[DigitalSoul]

Quite like all TBHP'ians, I just love to explore options before I buy anything and it comes quite close to my heart when the purchase in question is related to technology. After having made the impulsive decision to buy XUV and getting it delivered, there were only two niggles which kept me unhappy about this otherwise simply superb SUV.

1. Mediocre Quality Speakers
2. Fact that I can't change the position of middle row even by an inch

After a long thought and debate whether or not I should 'play' with the electricals and electronics of the new vehicle, I finally decided in favour of replacing the speakers and the great search began. After giving myself a hard time on internet for 2-3 weeks I started visiting installers in Pune and collected all possible information I could.

Finally I decided to go for the specifications below -

Front - Focal Polyglass 165 VB Comps
Rear - Focal Polyglass 165 VB Comps
Amp - Focal Solid 4 Black
Damping - Focal BAM XL 1 Kit - All four doors damped (75%)
Hilo Converter - Rockford Fosgate - 2 Nos
Scosche Wiring Kit
Rockford Fosgate RCA Cord

There is no point in giving detailed costing as I bought it around early Feb 2012 and the current costing could be little different with recent poor performance of INR. But in all it costed me around 55k that time for everything including installation.

Installer did a fantastic job in getting it right first time except the position of rear tweeters. No hiss fiss even at the lowest volume as reported by some other XUV owners here. The only problem was we were not able to decide the best position for rear tweeters so tried a couple of positions using two-sided tapes for nearly 2 months before finally deciding to place them near AC vents around rear door hinge. This position gives the best effect of tweeters as it is far from ear levels and quite identical to front comp-twitter position.

The comps just replaced stock speakers using the same plastic ring provided by Mahindra. I did buy the MDF rings for this purpose but installer was more comfortable and quite confident with provided plastic rings and requested to trust his experience. The damping is covering around 75% of the area inside and not 100% as I was imagining earlier. That is probably the difference between theory and practise

Focal Solid 4 is placed right under driver's seat and wiring is done under carpet going towards HU.

Two HILO converters are placed around HU, all connected using given wires, Power is taken from battery, Amp is tuned using alan keys until your ears start appreciating the music and that's it.

So far I am more than impressed with this upgrade. No need to mention that the sound quality is much much better as compared to what I had earlier and overall acoustics is just terrific even at medium volumes.

If you ask me about the epic battle between coax and comp for rear position, I would say, if your budget allows, it is worth going for same comps at rear. I know most of the Audio-Gurus here would disagree with me.
If you are caught in two minds about this decision of comps - vs - co-axial for rear position, please feel free to visit my place for demo, if you could.

Thank you Focal.. Thank you Team BHP..

Here are some pics and an important video taken during installation. Hope they are useful for reference.

You would observe that the quality of photos is just getting better as you go down as I could not control buying the fastest phone on earth with the world's smartest camera - HTC One X on the second day of its launch replacing my ageing HTC Desire bought on the first day of its launch

XUV 500 - Drilling for Rear Tweeters

- Thanks to iMovie for helping me to add the impressive cover to Video and subsequent seamless upload on YouTube

[dockap]

Hi, Thanks for the install pics. Did you have to open the center console for the installation. The W8 i think has curtain airbags so would it be advisable to install the tweeters in the B pillar?

[nitinralli]

Originally Posted by dockap

Hi, Thanks for the install pics. Did you have to open the center console for the installation. The W8 i think has curtain airbags so would it be advisable to install the tweeters in the B pillar?

Its a W8 as you can see leather seats in one of the pic. As for the curtain airbags, since they are placed in the driver seats (i think so, please correct me if wrong), hence there should be no issue in drilling b pillars.

[AGwagon]

Originally Posted by DigitalSoul

1. Mediocre Quality Speakers
2. Fact that I can't change the position of middle row even by an inch

DigitalSoul great upgrade... I am planning to get done the exact same jobs in my 'UV, but my pocket keeps bringing me back to the ground. I am sure by the time I get around to do the ICE upgrade, I will scour through TBHP to look for options.

As for the second job, I recently travelled in the bench innova, and studied quite thoroughly the requirement to put the middle bench on rails, but haven't yet got hold of anyone who can do this. Have you had any luck in this department?

thanks

[DigitalSoul]

Originally Posted by nitinralli

Its a W8 as you can see leather seats in one of the pic. As for the curtain airbags, since they are placed in the driver seats (i think so, please correct me if wrong), hence there should be no issue in drilling b pillars.

Yes it is W8 and there is no danger to airbags because of this hole. No issue with the AC airflow too.

Originally Posted by AGwagon

As for the second job, I recently travelled in the bench innova, and studied quite thoroughly the requirement to put the middle bench on rails, but haven't yet got hold of anyone who can do this. Have you had any luck in this department?
thanks

Although I have very tiny hope of finding someone who can do it including Mahindra, I would not take the risk of getting this done from any Non-Mahindra entity as this is related to safety and stability of the vehicle.

[AGwagon]

Originally Posted by DigitalSoul

Although I have very tiny hope of finding someone who can do it including Mahindra, I would not take the risk of getting this done from any Non-Mahindra entity as this is related to safety and stability of the vehicle.

How does putting the seats on the rail, while still using the original latches/locks between the seats and the floor, a safety and stability issue? I am obviously not talking about having it done by someone who is not capable of doing a good job.

If mahindra had any intentions of doing so, they would have done it, there is no rocket science here that they are trying to figure it out (no offense). They deliberately did not do this, as they know this will open XUV for the taxi segment.

