# 2011 Honda Accord Sedan



## jtaudioacc (Apr 6, 2010)

Here's an Accord I worked on a few months ago. I originally started working on his 2006 Accord. While working on it, he ended up getting a new 2011 Accord. So, I returned what I had done to stock and started working on the new car.

The original system was a mostly Focal system with MS-8. Since the customer at first insisted on rear fill, the original front stage had passives in between the mid and tweeter. I was never a fan of it and always suggested to delete the rear and run the front active.

When the time came to rework that part of the install, Richard surprised me with 3 new amps, a new woofer and all new front stage! Ok, well, let's do it then. 

Anyway, here's some images. Sorry, I don't have too much as far as build pics go. 

*Here is the original install*









*How the car sits today*




































*Flat signal from the factory unit.*


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## jtaudioacc (Apr 6, 2010)




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## Mless5 (Aug 21, 2006)

Lovely installs. I don't even know which one I like more, the old or the new one.
How do you record audio in such good quality?


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## jtaudioacc (Apr 6, 2010)

Mless5 said:


> Lovely installs. I don't even know which one I like more, the old or the new one.
> How do you record audio in such good quality?


I don't do or use anything special. Just a Canon point and shoot camera, S95. While that's an expensive one, I doubt the audio qualities are any better.


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## so cal eddie (Oct 1, 2008)

jtaudioacc said:


> I don't do or use anything special. Just a Canon point and shoot camera, S95. While that's an expensive one, I doubt the audio qualities are any better.


It doesn't sound good through my laptop speakers, but I bet it sounds great in person. Very, very nice work. Hopefully, I can make it to one of the meets soon to listen to some of the cars. You guys do great work from what I've seen so far!


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

Owning the same vehicle I'm really impressed with this build.I can only dream of a build like this.


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## d5sc (Aug 14, 2007)

That's an AWESOME install! Very clean and great attention to detail like the rest of your installs.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

someones loves vinyl trim inserts 

looks GREAT John!

Btw, is there a bolt at the top of the A pillar under a hidden cover? or is it a clip under a cover? it looks like you somehow managed to just wrap it all in vinyl, wondering how thats done...would help a lot since its always hard to get the stock cover to fit perfectly and match perfectly when the pillar is wrapped on its own.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

and anyone who i have done an installf or int he last 3 years should be intimately familar with the sound track lol


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## tai01 (Dec 11, 2011)

that looks great! looks like you still have some trunk space left over.


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## jtaudioacc (Apr 6, 2010)

simplicityinsound said:


> someones loves vinyl trim inserts
> 
> looks GREAT John!
> 
> Btw, is there a bolt at the top of the A pillar under a hidden cover? or is it a clip under a cover? it looks like you somehow managed to just wrap it all in vinyl, wondering how thats done...would help a lot since its always hard to get the stock cover to fit perfectly and match perfectly when the pillar is wrapped on its own.


yeah, well, since we didn't want to redo all the side panels, trim pieces were a little much. But still was better looking, imo, than the carpet. 

clip on the a pillar no bolt. this one just fit easy even with the vinyl.


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## RobyG78 (Dec 5, 2007)

Awesome Instal man love the pillars too.


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## simplicityinsound (Feb 2, 2007)

jtaudioacc said:


> yeah, well, since we didn't want to redo all the side panels, trim pieces were a little much. But still was better looking, imo, than the carpet.
> 
> clip on the a pillar no bolt. this one just fit easy even with the vinyl.


oh okay, i thought you figured out a way to somehow integrate even a bolted attachment mounting into the pillar and then just molded it all together


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## jtaudioacc (Apr 6, 2010)

Found a pic of the DRC.


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## shawnk (Jan 11, 2010)

Really like these man! Very clean & slick install!

I've been working on my own 2007 EX-L and this is nice motivation


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## Thrill_House (Nov 20, 2008)

Wow this install just blew me away, love the car and the gear both!!


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## LovesMusic (Mar 29, 2012)

craftmanship is top notch, nice work..everywhere in that accord.

quick question, I have a system(HD amps) going into an 09 accord with nav. I spliced into the balanced differential signal with a pair of rcas before the factory amp, however I lose some stations on FM to static when the amps are turned on. Never encountered this problem before cds,XM, ipod all sound great no noise. 
How did you go about getting signal to the amps? Maybe you have a better way or could point me in a direction to look?

Awesome work none the less...thanks


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## jtaudioacc (Apr 6, 2010)

LovesMusic said:


> craftmanship is top notch, nice work..everywhere in that accord.
> 
> quick question, I have a system(HD amps) going into an 09 accord with nav. I spliced into the balanced differential signal with a pair of rcas before the factory amp, however I lose some stations on FM to static when the amps are turned on. Never encountered this problem before cds,XM, ipod all sound great no noise.
> How did you go about getting signal to the amps? Maybe you have a better way or could point me in a direction to look?
> ...


