[supertinu]

At last it is done. I have finally got the ICE upgrade done on my XUV. Got the car in March '15 and since then been bearing the horrible stock music system for the last 2 yrs. LIving in Bangalore a good sound system in the car is your best friend, what keeps you from crossing the line of insanity. Given I survived 2yrs is commendable but finally it had to be done and time taken out from the precious weekends to get the ice upgrade.

What were the requirements from ICE

• Clarity, I am no audiophile but I can tell good sound from bad. Stock system is very avg and music gets quite muddled. Wanted some clear sounding music

• Given XUV has no room to spare with last row pulled up, the plan was not have a sub woofer box which requires removing for space, under seat is an option for future

• Didnt want to blow away too much moolah. Whatever gets vfm decent sound

Concerns before going in for ICE upgrade

• New rattles popping due to opening of door pads, dash etc etc

• warranty issues

• Prev gen XUVs HU is known to have a slight whine thats always present and tends to get amplified out of control post install. My installer ensured he will handle it before i decided to go for it

Installer - Sachin Autoshop, Koramanagala, Bangalore. Suraj, one of the owners from this place deserves a special mention. This is the third car of mine that he has touched in last 11 years and he still remembers details of issues we came across on them. I guess these small things is what gives confidence to let him get going on the XUV as well

Finalized Configuration

• Front Components - Blaupunkt Velocity VC 652, seemed best VFM components, polk/Rockford costed 2-3 times more

• Rear Doors - JBL Coax M208SI, Suraj was recomending Rockford for better mid range, but JBL gives better bass. GIven I wasnt planned to get sub, stuck to JBL

• Amplifier - Started with Blaupunkt 4CH EMA 455 during installation but finally swapped with JBL GX - A646SI. More on this later

• Went in for damping on all 4 doors to get better sound reproduction

• Suraj, got custom XUV W8 wiring kit created that required no cutting of wires. It plug n play with existing HU and compatible connectors. Makes wiring an amp so much simpler

Before I write more, some pics to do the talking for me.

First the equipment









Tearing up the interiors starts






Poor quality stock Nippon speakers









You can see the twisted pairs of the customer wiring. Couldnt take a pic before installation started. It has plug and play connectors for stock HU and existing stock connector. Makes wiring the amp lot more simpler without any wire cutting involved. Only wires cut were at the speakers since stock ones were directly soldered on









Extra damping behind the speaker on the inside of the door


Initial amp of choice, Blaupunkt after wiring up


Custom wiring was nicely marked to avoid errors


Inside of the door damped, esp all the joints


Closer look at the crossover


Comparison of the speakers


Completed front door


Rear door being put together

Final placement of the JBL amp under front passenger seat. Nicely packed with wires all hidden post installation


Ok so now with all the pics done lets talk about results of the install. First thing that happened when the system was powered on was this crazy annoying drone which was the biggest worry I had. Suraj then got into the car and started tuning the system down. After about 15mins he asked me to try it out. The whine was present though significantly reduced. Lets say at 80% but it was bothering me. Suraj confirmed the amp was sensitive at that freq and reducing further would be tricky. He proposed to try JBL which had better control and noise rejection. Went through the amp change and another round of tuning and another round of audition. This time result was 95% reduction. The whine is audible sitting in the car in a quiet place without music on, but with music playing its barely discernible. Suraj recommended to spend couple of weeks with it and see. He has some more ideas which need more time and that day with 7hrs already spend at his shop I wasn't gona spend more.

Review after 2+ wks of listening

• It sounds sooo much better. Clarity which was my main requirement is top notch. Guitars sound so much nicer

• Mid bass is good, bass guitar sounds nice, drums are clear. So far rock, hindi, punjabi, pop, hip hop all have sounded good

• Lack of sub woofer can be felt on some tracks. More felt on hip hop, punjabi kind of much

• JBL coax on rear door were a pleasant surprise. Decent vocals and bass for 2K INR in my view. Bass is actually more than the components on front

• The mild whine though present, is barely heard. I would try and get it fixed if it an easy fix, else I plan to live with it. I need to visit Autoshop for retune now that speakers have opened up well. Will check on options

• Regarding my concerns, no new rattles I can hear but then music is playing louder so dont know .

• Another thing from install, the stock tweeters are still connected. There is no easy way disconnect them without opening the entire dash. So I have 4 tweeters now. Though the stock ones are very feeble and not felt.

• Total installation costed 22K. Feels good vfm for the improvement in sound quality

Next on my list is an under seat sub at some point in time. No urgency for now. Enjoying the drive and traffic so much more. No more need to call people while driving than listening to music. And btw now I can tell GAANA app has so much better music bitrate than SAAVN, something i couldnt tell with stock install .

[Rehaan]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[nerd1200]

Hey Supertino,
Let me be the first one to congratulate you on the install!!
Having gotten a lot of stuff done at Sachin's, I can vouch for Suraj's capability. Although I must say he sure has an affinity for BP, which is no bad thing.