[DoneAndDusted]

thanks! this would be very useful

[kmirchia]

Hi DigitalSoul
great setup. Would appreciate your input on a few things:
1. What was the size of the default speakers - front and rear? Were there any fitment issues with the 6.5 inch drivers?
2. You mention you had to use two separate LOC's ? I thought you would need to use only one.
3. Did the installer say he would need to open up the entire dash for replacing the OEM tweeters, or is the new front tweeter location just your preference?

[DigitalSoul]

Originally Posted by kmirchia

Hi DigitalSoul
great setup. Would appreciate your input on a few things:
1. What was the size of the default speakers - front and rear? Were there any fitment issues with the 6.5 inch drivers?
2. You mention you had to use two separate LOC's ? I thought you would need to use only one.
3. Did the installer say he would need to open up the entire dash for replacing the OEM tweeters, or is the new front tweeter location just your preference?

1. Almost same size. He used the same mounting and there is/was no issue.
2. Yes, I can confirm we need two LOCs. One for Front and One for Rear.
3. There are no OEM Tweeters. Both the stock speakers are Co-axial.

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by DigitalSoul

3. There are no OEM Tweeters. Both the stock speakers are Co-axial.

Not really. The W8 comes with a 6-speaker system. Four of these are regular coaxials but 2 are supposed to be tweeters mounted on the dash.

Here is what they say on their site...

A stunning 2 DIN music player with DVD/CD/ MP3 player, FM reception through glass-embedded antenna and 6 speakers delivers crystal clear sound quality. The system also offers full iPod connectivity. Now you can not only listen to songs from your iPod on the car's infotainment system, but also control it using the system's interface.

Over and above playing videos from DVD, the system can also play videos stored in USB. There are 4 impressive speakers with 2 built-in tweeters that recreate the experience of the original studio recording.

Source (Feature->Technology tab)

[nitinralli]

Originally Posted by DigitalSoul

3. There are no OEM Tweeters. Both the stock speakers are Co-axial.

There are tweeters in both W6 and W8. Tweets are located on the dashboard right under the front windscreen. Mids are located on the doors and maybe thats the reason you got confused bout the tweets.

[kmirchia]

Originally Posted by DigitalSoul

1. Almost same size. He used the same mounting and there is/was no issue.
2. Yes, I can confirm we need two LOCs. One for Front and One for Rear.
3. There are no OEM Tweeters. Both the stock speakers are Co-axial.

Great to know about the fitment with regards to speaker size. From your pictures it seems as if the glass would pose a problem with the mounting depth, but let's hope not.

I'm guessing your installer used 2 x 2 ch LOC's rather than just using a single 4 channel one.

Originally Posted by Zappo

Not really. The W8 comes with a 6-speaker system. Four of these are regular coaxials but 2 are supposed to be tweeters mounted on the dash.

Here is what they say on their site...

Originally Posted by nitinralli

There are tweeters in both W6 and W8. Tweets are located on the dashboard right under the front windscreen. Mids are located on the doors and maybe thats the reason you got confused bout the tweets.

Thank you for confirming the tweeter location.

Would appreciate suggestions/ideas on where to place the amp - Hertz EP4X; cannot fit it under any of the seats due to the way the seat mounts are located.

[balenoboy]

Hey Guys!!! Wanting to buy Focal speaker system for my upcoming W6. I have seen a ad here in TBHP who is selling brand new Focal Speakers from a member named Bass&Trouble. it does look like a great deal.

1. Focal Polyglass Series 6.5" Component Speaker KIT 165VB - MRP Rs. 17000/-
2. Focal Performance Series 6.5" Coaxial Speaker KIT PC165 - MRP Rs. 11000/-
3. Damping (noise kill) 20 square feet - MRP Rs. 3000/-
Total price of the above package - Rs. 18600/-

I also heard that, latestly made XUVs have better speakers? PLease comment?

Also, how would be the performance, if you just replace the Front with components and rear with Coaxials and no amp? would sound quality improve?

How is the sound qualilty with a with a 4channel amp and converters connected to front comps and rear coaxials? wont it miss the woofer thump?

Please let me know? so that i can decide the setup which is the best?

[nitinralli]

Originally Posted by balenoboy

Hey Guys!!! Wanting to buy Focal speaker system for my upcoming W6. I have seen a ad here in TBHP who is selling brand new Focal Speakers from a member named Bass&Trouble. it does look like a great deal.

1. Focal Polyglass Series 6.5" Component Speaker KIT 165VB - MRP Rs. 17000/-
2. Focal Performance Series 6.5" Coaxial Speaker KIT PC165 - MRP Rs. 11000/-
3. Damping (noise kill) 20 square feet - MRP Rs. 3000/-
Total price of the above package - Rs. 18600/-

I also heard that, latestly made XUVs have better speakers? PLease comment?

Also, how would be the performance, if you just replace the Front with components and rear with Coaxials and no amp? would sound quality improve?

How is the sound qualilty with a with a 4channel amp and converters connected to front comps and rear coaxials? wont it miss the woofer thump?

Please let me know? so that i can decide the setup which is the best?

If you are spending 18K for Focal comps and coax, then i would recommend you to buy a 4 chl amp atleast. There is no point putting so much money on comps and not run them with amp. Trust me. Just replacing speakers will not help much.

[magikrider]

since there are tweeters on the dashboard itself, is it possible to replace them with tweeters of component speakers? I too am thinking of comps for the front but don't quite like the idea of making any holes where it is not. also if you require to remove the dash completely for changing the tweeters, is it advisable to trust the audio guys to mess with the dash fitting? I generally hate messing with the original fittings as fear rattling due to improper fitting. but really need to change the OEM speakers and get my XUV iced properly.