Major ICE Upgrade in my Palio (EDIT: Car upgraded.)

[hydrashok]

No, no, no, I'm flat broke, and in debt (Mom) now :-)

Originally Posted by hydrashok

Upgrade Plan:
a) IDQ 12" DVC Sub and Audison SRx 2S Amp (I'll run the 3-ways from the SRx 2S and drive the sub & rear speakers with the SRx4).
b) Harmann-Kardon Drive+Play iPod interface.
c) Upgrade HU.

All these upgrades (mentioned in the What ICE and @ what price thread) are to be done over the next 2-3 years. I may not even do all of them, if I stay as happy as I am now. In fact I can't personally find anything wrong or lacking in the setup right now -- even with my being as fussy and hair-splitting as I am. Any of the upgrades I mentioned will only make probably a slightly better than marginal improvement (at least at my current level of enjoyment/excitement).

Earliest upgrade will be 8-10 months later (IDQ & Audison SRx 2S). And that's depending on whether I really feel like blowing another 40K (at current prices) then. The rest may or may not be done or maybe saved for the next car (esp. new HU). (But I don't think I want to sell this car for another 4 years -- not after the way it sounds now).

Zak, thanks for the nice words :-) it would never have even got done without you. And yes, the more instruments there are (esp. instruments played live -- not electronically generated), the better the music sounds now.

[quicksilver]

Originally Posted by hydrashok

Zak, thanks for the nice words :-) it would never have even got done without you. And yes, the more instruments there are (esp. instruments played live -- not electronically generated), the better the music sounds now.

Hydra Zak told me about your setup and he had some very nice things to say. I wish the installation was done before the meet so we could have checked out each others ICE.

Looks like Zak is turning out to be a great help for all ICE enthusiasts in South India. I dare say my installation would not have been complete without Zak's help. Thanks man... for your efforts and concern.

[hydrashok]

Originally Posted by quicksilver

Looks like Zak is turning out to be a great help for all ICE enthusiasts in South India. I dare say my installation would not have been complete without Zak's help. Thanks man... for your efforts and concern.

You bet! Zak has enough contacts and knowledge to get into the business if he wants to. For the extent of help and assistance he gives everybody, he should start an ICE consultancy and start charging or something :-) From non-T-BHPians of course :-)

[navin]

Hydra, It seems your system is going to be unchaged for now. Before this thread is hijacked I'm closing this thread. PM me if you got something useful to add.

[navin]

Thread reopened on Hydra's request. Hydra please post your pics.

[hydrashok]

Thanks for reopening the thread, Navin :-)

I got the car's interior -- seats, door panels, gear boot done in Art Leather from Stanley yesterday (Black & Mustard Yellow combo).

The seats (original seat fabric covers) were ripped-out, and sent to Stanley, Bangalore, 3 days back. They were also given measurements for the door panels. They stitched the new seats and the door panels to exact specs and sent them back in 2 days. They were delivered yesterday. Excellent job. The new covers fit like they were stitched onto the seats.

The work started yesterday afternoon. Stopped (not completely finished) by late night yesterday. A little bit of finishing remains and that will be done by today afternoon. The seats and the rear door panels got done in just 2 hours.

The front door-panel was a nightmare. Getting the contours right was the first issue. The next and the biggest issue, was getting the panel fixed securely and tightly to the door with screws, without the screw heads being visible on (or being fixed over) the leather-outer. After a lot of staring at the panel, the installer finally figured it out. (Whew!).

[When the panels were done first, the Zuheimi'd gotten rid of the push-to-fix fasteners that come stock, as they will sooner or later get loose and get the panel to rattle. He used a few hundred screws all round the panel to fix them tightly to the door]

To fix the "art leathered" panels, he used some kind of imported trick screws and hand fastened them one by one (bolt and nut style) with some kind of fastening thing by reaching into the door through the mid-bass's opening. In portions where he couldn't reach in, a thin assistant of his (with long arms) did the honours. They both are real patient people. I went mad by just looking at them doing the fasteners one by one. The door-panel work was completed late night yesterday. Looks good :-) The mustard colour kind of matches the yellow colour of the speaker cones. I did some high-bass and high-boom-boom testing yesterday night, and the door panels do hold up brilliantly (Whew! again).

