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what a difference
#756038
25/01/2009 21:05
25/01/2009 21:05
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 17,370 Staffordshire
Nigel
OP
Forum veteran
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OP
Forum veteran
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 17,370
Staffordshire
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I'm really not an ICE connoisseur, so I put up with the standard head unit for several years Bluetooth connectivity got the better of me, so I ended up buying one of these Clarion FB289RBT head unit Much nicer sound and much clearer too. However, this then showed up the speakers, which distorted quite easily. I also had one of my rear speakers buzzing at certain frequencies, so today, I decided to sort it out. I'd already bought these from WilkyWay for the bargain price of £50 Infinity Kappa 65.7 CS - components, with crossovers and tweeters I fitted them, but found the rears were still buzzing, so decided to shove some slightly better 6x9s in the rear. An hour and a trip to Halfords later (and another £50 lighter) saw me with these: Infinity Reference 9623i 6x9s All fitted and working I was considering getting a small sub for the boot, but I now realise I simply don't need one. the sound is massively improved - I hear things in the music that I've never heard before. I have plenty of bass, loads of treble - its just clear and precise And all this for about £250 including the headunit (which by the way is utterly brilliant for making phone calls - many people I'm calling can't even tell I'm in a car) It miffs me that I've spent so long with seriously poor audio in the car, when such a small amount of money has given me such a vast improvement. It really makes me wonder what a PROPER setup is like, with subs, amps and even better speakers. However, as I said at the top, I'm really not that much into music - I often drive hundreds of miles with nothing but 5 cylinders through a Supersprint for musical accompaniment, so I'm chuffed with what I have
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Re: what a difference
[Re: Nigel]
#756088
25/01/2009 22:04
25/01/2009 22:04
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Jef_uk
Unregistered
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Jef_uk
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ICE is 75% installation and 25% kit. Choosing a a few choice parts and fitting them well can have fantastic results. I had some infinity speakers once. These produced more, better controlled base than a friends cheep sub. Probably the ultimate set-up would be treble in the dash (upgrade existing ones) mids in the doors and 8 or 10 inch in the rear.
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Re: what a difference
[Re: ]
#756430
26/01/2009 12:25
26/01/2009 12:25
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sweetride
Unregistered
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sweetride
Unregistered
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Great choice of speakers there too. I have the kappa's up front running of my amp they sound great. Just not sure what to do speaker wise in the back as of yet. Choices...choices.
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Re: what a difference
[Re: ]
#756459
26/01/2009 12:57
26/01/2009 12:57
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Shifty
Unregistered
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Shifty
Unregistered
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I have just fitted a sub in the boot, just a small one (Infinity 1040w reference) running off an Alpine 250w amp. Just like you Nigel I thought there was no need for the sub but without it you are missing out. I am listening to Elbow at the moment and it's like having the band in the car with me but at a decent sound level and you can hardly hear the music out side the car. I can now hear the thump of the base drum, the low down sounds that make up any decent track. If we bump into each other at one of the Autoitalia events this year I will if you like give you a demo (that's if you have managed to stop yourself buying more speakers...)
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Re: what a difference
[Re: phil_20VT]
#756606
26/01/2009 15:49
26/01/2009 15:49
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 21,071 Chertsey in the Thames
bockers
Hon Club Member 007
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Hon Club Member 007
Forum Fossil
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 21,071
Chertsey in the Thames
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It is so easy on the coupe to feed the cable. Just unclip the rubber feed pipe from the door and body. Then pull back the carpet from the upper A pillar and you will see an access hole and can feed the wire out into the door shut, through the rubber pipe and then into the door where if you have taken out the standard speaker you can see the wire. Re-clip the rubber sleeve in place, solder the wires and jobs a goodun. Far easier than most cars and no door card removal required
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Re: what a difference
[Re: bockers]
#756614
26/01/2009 15:57
26/01/2009 15:57
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warnysouth
Unregistered
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warnysouth
Unregistered
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Nigel if you want another step change in sound quality *and* a nicer drive, then slap on some sound deadining material in the doors/bootlid. You won't believe the difference, and there will be less road noise as well.
