[karthikpra]

Gurus, I bought a used octavia VRS few month ago. The owner seemed to have had an elaborate ICE system, which he partially dismantled while selling the car. I have no idea what these components were. The amps and the subs are missing. Basically, the expensive stuff is missing .

Lately I realized that I have 6-8 speakers sitting idle in my car. I am thinking of getting at least some of them back online. The problem is i don't know what I am missing to get the setup back to its former glory. I am adding pictures of all the components present. Any help in identifying and suggesting improvements will be deeply appreciated.

I also have this problem were the HU continues to play music at a low volume when either the mute button is pressed or the volume is set to 0 . Any insights?


HU :- Alpine CDE-W203E


Front door :- Focal 165 A1


Below dashboard :- Focal tweeters?


Trunk:- Kicker tweeters?


Trunk:- Kicker K5.2


Trunk:- Kicker speakers?


Trunk:- unconnected wires

[HimuraKenshin]

Well, it looks like you have a good head unit.
Keep the focal speakers in the front.
Get rid of the kicker components as they are very bright and if placed behind may shift the image to the back.
Get ird of ALL the wiring, i cant emphasize on this enough.
The wires in the photographs are horrendous.
Most of the RCAs are cheap ones of BOSS make.

I would suggest:
Keep the HU
Keep focal access front components
Get a decent 12" sub such as powerbass, JBL, pioneer.
Design a a good ported enclosure (you have to design an enclosure for the sub, do not put it into any enclosure, PM me if you need help)
Get a good 4 channel amp such as the infinity kappa four, or the powerbass 600.4

Power and ground wires would be 16mm finolex.
Speaker wires would be 2.5mm finolex or havels
RCAs would be monster, earthquake or Audison.
cheers

[nitinbose]

Originally Posted by karthikpra

Any help in identifying and suggesting improvements will be deeply appreciated.

This would depend on what type of audio setup you'd intend to have. If you simply require a car audio system for normal listening, simply connect the existing speakers to the HU and you should be fine. This requires the minimal investment.

If you'd like to have a more elaborate setup which would provide a higher SPL and punch, you may want to consider an amplifier and subwoofer. You may start with a 5-channel amplifier, to start with, which would cater to most. If you're still keen on an even better setup, opt for a 4-channel and a monoblock amplifiers, DSPs etc.

I would suggest you to evaluate yourself on what type of setup you are considering and the budget you're willing to part with.

Originally Posted by karthikpra

I also have this problem were the HU continues to play music at a low volume when either the mute button is pressed or the volume is set to 0 . Any insights?

There could be an attenuation setting which might be set on the higher side. In such cases, even on mute or "0" levels, the system would be slightly audible.

[navin]

Originally Posted by karthikpra

Gurus, I bought a used octavia VRS few month ago.

Lately I realized that I have 6-8 speakers sitting idle in my car. I am thinking of getting at least some of them back online.

HU :- Alpine CDE-W203E
Attachment 1179074

Front door :- Focal 165 A1
Attachment 1179087

Trunk:- Kicker K5.2
Attachment 1179077

Ok what you got is an Alpine HU (this is not the HU Skoda supplised - the OEM HU was the Alpine 9830) and pair of speakers (Focal in the front and Kicker in the rear).

This system is acceptable and for a minimum invenstment (wiring) you can just drive all 4 of these speakers directly from the HU.

The item you labelled as Kicker Speakers is actually a crossover that is essential for the proper fucntioning of the kicker woofer and tweeter. A similar crossover for the Focal speakers will also be present somewhere in te car.

The HU will connect to these crossovers (2 Focal + 2 Kicker) and then the crossovers to their respective woofer/tweeter.

Now as mentioned earlier this system has it's limitations. The most obvious one will be lack of bass. You can amend this by adding an amplifer and subwoofer. A 4 channel amp and subwoofer (minimum upgrade path for bass) will cost you about 15K.

PS. knowing that the W203 has only 1 pair of RCA outs, you will find 2 wierd looking boxes probably in the dash (behind the W203) that convert speaker level singals to line level signals. You do not need these if you are not adding an amplifer.

For more see here.
http://www.alpine.com.au/files/curre..._CDE-W203E.pdf

in short let us know what you intend to do, what you hope to spend, etc.. and mabe we cna guide you better.

[karthikpra]

Originally Posted by nitinbose

You may start with a 5-channel amplifier, to start with, which would cater to most. If you're still keen on an even better setup, opt for a 4-channel and a monoblock amplifiers, DSPs etc.

There could be an attenuation setting which might be set on the higher side. In such cases, even on mute or "0" levels, the system would be slightly audible.

Sadly, I don't have a peer group that's into ICE. So, i quite don't know what i am missing. I enjoy my music and I want it to be better than what it is right now, but i quite can't put my finger on what i want. Its a conundrum.

How should i go about fixing the attenuation problem?

Originally Posted by navin

Ok what you got is an Alpine HU (this is not the HU Skoda supplised - the OEM HU was the Alpine 9830) and pair of speakers (Focal in the front and Kicker in the rear).

