Swift gets the ICE setup

[iPlay]

Hello Forum,

I am a regular visitor of the ICE section for the past few months. When I joined the forum, I didn't even had the car but was planning to take one. Music was always my prime addiction, so I thought this time I should get a good ICE installation. My initial budget was 20K, which I thought was huge. But then, like most of the other posters, what happened to that budget is obvious.

The installation was done in stages. What I meant it is, the initial configuration got changed in 3 or 4 stages.

Initial configuration was:

1. Head unit - Alpine 9884
2. Front stage components - Polk Momo series components
3. Amplifier - JBL 60.4
4. Sub - Polk db 1201
5. RCA - Scosche EFX
6. Speaker wires - Tsunami

To a complete newbie like me, this was really good. The 4 channel amp was driving the front components and the sub in bridged mode. I really liked the way components played drums, strings etc. Vocals were sounding bit hollow. But bit more tuning improved that a lot.

Head unit was the first to go. Heard another car with Alpine 9887 and couldn't resist to get one. Awesome head unit. Sounds really sweet and the time alignment is pure magic. I need not write anything more about 9887. Its already a hit in TBHP.

During this time, I got a chance meet our very own Greenhorn and he auditioned my ICE. To my great surprise, he found out that the Polk sub is rated 2ohms instead of 4 ohms. I have no idea how it escaped my attention. This subwoofer was selected as per the recommendation of my installer. Immediately he was contacted and he promptly agreed to replace the sub with any model in that price range.

Next the amplifier got changed to Alpine MRP F240 (used). Its a discontinued amp. But to me the 40W/channel from the alpine amp is much much better than the 60W/channel from the JBL. The compos and the sub sounded much cleaner.

The sub replacement was urgent. The Ground Zero Mark II sub was getting good reviews here. So contacted Ajay (B&T). He recommended the GZTW 30T sub because the MkII was discontinued. Got the 30WT from him. At that time, an Alpine monoblock (MRD M 501) appeared in the classified section and the seller was Ajay himself. Got the amp from him. Sweet deal, I must say. The low freq department is now literally 'blessed'

Thanks a lot to Ajay for answering my numerous calls, mostly regarding the installation of sub. The sub is installed in a sealed enclosure of 1 cft volume, driven by the alpine monoblock. This setup liberated the two channels of Alpine F240 amp. Initially I was thinking to bridge 2 channels and feed each of the components. But as you know, the tweeters of Polk are notorious. They sound really harsh, even at the -3db setting on passive crossover. So the idea of bi-amping the components came in. Also the F240 amp lacks crossover. So I was using the active crossover on 9887. I was told that the bi-amping will give more control over the tweeters. Hence the speakers were bi amped from F240. The result really came as a surprise to me. The rogue tweeters are now behaving like perfect gentlemen. Bi amping has really tamed them. Also the midbass became livelier. Now there is ample power for all the speakers.

The whole setup sounds great. Front stage is totally awesome. But the sub was playing bit disjointed. Again called Ajay and he suggested to change the polarity of the sub. Problem solved. Now the integration is perfect. I am totally delighted by the setup. In my previous car, music was played to cut the boredom. But it is not like that in the new car. Like many TBHPians I spend a lot of time in the car, listening to music, tuning etc.

Today my ICE was auditioned by a team of doctors (Jk das, Nandan, Redfire and Greenhorn). Hopefully they will offer their valuable comments soon.

My sincere thanks to all the audio gurus in this forum. The discussions/suggestions in various threads helped me immensely to shape up the ICE. Special thanks to Ajay and greehorn for the honest suggestions.

Happy me

[iPlay]

Here are the pics.

1. Alpine MRP F240 4 channel amplifier
2. Alpine MRD M 501 Monoblock amplifier
3. Ground Zero Titanium 30WR Sub in sealed enclosure
4. Polk Momo component- Mid bass on stock location
5. Close of the tweeter
6. Tweeter location.
7. Alpine 9887 Head unit.

[Nandan]

Nice shots of the Compos and the Tweeters. You are proving again that you are a professional in photography.

Pocket damages in detail please!

[vibhu_f430]

Great setup mate !

Any damping done ? My swift is falling appart, Lots of new rattles after my sub's came in .