Wanted to confirm couple things:
1. Are you routing both front comps and rear coaxs through the amp? Or just the comps?
2. The whining noise: Was it reduced just by changing the amps? In my case, he suggested upgrading to better quality wires.

[supertinu]

Originally Posted by nerd1200

Hey Supertino,
Let me be the first one to congratulate you on the install!!
Having gotten a lot of stuff done at Sachin's, I can vouch for Suraj's capability. Although I must say he sure has an affinity for BP, which is no bad thing.

Wanted to confirm couple things:
1. Are you routing both front comps and rear coaxs through the amp? Or just the comps?
2. The whining noise: Was it reduced just by changing the amps? In my case, he suggested upgrading to better quality wires.

True about affinity to BP. Infact I have seen him move from JBL to Ground Zero to BP now. Maybe also depends on which brand is making max push in the market to get more market share.

Regarding your questions, currently the 4CH amp is driving all the speakers. Both front components and rear doors. Rear speakers also on the amp makes a huge difference to sound quality. Given the relatively larger cabin of XUV, didnt want to short change my family on the back seat

The whine sound is actually not a wiring issue. Its an inherent problem with the Nippon system on prev gen XUVs which is fixed on the newer models. Even before the upgrade, with the stock system in a quiet environment I could hear this constant buzz coming from speakers. Its mild and missed by most. With amp it gets bit out of control if not properly tuned. Saving grace is that this whine doesnt change with volume, just a base noise level. As per Suraj this is caused by the fan inside the Nippon system and there are some ways to reduce it, he knows some Nippon technician.

[mashmash]

Lovely choice of components. Could you mention the cost of the amps? I am deciding between these two models, but very confused. Apart from the whine, did you notice any other difference in the sound, BP vs JBL?

MaSh

[supertinu]

Originally Posted by mashmash

Lovely choice of components. Could you mention the cost of the amps? I am deciding between these two models, but very confused. Apart from the whine, did you notice any other difference in the sound, BP vs JBL?

MaSh

Thanks Mash. Yea these components are good vfm. In my view they are equivalent to a good set of JBLs components since they are a bit bright compared to Infinity that I have in my other car.

If I remem correctly the Blaupunkt amp was about 6K and Autoshop guys didnt charge me anything extra for JBL when we had to change it after the whine issue. Though he did mention that JBL was little more expensive. I heard Blaupunkt only for 5mins before I decided to change cause of the whine, so I dont think I can give you a good enough answer. Top of my head same track did seem a little bit more fuller with JBL but then that could just be the tuning state of the amp.

[aakarshsharma10]

Congratulations..
I drive an XUV too and completely relate to the problems you faced.
Last year I decided to get rid of the problem and a friend helped with a solution

What I got installed:
1. Front component speakers - Rockford fosgate
2. Rear component speakers - Rockford fosgate
3. Blaupunkt underseat sub-woofer and amplifier 300W (one unit)

And the sound that came out was so nice and crisp.. it feels like you're sitting in a room with a surround audio system.
And the best part is that sound wasn't disturbing at all like a typical woofer system otherwise .

[supertinu]

Originally Posted by aakarshsharma10

And the sound that came out was so nice and crisp.. it feels like you're sitting in a room with a surround audio system.
And the best part is that sound wasn't disturbing at all like a typical woofer system otherwise .

Hey Aakarsh. nice setup. Is yours the new gen XUV ? If not, did you face the whine issue?

Totally agree, the result post install is amazing even without the sub. I am sure the underseat sub woofer makes its even better. Whats the model of your sub?

[aakarshsharma10]

Originally Posted by supertinu

Hey Aakarsh. nice setup. Is yours the new gen XUV ? If not, did you face the whine issue?

Totally agree, the result post install is amazing even without the sub. I am sure the underseat sub woofer makes its even better. Whats the model of your sub?

Mine is the 2014 model, the earlier XUV. Didn't face whining issue as such..
And yup, the underseat sub does the job.
It's the Blaupunkt XLF 200A with the blue color 8' sub in the middle, costs about 12k.

[supertinu]

Originally Posted by aakarshsharma10

Mine is the 2014 model, the earlier XUV. Didn't face whining issue as such..
And yup, the underseat sub does the job.
It's the Blaupunkt XLF 200A with the blue color 8' sub in the middle, costs about 12k.

The same sub was quoted to me around 16K here which seemed tad expensive. Online sites are showing it for around 11K now. Will wait for sometime and see if any other model shows up else will buy this one.

[aakarshsharma10]

16k??
Seems too much, considering from the time I got it, it should be maximum 12k now..

