[coolboy007]

I think am one of those few members who kept waiting and waiting to get their car ICE'd and finally went in for it after a long 2.5 years of owning it. I wasnt a audiophile, decent output and a little bass for my ears would have just done it and the only brands i knew were Sony, Pioneer and JBL

Thanks to team bhp ICE section, i kept reading various threads on ICE, people getting things done the same day they get delivery and not caring for warranty like i feared and after reading ifuel's swift thread which burnt the rocket in me, i went in for a full change in the audio for my car. I was in the US for the last year and my dad isnt much interested in listening to songs while driving, on top of that we had plans to sell the Linea and instead get a hatchback but for some reasons those plans didnt cut it and i decided to stick with Linea for a few more years.

Deciding the place
There are 2 main renowned places for Delhi NCR guys, Driven and Motor concepts. I had a conversation with both but somehow i liked the approach and interest shown by Aman, Motor concepts and after a good number of positive reviews in a few weeks i decided to head there.

Called him on sunday and fixed an appointment for monday morning, i was the first in line early morning, the work started at 11:30 AM and i came out at 7:30 PM but i will get on it later.

I started with a budget of 25k and did shell out a couple of thousands extra.

HU and components
The stock HU of Linea is strictly average and mine being emotion pack had the steering controls as well as the Blu n me system, i also had a warning from dad that i should not lose blu n me in this upgrade as its a much needed feature. I had options of going in for the touchscreen systems with bluetooth connectivity etc but it wasnt as seamless as the blu n me so the decision was made to NOT change the HU, another factor was that changing it would have been out of budget.

For the components, i had heard Hertz and had liked them and asked Aman to install those but after knowing the kind of music i listen to he suggested Rainbows and told me that these were the ones hand made in germany while most are made in china. Also met a good audio tuner who does high end installs (i think jasjeet), he also suggested me Rainbows but they were 3k more than Hertz but then i upped the ante and went for rainbows.

Components - Rainbow DL-C 6.2

For the co-axials, went in for Bull Audios C0-6.

Amplifier and line convertor
With more than half the budget gone in rainbow components and co-axials, went in for the entry level Kenwood - M846. The audison convertor was 4800 so i went in for some other brand, had to compromise on quality but had no other option. Maybe i will get it changed in Stage 2.

The wiring kit for amplifier was Scosche so all done on that front.

Damping
This is our first car where i have got the damping done and its worth every penny spent. In addition to improving sound and vibrations from door panel, its helped in cutting outside noise and the already "THUD" closing doors of Linea now make a heavy "Thud"

4 sheets were used, no big brand like dynamat etc this costed 800*4 = 3200. This makes a huge difference.

Misc things
Things like wiring which came to around 16 metres, spacers and labour came to around 2.5k and after getting everything done i spent roughly 30,000.

List of things again :
1. Rainbow components

2. Bull audio co-axials

3. Kenwood amplifier with some not so well known brand line convertor

4. Scosche wiring kit

5. Damping on front two doors

6. Misc things like labour, spacers, rc lead etc.

Total spent - a shade under 30,000.

Workmanship and quality of job - This is one thing where motor concepts is brilliant in, the ace installer Pramod has a lot of patience and works slowly and peacefully on one car with dedication. My car had speaker + amp job and that took almost 6.5 hours to finish with, there is no hurrying up of work and everything is done cleanly with all wires put back in place properly with clips and wire joints covered with some heat resistant black covers.

The damping alone took 3 hours with each nook and corner being covered and heat gun used extensively to make sure things stay in place. Aman himself supervised everything and kept checking in on time to time, at the end of install, they themselves checked all power windows and door locks to make sure everything is working, Aman is a jolly good guy, i even asked for a team bhp discount in the end

Listening experience - The new speakers dont even have a 5-6 hour run time on them so i will wait for a few days to give final verdict as i was told it takes 20-40 hours of music for components to come up to their full range. Went for a long drive yesterday night and its opening up quite well.

The set up is a big difference after the crappy OEM speakers by fiat. The ancient HU is spoiling the party but have to bear it for now, the Rainbows are having excellent mids and the clarity is stupendous, am extremely happy with the shake down.

Am missing the bass thump effect and would have to go for stage 2 soon so that the subwoofer bass effect comes and completes the game. The Rainbows are quite bright but the quality is excellent, the highs are sounding just too good.

Never spent so much on ICE before (bound to increase) but am loving the results.

Stage 2
With bank account depleted in one go, would go in for stage 2 next month. Planning for a Rockford Fosgate Punch subwoofer powered by the same Kenwood amp. We will remove the amp connection to the rear bull audio and give that to the sub so that it will only cost 7-9k.