[greenhorn]

anyone know the frequency response ( specifically the lower cutoff freq) of the GZTW 30T? the mono has a parametric eq, an since the box is ported, was thinking might add a little bump in the region where the output starts falling off so that it goes down a little deeper. Its in a sealed box

[frankmehta]

im quite amazed to see such a refined setup sir. honestly when i spoke to you on the phone, i didn't know the setup was so elaborate. let me congratulate you and tell you that the choice of equipment is really top notch. I like the pictures too! great setup and you know your music well. hope you like your setup and enjoy every single moment that you spend in your car.

cheers!!!

PS: congrats again!

[chipfoose]

congrats iplay, that is a decent list of equipments, damage to your wallet please. have you done any damping on the front doors?
rock on dude!

[hydrashok]

Congrats, iPlay! I think this is the first active setup (off the 9887) on the forum. Do let me know when you pass through Kochi. I'd love to audition your setup.

[greenhorn]

He's also looking around to swap his comps , which I feel is needed. anyone volunteers for him to audition ?

[abhinav.gupta88]

Congrats on the setup buddy.
Hope you are enjoying the GZ Sub.
Do get the damping done else the GZ will make your car part fall to ground.

And ya do upgrade the Compos up front atleast. Cheers!

[Bass&Trouble]

Originally Posted by iPlay

But the sub was playing bit disjointed. Again called Ajay and he suggested to change the polarity of the sub. Problem solved.

Congrats iPlay! The setup looks good. Reverse polarity is the usual cause for bass to sound hollow and disjointed.

Originally Posted by hydrashok

Congrats, iPlay! I think this is the first active setup (off the 9887) on the forum.

I don't think he's doing active off the 9887 from what I understood from speaking to him over the phone. He is still using the passive crossover, but he has bi-amped the components. Thus he can trim the tweeter levels much more than that allowed by the passive crossover.

Originally Posted by greenhorn

anyone know the frequency response ( specifically the lower cutoff freq) of the GZTW 30T? the mono has a parametric eq, an since the box is ported, was thinking might add a little bump in the region where the output starts falling off so that it goes down a little deeper. Its in a sealed box

It does go pretty low for a 1 cu. ft. sealed box. I would not advise adding any equalization. Atleast I never have had to with this sub, tastes can differ. Just make sure there isn't any equalization already that is causing some boost at some higher frequency like between 60-100Hz, and also that MX is off and EQ is defeated in the head unit.

[hydrashok]

@B&T, best of both worlds that way, I guess. Lesser tuning complexity (of active setup) and somewhat better control in cutting down the tweeter levels. Nice!

@iPlay & greenhorn, possibles for Audition:
Kochi
1) Mine
2) ID CTX + Audison Lrx
3) Rainbox SLX265 + Blau4xx (forgot no., heh heh) when Zak gets back
4) Random setups being installed/hanging about at my installers'

The folks other than me have to volunteer, but I don't think that will be a problem here, as long as they are free

[iPlay]

Originally Posted by Nandan

Nice shots of the Compos and the Tweeters. You are proving again that you are a professional in photography.
Pocket damages in detail please!

Price breakup:

Alpine 9887 Head unit - 22.5K
Polk Momo components - 16K
Alpine MRP F240 4 channel amp (used) - 8K
Alpine MRD-M501 Monoblock amp (used) - 8K
Ground Zero TW 30T - 7.9K

Damping (front two doors + boot lid) - 5.5K
Wiring, Sub enclosure, Installation (in many stages) - 7K

[iPlay]

Originally Posted by vibhu_f430

Great setup mate !
Any damping done ? My swift is falling appart, Lots of new rattles after my sub's came in .

Thanks.
Yes, I have done some damping.
Front doors of swift are held only by a few clips. LOL!
I have damped the front doors and the boot lid. Here are some pics. I was not there when the boot lid was damped. The installer seem to have put some nylon puff (or glass wool) inside the boot lid. It feels heavy and opens with bit difficulty. I fear it may eventually damage the hydraulic system.

[karankapoor]

what type of damping is inside and on the door,5.5k for this much damping as seen in the pics is expensive.

the installation look pretty good congrats!!! enjoy