Audio Upgrades on my UKDM Hatchback

[eob2000]

Hi All,

Putting together yet another audio upgrade thread half for my own reference and half just to share my experiences with others.

For context I have a 2017 UKDM Sport Plus Hatchback which is equipped with the "Premium" audio system, honestly wish I had gone for a car without that since the euro premium system lacks the sub (9 Speakers rather than 10) and the amp in general makes upgrades quite difficult. I am by no means an audiophile and for the most part the sound system is fine but I think it can be just a bit better for my uses.

I have done a lot of research on the forum and came to a few conclusions and a method on how to proceed. These threads were a massive help for my euro-specific research: https://www.civicx.com/forum/threads/premium-audio-upgrade.85360, https://www.civicx.com/forum/threads/audio-upgrade-crossover-advice-please.78866/

1. Sound deaden the doors and replace the front speakers, a lot of people have mentioned that sound deadening makes a decent difference and while I am in there I may as well start by swapping the speakers as that was going to happen anyway. I will probably go with Hertz DSK 170.3 as a few people on the forum have mentioned that they are good and the tweeters fit well in the factory housings. I will probably also swap the center speaker but not sure to what yet, people say it doesn't make much of a difference so I may not bother.

2. Depending on how I feel about the new speakers the next step will probably be a sub. I am thinking I will go for an underseat sub (Possibly the Pioneer TS-WX140DA, does anyone have any experience with this in their civic?) as I often carry stuff in the back and do not want a big sub taking up space. My concern is mainly where to draw the feed from. The euro amp entirely lacks the subwoofer channel so I cannot just hook up to that, I have read conflicting information about whether the front speaker channels carry the full range but based on a quick and dirty experiment using a signal generator on my phone it seems like the fronts get the full range, or at least enough of it for me so I think I will probably tap into those. Another possible option would be to import a USDM premium amp and hope the sub channel works with a euro head unit, it seems like it should as the advanced settings on the HU make reference to a sub channel it is just not detected.

3. Depending on how the sub experience is I will make further decisions from there, if I am happy then I will probably swap out the rear speakers as and when I get a chance and just be done there, if not then I will look at DSP options and try going further.

I did consider an aftermarket head unit and just entirely deleting the factory amp but none of the aftermarket HU options appeal to me, the Joying units look decent but the DAB support is hacky and they do not make a RHD optimised version (Knob on the right) so I would prefer to stick with the factory. It *may* be possible to fit a head unit from a non-premium audio vehicle and use "dsp flat" on that if I did decide to go that route rather than trying to clean up the factory amp output. I would like to avoid replacing the HU if possible however.

I will be keeping this thread updated as and when I make the changes and will comment on how it sounds. Please let me know if you see any issues with my plans or have any suggestions,

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[vtecr]

Looking forward to seeing your progress mate. I've been thinking about doing similar myself.

Have you confirmed for sure that the amp doesn't have a sub channel? I've been meaning to dig mine out and have a look. I'd like to add a sub too and I was curious if they have the sub channel and wiring there already. A friend also has an FK7 and theirs does have the sub installed, so I know that at least some UK built models came with them.

 

[eob2000]

Looking forward to seeing your progress mate. I've been thinking about doing similar myself.

Have you confirmed for sure that the amp doesn't have a sub channel? I've been meaning to dig mine out and have a look. I'd like to add a sub too and I was curious if they have the sub channel and wiring there already. A friend also has an FK7 and theirs does have the sub installed, so I know that at least some UK built models came with them.

Interesting about your friend's FK7, not heard of any of the euro spec hatches having subs (despite the fact that all the hatches were built at the swindon plant, even the US spec ones with subs!). I think some of the euro sedan/saloon models did (Possibly just the higher spec diesel ones?) but they have a different speaker layout so I assume the amps are configured differently. As far as I can tell the sub is disabled in software, I haven't had mine apart yet but in one of the other threads it was mentioned that all the sub hardware is there in the amp itself it just isn't enabled (and is not wired). The head unit does not show the sub volume slider (If you look at threads regarding US cars the head unit has a dedicated volume slider for the sub). I had a dig through all the advanced menus and it does make reference to a sub being unavailable (I forget the exact wording, I will go back into the menus and send some screenshots tomorrow if I remember to) but no clear way to do anything about it being disabled. I read another thread a while ago where someone tried connecting a sub to see if that enabled the channel but it didn't do anything.

