# Simple SQ Upgrade on a 2016 Honda Accord - Mosconi, Arc, Morel



## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

hey gang, been a while...last few weeks has been nuts...i somehow caught food poisoning real bad, got better and then got pretty sick again...all the while we were on a time crunch to finish three decent sized builds before my China trip...

but we managed to power through and get all of them done...so i got a little free time before my trip to throw up some build logs 

the first of this is a pretty simple install on a brand new 2016 Honda Accord Sport...belonging to a good friend of mine. Despite Hondas being all over the place here in normal, this is our first experience with the brand new model (or is it just a face lift ) of accords.

The goals were pretty simple:

1. dramatically improve the overall sound quality from the stock base system

2. maintain a virtually 100 percent oem appearance in the interior while retaining the stock headunit

3. get a decent amount of bass into the car while saving as much trunk space as possible and retaining the spare tire.

Jesse and I tackled this build...lets get started:

first up, a quick look at the car, new front fascia and other details for this year:




























Jesse welded a metal bracket to house the single stinger fuse holder attached to the stock battery tie down:



















and located the arc audio bass knob in one of the blank knock out panels to the left of the steering wheel, we swapped the arc knob for a JL knob for a look more congruent with the interior:










The front stage is a set of my favorite go to "entry level SQ" speakers, the morel tempo ultra 602 two way component set. with this car's stock base system, it actually did not come with any tweeters, so my friend ordered some oem sail panels with the mounting cup for the tweeters from a premium system. And i secured the morel tempo ultra tweeters to them and installed them:














































the midbass went into the stock lower door location. first, new speaker wires were run into the door:










and the door sound proofed with GP audio STFU, some STP CLD damper around the speakers, and blackhole tiles on the outter door, a honda speaker adapter baffle was also bolted in place:




























the morel tempo ultra midbass was then wired up and installed:



















and the door card received some CLD treatment on the back side to help reduce resonance:










the same procedure was then repeated on the passenger side:























































for the amplification and processing, we used a mosconi D2 DSP 80.6 6 channel amp, its internal dsp controls everything and the extra channel of output is used to run an arc audio xdiv2 1100.1 on the subwoofer. the D2 amp is bridged into a four channel giving us around 2x200 on the midbass, 2x80 on the tweeter, while the sub gets a full 1100 watts. 

the small size of the amps allowed us to mount them beneath each seat, tucked quite far forward. so here is the normal view with the seats in place:



















to see the amps, you have to slide the seats all the way forward:



















in normal driving seating position (still a long ways to go before full back position), they are virtually invisible:



















a quick look at the amp racks:

on the driver side, a slot was cut out of the oem carpet and two rivet nuts installed, and the rest of the bare metal sound proofed:










a board conforming to the shape was made up, with the holes drilled for bolts to secure it. and it was test fitted to the area:




























it was then wrapped in black carpet, and solidly bolted to the car:



















the arc audio xdiv2 1100.1 was then wired up and installed:





































the passenger side recieved the same treatment to house the Mosconi D2 80.6 DSP amp:









































































n


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

ow comes some pics of the wiring as it travels throughout the car

I twisted some primary wire for the main signal wires and soldered them onto the stock headunit's output harness:










to easily follow the wiring flow, it is easier to start at the D2 amp, here you see ultimately where the signal cables ended up, with rca ends soldered to them. along with the power and speaker wires for the front stage amp, it leaves the amp rack area and travels forward on the passenger side, ziptied and secured every few inches:





































then part of the table bundle takes a left turn and goes towards the driver side of the car, here i wrapped the bundle in tesa cloth tape to help it dissappear among oem wiring:



















then the relevant cables are joined at the driver side kick panel, and ran into the amp rack area for the arc audio sub amp:














































the lone subwoofer speaker wire is then run back down the driver side, into the trunk, and back into the area where the sub enclosure will be, again ziptied to factor wiring every few inches:





