I've lost my enthusiasm for decent in car audio, ever since I spent months installing a serious setup and then went on holiday; when I returned I found out that the person I left my car with had written it off!
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Re: what a difference
[Re: phil_20VT]
#756654
26/01/2009 17:08
26/01/2009 17:08
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 17,370 Staffordshire
Nigel
OP
Forum veteran
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OP
Forum veteran
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 17,370
Staffordshire
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Did you fit the fronts yourself? I've had a set of these for a while now but struggled to feed the cable thruogh to the door, any tips? bit of a doddle really - I removed the standard speaker and the foam protector, then I wedged my hand through the hole and fed the cable through the concertina door grommet - you can get your fingers almost all the way through it anyway I pulled the footwell carpet down a bit and grabbed the end of the cable. The hardest job was finding a place to locate the crossovers - they're pretty big and I had to do a fair bit of upside-down footwell grovelling - ended up fixing them to the sides of the heater/ventilation casing behind the centre console. I wrote the text above last night afer I'd fitted and tested the kit. I tried it out properly on the way to work this morning and I have identified a problem - the door speakers are so good that its rattling the internals of the doors - there's obviously quite a lot of stuff to vibrate in a door - glass, channels, motors, door cards etc. I'm now wondering if dropping the bass in the doors and fitting a sub wouldn't be a bad idea after all. I REALLY need to be satisfied on what I have though - I can see the audio slope being almost as slippery as the engine modding precipice that I fell off a couple of years ago
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Re: what a difference
[Re: Nigel]
#756717
26/01/2009 18:25
26/01/2009 18:25
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owl10
Unregistered
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owl10
Unregistered
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Re: what a difference
[Re: Nigel]
#756809
26/01/2009 20:04
26/01/2009 20:04
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warnysouth
Unregistered
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warnysouth
Unregistered
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I wrote the text above last night afer I'd fitted and tested the kit. I tried it out properly on the way to work this morning and I have identified a problem - the door speakers are so good that its rattling the internals of the doors - there's obviously quite a lot of stuff to vibrate in a door - glass, channels, motors, door cards etc. I'm now wondering if dropping the bass in the doors and fitting a sub wouldn't be a bad idea after all. I REALLY need to be satisfied on what I have though - I can see the audio slope being almost as slippery as the engine modding precipice that I fell off a couple of years ago Dynamat Dynamat Dynamat.
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Re: what a difference
[Re: phil_20VT]
#757611
27/01/2009 17:28
27/01/2009 17:28
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feeblebob
Unregistered
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feeblebob
Unregistered
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I'll agree with Jef, the installation of hifi kit is the most important thing without a doubt. And to see what can be acheived, take a trip to a decent local car hifi dealr (I'm near Source and Sounds) and wander in looking all excited, as if your keen to spend and ask them what all the fuss is about. If they're any good at all, they'll have a demo car to audition. Pretty special actually to hear a qulity install. It can be a wallett-sapper in the same way speed can be, my Lexus went with a double-DIN Alpine screen unit in.... Dynamat makes a huge difference, in both quality and effective volume, you reduce the low pitched hum of the car. But yes, installation is very important, read up on the ICE forums about cable routing and stuff and it'll sound spot on!
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Re: what a difference
[Re: ]
#757810
27/01/2009 22:19
27/01/2009 22:19
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Jef_uk
Unregistered
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Jef_uk
Unregistered
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http://www.avforums.com/forums/car-entertainment-ice/I design HIFI and home theatre speakers because I am a geek. I need to measure the space behind the rear to see if the speakers I have chosen have the correct Thiele and Small perimeters for the space available. The only thing that concerns me is the distance between the front woofer and the tweeter and how that will play with the sound stage. I am guessing that they will need to be a bout 90degree behind the mids and the subs will need to be about 90 behind these. I might have to build a passive crossover for the front, the rears may just be reversed polarity however an active crossover with a built in delay would produce superior sound. Then again I may find that if I get some nice set of components the mid and treble problem is already solved. I have been looking at a 4 channel amp that can be used to drive the front and the sub sets and allows a delay to be dialled in to the sub as well as having a frequency filter.