My best guess is that the sub is disabled in the amp's firmware and reports back as such to the headunit, hence the thought about maybe aquiring an amp with an active sub channel and hope that enables the necessary settings in the head unit.

 

[vtecr]

If I get some free time this week I'l dig mine out and probe it. It seems like it would be an unnecessary cost to spec a second, almost but not quite identical amp so my gut feeling was that it's the same part. It probably just needs the sub added, or it could be lacking a pin in the harness that tells the amp there's a sub, or some similar situation. I've seen the firmware listings and I don't think there was any difference on the head unit side, so I'm wondering if amp informs the head unit on whether the sub controls are displayed or not.

 

[eob2000]

If I get some free time this week I'l dig mine out and probe it. It seems like it would be an unnecessary cost to spec a second, almost but not quite identical amp so my gut feeling was that it's the same part. It probably just needs the sub added, or it could be lacking a pin in the harness that tells the amp there's a sub, or some similar situation. I've seen the firmware listings and I don't think there was any difference on the head unit side, so I'm wondering if amp informs the head unit on whether the sub controls are displayed or not.

I will try and dig up the thread where someone tried just adding the amp pins, pretty sure it didn't work. I would assume the hardware is identical it just doesn't have the sub enabled in software. Definitely worth trying again though, the other person may have made a mistake or something.

 

[eob2000]

Another option would be to tap into the digital SPDIF output of the head unit, this would have the full range, the caveat being that it does not have any kind of volume control. You might be able to get a DSP that could be programmed to adjust the volume of a digital input based on a separate analog input that could be tapped from the speakers? Honestly not familiar enough with DSPs to say

 

[eob2000]

Didn't get the amp fully out because that requires taking more than the kick panel off so will get to that on a day when I don't need the car, did manage to access the amp connectors though. The amp externally looks identical to the US version, the large connector on the left is the speakers.

Looking at the USDM service manual, the larger missing pins on the right should be for the factory subwoofer and are not populated on ours.

It could be worth attempting to track down the correct pins and putting an artificial load (Or an actual subwoofer) on the appropriate pins and seeing if that enables the sub channel but I doubt that.
I also attempted going through the speaker test routine in the head unit (also detailed in the US service manual) but it also made no mention of a subwoofer.

There are definitely going to be some differences between the US and Euro head units (US has XM, Euro has DAB etc). But I would hope the sub channel is purely controlled by the amp.

 

[vtecr]

There are definitely going to be some differences between the US and Euro head units (US has XM, Euro has DAB etc). But I would hope the sub channel is purely controlled by the amp.

Yep, I'm certain there's a difference between the US and UK firmwares, but I don't see any options for just the UK/EU specifically, so they seem to all be flashed with the same firmware (and I know that some of these cars have subs, while others don.t).

It's possible that the amp is detecting a resistance across the sub outputs as an indicator to activate that option. Kinda similar to how the LS2i can trigger an amp to start up in place of having a remote line. I have an old aftermarket sub takes taking up space in the garage so I might give it a little test later on and see.

 

[eob2000]

Got my first collection of parts. Speaker adapters/cables are both ebay specials. Now I just need a nice weekend to get everything installed, unfortunately nice weekends are few and far between at the moment.

 

[eob2000]

Speakers are in!

First things first, DO NOT upgrade the center speaker. Seems like the OEM center speaker is specifically very quiet/limited range? not sure, but when you replace it with a decent regular speaker it sounds awful.

