Wanted Suggestions for ICE in Santro

[Vino_David]

Hi Gurus:

To begin with, the site is so amazing and very informative.

My car is Santro Xing and has the following ICE setup:

HU: Pioneer 6950
Rear: Kicker ES693, 6x9", 3 way, 90w RMS.
Front: Boston S45, 4", 2 way, 35w RMS.

I don't have crossovers for front speakers and no tweeters. The Pioneer HU alone powers the 4 speakers. I have a feeling that the Boston in front doesn't exist. Should i put crossovers, can i put it for the existing Boston, or should i go for upgrade speakers, and what could that be ? Is tweeter necessary for any ICE setup ?

Pls also suggest a VFM sub and amp to go along with my setup.

Thanx gurus.

[DerAlte]

What happens when you Fade to front or rear? Do you feel any difference? What is your current Fader setting?

Probably the Fader is set to rear by the installer to get maximum bass out of the rear ovals. The front 4" coaxials are not likely to produce much bass.

If you feel that you are not able to hear any high frequencies in front (small bells, triangle and such) you need tweeters, which can be added with a simple series capacitor cross-over, if you feel that the current Bostons are fine otherwise.

The rear speakers would be fine. At most you need to put 4" components (4" mid-bass in the stock location, tweeter near A-pillar) like the ones from Illusion, or 6.25" components (if you need more bass in front; 6.25" mid-base on door - needs cutting of door pad and bottom panel; tweeter near A-pillar) from Illusion, JBL, Blaupunkt, ... Listen to a few installations in Santros before you decide.

[Vino_David]

the fader is in center position, but when i move the fader to front, i could hear the Boston, but overall, i hear more sound from rear only. the Boston is indeed a 4", so would crossovers improve the sound overall ?

i have one more query, when somebody sits in the rear seat, the sound from Kicker vibrates in the seat, and its quite uncomfortable (volume kept in acceptable range), is it normal to occur or if anything can be done for people in rear to enjoy music also.

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by Vino_David

the fader is in center position, but when i move the fader to front, i could hear the Boston, but overall, i hear more sound from rear only. the Boston is indeed a 4", so would crossovers improve the sound overall ?

i have one more query, when somebody sits in the rear seat, the sound from Kicker vibrates in the seat, and its quite uncomfortable (volume kept in acceptable range), is it normal to occur or if anything can be done for people in rear to enjoy music also.

Hey, simple solutions for simple problems.

a. Unless you are fed up with the sound quality from the Bostons, you needn't think of doing anything

b. Cross-overs don't 'improve' sound per se, they only channelize a certain frequency range to the appropriate speaker (sub, mid and tweeter) so that each speaker is not doing something unnecessary (like sub producing high frequencies)

c. Since the rears are significantly louder than the fronts with Fader at 0, the Kickers must be more sensitive than the Bostons. Simply move the Fader front-wards, till the Kickers kick the rear seat passengers less and the Bostons are more audible

d. Do check if the fronts are mounted in correct phase, i.e. positive of HU to positive of speaker. If not, the fronts just might sound a tad lower

A VFM amp and sub choice (as in your earlier post) would greatly depend on your BUDGET and desire for BOOM.

The lowest 'decent' setup would be a Pio sub in a tube (boomy) or box (tight) with say a Pio 6100 amp: driving the front Bostons with 2 channels, rear Kickers directly from the HU, and the balance 2 channels of the amp bridged and driving the sub.

[Vino_David]

thanx for suggestions.

i would like to go for JBL sub and amp, what would be the cost of a 10" sub and amp.

one more thing, i can see so many here prefer JBL speakers for rear and front, there is hardly any reference for Kickers, the Kickers i have fitted are really VFM, so can u plz tell me r JBL speakers (GTO) models really extraordinary.

[Sam Kapasi]

I used to be a huge fan of Kicker about 10-12 years ago. They used to have these extraodinary subs, with hand stitched surrounds that totally rocked.

I just think, IMHO, that the new kicker material mostly isn't up to the mark, almost like it isn't even the same company that made the good stuff, and you cannot compare most Kicker speakers to JBL GTO.

But this (he hastily added, lol) is only my opinion, I am sure there are many who think Kicker speakers are excellent.

[hydrashok]

I think, if you are ready to upgrade (=spend a bit of money) the best solution would be to upgrade to any decent 6'' or 6.5'' comps for thre front.

You'll need to cut the door-pads a bit to install the 6.5'' or 6'' midbasses in the door, so think of them only if you are ok with that.

If you do not want to cut the doorpads, I think the next option, as DerAlte put, would be to think of an amp to power the speakers (even a small amp to power the front would do, I think).

A no cost solution, would be to fade to the front till you can hear the front speakers, as DerAlte suggested.

[Vino_David]

what would be the cost of JBL 4 channel amp and is sub necessary ?? if i am running the rear kickers with a JBL amp

[JPL]

Originally Posted by Vino_David

what would be the cost of JBL 4 channel amp and is sub necessary ?? if i am running the rear kickers with a JBL amp

Vino try to listen to some setup on your contacts cars or at the installers and try to find out whats ideal for you.

Most of the public is happy without a sub ( ignorance is bliss) but once some one hears it, it comes on his next purchase.

A JBL 4 channel amp will cost you around 9k with bill and warranty and JBL sub with custom box around 5k.

As you may have read that frontstage is very important and you may also realise the same if you do take the effort to listen to some installs. So let the kickers be and get yourself a good 6" compo set, JBL CS vfm.

Or better let us all know whats the music you listen to at what volume, whats your expectation from your new system and of course the budget that you are able to part with for a sweeeet sounding kick a$$ audio setup.

PS: I have a xing with 4" speakers , believe me 6" cs compos would be great !! and if you want to replace the boston coax with 4" compos, still the 6" coax wins.

[Vino_David]

but i cant fit 6" compos in stock location, am i right, and i dont want to break the door either, what would u suggest ??

can i go for crossovers for my existing bostons instead, will it improve sound quality in front ???

i listen to 80's rocks and pops mostly. so is sub and amp really necessary ??? and volume level is not too low nor toooo high.

pls suggest

[navin]

Originally Posted by Vino_David

but i cant fit 6" compos in stock location, am i right, and i dont want to break the door either, what would u suggest ??

can i go for crossovers for my existing bostons instead, will it improve sound quality in front ???

i listen to 80's rocks and pops mostly. so is sub and amp really necessary ??? and volume level is not too low nor toooo high.

pls suggest

A sub and amp will help most music except maybe acapella and baroque.

a crossover will not help your exisitng bostons. what might help is getting a new HU with time alignment and using the TA to bring the sub's bass upfront.