basic ICE - systems at various budgets -10K, 15K, 20K, 25K & 30K

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This post was updated on Friday, Feb 29th, 2008.

Due to number of posts that ask for systems are vairous price points I have created a sort of short list. This is not an exhaustive excercise and can depend a lot of car and music used but it is just to be used as a starting point for newbies. If you are a veteran at ICE your views might even differ from mine.

Keep in mind we are considering the fact that the car in question has NO speakers or HU installed.

BTW before I am PMed I will break the 2 smiley rule here just to keep everyone from getting bored. I appologise in adviance.

1) 10K

At 10K I would consider about 4-6k for a HU and 6-4K for 2 pairs of coaxial speakers.
JVC, Sony, Pioneer, Kenwood and Blaupunkt all make good HUs in this price range.
At 2K per pair of speakers the list is small. Better brands at this price are JBL (GT5), Blaupunkt (GTO), Ground Zero (Titanium) and Pioneer.

2) 15K

Again I would budget about 6-7K for a HU and the rest for 4 good coaxial speakers. The HU recomendations essentially remain the same as those above (Clarion might now also be affordable) . At 3.5-4K per pair you can now afford better brands and Hertz, JBL (GTO), Blaupunkt (Thx), Illusion (Electra), Gound Zero (Radioactive) and Alpine (Type S) are some speakers in this price range. It might also be worth your while to spend 2K on some damping material for the front doors (that is if you are installing speakers in the front doors). Another option that is now affordable is a rear deck made of MDF(Rs. 700-1,000). this is useful if you have a hatchback and you can afford to sacrifice some boot space. MDF is almost mandatory if you want to install 6x9" speakers in the rear deck.

3) 20K

About the price point where plethora of choices can confuse.
It depends on the music you like and the ammont of cabin/trunk space you are willing to sacrifice.
Someone who is looking for BOOM for example can...
spend 6-7K on the HU with one or more preamp outs (as above)
spend 5-6K on 4 speakers for the front and rear (as in the 10K system)
get a economical 2 ch amp and sub (Sony 552 and Pio 12" sub) and a pair of decent RCA cable (Monster Interlink Jr) for about 8K.
Someone looking for resolution might prefer...
Spending 9K on a HU with more features (such as USB and Ipod compatibility) and better sound quality and 10K on front components and rear coax speakers.
It also starts becoming essential to listen to multiple brands and combinatons before buying ICE at this price point and above.
Brands recomendations are still the same as those for 10K and 15K with the addition of the Sony amps and Pioneer subwoofers and Clarion HUs.

At this point one must consider a good amplifier kit along with better RCA wires. Such a set of wires can run about Rs. 3000. Monster, Twister, Audison, etc.. all offer such a kit. As a rule most members have not been happy with the BOSS kits in the Indian market so treat these with caution.

4) 25K

Now you can afford a bit of both BOOM and Resolution or more BOOM or Resolution!
For More BOOM just get the Sony 554 amp instead of the 552 and one more Pio 12" (see 20K BOOM system above). There is also a 4 ch. JVC amp I am told is now available but I have yet to hear it leave alone use to drive a subwoofer. Still it might pay to give both (Sony and JVC) a listen. Other 4 amps one can consider are the Pioneer 6300, JBL GT5-604, Blau Gt4 Special, Kenwood 8401 and Gronud Zero TA4000. These will cost about 7K each but are a definite step up from the Sony 554.

For more Resolution consider a better HU (all the brands mentioned above) but Pioneer, Clarion, Alpine and a few Kenwoods might be your best bets. For speakers with more Resolution consider Infinity, Illlusion, Hertz are good choices.
For a bit more of each (BOOM and Resolution). Consider a Ground Zero, Hertz, JBL or Alpine sub instead of the Pioneer in the 20K BOOM system and consider changing the front speakers to components. Your budget will look something like this -
8K for HU, 7K for 4 coax speakers, 10K for JBL/Alpine/Hertz sub and amp OR 8K for HU, 10K for front compoents and rear coax speakers and 8K for the Pio/Sony sub-amp combo used int he 20K BOOM system.
I told you can get confused!

5) 30K

Now we are getting serious. You can consider USB/Ipod compatibel HUs or even DVD HUs.
You can now afford a good HU or a good subwoofer along with very decent speakers and a better amplifier. A sample budget.
HU: 8K - you know the drill....
Speakers: 10K...yes components in the front and coax in the rear
Sub and amp: 13K...a decent amp like the Pio 6200 or Blau GT4 driving the Pio 12" and front speakers.
OR (this option is really usefull if you are lookng at building a system slowly)
HU: 9K with 3 preamp outs for future expansion
Speakers: 10K
Pio, Kenwood, Blau or JBL 4 ch amp with 2 sets of RCA wires: 9-11K
you can then add a subwoofer later and use the HU to power the rears till you can afford a subwoofer amp.

If you are considering spending more than 30K on your system you need to do more research that just reading this "ready reckoner". When I get the time I will re-open this thread and address these systems as well.

This thread will remain closed so that it is not hijacked. If you have comments (other than edits) please use the forum (do not PM me as i get enough PMs already).

Happy listening! cheers: (see I broke the 2 smiley rule as well as promised)

Many thanks to JK Das for helping edit this. I would sure appreciate more of the same (edits can be PMed to me). I will decide what goes on this thread. Please remember this is for Newbies ONLY. No technical jargon. Lord knows I have spewed enough of that in my time.