New and glad to be here

Hey Sarcras, I actually created a new thread for it but i'll ask here too.

I have a 2015 touring model civic and I recently decided to get the sound system upgraded. Specifically I bought the Alpine SWS-12D4 subwoofer. I'm getting the box soon and the amp I'm going with is the Alpine MRP-M500. Does anyone know if these two will work well together and do the the stock speakers throughout the car need to be changed for the sound quality to be great all around? Can anyone let me know about what scope of work all this is going to need? Even the technical jargon just so I have info to give a mechanic so I sound like I know what I'm talking about.
 
Well I am not very familiar with sound system upgrades but from what I have read the weakest parts of our systems are the amps and sub-woofers, so that's a good start. Maybe someone like @xXCiviXx can help more with this kind of stuff.
 
Welcome to the forum. You have other plans for your car besides the audio updates? I linked you to an audio thread in your other message.
 
@Sarcras Thanks for the info, Ill get in touch with them.

@webby Theres a lot I want to do, like the exhaust, aftermarket tint, some performance modifications, and definitely a trunk lip spoiler. The issue is I'm not sure where to start since I'm new to all this and want to be informed about everything first which is why I joined. Do you have any thread suggestions for me to look at and get started?
 
Welcome to the form!

Webby didn't mention it, but I will, there is an entire segment of this site devoted to audio setups in the 9th gen civic. I would read through so you can gain a little knowledge about what you need to do to upgrade the audio correctly in these cars. It isn't as straight forward as older vehicles.
 
Is the touring a Premium Audio model? I've tried upgrading the sound system twice. The first time I'd did the easy upgrade, the second time I did a full and proper one which greatly improved the quality of my system. If you have more info about what you want as well as some of the details about your stock system, send me a PM and I can direct you to some really helpful threads and answer any questions I can. As long as I'm not too busy, I should get back to you quickly.

Also, to give you an idea about the improvement a proper upgrade will provide, I regularly sit in my car out front of my house or go on a joy ride just to listen to music because it sounds that much better. I have a pair of Bose headphones and they're great, but when I want to be enveloped in the music, I always go to my car
 
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Welcome to the site. Ask any thing you want and we will all try and answer. Only dumb question is the one you don't ask.
 
Is the touring a Premium Audio model? I've tried upgrading the sound system twice. The first time I'd did the easy upgrade, the second time I did a full and proper one which greatly improved the quality of my system. If you have more info about what you want as well as some of the details about your stock system, send me a PM and I can direct you to some really helpful threads and answer any questions I can. As long as I'm not too busy, I should get back to you quickly.

Also, to give you an idea about the improvement a proper upgrade will provide, I regularly sit in my car out front of my house or go on a joy ride just to listen to music because it sounds that much better. I have a pair of Bose headphones and they're great, but when I want to be enveloped in the music, I always go to my car
Touring edition does come with the premium audio system.
 
I recently did a new sub upgrade and had the m500 alpine. It is no good, I bought a kappa one. Xxcivixx and twister8008 know these well. I can take pictures of my set up and show u how I set mine up tho.
 
For the regular audio 9ths, any amp will do. But for the premium audio 9ths, you have to buy a premium aftermarket amp if you want to do anything good, unless you replace the head unit. In which case you have to ask yourself if steering wheels controls and iMID integration are worth the loss or few hundred extra dollars to keep them, and personally I find the steering wheel controls awesome
 
First off thanks for all the info everyone has provided I really appreciate it. Besides this forum I'm starting to hear not so great things about the m500 alpine amp from people I know as well. What high quality amp would you guys recommend that would work well with the sws-12d4 sub and a stock speaker system in the touring civic? If I could get the specs I could finally look into getting it.

On a side note even though I now have a box, I talked to a place called ultra auto sound in Toronto about a custom sub box. Jesus Christ they quoted me at $800 a piece, blowing my goals of having two subs on either side of my trunk. Is this the average price for fiberglass enclosures even if you provide the subs? I mean this is minus tax and any extras like L.E.D lighting in the enclosure so I'm a bit taken back by the price.
 
First off thanks for all the info everyone has provided I really appreciate it. Besides this forum I'm starting to hear not so great things about the m500 alpine amp from people I know as well. What high quality amp would you guys recommend that would work well with the sws-12d4 sub and a stock speaker system in the touring civic? If I could get the specs I could finally look into getting it.

On a side note even though I now have a box, I talked to a place called ultra auto sound in Toronto about a custom sub box. Jesus Christ they quoted me at $800 a piece, blowing my goals of having two subs on either side of my trunk. Is this the average price for fiberglass enclosures even if you provide the subs? I mean this is minus tax and any extras like L.E.D lighting in the enclosure so I'm a bit taken back by the price.
It cost me about $150 including paint to build one. Some of the information in there is out of date, like the proper way to connect the amp. But as far as building the enclosure it's accurate, but very time consuming.

Compatible amps include the HD and XD series amps from JL Audio. There are some other brands that will work too but I'm not sure which makes and models you would need but they would likely cost close to the same. The XD1000/5 is a great all in one amp for our cars and it's what I'm running right now. 100W to each speaker and 600W to the sub. They do offer speaker and mono amps if you have specific requirements for your system but the XD700/5 (300W output to sub) or XD1000/5 (600W output to sub) would be a great place to start looking.
 
The m500 is not a bad amp,it just doesn't accept the balanced input. I got the kappa one because it is discontinued and I got it for $135 on Amazon. I sold the m500 to my cousin and it runs great. All u need is an amp that accepts the balanced input. I saw someone on here using a Rockford fosgate line driver to change the balanced output to unbalanced, but that unit cost like $80... That's why I bought the $135 amp instead.....


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