Need info on 2013 3.6R with HK stereo.

Hello all, first new thread post here LOL.

A little past experience: I'm no stranger to audio. I've had several stereos over the years & lightly competed in DB Drags many years ago. My last Subaru was a 5 speed 1997 Legacy 5GT. My stereo consisted of a head unit, components up front, 2 tens sealed against the seat. Was my favorite car I've owned as the car was well balanced & a dream to drive. Best sounding stereo too. Simple & clean.

Anyway fast forward a few years. Last week I acquired a very nice 2013 Legacy 3.6R with the HK radio which includes blue tooth, GPS & backup camera. For factory it sounds decent but not wanting to leave well enough alone, I am planning on upgrading the stereo.

The plan is to retain as close to a factory look as possible. I want to use the factory head unit as my source (a first for me) because it's actually really nice. Next I'm going to deaden the car decently. Speakers up front will be Hertz in the factory positions. I may end up putting the tweeters in the a-pillars, though they are plastic, not fabric covered. I'm still deciding on the sub stage. I have to keep the spare & I'd like to keep as much trunk space as possible. My question is this: Does anybody know what the voltage out on the head unit is? Can anybody say if it's a flat signal for sure? What about after the HK amp? I have a bit10 DSP & may go to a bit1 or Hertz processor if needed.

Looking forward to many years of Suby ownership & the wealth of info in this forum.

Can't tell you anything about the amp but I know that most people run into issues or concerns when adding stuff to the a-pillars.

When the side curtain airbag goes off it blows the a-pillar plastic off and the bag expands, anything thats mounted to it could get destroyed or become a projectile in an accident.

I have included the audio wiring from the 15/16 Legacy manual, not sure how much has changed. My wife's car is a '13 OB with the HK setup and it is very similar.

 

Go to section 3. 7 inch display (w/ audio amplifier). I ran into this issue when I upgraded my legacy HK. I am not 100% sure, but I believe the wires A1,A2,A5 & A6 carry a full range signal to the amp under the passenger seat. Volume signal is carried separately via the CANBUS.

 

Not knowing how to incorporate a full range signal, I used a JL FiX on the HK amp output to generate a signal for my JL TwK. HK amp output is standard high level speaker outs and were easy to splice under the passenger seat.

 

Not the most elegant system, but it works pretty well. Here is what I did: http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/factory-stereo-upgrade-260768.html

This is a liquid gold. Thanks for posting. You did a great job on upgrading your stereo. I'm sure it really sings now. I see a lot of naysayers in here. Sad considering we are in a forum meant to upgrade all aspects of the car.

I wonder how much of this applies to my 2013? I just got my paper copy of the Haynes manual & it's pretty rough as far as the wire diagrams go. I can see the difference between the online & the paper version.

You had a lot of the same goals I have. Factory looking system with aftermarket sound & a usable trunk. So it looks like you pulled your signal after the amp? Was the JL Fix able to completely flatten the output? Do you still use the factory volume or do you have a separate volume knob now?

Oh now that is what I'm talking about. Manuals specific to my vehicle. Can I just download the entire catalog & not worry about my subscription expiring before I finish the job?

I'm just wondering if it would be better before the amp then, as long as there's enough voltage out of the factory head unit then it should be good. The issue with pulling after the amp is then you're fighting factory EQ'ing & time delay that can muck up the signal.

There's a lot of positive reviews on the new JL software & rightfully so, they spent a lot of time on it & people are getting good results. I've spent some time on my Bit10 but not enough to be any kind of expert. It had 32 bands per channel which was more then enough to make me happy.

That's the downside I'm looking into, I want to use factory volume, but I don't know if it's possible.

Keep up the tuning, it's an always evolving hobby. I'm enjoying looking over your build.

Thanks again!

I discovered today that Haynes doesn't cover the 3.6 so back goes the manual. I'll have to download everything I can then when I order the Subaru tech sheets.

This is my first adventure trying to use the factory head unit. In the end, I may end up taking it to a shop to have them hook up the DSP & I can do the rest, but I'll try to do it myself first.

Whoa, there, c3156! 2015 is the year where Subaru changed the h/k system in Legacys/Outbacks and made it much harder to replace just the OEM HU or just the OEM h/k amp. In 2009-2014 Legacy/Outback models, it's much easier.

OP, since you have a 2013 with OEM nav, that means your nav is made by Fujitsu Ten. Those have the maps on SD card. They are functionally very similar to the FT nav HUs in 2012-2014 WRX/STi, Forester, BRZ, Impreza, and Crosstrek (and some 2015 models too). The sockets on the rears of all of them look virtually identical.

See posts #4 and #9 in this thread on NASIOC:

Attached is Subaru's wiring diagrams for 2013 Legacy/Outback with FT nav. In this year, those always have the h/k system (at least, in USDM models).

Your HU sends 4 normal, high-level (amplified) signals to the h/k amp. The h/k amp takes those, runs some DSP magic, and generates 8 amplified outputs to drive all of the car's speakers and dual voice coil sub.

I haven't confirmed, but I think Subaru's FT nav HUs do a better job of supplying relatively flat outputs. Many of Subaru's other, non-nav HUs are really bad about attenuating the bass sent to the rear channels as you raise the volume, and often other nasty EQ changes.

Given everything else you want to do, I suggest removing your h/k amp. Add a DSP or processor if you like. Unlike with the 2015-up models, you'll still have full volume/balance/fade/EQ control from your OEM HU's settings. The only downside is that your OEM HU does not have its own subwoofer output, so if you want to be able to tweak your sub's volume on the fly, your sub amp will need a remote volume knob.

See my post here for info about the older style h/k system. Most of that information is applicable to your 2013, including the aftermarket radio harnesses you can use to connect to your car's speaker harnesses that are currently plugged into your h/k amp.

2013 Legacy WI 30. Navigation System.pdf

That NASIOC thread had a lot of good information on it, thank you.

I've noticed the radio significantly reduces the amount of bass as the volume increases. I'm hoping this is all being done by the H/K amp & not the head unit. Otherwise I'm screwed. But if I'm reading this right, I can tap off the front or rear outputs from the deck & it should give me a full range signal? This would be the best news I've read all week.

I'm thinking I only need to pull signal from the front 2 door speakers & not worry about the rear as I have the DSP. I have a remote knob on my Phoenix Gold TI2 1600.5 amp so I will be good in regard to the sub level adjustments.

Since my last post I've acquired a JL12TW3 with a custom fiberglass enclosure which fits in the back right side of the trunk. After looking at a few options, I believe I'm going to remove the foam block over top of the spare tire & make an amp rack that will hold the DSP & amp. I hope to be able to put this on a hinge so if there is ever a need, I can just flip the rack up & access the spare tire.

Thanks for all the information!