Wassup people.
Finally got time to hit the last nail in my setup on Sunday.
For those who don't wanna read all of it, setup is:
Pioneer 6950 HU with 12 CD changer
Pioneer Rear speakers 6977, or was it 6987
Jbl 506 compos in the front
2 nos. Magnat 15" subs
Audiobahn A800T Monoblock amp running both the subs
Sony MK 222 running the front compos
Had been wanting to Ice the Ohc since a while now, and over the last few months exchanged a ton of pms with the Icemen on the forum.
Initially i had some decent Pioneer speakers at the rear and front to go with a Pioneer 6950 HU and 12 CD Changer.
This was great, made good for a real long time.
I first wanted to add a Sony 4 channel and a Pioneer sub and extract some budget boom, till, yes till i came across B&T's Garage Sale, it had some Magnat Subs for sale.
Had heard the Magnat demo car years ago, my brother had his home theatre installed by the guys as Ajay's place, and surprisingly i didn't bump into him back then.
Anyways, back to the point, recalled the demo car to be a nice sounding thing, i first thought i'll pick one sub and plug it to a 4 channel amp and use the 2 channels for the speakers. That thought didnt last too long, Ajay recommended i use a better amp.
Enter Blueraven, he helps me out with an Audiobahn A800t monoblock to run the sub, by now i'm all excited about having some fancy ice. Figure that the A800T can run two subs, i grab both the subs from B&T
Pick the subs up, eagerly waiting for the amp, much anticipated amp reaches me, rather i reach the amp!!!
In the meantime two individual boxes for each 15" sub had been ordered.
Pick the amp and subs up, stuff them into my car and i am off to the installer's place.
Chap uses Monster Cables, takes a couple of hours and its done.
Switch it on, and it sounds CRAP!!!! Too much bass, can't hear the speakers, very very bad. Something surely with the tuning, the guy installing isnt too familiar with the products being installed.
A call to Ajay (B&T), and some basic settings he tell me of, installer sets the gains to that, and everything sounds better, not great though.
While at this, the front stage, rear speakers have been left unchanged.
Pay Sam a visit soon after the install. Accroding to him, the subs sounded good, boxes were average at best and the setup didnt sound complete for obviosu reasons, i.e. the heavy rear was drowning out the puny front 4" pioneer speakers.
Take advice, few more pms with the gurus, and in a short while install the entry level JBL 506 2 way compos, few settings made to the balance and things are beginning to sound good, maybe great too.
The bass is absolutely great, have lost all of my boot to the Magnats, one thing i didnt want to, but then it all seems worth it.
For the first time, i can feel the bass from the subs rather tha just hearing it, the driver's seat is half a decent effort at being a massage chair i tell ya!!
I forgot to mention this in the start, i was intending to spend 7-8K in the start for the Sony amp and Pioneer Sub, and by then end of it all i have spent 3 times that intended budget, if not more!!
The compos provide some front stage if i could call it one, but it surely wasnt prominent. The next step was to add a 4 channel amp to power the rear speakers and front compos. After a few weeks of staying with the compos, i land up at the installer's on a sunday morning to add a JBL 60.4 to make for a good base to upgrade later.
Andddddd, then comes it, i need an HU with 3 pre outs and all that, this after waiting for an hour for the installer to reach the shop!!!
Though he did say, he could bridge it and do something else, but then i cant manage the front and rear balance, etc.
Leave it at that to get home and figure my options.
Navin suggest getting some adaptor, but quite honestly i wasnt prepared to spend further than an amp.
Sometime last week, Sam too mentioned something, but i was sorta novice to understand whaat he was really saying.
Put my foot down here, have had a Sony 2 channel 222 amp lying at home since a long time. On Sunday, i got that installed to run my compos off it.
And, now i am more or less satisfied with the outcome.
Car could surely do with damping, but i don't think thats gonna happen anytime soon.
Will upload some pictures of the install later in the evening or sometime tomorrow.
Inexpensive/free corrections are welcome. Others can hold onto them for a few months.
manson.