the last thing we did on the interior was to remove all the oem rear speakers on the rear deck to gain better bass venting into the cabin, and full sound proofed both the metal rear deck and plastic rear deck cover:




























this brings us to the last piece of the puzzle, the subbox. Here jesse crafted a single side enclosure out of MDF and fiberglass for a single arc audio Black 10" subwoofer. he created a baffle shape that flows with the trunk carpet a little better and its wrapped in charcoal trunk liner:



















pop off the protective grille and you can see the arc audio black 10:





































if you look closely, you can see that we retained the stock cargo hook that was now covered by the back of the enclosure, with a little hole on the grille to allow access to it:










this way, the customer can still use his oem cargo net to help prevent things from going all over the trunk 










a few pics of the sub enclosure by jesse.

first the side of the trunk was fiberglassed along with a piece of 3/4" mdf to serve as the bottom plate, then it was removed and trimmed to the desired shape:



















then jesse created the front baffle of a unique shape:



















then it was aimed and secured to the baffle. it has to sit low to clear the trunk lid hinge on its downward swing:




























then mold cloth was pulled, resin applied, allowed to harden, to form the shape of the enclosure. then the enclosure was reinforced from the inside via more fiberglass, and the front area got the filler and sanding treatment to become smooth:




























then i jumped in and wrapped it in charcoal trunk liner carpet:










and then died it to be slightly lighter to match the oem carpet. then i wired it up and attached the oem cargo hook:





































and finally, here is the press fit grille, before and after carpeting, and final dyeing:





































so thats it, a very simple build with very little visible, but the sound is quite good....better than my own expectations considering its a stock headunit signal. 

the morel tempo ultra once again impresses...great midbass impact and extension, very good and smooth midrange and highs. i have done this set dozens of times now, and each time, perhaps oweing to where it sits in the morel lineup, still pleasantly surprises me with just how good it sounds.

the oem location also yields pretty good imaging and staging, a few inches above the dash, well focused, and pillar to pillar. the arc audio black was in many ways, a great fit for this car. the owner wanted some good bass output but also, the one area the stock signal is defficient at is that it has some type of high pass filter below 30hz, but the black 10 is really good at producing the ultra low stuff, so in this car, in car acoustic measurements did not show that much of a dip below 40hz, and a quick dab of eq brough it right back up to be quite flat. 

overall, a nice little simple system. 

Cheers,

Bing


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## strong*I*bumpin (Oct 3, 2005)

Another home run SIS,nicely executed.The Sport and Touring models have the best looking wheel package compared to the other models in the lineup,they're just hideous.


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## Truthunter (Jun 15, 2015)

Very clean and stock looking. I really like how you died the sub enc. carpet to better match the stock trunk carpet. I wish I had the skills to fabricate such a creation.

I'm in the process of planning a system for a 2015 camry and am leaning toward Morel. Is there a significant difference between the Tempo and the Virtus components?


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

the virtus has a better tweeter, and a more transparent midbass, but imo the midbass on the tempo ultra is stronger overall so better for daily listening. 

b


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## sq2k1 (Oct 31, 2015)

Subbed..... Its good to see a nice install in this particular vehicle after some of the comments I have read about how hard it is to deal with certain aspects of the car like the ANC and such. Very nicely done and stealthy to boot.


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## lucas569 (Apr 17, 2007)

Nice & Clean!!!!


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## mcrdsd911 (May 14, 2016)

super clean


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## MantaOwner (May 15, 2007)

Nice installation.
Did you modify those A/C vents on the floor to install the amps or left them as they are?
How is the sub box attached to the car? And how did you get the wires into the box, got a pic of the terminal?

Tõnu


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## WhiteL02 (Jul 25, 2014)

Once again great install! Very clean!!!! One question though. What was the main reason you built amp racks under the seats? Ours is just on the oem carpet. Benefits?


