[bassman]

And its finally done... After a wait of over a year, I finally have the kind of sound I always dreamed of.

When I bought my Punot Active Black, the OEM ICE setup was less than pathetic. No bluetooth/USB connectivity, bland controls, and absolutely depressing sound quality, lead to a lot of burned MP3 cds and boring drives.

OEM speakers: flimsy paper cone, unbranded, Made in Poland


So, I finally approached theICE setup in 2 phases (due to budget considerations of course.

Phase 1: Details (and associated problems) can be read here

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/ask-gu...ut-issues.html

1. HU: Pioneer DEH-4490BT - Standard 1 din HU with BT, usb, cd etc. Handles bluetooth connectivity without any glitches, and plays almost every file format thrown at it.

2. Front: Infinity Primus PR6502is
Good crisp highs. Budget focals, but they do the job. Plan to upgrade to JBL GT9 comps in the near future.



3. Rear: JBL Coaxials CS6
Nice all round sound. Decent bass response



4. Damping: Silencer: Bafna said this is some US company, but since he didn't have anything else, went ahead with this. Damped just the area behind the speakers (small patches on the doors). I will eventually get all 4 doors and the boot lid dampened.



The setup produced really sweet highs and mids. Acoustic guitars and vocals are crisp.
However, I also listen to a lot of rock and metal and when playing RHCP the front speakers seem to distort a lil when push the volume to above 50%. Also, being a musician and bass guitarist my self, I seriously missed the 'boom', even in the tracks by my own band. I couldn't hear my own parts in my car!

So 6 more months of savings, (and selling of some of my own bass guitar gear), I scraped up enough moolah to go in for the 2 components that I desperately needed.

1. JBL GT x646 4 Channel amp:
There have been enough discussions and reviews on this forum, and needless to say, this is a beautiful product. I plugged in the front focals into the front channel and bridged the rear into the sub. This gave a beautiful balance to the overall sound. Left the fronts as full range and set the LPF on the subs to around 125 Hz.
It took about a week of driving around, listening and constant tweaking to get the sound spot on, considering that my interests in music range from Wadali brothers to children of bodom. So everything from hindustani classical music to grind core head numbing heavy metal had to sound perfect.
The installation was done under the passenger seat, and looked neat.



2. JBL CS1215B 1100-watt, 12" subwoofer:
This is the pride and joy of my car. Encased in a beautiful JBL box, this provides tight punchy bass. Its heavy and built like a tank. Set in the boot, this truly makes me grin like an idiot everytime I turn on the stereo system. Every song... every single song, without exception, sounds amazing on this. The kicks are tight and the bass is right there in my head. Minor tweaks on the fly for individual songs are done through the HU EQ settings.
As mentioned above, LPF through the amp is set at around 125Hz, gain at 11 'o clock.
The HU also has a built in SW control, which I have set at 125, with 0 gain.


I am happy... for now

[eagle_bush]

Congratulations on the upgraded setup.

Can you share the details and the cost of the damping material you used? I am planning to upgrade the HU in my Punto and get the damping done. I was looking at Dynamat and a comprehensive full door and boot damping.

Any pictures of the damping would be great!

[bassman]

Originally Posted by eagle_bush

Congratulations on the upgraded setup.

Can you share the details and the cost of the damping material you used? I am planning to upgrade the HU in my Punto and get the damping done. I was looking at Dynamat and a comprehensive full door and boot damping.

Any pictures of the damping would be great!

Hi eagle_bush,
I am sorry I couldn't take any pictures of the damping done here. The only damping sheet he had was some brand called silencer (see the pic above).
I was charged 1500 for the damping, but it was only 4 bits, just behind the speaker cones. He basically cut up 4 squares of about 1 sq ft each and stuck them behind each speaker.
This does not work. I still hear buzzing at times, and i will need to get the damping re-done
I would advise you to go ahead and damp all 4 doors.
As per some of the other posts on this forum, dynamat for all 4 doors costs around 5-6K. I believe there's a cheaper alternative called noisekill. Just do a quick search on this forum, and you should find details for both brands.

Go for it. Its worth it

Here's a couple of good ways of damping
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/sound-...-ice-fied.html

[Safari_Beast]

Originally Posted by eagle_bush

Congratulations on the upgraded setup.

Can you share the details and the cost of the damping material you used? I am planning to upgrade the HU in my Punto and get the damping done. I was looking at Dynamat and a comprehensive full door and boot damping.