[supertinu]

Been a while since I updated the thread. The music has been great and the setup has been performing well for most tracks. However once in a while with certain tracks the bottom was being missed. It was felt more even during low volumes since I usually don't listen to it very loud. Since I was clear of not going for box sub, underseat sub was the option in my mind but all options in India seemed tad expensive. Nothing was coming less than 14K range. I did some research on Amazon US and found bunch of options within 200 USD. Kicker had the best probably at around 200 USD but didn't want to spend that much. After reading lot of reviews came across this new brand called SSL (soundstorm lab) which is apparently a new company trying to do good audio at reasonable rates. Found their 8inch LoPro8 at mouth watering 98 USD on Amazon. I happened to have a business trip in Dec to US. Ordered and carried it back with me.

Installation was done 1st week of Jan by Sachin's auto shop. Again clean installation and complete new set of wiring for the amp. Its placed under the seat and fits perfectly. I had done measurements before deciding on this model. Here's my review of the sub

• Build quality is great. It weight more than 7kgs and very solidly built. Does not look like any cost cutting despite the price point

• Sound quality is great. I have done some tuning on my own to bring to my taste. It fills in the bottom end just right and gives that missing punch. Don't expect your heart to reverb like traditional subs. Its a low profile underseat 8inch sub and work in line with that. It does make sure you don't feel anything is missing from your music.

• I have a 10 inch sub in my Figo and man that thing can really blow. Underseat 8 inch in my view is about 50-60percent of that in terms of performance but just what you need for complete music.

• Comes with a volume control which makes it very convenient. Have installed it under the steering col area to the right. I can adjust based on my liking. Have increased the gain to about 80% but keep the vol reduced, give flexibility while driving and listening to diff tracks

Overall very happy with the new addition. My ICE upgrade is complete now and even more enjoyable. At about 100USD its a very value for money proposition. Link below if anyone is interested. They also have a 10inch version which is tad more expensive. I didn't get it since it wont fit under the seat.

https://www.amazon.com/Sound-Storm-L...rds=SSL+lopro8

Another update on the whine. With the installation of sub, installer has reduced the gain a bit more from the other amp which powers door speakers since I don't need base from them. That has reduced the whine a bit more. Now its about less than 5% of orig and hardly felt during driving. It is heard if you listen to music sitting in car with engine turned off, which doesn't happen often for me.

[mtnrajdeep]

Originally Posted by supertinu

After reading lot of reviews came across this new brand called SSL (soundstorm lab) which is apparently a new company trying to do good audio at reasonable rates. Found their 8inch LoPro8 at mouth watering 98 USD on Amazon.

Hi Supertinu

I too am considering getting the LoPro underseat sub for my XUV. Any particular reason you didnt choose the LoPro10 model?

Also, as you mentioned that you took dimensions before finalizing on the sub, can you please share the install location and the possible dimensions? I'm guessing that you installed under the driver's seat - would the LoPro10 model fit below the passenger seat?

Thanks!
Rajdeep

[supertinu]

Originally Posted by mtnrajdeep

Hi Supertinu

I too am considering getting the LoPro underseat sub for my XUV. Any particular reason you didnt choose the LoPro10 model?

Also, as you mentioned that you took dimensions before finalizing on the sub, can you please share the install location and the possible dimensions? I'm guessing that you installed under the driver's seat - would the LoPro10 model fit below the passenger seat?

Thanks!
Rajdeep

hey Rajdeep, yes the primary reason for choosing 8inch over 10inch was the dimensions. The exact dimension of the sub are printed on the pic of the packing box. You can click on it to see it clearly. Based on this measurement I figured that it may a little tight fit but should go in. I have it placed under driver's seat since the other amp sits under passenger seat. I am posting few more pics below to give you an idea. The struts of the seat are about 13inch apart and the amp is about 14 inch wide. So I had to push it in at an angle but it sits fine behind. 10inch model might be tough to get in there since it will have more width and depth. If you keep it length wise then it will interfere with the feet of the middle row passengers




Few more points about sound quality based on my experience so far

• Given that its an underseat sub, the impact is more in closer proximity. So the boom and depth is felt best in driver's seat and also passenger's seat. However there is a reduction for the rear seats, definitely ok for middle row but I am sure 3rd row passengers may feel sub is weak. Works best for me since i am always driving and rest of my family doesnt like too much boom

• The remote volume control knob of the sub is very useful feature but its control is not linear. Most of the control happens within first 40% of the movement

• LOpro10 would surely handle lower frequencies better than LoPro8 given the size, but if placement is further from driver seat then the gain may not be as perceptible.

[mtnrajdeep]

Originally Posted by supertinu

hey Rajdeep, yes the primary reason for choosing 8inch over 10inch was the dimensions. The exact dimension of the sub are printed on the pic of the packing box. You can click on it to see it clearly.

Thanks for the tip! I was looking at the dimensions on Amazon site where they mentioned less than 0.5 inch length difference between LoPro8 and LoPro10. But when I looked at the dimensions in your pic, it was different. Finally went to Soundstorm website and checked the specs. It turns out that LoPro10 is about 15 inches in length!

Going for the 8 inch model now. Considering that I dont even use the third row, it should meet my requirements completely.