Replacing EX sedan w/ EX coupe premium sound / woofer.

mawells787

mawells787

Well-Known Member
15
3
Vehicle Model
Civic
Body Style
sedan
Hi everyone I'm new to this forum just purchased a 14 EX sedan for my wife. Amazing car however, sound system is a little disappointing. I don't understand why the coupe gets a more powerful amp w/ sub and sedan doesn't. I would like to know if someone could post pic of where the sub is in coupe? Does it take up a lot of space in trunk? Second, would it be possible to take amp & sub from coupe and install in sedan?

I read through the thread and I know a lot of people replace their coupé system with an aftermarket one for better quality. But since it's primarily my wife's car she wouldn't notice the better sound so the investment wouldn't be worth it for me. So the stock coupe system with sub would be adequate.

I read every thread and I didn't see any of this info. But I'm sorry if it was already answered and I missed it.

Thanks in advance!
 
welcome to the site. The stock sub is centered in the rear deck -

IMAG0346.jpg


I think the thought process is that younger individuals tend to buy coupes more than sedans. I think that's the thought process for having the upgraded stereo stuff in the coupes / si models. I've not seen anyone put the stock sub into the sedans, as most people tend to dislike the stock sub/amp as it is. Most people tend to disconnect the stock sub and replace it with something else. There are a lot of complaints on the stock amp/sub in the 9th gens. A lot of 8th gen si owners who've purchased the 9th gen think the 9th gen audio is worse.
 
webby said:
welcome to the site. The stock sub is centered in the rear deck -

IMAG0346.jpg


I think the thought process is that younger individuals tend to buy coupes more than sedans. I think that's the thought process for having the upgraded stereo stuff in the coupes / si models. I've not seen anyone put the stock sub into the sedans, as most people tend to dislike the stock sub/amp as it is. Most people tend to disconnect the stock sub and replace it with something else. There are a lot of complaints on the stock amp/sub in the 9th gens. A lot of 8th gen si owners who've purchased the 9th gen think the 9th gen audio is worse.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info and picture. I just like to keep things OEM.

I'm far from an audiophile but I feel like the stock 6speaker 160watt system sounds fine. But it needs a little more thump. So I can't imagine how adding an amp / sub even if its sub par quality would make the sound worse.

But I appreciate your input. Now I will have to check in the trunk of my sedan to check if there's an opening or cut out for the center sub. Since the EXL sedan with navi does have the sub. So I would hope the space is there.

Do you know if wiring the stock amp would be as easy as plug n play?

I also feel like it would be much cheaper to pick up the sub / amp from someone on this forum that upgraded their system.
 
Im no use with the audio stuff, but welcome to the forum anyway! Check out the rear deck in your car and see if there is the cutout for the stock sub. The rear decks are sometimes different between the coupe and sedan and even the Siand non Si trims. I think a few people with 8th gens swapped for the Si rear deck so they could get the wiring and cutout/supports for the OEM system.
 
Welcome........ I like my audio system, but I haven't really heard any woofer sounds that stand out.
My question to all you peeps is, what sound level "number" average do you'll run on the indicator? I'm usually around 10 to 15.....

I have turned it up just for testing purposes to 20 - 30..... and turned up the bass setting. It sounds fine, but having not had a woofer in any of my cars before, this one sounds about the same as my past cars with out.

Side note, in most of my past cars I have upgraded my unit & speakers(no woofers).
 
Another thought is why don't they put in a software package that can adjust the woofer up/down, like they do with bass & treble?

Edit: Never mind, my sound system does have a woofer adjustment.......
 
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webby said:
The back of the radio is different from what some users have said.
Click to expand...
Yes it is. Well no biggie the radio sounds fine. I just wish it had more bass. Also for such a nice audio system on the touchscreen they should have added an equalizer with more settings than just treble n bass.
 
The EX-L sedan with Navi does not have the premium sound. The only sedan with premium sound is an Si. The Premium Audio System sounds good on paper, but in the Civic, it sounds awful. I had a loaner Civic sedan from the dealer and the 160-watt system sounded better than the Premium system, and had better lows without a subwoofer. I know that is hard to believe. The rear speakers in the Civic with Premium are crap. Small tiny magnets, about an inch in diameter. I am sure if you look in the trunk of your sedan, your rear speakers have larger magnets. The free-air sub in the rear deck of the coupe does absolutely nothing. I had to put my fingers on the woofer to feel if it was actually working, it was that weak. The front door speakers had much larger magnets and produced better lows than the rears with the subwoofer. It was disappointing because I had a Honda Element with the same premium sound, 360-watt amp and subwoofer and it sounded great with a decent thump for lows.

The problem with the Premium system in the Civic is the factory amp. It has horrible equalization. The factory amp has built-in crossovers for the front speakers/tweeters and the sub. It does not use separate crossovers. Replacing the speakers and keeping the factory amp does not help. So those who upgrade their Premium system, remove the factory amp and speakers. The factory amp does not make it sound better as you increase the volume. It actually sounds worse because it sounds more harsh in the mid-range with no adjustment available, because of the lousy equalization of the amp.

Now to answer your question. No, you cannot take an amp and sub from a coupe and install it in your sedan as a simple plug-and-play application. Your sedan has the wrong head unit, and is not wired for the external amp. The non-premium stereos are powered with an internal 160-watt amp and high-level speaker outputs. The Premium head units (non-navi and navi) are unpowered with pre-amp level outputs. You cannot wire your non-premium head unit to the factory amp without using a line-out converter first. The front speakers in the sedan must also be re-wired and replaced with the speakers and tweeters from the premium system. The sedan does not use real tweeters. The tweeters are wired off the front speakers with a resister cap on them. The Premium system uses real tweeters and the factory amp includes separate speaker outputs for the door speakers and the tweeters. So you would have to run new, separate wiring for the front tweeters, because the sedan's existing speaker wiring in the front won't work. You could probably use the existing door wiring since you would run new wiring to the tweeters. Could it be done with re-wiring and a line out converter, yes. Is it worth the trouble to add the factory amp and factory subwoofer, NO. You won't improve the sound by adding the factory amp and sub. You are much better off replacing the door speakers and rear deck speakers for better sound. You can leave the fake tweeters installed and they will still work. A full range signal goes to your doors and rear deck. Or you could add a line out converter, do an aftermarket amp and new speakers for better sound. That would be an improvement even without a sub.

By the way, I still have my factory speakers, factory sub, and factory amp removed from my Civic with Premium sound. The tweeters were destroyed when removed from the pillars because they were glued in by Honda. You can see pics of them here:
http://9thcivic.com/forum/threads/2013-civic-premium-audio-system-navigation-stereo-upgrade.10207/
 
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