Once upon a time, a Qualis was ICED. (Again!)

[speedzak]

It all started on Wednesday.
After spending some good amount of time of my life driving/being driven in a Qualis, my old Qualis was sacrificed for some new assignment in one of our construction sites. We were missing it for some time now. The emptiness it caused just couldn't be filled by an Innova.
So, it was decided to look for a good used Qualis. My search ended this Wednesday when I found this beauty by one of the brokers in my area. The vehicle was quiet old (2002 model) but very well maintained and felt great. The good thing was that the vehicle was completely stock (except a Pioneer cassette player and dual cone speakers), with full genuine service history and done ONLY 63k kms (that too genuine as we clarified from Toyota A.S.S).

Anyway, the matter is ICE here.
I thought for sometime on how to ICE this huge thingy. Our old Qualis had a Pioneer HU and JBL speakers. It still does duty in it without any trouble. Unlike the Alto, This car won't be exclusive to my use alone. It will be used by my sisters' and parents' commutes too. That means, There won't be much of Icing, whatever is done should be very stealth and should be done before I take this vehicle home for the first time (so the ICING can be blamed on the earlier owner). Also means, most of the time there will less music in the car and it will be more of vocals like Quran recitation, religious hymns, songs etc...
Thought about getting a component pair in the front and a 6X9 in the back and leave it there. Fixed the moolah to 20k including the HU.
Went to Zu Zu man. He asked me to leave the 6X9 out and use 6.5" comps for the rear too. We did it in a LandCruiser and it sounded great. So, decided that. The budget barrier was yet to be broken.
The vehicle was taken in for the install yesterday. Suddenly, the unfortunate news was leaked. No 6.5" Hertz component on stock (Sardars! Are you reading?). In my budget, it was DSK 165 which was the chosen one but now, no stock! After some head scratching, we decided to put in the DSK130 ie. 5.25 inchers. There'll be an overall loss of midbass but for this car it mattered less.
The car was stripped. Door pads came out, the speakers were lined up, spacers were made and everything was ready to go in.

I had decided on Pioneer 5950ib HU for this car. A nice HU with 3 pre-outs and some good features like iPod control etc...

We decided to do some damping to all the doors. Comps were going to be in 4 doors. So, the Fonomat was put into the job. Some good amount of mats spent. And the doors were sounding great. The door pads were also damped as necessary.

The rear speakers went in first. The woofers sit very close to the seats and tweeters were kept a bit forward. No flush mounting for tweeters. It went in the supplied pods.
Then the front speakers went in. A custom spacer was designed by Zuhemi. It also had a long edge where the tweeter pods were fitted. That also went in smooth.

Everything was connected and soon the system was powered on. After some tuning ups here and there, the sound started pouring out. And MAN!!! it was sounding very good.

Now, the trouble started!! (That was very much great and welcome!!!)
More of that and pics coming up soon. A few surprises are on store here. So, keep tuned!

[low_bass_makker]

we all are wating for the surprises.....

[navin]

Originally Posted by speedzak

Suddenly, the unfortunate news was leaked. No 6.5" Hertz component on stock (Sardars! Are you reading?).

...and you did not want to try any other brand?

[low_bass_makker]

Originally Posted by navin

...and you did not want to try any other brand?

hmmm.....ya i even did not thought of so....ya zak even a JBL 6.5 would have done a good job ......and you would be not any loss of the midbasses.....

[speedzak]

Regarding the brand thingy.
1. I wanted to do an only Hertz speaker setup.
2. Wanted to keep it look very simple. Smaller speakers helped a bit here.
3. As told earlier, Music will be just once in a while thing in this car. And it just have to sound clean and good. I think the 5.25" will do the job.
4. Ever heard Hertz DSK130s playing in full pass? It's amazing for their price and size!
5. There's a small sub going in today. That will improve the overall sound.

Still, I would've loved to see a 6.5" woofer doing duty. :

[hydrashok]

Originally Posted by speedzak

4. Ever heard Hertz DSK130s playing in full pass? It's amazing for their price and size!
5. There's a small sub going in today. That will improve the overall sound.

I second this. If you listen to the music without knowing what speaker is playing you wouldn't believe these are entry-level speakers. They sound really good. And the lack of size of the midbasses led to something else which turned out to be good. Which fit in purrrrrfectly with Zak's uh, special needs/reqts for the ICEing in the car. Zak will elaborate soon.

[speedzak]

I was very busy today. :
Had to travel about 300kms plus and still attend a meeting in the evening.

I couldn't spend some time with the vehicle when it was being ICEd.
Yes, a lot of things went in today. Audison RCA cables etc... Some pieces of good quality unbranded wiring was also used. The power cable from the battery is 4G with a fuse block. Only one amp will be doing duty in this car, so no distribution block.
The damping was rechecked. Additional damping done as needed. The floor was given some attention today and it was also damped. Roof was checked for vibrations/loose particles/other noise inducing bits and got ridden of. The wheel wells and some parts under the dash etc.. were damped too. Lots of Fonomat used today also.

The 4channel amp for the setup will go under the driver seat. It will be my old Blaupunkt MPA4 amplifier putting out 110W per channel in 4channel mode and 300W in 2channel bridged. I had once again sold this amp after getting myself an Audison SRX4. But, this came back to me some days ago and it was put to use in this car. It will power the front components and the SUB.

Install will be completed by Monday.

That's for it now. Will get the pics as soon as possible. Have to get my hands on a PC with camera connectivity.

[icemanz]

Another Qualis..n icing work tooo...I believe the baleno will have to wait !!

Let me know if I can hear the car on coming weekend.

I've heard the DSK130 at Emperor when I was out ICE shopping. They sound good and just perfect for family vehicles.

Just wondering, y a sub? I guess parentz won't enjoy the heavy bass n that too on mallu songs...man it will kill those numbers.

[speedzak]

The car won't be playing any of the Mallu songs. That's for sure.

A nicely designed Sub will not spoil any song. Especially the sub I've chosen is a very good one.
And the Sub will be set very low. The crossover will be set at 50hz or 63 hz. There won't be any or very less equalization settings (quiet difficult with this HU though), no bass boost etc.. We will try and keep it as Flat as possible. The sound should be very clean and nice. That is the only aim for now.

Yes guys! Once the car is done, I'll invite all you guys for a demo. We may even make a joy ride to one of the waterfalls nearby. (Dad won't be around for sometime).

[low_bass_makker]

waiting for the install pictures.....so zak got hold of any camera....

[maxbhp]

Zakko ...photo Dekko err....sorry , Dekna mangta hai

[icemanz]

Originally Posted by speedzak

We may even make a joy ride to one of the waterfalls nearby.

Zako, summer is at its peak n Cochin is burning.....wondering which waterfall you are referring to !!! the one in your bathroom ????

Will await your call/sms.

[nikkibike]

hmmm...... nice reason for an "ICE'y Quickie" meet today!!! How bout that Zak?!!

[hydrashok]

Zak is stuck in TVM :( I Spoke to him a while back.

[speedzak]

Sorry Guys!
Couldn't make it to Cochin today.
Will be taking delivery of this ICEd up Qualis only by Wednesday.

Didn't do much today. I think the seat covers were changed to Stanley or Gsport. No changes in ICE till now from what was explained earlier.

One small question here:
How much can a speaker rated @ 50W RMS fed with? Is it ok to give it 60W RMS?