Was thinking of going in for a mono amp with a sub but that takes cost to around 20k which i am not in a position to spend right now. Have to get after market exhaust for my bike else i would have got the mono amp.

Suggestions on subwoofer welcomed.
Issues faced

Will have to get the tuning done again, there is some problem once the volumes are pumped up above 17, after a few days when the speaker burn in is done and i have the money ready for stage 2 will get this thing tuned again to my taste with the sub installed.

One irritating "krrrrr" vibrating noise is coming from left rear door, either the co-axial wasnt fitted properly or the thing needs damping. Have to get it checked.

A few pics - sorry for the low quality pics clicked by my mobile

Door panels opened apart, cleaned and prepared for damping.


Heat gun in use and damping in progress.


Done with the damping after almost 3 hours wait.


The useless stock "Made in Italy" speakers.


The brilliant Rainbows go in to the front.





The amp is bolted on to the rear seats.


All done and the car is rocking now.

[invincible7]

Congratulations on your setup... looks like it raining setup here after a prolonged silence...

Wat sub are you planning to put to "complete your system" ahh I mean for the time being.

Motor Concepts is a great place to get the installation done, have experienced it first hand around and I love their dedication towards work and customer delight.


( PS - I am noway associated with their establishment)

[nishantgandhi]

Congrats! So no DSP?

Is the damping NoiseKill brand?

[coolboy007]

Originally Posted by invincible7

Congratulations on your setup... looks like it raining setup here after a prolonged silence...
Wat sub are you planning to put to "complete your system" ahh I mean for the time being.
Motor Concepts is a great place to get the installation done, have experienced it first hand around and I love their dedication towards work and customer delight.

Thanks buddy, for the sub i have shortlisted Rockford Fosgate Punch series, will visit the shop again and try to listen to others but a friend has Rockford in his car and the bass is too good, controlled and to my taste.

When i have some more money coming in, the sub would get a mono amp to wrap it up for the time being , this section of the forum is addictive and highly injurious to bank balance.

Agree about Motor concepts, the work is neat and tidy, hope they keep up the good work and dont get carried away.

Originally Posted by nishantgandhi

Congrats! So no DSP?
Is the damping NoiseKill brand?

Thanks, no DSP for now as the budget had already been overshot as expected.

Stage 3 might get the HU changed as well but thats highly unlikely.

[Gadgetfreak]

Originally Posted by coolboy007

Thanks buddy, for the sub i have shortlisted Rockford Fosgate Punch series, will visit the shop again and try to listen to others but a friend has Rockford in his car and the bass is too good, controlled and to my taste.

When i have some more money coming in, the sub would get a mono amp to wrap it up for the time being , this section of the forum is addictive and highly injurious to bank balance.

Agree about Motor concepts, the work is neat and tidy, hope they keep up the good work and dont get carried away.

Thanks, no DSP for now as the budget had already been overshot as expected.

Stage 3 might get the HU changed as well but thats highly unlikely.

I had changed the entire system of my Linea Emotion PK. Biggest regret was that Blue n Me is gone. I am still looking for an adapter (I hope its called an adapter) which connects my HU to cars Blue n Me. I bought JVC KD AVX-44, managed to sell my inbuilt HU for 13k without speakers. Then installed Boston Speakers with JBL Reference Components and Reference Woofer and Pioneer 944 amp. It gives a very nicely decent output. Have got lot of appreciations for that. But damping work of my car has started giving away after 1yr 8 months, request you to post some more pics of damping work so that I can take clue out of it to get damping work done for my car.

[coolboy007]

Originally Posted by nishantgandhi

Is the damping NoiseKill brand?

Sorry forgot to answer the second part of your question, for the damping i didnt ask him about the brand, was some VFM brand costing 800 per sheet. I will ask Aman and let you know.

Originally Posted by Gadgetfreak

I had changed the entire system of my Linea Emotion PK. Biggest regret was that Blue n Me is gone. I am still looking for an adapter (I hope its called an adapter) which connects my HU to cars Blue n Me. I bought JVC KD AVX-44, managed to sell my inbuilt HU for 13k without speakers. Then installed Boston Speakers with JBL Reference Components and Reference Woofer and Pioneer 944 amp. It gives a very nicely decent output. Have got lot of appreciations for that. But damping work of my car has started giving away after 1yr 8 months, request you to post some more pics of damping work so that I can take clue out of it to get damping work done for my car.

Great to know that you have changed the entire set up, losing blu n me is the biggest grouse. You are right, its called an adapter only and have read they come for the steering controls to work with aftermarket HU. Dont think there is anything in the market that gets Blu ne Me working.

Are your steering controls working for the audio system? Your set up is good and changing HU must have made a big difference.