The interior now needs to be cleaned and wiped down, and some finishing work remains in the boot (the boot is still grey carpet). The matching leather steering-wheel cover is not in yet (hasn't come in from Bangalore yet - maybe today). The 3-ways in front need to be properly checked (after the re-fixing) also. I'm taking the car to the installer today morning. Will post pics today evening.

[hydrashok]

OK folks, here are some pics. As usual, from my mobile, so sorry for bad quality.


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The official name of the yellow is "Cinnamon". I've always wanted Black and yellow interiors since the day I saw early pics of the Diablo's interiors back when I was in school :-) It is a little bling, but I'm a happy man nonetheless. *wide, stupid grin*

[Sam Kapasi]

Goes well with the colour of your speakers I would say.

[angelfire]

Its too good hydra...The Cinnamon colour matches perfectly with those cone...But noticed one thin...Why are the speakers wired from outside...?..the thick bunch of wire next to the woofers that is/...passing along with the power window wires was not possilbe is it?

[hydrashok]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

Goes well with the colour of your speakers I would say.

Originally Posted by angelfire

Its too good hydra...The Cinnamon colour matches perfectly with those cone...But noticed one thin...Why are the speakers wired from outside...?..the thick bunch of wire next to the woofers that is/...passing along with the power window wires was not possilbe is it?

Yep, the yellow does go with the colour of the cones. That's another reason I decided to stick with Cinnamon. I had a tough time deciding between Red & Cinnamon to go with the Black. But then I'd always wanted Yellow & Black, and the Red & Black combo is like too common. The cones' color clinched the deal for Cinnamon. I'm probably going to have a lot of fun cleaning the interiors every weekend.

@angelfire, thanks . There was some issue from the beginning with getting the speaker wire form the amp to go into the door through the inlet for wire for the power windows. That's why the installer wired it this way and used the sheath to protect the speaker wire. The problem was something to do specifically with my car, and not a general thing with Palios.

[navin]

Any reason to mount the XO externally?

[hydrashok]

Originally Posted by navin

Any reason to mount the XO externally?

.

Yep. I did ponder this, and decided that mounting it externally would suit me best:

1) Until I settle down with a setting, I need to do a lot of changes myself and listen to the changes myself. The XO has settings to adjust (cut/flat/boost) treble and midrange. I wanted to be able to experiment till I was satisfied. I wouldn't be able to do this with the XO hidden away. And opening the door panels for re-work once done is a very tedious task.

2) No space/provision for the XO inside the door, esp. after the damping.

3) I don't want the XO to get wet (which might happen if it is hidden inside the door, or on the floor of the car someplace).

4) I wanted the shortest possible lengths of wire between the XO and the drivers. So mounting it anywhere but the door was out.

The XO is actually quite out of the way of everything. The door handle extends about 2 cm beyond the point to which the XO juts out, and this protects the XO to a large extent.

[elf]

Although I'm not one for disco interiors (think Q-Car), I really like what you've done with the colours. The fitting on the seats are really superb. Hopefully your installer will be able to finish the door panels, etc.

Congrats - nice ride...

[hydrashok]

Thanks, elf

Originally Posted by elf

.... Hopefully your installer will be able to finish the door panels, etc.

The installer did manage to get the door-panels done really well. Pics (of the front door-panels) are in my post #68 above. The rear door-panels are just the same (I used the stock panels of the Palio as a base -- no speakers there) and follow the same scheme/design. You'll get a peek of them from the first pic here ( http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/362886-post8.html (art leather seat covers) )

[satish_appasani]

Hey Hydra. Great job done. Can you please pass me the pricing of the leather seat covers and door panels?