Overall pretty happy with the upgrade, Clarity is much improved however in doing so it makes the lack of bass that much more evident, I have ordered an under-seat subwoofer and will be installing it in the near future. I will probably be tapping the door speakers to begin with until we figure out the amp situation.

I also didn't get around to the sound deadening today, will be interesting to see how much of a difference that makes. The goop they use to hold the door barrier in is still really soft which i was not expecting. probably means you can pull off the barrier, deaden and put the barrier back with the original glue which will be nice.

Edit: Pictures!

New speakers mounted to the frames, needed to add a small spacer to allow the OEM bolt to work

Cable adapters:

Speakers in the door:

Popped out the OEM tweeters and hot glued the new ones in, could not locate an adapter for the tweeter connector so I replaced it with spades.

Final product:

Rinse and repeat for the other side!

Few things to note:

Some of the wire colours change between the amp and the speakers, really threw me for a loop in the beginning. In the end I realised the speaker wiring colours from the US service manual matches my car so I worked from this.

 

[Zavage]

Looks great. Please use sound deadening. It's a whole different feeling and you don't need to crank up the volume so much. I listened with OEM speakers at volume level 20, after the sound deadening treatment, it's only at level 12, sometimes even 10.
Also activate the function which raises the volume at higher speeds (i don't know the English abbreviation for this).

I've got a sedan with executive spec (US spec premium touring) with the 10 speaker high performance system (including sub), which is the biggest turd you can buy in any vehicle.
The only positive side: the quality sound level of the Honda amp is pretty good.

I did the same as you: replacing the front tweeters and front woofers, adding sound deadening and replacing the sub. Well, the OEM sub is still built in but i used the subwoofer cable to wire the new one. The benefit of this solution is to be able to adjust the subwoofer level in the head unit.

 

[eob2000]

Quick Update:

Last week I ran a power cable for the under-seat sub from a new extra fuse box I added in the engine bay and ran the other cables I will need to underneath the front passenger seat (Was going to put it under the driver seat but I like my seat low enough that it won't fit). I am currently waiting on what I hope is the correct harness from china to allow me to tap into the amp outputs without damaging the OEM wiring. Once that is done I'll do a full post detailing the process and how I like it.

 

[vtecr]

Looking great buddy. I haven't used the Nertz brand before.

I'm hoping to spend some time over the bank holiday figuring out the stock amp and seeing if I can get a sub signal from it. If not I'll probably just tap the fronts like you.

 

[eob2000]

Looking great buddy. I haven't used the Nertz brand before.

I'm hoping to spend some time over the bank holiday figuring out the stock amp and seeing if I can get a sub signal from it. If not I'll probably just tap the fronts like you.

I've never used Hertz either but it's come up a couple of times on this forum so I figured I would give them a shot, happy with them so far!.

The harness I've purchased is fully pinned so I will try putting my sub on the sub pins first and see if that does anything, if not I'll tap into the fronts.

I was also digging through the head unit the other day and discovered reference to something called "Amp Repro", wondering if that's something that can change how the amp behaves, I'm going to dig into the filesystem when I get a free moment and see if it's a file or something that can be messed with.

 

[eob2000]

Looks great. Please use sound deadening. It's a whole different feeling and you don't need to crank up the volume so much. I listened with OEM speakers at volume level 20, after the sound deadening treatment, it's only at level 12, sometimes even 10.
Also activate the function which raises the volume at higher speeds (i don't know the English abbreviation for this).

I've got a sedan with executive spec (US spec premium touring) with the 10 speaker high performance system (including sub), which is the biggest turd you can buy in any vehicle.
The only positive side: the quality sound level of the Honda amp is pretty good.

I did the same as you: replacing the front tweeters and front woofers, adding sound deadening and replacing the sub. Well, the OEM sub is still built in but i used the subwoofer cable to wire the new one. The benefit of this solution is to be able to adjust the subwoofer level in the head unit.

Sound deadening is already purchased and ready to go, just need to actually do it. Will be interesting to do now since I've had the new speakers for a bit without deadening I should be able to better compare before and after

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