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Re: what a difference
[Re: ]
#757821
27/01/2009 22:34
27/01/2009 22:34
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Fariniac
Unregistered
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Fariniac
Unregistered
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Hey Nigel nice to see you join the audio upgrade ranks..hehe
Got a quick Q for you though, that H/U you have says BlueTooth but can you stream audio from your Bluetooth mp3 player (or phone) through it ? All the specs I read on it aren't very clear about it at all.
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Re: what a difference
[Re: Nigel]
#758141
28/01/2009 13:34
28/01/2009 13:34
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sweetride
Unregistered
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sweetride
Unregistered
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Since i got my bluetooth stereo i will never go back. Really is a great device. Jef_uk thats pretty much the set up im running at the moment and sounds :thumbs:
Last edited by sweetride; 28/01/2009 13:35.
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Re: what a difference
[Re: ]
#758221
28/01/2009 14:44
28/01/2009 14:44
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RICHB
Unregistered
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RICHB
Unregistered
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Gona upgrade my speakers to some Aplines - 16x9 in the rear, and 13cm in the front, with separate tweeters that im gona mount in place of the standard ones. Will I get everything I need to connect the tweeters up in with the speakers ? advice appreciated
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Re: what a difference
[Re: ]
#758249
28/01/2009 15:12
28/01/2009 15:12
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Shifty
Unregistered
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Shifty
Unregistered
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16x9 or 6x9? Anyway you will need some cable (i used 2 core power flex) to link from the crossover (installed just below the tweeter in the dash ends)to the speaker in the door. Don't forget to sound sproof Rich, I used sticky lead flashing from BQ and it works a treat by removing vibration. Install the speakers, turn them up and listen for the vibration. Place a hand gently to the side of the speaker and if this reduces the vibration stick a length of flashing to it. Repeat this until there is no vibration. It's that easy and loads cheaper than e-dead etc that costs the same as the speaker itself.
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Re: what a difference
[Re: ]
#758255
28/01/2009 15:20
28/01/2009 15:20
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RICHB
Unregistered
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RICHB
Unregistered
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Cheers shifty, yep I meant 6x9 !!
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Re: what a difference
[Re: ]
#758310
28/01/2009 16:43
28/01/2009 16:43
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RICHB
Unregistered
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RICHB
Unregistered
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Quick question - do all front car speakers with separate tweeters require cross overs - what do the crossovers do? i assume filter out any frequencies that the tweeters cant handle?? also does anyone have experience of JBL car speakers ? ( sorry to highjack this tread ) Rich
Last edited by RICHB; 28/01/2009 16:52.
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Re: what a difference
[Re: bockers]
#758572
28/01/2009 21:42
28/01/2009 21:42
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nrenz123
Unregistered
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nrenz123
Unregistered
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Just out of interest have you used the standard front and rear speaker cables?
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Re: what a difference
[Re: bockers]
#758701
29/01/2009 00:11
29/01/2009 00:11
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nrenz123
Unregistered
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nrenz123
Unregistered
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This should be interesting then as i havent a clue how to wire them into the head unit.
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Re: what a difference
[Re: ]
#758984
29/01/2009 13:15
29/01/2009 13:15
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Per
Unregistered
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Per
Unregistered
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It's a little funny some people put a lot of doh on the kit itself, then play compressed MP3's? As at home I can hear a clear difference in quality between CD´s and most MP3's.. It's strictly CD in my Coupe!
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Re: what a difference
[Re: bockers]
#759003
29/01/2009 13:31
29/01/2009 13:31
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sweetride
Unregistered
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sweetride
Unregistered
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Im stictly cd too for the same reason.
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Re: what a difference
[Re: ]
#759426
29/01/2009 22:28
29/01/2009 22:28
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the_mule
Unregistered
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the_mule
Unregistered
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Totally agree cd only and have always said the same
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