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

MantaOwner said:


> Nice installation.
> Did you modify those A/C vents on the floor to install the amps or left them as they are?
> How is the sub box attached to the car? And how did you get the wires into the box, got a pic of the terminal?
> 
> Tõnu


vents have never been an issue for underseat amps for us, i think they only work when you select under dash/foot venting. usually, if there is a need to use them for heat, its very cold anyway inside the car and the amps do fine, and when it reachs a certain temprature, most people then turn it down so it starts to vent colder air which actually helps with the amp cooling. i personally have never seen a thermal issue with underseat mounting of amps.

the subbox is attached to the car via what used to be a stock plastic clip mounting hole, we installed a rivet nut in there, and now a bolt goes in and secures the subbox before the sub goes in.

we dont use terminal cups in our boxes for the most part, dont trust them, we glass in a wire that goes out the back of the box, and usually do it in a place where there is a some give in the carpet, or have a small slot cut so the wire coming from the back of the box hooks to the wire coming from the car's side, connect via quick disconnects, and pushes back through the carpet into the cavity behind it when installing hte subbox.

b


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

WhiteL02 said:


> Once again great install! Very clean!!!! One question though. What was the main reason you built amp racks under the seats? Ours is just on the oem carpet. Benefits?


integrity is a big thing for us, we want everything we install to be mounted solidly without any movement regardless if what happens to the car, be it super bumpy road or hell even a terrible accident if the car rolls. its just how we have been doing it for a long time. 

b


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## Truthunter (Jun 15, 2015)

Does the stock Accord hu roll off the lower frequencies as the volume increases to limit distortion? If so, what adjustment in the dsp is made to counter it?


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## pickup1 (May 6, 2008)

Which front door speaker adaptor did you use?


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## iyamwutiam (Nov 20, 2006)

Simply astounding how you manage to blend craftsmanship so sublime that it disappears.


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## adrianp89 (Oct 14, 2007)

Beautiful work...

Curious to why you twist primary wire together over using Metra Multi-Conductor wire.


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## Es_Queue (Apr 4, 2016)

Very Nice Work! It appears those Arc Audio XDI v2s are very popular! How do you like that amps so far?


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## etroze (Dec 24, 2013)

Truthunter said:


> Does the stock Accord hu roll off the lower frequencies as the volume increases to limit distortion? If so, what adjustment in the dsp is made to counter it?


I am in for an answer on this as well, my wife just picked up a 2016 lx and I have plenty of gear laying around to build something nice for her.


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## mailalan (Mar 28, 2015)

Very nice and clean work. I love stealth installs like this.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

Truthunter said:


> Does the stock Accord hu roll off the lower frequencies as the volume increases to limit distortion? If so, what adjustment in the dsp is made to counter it?


the mosconi d280.6dsp has input EQs to counter act that

it does roll off a bit below 40hz on the stock signal, note the part in the log where i said the black 10, wehich has fantastic low freq response, helps a lot to counteract this with the acoustic response 

it was not really a dynamic eq situation, the drop off below 40hz is present even at low to moderate volume levels, and remains about the same as you go up.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

pickup1 said:


> Which front door speaker adaptor did you use?


this was a standard one from bestkits, metra and others also make em


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

Es_Queue said:


> Very Nice Work! It appears those Arc Audio XDI v2s are very popular! How do you like that amps so far?


we have done probably a few hundred of these now, love em.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

the727kid said:


> Beautiful work...
> 
> Curious to why you twist primary wire together over using Metra Multi-Conductor wire.


i just never got into using speed wire all together to be honest. i do like the noise rejection nature of twisted wire, but in a high level environment like this, it doesnt matter much. its just a force of habit i suppose.


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## jb4674 (Jan 29, 2015)

How much would you charge to build the box? I'm sure the guys at DriveAccord would buy 2 per car, lol


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## SQLnovice (Jul 22, 2014)

Just a quick question. I see you sometimes used regular RCA's and sometimes you would build them out of primary wires. Just wondering what determines one over the other? Just trying to learn as I explore this hobby. I know you are a busy man. Only answer if you have free time. Thanks in advance.


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