Honda Accord Audio System for Lake Butler Client

The owner of this Honda Accord came to us for a complete audio system. We had previously worked on another car for him that he had since gotten rid of. He wanted us to install the Morel speakers he had from that car and add a new radio, amplifiers, subwoofers, and a processor. We were excited to build such a fantastic audio system and started immediately.

Huge 10-inch Radio

The large radio fit the dash space well in this Honda Accord.

The Kenwood radio features built-in navigation.

The large 10-inch screen gave the client a great image of his backup camera.

Apple CarPlay was very easy for the client to see.

One of the newer products in the mobile electronics industry is the 10-inch “floating” screen. The design of the screen mimics those used by Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Mazda, and other manufacturers. The idea is to gain more screen size without negatively impacting the features on the dashboard. In the case of this Honda Accord, the 10-inch screen worked out great. The client maximized his viewing, enhancing driving safety while retaining access to all dash controls and air vents. The Kenwood DNR-1007XR that we installed gives the client built-in navigation, wireless Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and numerous other features.

Morel Speakers

When the client got rid of his last car, he made sure to save the Morel Virtus speakers from it. We installed the speakers in the front doors of his Accord. Since there was no accessible factory tweeter location, we molded the Morel tweeter ring into the sail panel of the door. The woofers were installed in the factory door location with the help of composite mounting adapters. We also added some sound proofing to help reduce any resonances in the doors.
The rear speakers were upgraded with Morel Tempo Ultra Integra speakers. These coaxial speakers were installed in the factory spots in the back deck. While we had the deck trim panel off, we removed the factory subwoofer. The lack of a subwoofer provided a hole in the rear deck that would help vent the bass from his upcoming subwoofer enclosure to the car’s cabin.

JL Audio 10w6 Custom Enclosure

When it came to the bass for this Accord, the client wanted quite a bit of it to be accurate and still leave a good portion of the trunk useable. For this solution, we called on the JL Audio 10w6v3. The JL Audio W6 line is legendary for high output, great sound, and small enclosures. Perfect for this Accord! We planned to do a nice trim plate around the amplifiers, which took most of the custom labor out of the client’s budget. So, for the enclosure, our plan was to make a solid enclosure for which we could later build trim panels to integrate better with the trunk. We planned a vented enclosure to get the most output possible from the subwoofers. Since there would be two amplifiers powering the subwoofers, we designed the enclosure with a divider, so each subwoofer had its’ own chamber.

Morel Amplifiers and Mosconi Processor

The enclosure and spare tire well mounted amplifiers did not take up much trunk space.

With the trim panel set in the amplifier opening the client had a fully functional trunk.

We planned the bridge to fit in with the layers of the floor piece.

The Mosconi processor has a remote controller that we mounted in a laser-cut plate in the center console.

While talking with the client and planning his audio system, we knew he would need more than a basic setup. As such, we worked out a design that would incorporate two Morel 5-channel amplifiers. This would allow the client to run the front stage fully active, with lots of power on the speakers. Controlling the audio processing would be a Mosconi Aerospace 6to8 processor. This processor would take the output signal from the Kenwood radio and split the signals for the tweeters, woofers, rear speakers, and subwoofers. We would then be able to custom tailor each output for the optimum crossover points, time alignment, and equalization.
To maximize the trunk space, the large amplifiers were mounted in the spare tire well of the Honda. They were mounted on a wood panel that gave us a way to secure the amplifiers and extra space to neatly route the wiring. With the amplifiers mounted, we could now focus on their trim plate. Because we wanted the amplifiers to be visible, we had planned for an opening on the floor. That would require fabricating a new floor piece and some trim to fill the gap between the floor and the amplifiers. For a little extra flare, we planned on the frame around the amplifiers to be upholstered in black vinyl. An additional ring that would give us one extra layer that could be painted white to highlight the opening.

We knew this client would be showing off his trunk to his friends who listened to the car, so we wanted to add a little bit of branding for Pinnacle Autosound. We accomplished this by using a “bridge” that spans over the top of the gap between the amplifiers. Inset into the bridge is a laser-cut piece of acrylic with our shop name on it.

Great Looking and Great Sounding Accord Audio System

Once all the fabrication and wiring was done, it was time to set up the Mosconi processor. We started by setting up the routing matrix and then moved on to setting the crossover points. The next step was to set the distances of all the speakers from the driver’s seat to accurately assign the speaker delays. The final step was to use our RTA to set the equalizers for each of the channels. After listening to the system and making a few little tweaks, the processor setup was done, and we gave the client a call to pick up his Accord.