Partial ICE upgrade of Baleno OEM setup

[shuvc]

ICE has never been a burning need for me. And so till date I've managed to stay out of the clutches of this dangerous section. But alas, nemesis arrived in the most unexpected form. Fellow Kolkata T-BHPians armed with their Illusions, Hertzs and JBLs. So now you guys can sing - Another one bites the ice.

As I have mentioned in the Phoenix ICE thread. Now I know why Sam alludes to a close relation between my Kenwood OEM speakers and excreta ! My head still tells me - don't post this. But the heart is winning hands down, at least now. The fight will continue though.

1. Your Car:
Baleno

2. Your current setup (If any):
OEM
- Kenwood HU MP4029
- Kenwood KFC 1656 6" Coax rears
http://www.epinions.com/KFC_1656_Kenwood_6_Dual_Cone_Car_Speaker_130_Watts _Car_Speaker/display_~full_specs
- Kenwood Coax fronts (probably small brother of the rears)
- Soomoku Active Sub CB-2003A (forgive me ye gods)

3. Your Budget:
LOW - so whats new, eh? Please, within 12K for the equipment !!

4. Do you drive most of the time or is it chauffer driven?
I drive. ALWAYS.

5. Your Music preferences (Genres, favorite artists, etc.):
In the car - Straits/Knopfler, Tull, Floyd, Led Zep, Alan Parsons Project (of late), REM, JJ Cale, Norah Jones and loads more ... 80s/90s rock, pop-rock, blues rock, very little metal. No techno/trance, No Hip-Hop, Very little hindi (say Rabbi, Sona). AND a lot of nonsense on FM too !

Additional Information:
6. Are you ready to sacrifice your boot space/modify door panels? :
- Ideally, don't want to modify door panels. Boot already has a sub.

Inputs
- I'm looking for max bang for the buck SQ at low/mid level volumes. Don't want to 'POMP up thee jam'.
- A low powered amp is ok with me. I would prefer to invest relatively more in speakers. Please note that relatively is the key word here !
- Constraint : I will retain the Soomoku sub
- Constraint : I will retain the Kenwood HU
- Constraint : I will retain the Kenwood rear speakers
- Constraint : I am not planning for front door damping right now.
- Constraint : I will ideally like to use stuff that the installer, for all our other Kolkata T-BHPians, deals in. As of now, I know he stocks JBL, Pio, Kicker, Blau, Infinity, i.e. to name the ones, that I've seen are preferred on the forum.

- Upgrade : Get new front components
- Upgrade : Get a 4-ch amp. I could take a 2-ch to drive the compos (and reduce costs), have the HU drive the rears and the sub is active anyway. However, the plan is to have the amp drive the compos and the rears. It also keeps the option open for future upgrades (can't believe I'm saying this! Pinch Pinch.)

The probable options.
Amp
JBL 60.4 - Approx 7K w/o B&W
Pio 6200 - ??
Blau GT4 - ??

Front Compos
JBL CS 2165C - 3.5K w/o B&W ??? Rediff says 4K.
JBL GTO 507 - ??
JBL GTO 607 - 6.5ish w/o B&W
Pioneer - what are the compos in this range and at what price ?
Kicker - what are the compos in this range and at what price ?
Blau - what are the compos in this range and at what price ?

How much do these Infinity components cost ? B&W , w/o B&W.
Reference 5010cs
Reference 6010cs

Rears
I have mentioned above that I will retain the OEM Kenwoods. However, the upgrade plan here would be the JBL GTO 637, maybe sometime next year.

Sigh. Over to you, gurudevs.

[low_bass_makker]

Originally Posted by shuvc

The probable options.
Amp
JBL 60.4 - Approx 7K w/o B&W
Pio 6200 - ??
Blau GT4 - ??

Front Compos
JBL CS 2165C - 3.5K w/o B&W ??? Rediff says 4K.
JBL GTO 507 - ??
JBL GTO 607 - 6.5ish w/o B&W
Pioneer - what are the compos in this range and at what price ?
Kicker - what are the compos in this range and at what price ?
Blau - what are the compos in this range and at what price ?

How much do these Infinity components cost ? B&W , w/o B&W.
Reference 5010cs
Reference 6010cs

For the amp you can go for the pioneer or the JBL..both are equally good.

For the component I would suggest to listen to a few install and then choose from them..Try running all the setups in FLAT and LOUD off mode which will give you a real picture of how the speaker sound. Best of luck.

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by shuvc

ICE has never been a burning need for me. And so till date I've managed to stay out of the clutches of this dangerous section. But alas, nemesis arrived in the most unexpected form. Fellow Kolkata T-BHPians armed with their Illusions, Hertzs and JBLs. So now you guys can sing - Another one bites the ice.

Dada, you have a remarkable gift for words and composition. Perhaps you should visit this section more often - you'll bring a lot of happiness (to add to the general mayhem)!

Originally Posted by shuvc

Blau GT4 - ??

Blau - what are the compos in this range and at what price ?

How much do these Infinity components cost ? B&W , w/o B&W.
Reference 5010cs
Reference 6010cs

Blau GT4 should be around 6350
Blau THc 172 (6.5") around 4750
(both pre-discount, with B&W)
The new Infinity Reference compos are 5020 (5.25") and 6020 (6.5"), I think.

[low_bass_makker]

I would suggest to go for 6.5 inch any day.

