Ice Upgrades

[Hassen]

I certainly will as I have half of the electronics already to make it sound fantastic. As I said earlier, though, I intend to live with the factory Nav system until it gets me lost a few times because it actually sounds very good. Also, the nav instructions and radio info are displayed where the dials show - it's a good setup.

Speakers wise, I would go with focal again I think. I have always loved Blaupunkt gear, just never tried their speakers/amps in my cars, yet.

That's cool that it displays where the dials show. Reckon speaker wise whatever sounds good to your ears is the one to go for, budget allowing of course:)

So far liking the Blaupunkt amp even though it's a bit of an older amp and was second hand.

You have a crossover built into your head unit? - if you left it "flat" and used the crossover in the amp, the amp would reject noise below the crossover frequency, reducing hum.

Apart from increasing the power handling of the front speakers, increasing the srossover frequency above 100Hz can help reduce intermodulation distortion, the typical bass note or kick drum will have elements above 100Hz, this means bass notes will be spread between the sub and the front speakers, which may cause phase distortion, raising the frequency so that the sub handles kick drums/ bass notes should give you tighter bass, and overall sound, phase alignment would help, too, of course, this is all theoretical and its what sounds good to your ears/ and to your taste

Not sure if there is a cross over in the Pioneer AVH 2500BT for the front Speakers. Still getting used to all the settings for it. Spent 1/2hr today playing different types of music and playing around with the settings off the amp and the head unit. There is still a bit of hum but no distortion coming from the front Speakers any more. There was a tiny bit before especially on a track like Daft Punk - Around the World, coming from the front Speakers. At the moment, I sound the music is to my liking but I will keep re-adjusting the parameters till I am perfectly happy. I think I might have done what you mentioned by total fluke without knowing the theory behind it lol.

It is most important to separate the power cables from the rca cables. This is because any hum will be multiplied through the amplifier. Speaker cables will not have this problem. Turning down level on the amplifier is good, as is having solid earthing on both head unit and amplifier.

Pioneer head units are known for blowing their earth fuses - located inside the head unit. This can happen if you have bad earthing connection on the amplifier and large current will flow through the rca cables - blowing this fuse. This will result in alternator noise in the speakers.

This link is showing a cheap fix:

http://bcae1.com/images/rca/temporaryrcashieldrepair.html

You can try if this is your problem - by just only for a moment connect a ground cable to the shielding - to check if the noise disappears.

Edit: Trying a good quality, well shielded rca signal cable could be worth it.

At the moment, the RCA cable from the head unit to the amp in the boot is running fairly close to the power cable for the amp. I reckon that this might be the cause for the hum. I tried relocating the speaker wire during the weekend but no luck. At present, the power cable, speaker cable for the left front speaker, remote wire for the amp and rca cable for the front speakers are all running on the left side of the car, near the door sills.

Any ideas on a good placement to relocate the power cable or RCA cable without too much hassle. Found out that I couldn't find a spot to pass the RCA cable from the head unit, onto the right hand side of the car and all the way back to the amp in the boot.

I was also thinking of getting a set of Vibe Black Air 6 component speakers for the front of the car.At the moment, I only have one amp (Blaupunkt GTA 470) that is powering the front Vibe 6 Slick speakers and the 10 inch sub. If I were to get the component speakers, will I need 2 channels ''Front and Rear inputs'' to power the woofers and the tweeters separately or can I just use the ''Front input'' that will then feed into the cross over which then wires to the woofer and tweeters with that input set to ''Flat'' ? I hope I am making myself clear and my apologies for being an ICE noob. Found a 2nd hand set of these speakers and very tempted to get them and move the Vibe 6 Slick to the back of the car, just powered by the factory wiring present. Reckon that might give the sound stage a bit more dimension and quality.

Thoughts?

[cragger89]

no - component Speakers do not need additional amplification.

[Hassen]

I would rather connect them to the amp as it would get the best out of the speaker/tweeters I feel. Please do correct me if I am wrong. Also, I found the way to do it online. I was a bit confused with the right and left wiring and now know how to wire it all.

Anyone else has any recommendations for a set of component Speakers for the front? Around the £100 mark for the set

[Mr_Spock]

Yes, using the amplifier for the front components Speakers would be the best solution. Speaker cable from the amplifier to the crossover - where it splits in to a speaker cable to woofer and a speaker cable to the tweeter. Where to put the crossover will depend on where you mount the tweeter - in the door or on the dash. You will use the head unit directly to the Speakers in the back doors? Could maybe be difficult to adjust the sound level between the front Speakers, subwoofer and the back door speakers - but could work.