I will look for the pics tomorrow but dont have much to be honest, damping was done in 2 layers, when the door panels are removed, the damping was done on the inside of the door (behind the empty gaps (holes in the door) as well as the outer area (near those yellow screws).

Make sure the guy doing damping does it slow and easy like my installer did with ample application of heat gun to make sure the adhesive bonds properly. If budget permits you - do go in for some well known brand like Dynamat, am sure it would be worth it.

[Gadgetfreak]

Originally Posted by coolboy007

Thanks buddy, for the sub i have shortlisted Rockford Fosgate Punch series, will visit the shop again and try to listen to others but a friend has Rockford in his car and the bass is too good, controlled and to my taste.

When i have some more money coming in, the sub would get a mono amp to wrap it up for the time being , this section of the forum is addictive and highly injurious to bank balance.

Agree about Motor concepts, the work is neat and tidy, hope they keep up the good work and dont get carried away.

Thanks, no DSP for now as the budget had already been overshot as expected.

Stage 3 might get the HU changed as well but thats highly unlikely.

Originally Posted by coolboy007

Sorry forgot to answer the second part of your question, for the damping i didnt ask him about the brand, was some VFM brand costing 800 per sheet. I will ask Aman and let you know.



Great to know that you have changed the entire set up, losing blu n me is the biggest grouse. You are right, its called an adapter only and have read they come for the steering controls to work with aftermarket HU. Dont think there is anything in the market that gets Blu ne Me working.

Are your steering controls working for the audio system? Your set up is good and changing HU must have made a big difference.

I will look for the pics tomorrow but dont have much to be honest, damping was done in 2 layers, when the door panels are removed, the damping was done on the inside of the door (behind the empty gaps (holes in the door) as well as the outer area (near those yellow screws).

Make sure the guy doing damping does it slow and easy like my installer did with ample application of heat gun to make sure the adhesive bonds properly. If budget permits you - do go in for some well known brand like Dynamat, am sure it would be worth it.

Hi, Thanks for your response, will wait for the pics. I got the damping work done by one of the most skilled guys for no extra cost as he used lot of rubber & high density foam sheets to do this job and actually did a great job. As i myself own a Car Accessories shop so I had all these products available with me. Do you know anyone who is selling these adapters as I have heard they differ for various HU's also. Not sure if it is true.
No my steering mounted controls are not working and this is a let down. I am looking for an adapter to bridge the gap and start reusing steering mounted controls. Budget is no problem as the entire system itself costed me more than 60k. I will check/browse some more places and then probably get the damping work done once again.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by coolboy007

The audison convertor was 4800 so i went in for some other brand,

I did not know what to quote and hence did this as I felt it was the best.

Why do you need a converter and what is its function?

How did you power the amplifier? Where did you take the electrical wire leads from? If its the battery, how did you route it into the boot from the battery? How does the amp come on as there is no trigger?

[coolboy007]

Originally Posted by Gadgetfreak

Do you know anyone who is selling these adapters as I have heard they differ for various HU's also. Not sure if it is true.

Motor concepts would be able to arrange for it, a member got his new Swift ICE'd with a JVC HU and he is soon getting a adapter to make his steering controls work - if you want i will give him a call and ask for you, let me know which HU is it.

How did your damping come off?

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Why do you need a converter and what is its function?

AFAIK i know with my limited knowledge, the converters like Audison etc are used to create pre-outs for specific audio equipments as the stock HU wont have pre outs, this is a issue with most of the cars hence these are used.

How did you power the amplifier? Where did you take the electrical wire leads from? If its the battery, how did you route it into the boot from the battery? How does the amp come on as there is no trigger?

I was told that the amp is connected to the cigarette lighter, when ignition is on the ON position, then only does the amp come on as i had told the guys that Linea has some issue wherein the amp remains powered on even after switching ignition OFF and the reason why many people went for those Blaupunkt PNP amps.

The wiring was all done going under the black plastic area near lower portion of doors.

[Gadgetfreak]

Originally Posted by coolboy007

Motor concepts would be able to arrange for it, a member got his new Swift ICE'd with a JVC HU and he is soon getting a adapter to make his steering controls work - if you want i will give him a call and ask for you, let me know which HU is it.
How did your damping come off?

Hi, Thanks for your help. I am using JVC AVX 44. Well damping as not exactly come off but I can now hear the metal sounds when playing a little loud, just to tell you that volume level 3 or 4 in my car would be equivalent to 14-15 in other.

AFAIK i know with my limited knowledge, the converters like Audison etc are used to create pre-outs for specific audio equipments as the stock HU wont have pre outs, this is a issue with most of the cars hence these are used.

Yes what you said is right. Initially I also had used adapters to take pre outs for connecting my amp.