Any pictures of the damping would be great!

Hello eagle_bush

Why dont you look at Dampmat , its very good damping and it better then dynamat . Dampmat costs less then dynamat . Here is the link to the thread of dampmat . http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/produc...at-xtreme.html

[linuxmanju]

Thanks for a nice write up mate. I also own a Punto 90 HP Sports edition, and the OEM set up sucks big time. I went ahead with JBL comps + Cerwin Vega amp + Rockford Fosgate R1 sub while retaining the stock HU. Spent around 25 Ks sofar. To be honest I am still not satisfied with the sound setup. I think the culprit is the OEM HU.

I wanted to change the HU, however decided against it as I was worried about losing steering mounted controls and Blue & Me. But right now I think I made a mistake of not going ahead with a different HU. Could you please post a picture of the HU on the dash mate ?. I would love to have a look at it and see how well this one matches with the overall dash/interiors. BTW do the steering controls work with this HU ?.

[599gto]

Hey bassman, that's a neat budget install in your car I am sure it sounds good.
This is the same Ghole road Bafna motors right? I have got my set up done from Bafna too, and the owner Dhanesh bhai is one of the best traders to deal with, he doesn't push you for anything but he likes giving his customers all the options, I have always overshot my budget because his deals are too tempting to decline.
His installers are good too, they are reluctant but I have always got things done my way there, and they've never said no.
About the damping, I would suggest get dampmat too, Dhanesh bhai has still not let me damp my car, because he thinks Polo doesn't need much damping, and he will only give me Focal damping if I want, but that's too expensive for me right now.

[eagle_bush]

Originally Posted by linuxmanju

Thanks for a nice write up mate. I also own a Punto 90 HP Sports edition, and the OEM set up sucks big time. I went ahead with JBL comps + Cerwin Vega amp + Rockford Fosgate R1 sub while retaining the stock HU. Spent around 25 Ks sofar. To be honest I am still not satisfied with the sound setup. I think the culprit is the OEM HU.

I wanted to change the HU, however decided against it as I was worried about losing steering mounted controls and Blue & Me. But right now I think I made a mistake of not going ahead with a different HU. Could you please post a picture of the HU on the dash mate ?. I would love to have a look at it and see how well this one matches with the overall dash/interiors. BTW do the steering controls work with this HU ?.

Steering controls can work with any HU. I have the solution below. Check it out. I did not want to splice any wires and still wanted to retain the speed based volume and Illumination features. Few Alpine HU also support Vehicle Interface Display to support the Track/Radio station name on the MID.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/diy-do...-controls.html

Originally Posted by bassman

Hi eagle_bush,
I am sorry I couldn't take any pictures of the damping done here. The only damping sheet he had was some brand called silencer (see the pic above).
I was charged 1500 for the damping, but it was only 4 bits, just behind the speaker cones. He basically cut up 4 squares of about 1 sq ft each and stuck them behind each speaker.
This does not work. I still hear buzzing at times, and i will need to get the damping re-done
I would advise you to go ahead and damp all 4 doors.
As per some of the other posts on this forum, dynamat for all 4 doors costs around 5-6K. I believe there's a cheaper alternative called noisekill. Just do a quick search on this forum, and you should find details for both brands.

Go for it. Its worth it

Here's a couple of good ways of damping
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/sound-...-ice-fied.html

Thanks much for the references! I will shop around for Noisekill, Dampmat and the likes. Hope I get a good deal.

Originally Posted by Safari_Beast

Hello eagle_bush

Why dont you look at Dampmat , its very good damping and it better then dynamat . Dampmat costs less then dynamat . Here is the link to the thread of dampmat . http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/produc...at-xtreme.html

Thanks much for the references Safari_Beast. I'll definitely consider this as an option, if it is cost effective (as I would damp all 4 doors and the boot)!

[Safari_Beast]

Originally Posted by eagle_bush

Thanks much for the references Safari_Beast. I'll definitely consider this as an option, if it is cost effective (as I would damp all 4 doors and the boot)!

Noise kill will be cheap right now and you can get yours doors damped but in the longer run , it will create a problem . Opening door panels frequently also results in parts getting loosened up , dampmat quality is equivalent to dynamat and that too at VFM price . Dampmat has been tried and tested now in many cars now and no one has reported a single issue . Dampmat owner guarantees if a piece goes bad , he can replace it FOC provided it has been intslalled through his dealership .