That's interesting. It's not my car, and he hasn't complained about anything similar, but I also doubt he listens to the radio much. Plus, we are in different areas, so i'm not sure if I'm any help there.

I also tagged the signal before the amp. It works great and is flat through the whole volume control.

The long shot possible cause of the fm is possibly something location based. The amps, power wire, rca, near the antenna feed or amp. Very unlikely, but non the less possible.


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## LovesMusic (Mar 29, 2012)

Well Im sure no body minds seeing this build again

Jtaudioacc thanks for your suggestions, 

Iguess I should add this important bit, I made my own rca's for my '09 accord and wrapped them with emi copper shielding, grounded to the chassis of the car. still have noise out of FM stations ughhh... so Im tearing everything out and starting over. I think I may have been picking up noise from the altenator through the chassis ground which inturn was inducting upon hondas Repeating Antenna signal design(if anyone can tell me more about this kind of signal Id appreciate it cant find much) 

So my question to you is when you tapped the signal before the amp did you also cut the shielding wire or "3rd wire" that went with each channel? I believe its a silver wire that runs into the amp. I did not cut mine, I wonder if Im having a problem due to that as well. 

Any help greatly appreciated Jt I keep coming back to this log to dream of the potential... thank you


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

Not JT but

Maybe it's the Class D of the amps inducing noise in the FM.

The shield should not be connected unless you are running a shielded 2 wire rca cable. Then in that case I would tie the shield to the rca shield and leave it unconnected on the amps side. Then the positive and negative balanced wires go to their respective tip and ring wire of the rca.

You can also get a "Mercman harness" which comes with a plug and play plug and some addition filtering.


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## LovesMusic (Mar 29, 2012)

t3sn4f2 said:


> Not JT but
> 
> Maybe it's the Class D of the amps inducing noise in the FM.
> 
> ...



your thoughts are just as valueable...
So thank you...If i am thread jacking or whatever you call i apollogize,

The amp is not the problem, at least I think, I ran a 2 ch A/B class amp and had same noise issues only through the radio.

I started looking at your suggestion of the "Mercman harness" interesting all the noise issues, Unfortunately hes out of business and I dont want to neccesarily wait for one to pop up.. So I read some, I saw that the harness basically T's off the signal from the hu to the factory amp. Meaning hu wires still go to the amp? Does this sound promising, It makes sense to me? Any Ideas guys?


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

LovesMusic said:


> your thoughts are just as valueable...
> So thank you...If i am thread jacking or whatever you call i apollogize,
> 
> The amp is not the problem, at least I think, I ran a 2 ch A/B class amp and had same noise issues only through the radio.
> ...


Not really split but bypass.









There was also a revision made for a noise problem with some newer head unit IIRC, which added some type of special filter. I can't recall the details, it been years since I researched it. BUT I can tell you that many others are using this same Honda/Acura balanced output into that style of diff balanced input that the JL amps have with no problem.

It's likely that you are grounding the negative pin to the shield.


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## LovesMusic (Mar 29, 2012)

t3sn4f2 said:


> Not really split but bypass.
> 
> View attachment 40730
> 
> ...


If not split but bypassed I tapped in the same way. + - front ch's taken after the HU before the factory amp run as RCA's to the ms8 input. 3rd shield wire from the HU still goes to the factory amp. I have absolutely no noise with cd, ipod, and XM. FM radio noise like crazy.

by special filtering I would assume just a cap to keep cost down..?

What do you mean grounding the - pin to shield? I have since ungrounded the copper tape from the chassis, again no noise in cd, ipod, XM..radio noise still there.

Ill add more insight to my situation... right now there is no power to the amps or ms8. Front chs still bypassed before factory amp, only channels hooked up at factory amp are the rears and they power the rear speakers. Rear chs are not integrated to the ms8 or amps, simply get power and signal from factory HU and amp. With no power to amps or ms8 and just playing rear speakers, FM stations are crystal clear. Again if I send power to the ms8 and amps bye bye FM stations. Hope that was unstandable

This makes me believe someone in the link is messing with Hondas repeating antenna signal that runs to the HU from the back windshield.

All wiring is done correctly power on driver side, signal on passenger side, This is really upsetting at this point.


Edit- and add... When the JL A/B amp was hooked up I had the same Radio noise problem, no ms8 either, simply bypassed the factory amp after HU and ran RCAs to the amp. I did at this time have the copper shielding in place.


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## SilkySlim (Oct 24, 2012)

Good job


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## niceguy (Mar 12, 2006)

Beautiful job dude, that second setup especially looks great


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## jtaudioacc (Apr 6, 2010)

niceguy said:


> Beautiful job dude, that second setup especially looks great


thanks! there's possibly another trunk setup change in the works.


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