I was told that the amp is connected to the cigarette lighter, when ignition is on the ON position, then only does the amp come on as i had told the guys that Linea has some issue wherein the amp remains powered on even after switching ignition OFF and the reason why many people went for those Blaupunkt PNP amps.

This is one important point again. Yes when ignition of linea is turned of, amp still remains powered on. My amp is directly connected to battery but the guy who installed the ICE for me connected it in such a way that when i power off my HU, amp automatically switches off.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by coolboy007

The wiring was all done going under the black plastic area near lower portion of doors.

Got that. How does it travel from the battery and finally reach the inside of the car? Was a hole made somewhere?

Originally Posted by Gadgetfreak

My amp is directly connected to battery but the guy who installed the ICE for me connected it in such a way that when i power off my HU, amp automatically switches off.

When you power off the head unit on a Linea, it appears powered off only on the face of it. It is very much active though as it needs to support phone calls over Blue & Me and also work for the voice commands. The amplifier section of the stereo never goes off. Really curious how this was done in your car.

[Gadgetfreak]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Got that. How does it travel from the battery and finally reach the inside of the car? Was a hole made somewhere?

When you power off the head unit on a Linea, it appears powered off only on the face of it. It is very much active though as it needs to support phone calls over Blue & Me and also work for the voice commands. The amplifier section of the stereo never goes off. Really curious how this was done in your car.

Hi Sandeep,

I have just reached home. Will check throughly once and revert with an update.

Will also check with my guy who had done fitting for my car.

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Got that. How does it travel from the battery and finally reach the inside of the car? Was a hole made somewhere? ...

No need to make a hole in the firewall. The installers normally use one of the existing holes (which have a rubber grommet) in the firewall.

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

When you power off the head unit on a Linea, it appears powered off only on the face of it. It is very much active though as it needs to support phone calls over Blue & Me and also work for the voice commands. The amplifier section of the stereo never goes off. ...

When the HU is powered off, only a few sections (memory, for example) are supplied power - the amp section does not get power.

Not sure (appreciate if you try it out and update us), but if the HU is switched off, I don't think it will handle B&M at all. Since B&M is meant to work with just about any HU (with/without BT, but must have an Aux-in port), and none of the after-market HUs have a remote wake-up signal (other than the power button and the ignition switch signal), it is unlikely that any voice commands will be able to wake the HU up.

[Gadgetfreak]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

No need to make a hole in the firewall. The installers normally use one of the existing holes (which have a rubber grommet) in the firewall.

When the HU is powered off, only a few sections (memory, for example) are supplied power - the amp section does not get power.

Not sure (appreciate if you try it out and update us), but if the HU is switched off, I don't think it will handle B&M at all. Since B&M is meant to work with just about any HU (with/without BT, but must have an Aux-in port), and none of the after-market HUs have a remote wake-up signal (other than the power button and the ignition switch signal), it is unlikely that any voice commands will be able to wake the HU up.

The first and most important thing, As per my knowledge, B&M will not work with any other HU except the one provided along with car. What I have observed yesterday was even when my ignition was switched off, My HU blue power-on LED light was still glowing, but amp was not powered on as the LED light of amp was not glowing. Just imagine, if the amp was drawing power supply even when ignition was OFF the our car batteries would not have lasted more than a week or less. We would have had trouble kick starting the car everyday morning.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

No need to make a hole in the firewall. The installers normally use one of the existing holes (which have a rubber grommet) in the firewall.

When the HU is powered off, only a few sections (memory, for example) are supplied power - the amp section does not get power.

Not sure (appreciate if you try it out and update us), but if the HU is switched off, I don't think it will handle B&M at all. Since B&M is meant to work with just about any HU (with/without BT, but must have an Aux-in port), and none of the after-market HUs have a remote wake-up signal (other than the power button and the ignition switch signal), it is unlikely that any voice commands will be able to wake the HU up.

In the case of the Linea, I am absolutely sure the amplifier inside the head unit is very much active, even though the display stays off. Or it could be turning on when there is activity. Blue & Me instructions come out of the speakers. I am sure there is no dedicated amplifier for just the Blue & Me commands to be heard from all the speakers.

The head unit does handle Blue & Me when switched off. If you hit the windows logo button on the steering wheel, the display lights up on the head unit and "VOICE" is indicated. You call out for something you want to do, in my case it is mostly "Play Anything" and then "Media Player" is displayed on the head unit display. It is not just an auxilary line running to the head unit. There is complete system integration here with Microsoft Blue & Me and I am sure it won't work with any other head unit.

With the head unit switched off, once again, I hit the Windows button and say "Call XXX" and it calls the person. Head unit active only for the duration of the call.

If Blue & Me can't figure out what I am saying and I decide not to continue further, it waits a while or I could manually cancel it out and then switches off.

I still need to find a way to get an amplifier trigger to work.