These are a great component set:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Focal-Performance-PS165-Component-Speakers/dp/B008BGYQTG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1372795040&sr=8-3&keywords=focal+6.5

But you will probably get different suggestions depending who you ask :) Read some tests - and maybe look for a good set that are on sale?

[Hassen]

Yes, using the amplifier for the front components speakers would be the best solution. Speaker cable from the amplifier to the crossover - where it splits in to a speaker cable to woofer and a speaker cable to the tweeter. Where to put the crossover will depend on where you mount the tweeter - in the door or on the dash. You will use the head unit directly to the speakers in the back doors? Could maybe be difficult to adjust the sound level between the front speakers, subwoofer and the back door speakers - but could work.

These are a great component set:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Focal-Performance-PS165-Component-Speakers/dp/B008BGYQTG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1372795040&sr=8-3&keywords=focal+6.5

But you will probably get different suggestions depending who you ask :) Read some tests - and maybe look for a good set that are on sale?

That's what I was thinking of doing and as for the rear Speakers, just leave them connected to the stock wiring found in the car. Front Speakers powered by amp and rear just coming off the head unit. I reckon there might be a difference in sound levels, but I can fade them from the head unit front/rear to my liking.

From just a quick read through reviews online, those Focal component Speakers seem to be something I might be interested in. More research needed since there are no Focal dealers here and need to find others who have it.

Anyone around who got the Focal speakers? Would like to hear your personal experience with them

[cragger89]

I would rather connect them to the amp as it would get the best out of the speaker/tweeters I feel. Please do correct me if I am wrong. Also, I found the way to do it online. I was a bit confused with the right and left wiring and now know how to wire it all.

Anyone else has any recommendations for a set of component speakers for the front? Around the £100 mark for the set

Apologies, I thought you meant amplifying the tweeters and the mid drivers independently!! (one amp for the mid drivers, one amp for the tweeters = biamping)

All Speakers, components/coaxials will benefit from being amplified by a separate amp. This is the configuration I referred to in my original long post. Use the front side of the amplifier for the front Speakers, fed by the front pre outputs from the head unit. Then use the rear side of the amplifier for the subwoofer.

[Hassen]

Apologies, I thought you meant amplifying the tweeters and the mid drivers independently!! (one amp for the mid drivers, one amp for the tweeters = biamping)

All speakers, components/coaxials will benefit from being amplified by a separate amp. This is the configuration I referred to in my original long post. Use the front side of the amplifier for the front speakers, fed by the front pre outputs from the head unit. Then use the rear side of the amplifier for the subwoofer.

Cool. That's how I am thinking of doing it after getting the front component Speakers. Thanks :)

Yes, using the amplifier for the front components speakers would be the best solution. Speaker cable from the amplifier to the crossover - where it splits in to a speaker cable to woofer and a speaker cable to the tweeter. Where to put the crossover will depend on where you mount the tweeter - in the door or on the dash. You will use the head unit directly to the speakers in the back doors? Could maybe be difficult to adjust the sound level between the front speakers, subwoofer and the back door speakers - but could work.

These are a great component set:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Focal-Performance-PS165-Component-Speakers/dp/B008BGYQTG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1372795040&sr=8-3&keywords=focal+6.5

But you will probably get different suggestions depending who you ask :) Read some tests - and maybe look for a good set that are on sale?

So far, after reading a bit about these Speakers and Focal as a company, liking a lot what I have heard. These are not their high end Speakers but seems to be very reasonable in price and give a good sound quality once amped.

Annoying bit is that most places are charging ridiculous money for it to be delivered to Ireland (£20-30!). I have find a place where it's either cheaper posting or free.

Suggestions welcomed. Destination country, Republic of Ireland

[Mr_Spock]

You should not be to sad about the price - in Norway this Focal component set cost about £230....

The rest of the Focal 6,5" component sets range are similary priced here - as they are on amazon.co.uk. So either the Focal PS 165 are a very good buy in the uk or they are very overpriced here in Norway - maybe both? :)

Hope you find a shop with reasonable shipping costs.

[Hassen]

Thanks Mr_Spock. Even thought Ireland is not too far away from the Uk, the shipping costs have always been high most of the time. I actually picked up my head unit from London as I was on a trip over rather than getting it shipped to Ireland as it would have cost me about £70!

I just wish that funds were available at the moment to get them as I have a bit of free time this weekend and weather permitting, would have liked to spend it installing it in the car. Ah well, will just need to be patient and start saving I guess :)

[Mr_Spock]

£70 for shipping a Head Unit?? Wow, that is pricy. I bought most of my stereo locally - but the front component Speakers came from Kentucky, US - with shipping costing about $70 - and it was a big heavy box.

