It was ICE upgrade time for my car and I had given a listen to Infinity 6020 cs, JBL GTO 607, Illusion Audio Luccent Series, Illusion Audio Carbon Series and Hertz components (Vipers car). And one day while speaking to Bass&Trouble a.k.a. Ajay, I came to know of a new range of speakers from Illusion Audio in the name of Electra Series. I wanted to hear them before I settled for something amongst the brands mentioned above.
I still remember sitting in the Wagon R parked at Kalaghoda parking lot. I was simply dumbfounded with the SQ of these speakers. I carried my own music collection and did almost a 25 min listening session before falling in love with them (Sorry for burning your LPG Ajay). Rock, Trance, Jazz, et al. you name the genre and the speakers didn't disappoint me even once. Initially I thought that the amps must be the Steg but later found out that they were some basic Ground Zero amps. The sub was a Illusion Audio Electra 12 inch sub capable of handling 400W RMS on its two coils. The response was just PERFECT. Just the way I wanted it to be. Bas, decision was made to get these speakers for my car.
When the question of amplification arose, Ajay recommended the JBL GTO 75.4 x 2 combo. One amp dedicated for 4 speakers and the second one in 2-ch mode driving each of the sub's voice coils. Now a big problem was that the sub wasn't available and I simply wanted it. I was given many options like the Ground Zero sub which I had earlier heard in the same Wagon R but I insisted that I will only go for the sub I liked the most. After all the pestering and pricking Ajay managed to get one assembled for me but it wasn't ready at the day of install so I decided to get the one in the Wagon R off for my car until my sub arrived. I have to give a big thanks to Ajay for letting me use his sub because he voluntarily took it out of his demo car setup and replaced it with the Ground Zero sub
.
The final config I chose was:
Front comps: Illusion Electra EL 6.1 Rs. 6,490/-
Sub: Illusion Electra EL12-D4 Rs. 5,250/-
Amps: JBL GTO 75.4 12,990/- (Of course I got a discount thanks to Sam)
Wiring kit: Ground Zero 4-gauge amp Rs. 4300/- (approx)
Wiring kit Amp# 2: Existing Ichibahn IKIT8 (8 gauge wiring kit) for the amp driving speakers.
Damping: Noise-Kill Rs. 3,000/- to cover front doors. (Works great)
Speaker cable: Illusion Reference RSC16.50 14m - Rs. 2,100 x 2
Subwoofer enclosure: (ferocious) made at home by carpenters and will be changed soon.
Rear fill: Used the existing Alpine S-Type.
Head Unit: Using the existing Pio 7650. Will be upgraded to an Alpine 9830 (the weakest link in my setup)
These are MRP's and I did get a fair discount in the final bill.
The installation was done
professionally at FM Drive in Khar off Linking Road and I am yet to come across an installer who does an impeccable job as these guys. They have soldered / crimped each connection. Used speaker cups on the sub enclosure. Wired the amps well. Added a plank on the rear seat without any instructions. And charged me a paltry amount for this. Only problem that happened was getting the setup running. It was getting dark after the install and I had to head back to Pune soon. The amps when connected ran into protect mode. Gosh! a good day ruined. I knew there was some issue and if given time it would get solved but I was just not willing to stay back. After a few calls to Sam and Ajay it was decided that I take the amps back to Pune from the place I bought them and get them checked to avoid any further damage. I agreed and ran the front comps temporarily off my existing Magnat 2-ch amp. The speakers sounded brilliant even with an amp which is not designed to be for SQ. Drove back to Pune and for further story refer to
this thread from post # 78 onwards.
I didn't click much pictures of the install but I will do so after the final install is done. The sub hasn't moved ever since it was installed. Its just a basic 4 speaker install.
Damped doors:
Compo's in front door (I will be getting some better door pad fabric made later.
Sub Box:
Does this look like a used Sub?
Crimped connections on the crossover:
And the lunch we had with V-16 and Viper at Kobe's (Thanks Jiggy for the treat). Gogi, isn't this the only picture in which Jiggy is not smiling
A big thanks to Ajay, Sam, Navin, Shrivz, Amey, Karl, Razor and everyone from the ICE section!