JBL Amp Under Passenger Seat?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rick Grahn @ Oct 2 2006, 07:27 AM) [snapback]326780[/snapback]</div>

The short answer is no.

The amp can be replaced, but not by one that will go in the same place and preserve the integrated features. At least no one has done it yet.

 

How about adding linear amp to boost the existing JBL? That way you preserve the integrated features. I know I must be getting old, because I can't imagine how you can tolerate more volume. :blink: I almost never set mine over level 14.

Tom

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(qbee42 @ Oct 2 2006, 05:47 AM) [snapback]326793[/snapback]</div>

Yes, that's what most, if not all of us who have installed amps have done. Take the rear channel output from the JBL amp, run it into a line-out converter, then run that into the input of the new amp(s). A few have installed signal processors to flatten out the frequency response of the signal coming out of the JBL amp (JL Audio CleanSweep, etc.).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Oct 2 2006, 05:54 PM) [snapback]327152[/snapback]</div>

Over all better sound. Aftermarket is usually far superior to even the best "premium" system.

 

another idea...
instead of swapping the amp to make it play louder...how about adding sound deadening to make the car quieter? i believe i'm remembering this correctly, but every 3db of ambient noise reduction is equivalent to a doubling of amplifier power.

there are quite a few options...dynamat, b-quiet, etc.

and you'll have a quieter car to boot!


best of luck,

kona

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Oct 3 2006, 12:20 AM) [snapback]327164[/snapback]</div>

With a speaker upgrade.

No it doesn't depend. For any system out there, I can make a better aftermarket system. It may be costly, but any system can be improved. Both systems you listed are very competent and wonderful sounding systems. But there are still compromises. Our Volvo came with an 11 speaker, 400-something watt Dolby surround stereo. Is it nice? Yes, far better than what you used to get. But one day I wanted to find out what the drivers looked like. Cheap Taiwanese speakers. Sure they were a better quality speaker than the usual crap that car manufacturers use, but still nothing great.

Do you think B&O makes the drivers that are used in the A8? Hell no. SOme Chinese company makes speakers to their specifications. These specs are much better than what the average car speaker is, but is not to the level you get from a really nice aftermarket speaker. Same situation with the Mark Levinson system. What a lot of these have in common is that they use heavy processing to improve the sound, to make up for the inherent dificiencies of the system. If they had their way, they'd end up with a $20,000 premium system option for these cars. Remember, it's the bean counters that call the shots.

I'm not saying the systems that are coming in cars today are not good. They are. Some are really, really phenomenal. Some are not. Like the Prius.

There is always room for improvment.

 

If the lockpick was designed properly, there should be no 'sharing' of the audio input. The inactive devices should be at high impedance to the head unit input, thus not affecting anything. I believe that's what the problem was with third party adapters made a while back. If the source is low to begin with, it will come out low.

The amp is also the preamp that is network controlled, so it can't be easily taken out and replaced.

As for signal processing, I believe one person did an acoustics analysis and discovered that if the car's accoustics are accounted for, the sound system is actually quite flat, though a bit weak in the very low end, which is the reason to add subwoofers.