[Hassen]

Ah, then it makes sense to charge £25 for shipping the Speakers across from the Uk to here even though to Mainland Uk, it's free. Cheapest shipping rate I got so far is £15 to Ireland, which I think is as good as it will get unless I am making a trip across to Uk soon.

Plan then is to save up the next few weeks and then get them at the end of this month maybe. Can't wait to see how they sound in my car!

Still considering getting the whole car sound proofed with Dynamat, which I think will be a major undertaking. I reckon, sound proofing first, then putting in the new Speakers for my to do list.

In the meantime, any more suggestions for component Speakers in the £100, please share :)

[FOCA]

Ah, then it makes sense to charge £25 for shipping the speakers across from the Uk to here even though to Mainland Uk, it's free. Cheapest shipping rate I got so far is £15 to Ireland, which I think is as good as it will get unless I am making a trip across to Uk soon.

Plan then is to save up the next few weeks and then get them at the end of this month maybe. Can't wait to see how they sound in my car!

Still considering getting the whole car sound proofed with Dynamat, which I think will be a major undertaking. I reckon, sound proofing first, then putting in the new speakers for my to do list.

In the meantime, any more suggestions for component speakers in the £100, please share :)

You could use drive units designed for building hi-fi Speakers - they will probably be cheaper/ better quality than ones for cars, BUT are more likely to be 8 ohms than 4 ohms impedance

If you had a 2-way component system in the front, (with seperate woofer and tweeter) this can be powered from one amp, with a passive crossover,

Or you could have one amp per drive unit (one for the woofer/ one for the tweeter) with an active crossover, this would be realatively expensive, but with the best headroom, sound quality and control (the crossover point can be adjusted better, levels controlled better and the passive crossover(which can introduce distortion) is removed and the amps connected directly to the drive units, even the tweeter)

[Hassen]

You could use drive units designed for building hi-fi speakers - they will probably be cheaper/ better quality than ones for cars, BUT are more likely to be 8 ohms than 4 ohms impedance

If you had a 2-way component system in the front, (with seperate woofer and tweeter) this can be powered from one amp, with a passive crossover,

Or you could have one amp per drive unit (one for the woofer/ one for the tweeter) with an active crossover, this would be realatively expensive, but with the best headroom, sound quality and control (the crossover point can be adjusted better, levels controlled better and the passive crossover(which can introduce distortion) is removed and the amps connected directly to the drive units, even the tweeter)

That is something to consider for the future I reckon. The third option sounds like it could get very expensive, very quickly, even though it would sound very good. Think that one will be off the table as I could not justify the cost.

Today, I got some time away from work and family to rewire my car's sound system completely. The first time the car was wired, the amp switch off cable and the rca for the sub woofer were taped together and they were put on the same side as the power cable. When I had wired the front Speakers, I had just put the front speaker rca cables alongside the rest. This as a result introduced very annoying hum that got worse while driving. Today, I relocated the front and sub rca wires to the right side of the car while the power cable for the amp is on the left side of the car. It didn't take too long to do and the difference in sound is very distinct! No more hum or buzz from the front Speakers and the whole system kicks. I can finally get that thump that I was missing and after a bit of tweaking with the eq and cross over settings, it sounds just the way I like it.

I think for now, the current set up will stay the same for a while until I get bored again. Planning to stick Dynamat and sound proof the car at a later stage. That will be the next project rather than putting in component Speakers. But I might change my mind :)

[Lenny]

Sound good on the new system mate,

[Hassen]

Not really my type of music there Lenny ;)

This is the last song I downloaded to play for my journey to work tomorrow.

[Lenny]

Not really my type of music there Lenny ;)

This is the last song I downloaded to play for my journey to work tomorrow.

]

Yes tune!!

Glad you saw the funny side I intended the other one to be mate.

[Hassen]

Yes tune!!

Glad you saw the funny side I intended the other one to be mate.

I thought so too Lenny. To each their own taste but that would definitely not end up in my playlist anytime soon.

Btw, how is the car treating ya? Drove my wife's Seat Leon a few weeks back and realised how much more comfortable the Focus is as a daily driver. Thought about your car and the new lowered suspension and 18'' rims.

[Lenny]

I thought so too Lenny. To each their own taste but that would definitely not end up in my playlist anytime soon.

Btw, how is the car treating ya? Drove my wife's Seat Leon a few weeks back and realised how much more comfortable the Focus is as a daily driver. Thought about your car and the new lowered suspension and 18'' rims.