[speedzak]

12k? That's a great budget to start with. :
As from my experience here, I've seen many coming here with the same budget and leaves with something thrice the amount. Also, this is a good budget to get hooked onto the wonderful world of ICE mania! Bon Voyage.

Nice upgrade plan too. Yes, change the front speakers to 6.5" components. Put the tweeters near the mirror pods. You can avoid flush mounting if you don't want to cut the door pads. Make sure you don't put it in the dash facing the windscreen or on the roof near the sunvisor. Power it from the 2channels of your 4channel amp you intend to buy.
Power your rear speakers from the other 2 channels of the amp. Make sure you keep the gains under control on both the channels so that the speakers work efficiently and on their full potential without blowing up.

See if you can get the Pioneer 4channel amp which comes for around 6k. For front components, try out Hertz DSK165, ESK165, JBL GTO607, Blau THX 6.5 etc.... will be great to consider. Except Hertz ESK, others will fit in your budget with a bit of bargaining.

Get some good quality wiring and most importantly, get it installed it by a very good installer.

[rjstyles69]

As from my experience here, I've seen many coming here with the same budget and leaves with something thrice the amount. Also, this is a good budget to get hooked onto the wonderful world of ICE mania! Bon Voyage.

Am a victim too . Started off with a budget of 10k and ended up blowing 15k . Heck I love the way the system churns out good music.

Happy upgrading mate.

[shuvc]

Originally Posted by low_bass_makker

I would suggest to go for 6.5 inch any day.

# :( I was hoping against hope that there might be some suggestions to go for 5.25s to enable me to stick to the budget. How much of a difference does it make ? Say if one compares JBL 607 with Infinity 5010/5020 ?

# Do Hertz Energy and Infinity Reference belong to the same segment ? Or are they comparable to Infinity Kappa ? Not considering Hertz right now since this guy does not stock them.

# @DerAlte, thanks for the kind words. The Infinity models you mention are not there in the FXAudio site . Any pointers to their prices ?

# Are the Blau compos that cheap ? Are they comparable to the 607s ?

I would prefer a slightly refined, laid back sound - ie not too bright.

@zakkie, I'll try to be wary of you. Your intentions do not seem to be entirely noble

[speedzak]

Hey! I'm a NOBLE guy. Ask my close friends and You'll know why. Or you can check my profile a bit closely.

If You're not considering Hertz right now, then I would recommend you to go for Infinity. According to my personal tastes, I would choose Hertz Energy range above Infinity Reference. But there are many who like Infinity reference better than Hertz energy. You should listen to both and see what suits you best.
Isn't there a BHPian who has Hertz in his car? Try a demo in it.

[low_bass_makker]

Originally Posted by shuvc

I would prefer a slightly refined, laid back sound - ie not too bright.

Hmm...then dont think a bit further go for Illusion Audio speakers. The fellow BHPian razor4077 is having Illusion Electra in his car, you can audition the same...

The price of 5 inch model is 5950 and the 6.5 inch is for 6450.

[shuvc]

Does that mean that Infinity, Blau, Pio, Kicker are all bright ? JBL I've read here, is.
Which among the above would be the 'least bright' ? Unfortunately I may not be able to audition most of them. Hence to an extent I would have to depend on the feedback here.

[shuvc]

Which Pio components (model nos), under 10K, are normally available in India ?

[speedzak]

6.5" Illusion compos for 6k+ is a good option I assume. I haven't listened to it.

It is better to stay away from Pio speakers. Or are you interested very much?

If you think JBL is bright, then I assume you like a bit more laid back, lush music. Right?
Try out those fellow BHPIANs cars. Wait till the next meet and do a listening session in each for some time.

[Rudra Sen]

shuvc, you're dead meat now! You really have no clue as what you got into.

One honest suggestion though. Please change your sub.

I don't visit ICE section bacause I don't understand and my ICE sounds for my kind of music is good (or I feel). But I'll be watching this thread closely for sure.

[pugram]

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

shuvc, you're dead meat now! You really have no clue as what you got into.

But I'll be watching this thread closely for sure.

Why does ICE always be clueless.

And why do i have this sinking feeling whenever i think of doing some thing for my car and that too with a very tight budget

This inspite of watching sam's videos on youtube

Maybe its always a fight between the Heart and the Brain. The heart demanding better and the brain showing it the budget

My Logan needs a basic ICE setup. But not yet decided on what to do? Hmmm the sinking feeling again.

[shuvc]

Originally Posted by speedzak

6.5" Illusion compos for 6k+ is a good option I assume. I haven't listened to it.

It is better to stay away from Pio speakers. Or are you interested very much?

I liked @razors setup, which had the Illusions.

But my constraint right now is - "I will ideally like to use stuff that the installer, for all our other Kolkata T-BHPians, deals in. As of now, I know he stocks JBL, Pio, Kicker, Blau, Infinity, i.e. to name the ones, that I've seen are preferred on the forum."
This is primarily 'coz @razor needed to go through the hassle of waybills for the speakers when they were coming into West Bengal.

Seems like 607s are my only realistic options. And then maybe, I need to tune the setup for them to sound less bright ?


Et tu @Rudra Sen ??!! But seriously, I'm trying to get max bang for the limited bucks I'll be spending now. Hence focussing on compos and amp now. But even then, your thought is kinda dangerous. If I have to future proof the addition of a sub later, I'll should ideally go for the 75.4 amp now. Or forget about it now, and spend a bit more later to get a monoblock amp + sub. But why am I rambling on here ? 'Later' is quite some time away !!!