The item you labelled as Kicker Speakers is actually a crossover that is essential for the proper fucntioning of the kicker woofer and tweeter.

in short let us know what you intend to do, what you hope to spend, etc.. and mabe we cna guide you better.

Hi navin, pardon my ignorance . It all kinda makes sense now. Thanks for the detailed explanation of the setup and the HU manual.

I am willing to spend around 15K now and another 15K in the next couple of months based on how the first set of increments play out. It would be great if you guys could suggest incremental upgrades.

[adisag]

Originally Posted by karthikpra

Gurus, I bought a used octavia VRS few month ago. The owner seemed to have had an elaborate ICE system, which he partially dismantled while selling the car. I have no idea what these components were. The amps and the subs are missing. Basically, the expensive stuff is missing .

Lately I realized that I have 6-8 speakers sitting idle in my car. I am thinking of getting at least some of them back online. The problem is i don't know what I am missing to get the setup back to its former glory.

At the risk of sounding totally naive, could you not get in touch with the original owner and just buy the old setup from him? I suppose he removed it assuming he would get no additional value for it while selling the car, but in all probability he is trying to sell the stuff on ebay for half its worth

[karthikpra]

Originally Posted by adisag

could you not get in touch with the original owner and just buy the old setup from him?

The car was sold through a broker and the car was registered in the name of a company. I don't have any idea who the owner is.

[IshaanIan]

Hi mate, you've got a decent set of elements that you can use. And with a 15k+15k budget you can make it a lot better. The kickers as pointed out, are a little too bright so they could go, a subwoofer based on your need can be sourced, so can a good amp and maybe even a monoblock with damping. Wiring and re-installation of the entire system needs to be done again though. I was a novice when it came to ICE setups just about a year ago but ever since then I have been learning and I believe I have accumulated quite a bit of knowledge so I also know the best places to go to for installation of ICE at this point in time (keeps changing because installers shift from store to store quite often). I will be back home in Hyderabad in a couple of days, we could meet and discuss your taste in music and perhaps zero in on a setup you'd like. I could even show around the city's ICE installers.

Do shoot me a pm if you're interested because it would be nice to meet a fellow member from Hyderabad and also someone who owns a vrs

Cheers!

PS: what you mentioned to be kicker speakers are actually crossovers

[navin]

Originally Posted by karthikpra

How should i go about fixing the attenuation problem?

I am willing to spend around 15K now and another 15K in the next couple of months based on how the first set of increments play out. It would be great if you guys could suggest incremental upgrades.

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

a subwoofer based on your need can be sourced, so can a good amp ...damping. Wiring and re-installation of the entire system needs to be done again though.

I will be back home in Hyderabad in a couple of days, we could meet and discuss your taste in music and perhaps zero in on a setup you'd like. I could even show around the city's ICE installers.

karthikpra,

here goes as IshaanIan suggested a 4 ch. amp (JBL, Kenwood or Pioneer all sell for about 6K like this one http://pioneer-india.in/shop/gm-6500f/ ), a sealed box sub (around 6K) some RCA wires and install labour (3K) = 15K (the 4 ch. and drive the sub and front speakers)

If the previous owner has not damped at least the front doors I would damp them. However if this is done then for the second 15K I would get a mono block from JBL, Kenwood or Pioneer for 10K (like this one http://pioneer-india.in/shop/gm-d8500m/ ), and spend 5k for tamer rear speakers IF you find the Kickers too bright.

BTW from what I can see of the wires left in your trunk the previous owner has used a monoblock and a 4 ch. amp (as recommended above). Granted the wires are ordinary but I would check the Live Level converters (you will find 4 of these behind the HU) in case they are of good quality. Why spend when you don't have to.

Disclaimer: I have no commercial interest in Pioneer, just linked to their products as an example of the type (rating, size, and quality) of amplifier you can expect to get in your budget. Oh and don't let those list prices scare you, expect good discounts when you shop.

[karthikpra]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

I will be back home in Hyderabad in a couple of days, we could meet and discuss your taste in music and perhaps zero in on a setup you'd like. I could even show around the city's ICE installers.

Do shoot me a pm if you're interested because it would be nice to meet a fellow member from Hyderabad and also someone who owns a vrs

I would love to catch up. Contacts in the ICE world would be a great leg up. The meet would have to be after Christmas, though. I will be out of town till then :( . Will PM you when i get back.

Originally Posted by navin

karthikpra,

here goes as IshaanIan suggested a 4 ch. amp (JBL, Kenwood or Pioneer all sell for about 6K like this one http://pioneer-india.in/shop/gm-6500f/ ), a sealed box sub (around 6K) some RCA wires and install labour (3K) = 15K (the 4 ch. and drive the sub and front speakers)

If the previous owner has not damped at least the front doors I would damp them. However if this is done then for the second 15K I would get a mono block from JBL, Kenwood or Pioneer for 10K (like this one http://pioneer-india.in/shop/gm-d8500m/ ), and spend 5k for tamer rear speakers IF you find the Kickers too bright.

Thanks navin. That sounds like a solid plan . Will update the thread when I make my choices.