Its going great thanks mate lowering and fatter tyres has made it much more fun to drive,

And the new set up is capable of handling more than my engine can throw at it so its safer too,

The low profile tyres and 8" wide makes it very easy to handle at high speed also the lowered body reduces the heavy nose making it easier to throw in to corners at speed as well as accelerating out of bends,

The feedback from the road has increased slightly but the ride is still comfortable,

I avoid back roads in fear of buckling a rim and take speed ramps at 10mph but I've never scuffed it to date,

Lowering has raised the nose and dropped the rear leveling the sills

[Hassen]

That sounds awesome! Looks the business as well. Don't think I will be upgrading the rims any time soon. Next on my list is most probably getting the whole car sound proofed with Dynamat. I realised now with my longer journeys to work that I want a quieter cabin to appreciate the music. Performance upgrades will have to wait until parts of the car need to be replaced and that is not going to happen any time soon hopefully.

Do you know anywhere in Ireland that sells Dynamat by any chance Lenny?

[Lenny]

sounds awesome! Looks the business as well. Don't think I will be upgrading the rims any time soon. Next on my list is most probably getting the whole car sound proofed with Dynamat. I realised now with my longer journeys to work that I want a quieter cabin to appreciate the music. Performance upgrades will have to wait until parts of the car need to be replaced and that is not going to happen any time soon hopefully.

Do you know anywhere in Ireland that sells Dynamat by any chance Lenny?

Thanks mate'

You should blank your EGR valve you will save on fuel and cleaner oil, costs less than 10euro too,

The only place I know in Ireland selling Dynamat is Halfords and they probably charge a fortune for it,

If I was you I'd try WWW.caraudiodirect.co.UK

Dynamat kits are light so shipping should be Farley cheap,

Fitting a polystirene boot storage kit from ford that stores the full size spare wheel reduices noise inside the car too,

Also have you fitted an engine cover ? It also makes the engine quieter both inside and outside the car,

If interested in a full size spare kit I'll sell my boot kit including wheel and specific boot carpet,

In exchange for a space saver, standard boot carpet and 120euro

The full kit costs over 350euro from ford excluding tyre and is in excellent condition.

Not pushed on selling but if your ever looking to purchase, I've got it in the attic

[Hassen]

The EGR mod is something I have considered but I am still unsure about it. My mechanical skills are not that great but I do have all the tools at home. Might just get it and see how I get along with it. What are the benefits of having the EGR blanked? What are the actual real world benefits of having it as I know you done the mod to your car?

As for the spare and boot kit, I have the spare saver tyre in the car and happy enough with it. The engine came with a cover and you are definitely right about the noise levels being reduced with it on.

Plan is to get the underside of the bonnet, all four doors, firewall, floor, roof, under the back seats, boot lid and boot floor totally covered in Dynamat at some stage to reduce the noise levels inside the cabin. There is another member here that did it to his MK2 and it does make the car a lot quieter. Read a lot about Dynamat and other noise barriers. So far the cheapest I got was €160 to get it shipped over with a roller for 9 sheets of Dynamat Extreme kit.

If anyone knows of a place online where it was cheaper, would greatly appreciate the links. Thanks

[Lenny]

The EGR mod is something I have considered but I am still unsure about it. My mechanical skills are not that great but I do have all the tools at home. Might just get it and see how I get along with it. What are the benefits of having the EGR blanked? What are the actual real world benefits of having it as I know you done the mod to your car?

As for the spare and boot kit, I have the spare saver tyre in the car and happy enough with it. The engine came with a cover and you are definitely right about the noise levels being reduced with it on.

Plan is to get the underside of the bonnet, all four doors, firewall, floor, roof, under the back seats, boot lid and boot floor totally covered in Dynamat at some stage to reduce the noise levels inside the cabin. There is another member here that did it to his MK2 and it does make the car a lot quieter. Read a lot about Dynamat and other noise barriers. So far the cheapest I got was €160 to get it shipped over with a roller for 9 sheets of Dynamat Extreme kit.

If anyone knows of a place online where it was cheaper, would greatly appreciate the links. Thanks

Advantages of egr blanking from my experience is

Cleaner oil because waste gases are not been recirculated for combustion

Shorter spooling time on turbo due to 100% of waste gases being sent through the exhaust

This means less pushing on accelerator making your economy rise,

Currently getting 61.6Mpg

[Hassen]

That is some good results for such a simple mod. Might be tempted to get it done since the weather has been so nice here. The guide you made is very comprehensible and easy to follow. Cheer Lenny