likely worth it. The tech support of Crutchfield is incredible, as well!
 
#11 ·
Crutchfield can be more expensive but that extra $$$ gets you worthwhile parts and services. As others have said, what you buy from them comes with very complete instructions and their customer service and tech support is great too. It really is nice to order a set of, say, door speakers and get - at no extra charge - the mounting and wiring adapters. Still using the door speakers as an example the extras you get from Crutchfield can save you $15-$20 per set and makes the install much easier.
I would also encourage the OP to take a stab at the install himself! I think he will find that the anticipation is much worse than the actual install will be.
Good luck, take photos and if you do run into problems the answer is probably as close as your computer and ROC!
 
#12 ·
Well I just ordered the some infinity tweeters and speakers and will most likely put those in myself vis the awesome guides on here. I'm more worried about installing the bazooka sub if I end up going with one since I would assume wiring has to go pretty far or does it tie in to rear speakers? ( haven't gotten my ridgeline yet so not sure about speaker placement. Holding out for end of year deals or quota on local dealer). Also I will probably eventually get a ddin display, not caring about nav or cd changers. Single disc works fine since I always just hook up my iPhone, but would like a touch screen maybe if price isn't terrible. Side note, these forums are amazing ha, every time I log on something new.
 
#13 ·
Tweeters and speakers? Did you order a component set (separate tweeter and mid-bass driver for the door) or did you order a separate set of tweeters and a coaxial set? Infinity speakers are designed at 2 ohms. It allows for less resistance and, what Infinity says, better performance from a stock system. The RL's door speaker/tweeter is wired in parallel, meaning that the positive and negative terminals of each speaker are wired together. This effectively halves the seen load, so using a separate 2 ohm tweeter and 2 ohm coaxial speaker will create a 1 ohm load - you will overload the stock wiring and may cause damage to the stock (or any aftermarket, for that matter) head unit. The component set is designed to work together and show an overall 2 ohm load. Post up the model numbers and type of speakers you purchased. Hoping you got the component set!
 
#17 ·
If it were me, I would buy a component speaker set instead of what you did. Adding a tweeter to a system that already has a tweeter is likely to produce very uneven sound quality.

Or send back the tweeters.
 
#18 · (Edited)
Well I was just planning on replacing the dash tweeters and door speakers with what I bought, not adding them on persay. Is that still a problem? Looking at them, is it cause the door speakers have a tweeter as well? This is all probably rather obvious but I've never dealt with audio equipment heh. I just tried to cancel my orders from amazon either way.

Also if possible could you recommend a component system that would fit, 200-300$ is about all I'd care to spend since I will eventually do the rear doors as well as the dash.
 
#19 · (Edited)
I admit blame from recommending coax and tweeters, my reason for doing that instead of recommending components is because most components need power to sound better and building a hybrid system gets tricky and complex. There are components that will sound good without an amp, but the only one I know and can recommend from experience is the hertz dsk165, the older model is easier to deal with using separate xovers, the new model has a single crossover making it hard to wire to kee the factory location. The difficulty of dealing with the xovers is the other reason I recommend to just go with 4 ohm coax and 4 ohm tweeters.

Oh! and regarding the sound, I had just my new tweeters on the dash for a while while the Honda speakers were running full range, the door speakers are way too low, our legs block the high frequencies , I did not think it was an issue for the stage image.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Ok so last two DSK 165 6.5 160W Component Speakers with Tweeters on Amazon.



These work? I'm bout to pull the trigger ha.

Bah scratch that they got bought up. On to something else.

How about Infinity Reference 6030cs 6.5-Inch 270-Watt Two-Way Component System
by Infinity?

Of course the Amazon car part finder says these won't fit but no clue how accurate that is.
 
#22 ·
They don't seem to carry many of the infinity I've seen on various threads here but ran into some Alpine SPS-610C
Type-S 6-3/4" component speaker system that Crutchfield says works. Just trying to justify paying 130$ on CF vs 80$ on Amazon even with Crutchfields warranty etc. I bought some Honda speaker adapters and adapter harness connectors already but wasn't sure if there's more I will need that CF provides.

Any recommendations on a HU? I noticed the earlier post about using a DDin one in order to fill the entire OEM HU spot I believe. Do some HU's provide more power to the system vs stock HU?
 
#23 ·
If you're not going to use a separate amp to power the door speakers, the Alpines have a relatively lower sensitivity rating of 88db. The Polk and Infinity systems are at 92 or 93db. Typically, the higher that number, the more sound a speaker can put out with a specific power number. Any aftermarket HU's internal amplifier will only be able to put out about 13-20 watts RMS (continuous power) per channel. Speakers with higher sensitivity can use that lower power more efficiently and can play louder in general. The Alpines are better speakers in my opinion, but not for your application. I'd go with the Polks or the Infinity's in a heartbeat. I've heard both and have been very impressed with what they're able to do. Also make sure you're getting the 6.5" or 6.75" component system and not the 5.25" ones.

As far as HU's go, anything aftermarket you get will be more powerful and vastly more "tunable" than the stock HU. I read somewhere that the stocker only puts out 7-10 watts RMS to the door speakers. As I said earlier, aftermarket units are able to do about twice that. What sort of features are must-have's and what are want's? Once you know that, you can match up features and prices.
 
#24 ·
#25 ·
Still looking at for speakers. Don't see why they wouldn't fit?

As for the HU I just want something that fits proper. Nothing fancy, single disc player with mp3/USB hookup. Bluetooth and/or touch if that doesn't jump the price.

Side note, I don't want to have to add an amp to the system so I'm needing to factor that in relation to the new speakers and HU. And I will probably wait a while on the new HU after the speaker upgrade unless I find a good deal.
 
#26 ·
Still looking at http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002BS5YAA/ref=aw_d_detail?pd=1 for speakers. Don't see why they wouldn't fit?

As for the HU I just want something that fits proper. Nothing fancy, single disc player with mp3/USB hookup. Bluetooth and/or touch if that doesn't jump the price.

Side note, I don't want to have to add an amp to the system so I'm needing to factor that in relation to the new speakers and HU. And I will probably wait a while on the new HU after the speaker upgrade unless I find a good deal.
These are still available and they are the old model, very easy install with separate crossovers, you only need 1 pair for the front, for the rear any known brand coax with 91+ spl sensitivity will do, this is the way to go since the dsk165 are designed to work without an amplifier, other components will need an amp to give you similar sound to what you will get with the Hertz DSK's without an amp.
 
#28 ·
If it is new in a box it comes as a pair. And the price tells me they are liquidating the previous model because that pair retails for way over $220.00, the description on Amazon lacks a lot of info, but if you dont get what you thought, you can always send it back, amazon should be behind you and they are with everything else
 
#30 ·
It says system, if it was one speaker I think they will disclose it. The picture also causes confusion because it does not show 2 pairs, it would be really bad if it is not 2 speakers, and why would anyone just get one speaker anyway? when you think about it is common sense, they just create confusion on their listings and descriptions
 
#31 ·
Finally got all the big stuff installed, HU, sub, all speakers. Gonna have nearby shop do the steering wheel controls for me, but I still have to take it back apart agin and install the bypass on the HU and figure something out for my reception. The reception was bad before I switched HU's and now is even worse.

Even with all that, was wondering what good selling price might be for the OEM HU for a 2013 Sport, used two weeks. Also have the stock speakers and tweeters.
 
#32 ·
As far as your reception, try soldering the blue wire on the antenna adapter to the red 12v switched wire. I made the mistake of connecting the blue wire to the other blue wire on the wiring harness adapter only to realize it's not connected to anything on the stock connector! The blue wire on the antenna adapter is for the amplified antenna that is stock on the truck. If it doesn't get a power source, your reception will be awful. Mine went from horrible to more than acceptable after I made the switch to the red wire.


Sent from my iPhone using AutoGuide.com Free App
 
#34 · (Edited)
I'm about to buy a new 2012 Sport and one the few things I wished it had was the improved audio the higher models have. Was looking into adding something simple or upgrading the stock car navigation system audio to improve the sound. Nothing drastic and preferably nothing that would eat up space. I would just like a better overall package and didn't know if anyone had recommendations on a few upgrades or an entire overhaul.
You need try sites like ebay. Very nice models are available which will suits your taste
 
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