[flipflop]

The moment i test drove the all new Tata Harrier, i just fell in instant love with the vehicle. Such a massive road presence, and a surprisingly easy maneuverability considering its size, resulted in an instant purchase.

I don't consider myself as an audiophile but rather an audioholic, if at all such a word exists. For those who have not seen my previous thread, kindly check out:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/car-e...s-chennai.html (29-lakh rupee audio upgrade | Concert in a Kia Sonet | Installation done at Speedfreaks Chennai)

Now, the Harrier is probably the WIDEST car in the segment and obviously, am not going to be running the stock music system. And with width, the potential to achieve a very expansive and wide soundstage presented an opportunity to consider a dream build. Yes i say DREAM cause, with any passion, the dream and the desire to achieve the best we can will always persist.

Since, my wife was going to be using the sonet, she did not want any music in her car. That left me with an entire top of the line audio system that can easily be migrated onto the harrier. But the devil inside me could not resist the urge to update. Firstly, up until that point, the music system in the Sonet was something i loved and was the best amongst all the other car audio systems i had owned earlier.

After much deliberation and discussions with Mr Karthik of Speedfreaks, Chennai (Had always been my go-to installer and a very dear friend), we decided to do one No holds barred install. The best that i could afford. The equipment was finalized( will post a detailed explanation and the reasons we picked them in subsequent posts)

Even though the Harrier is built like a Tank and has excellent cabin quietness, for the system that is being planned, the car had to be stripped and sound proofed totally.

Music from the stock was played and the vibrations, reflections etc were recorded and measurements were taken. I really wish i had done a video of how they go about this, but sadly it just did not occur to me then to shoot. As much as, the entire dashboard was removed and sound proofed. Here are a few pics.

Doorpad treated with 6 layers of damping




vibrobarrier from Dr Artex



Boot stripped and sound proofed



The floor



Entire dashboard stripped



Dashboard sound proofed

[flipflop]

POWER
Since the system consists of a few high-current requirements, the stock battery of the Harrier was checked. The car comes with an alternator capacity of 150A and the battery has a 78Ah capacity. The initial thought was to add a secondary battery since the alternator has enough juice. However, after checking the ampere requirement of the Car OEM, and after checking the Ampere requirements of the equipment to be installed, there was a sufficient head room for smooth functionality.

However, we all know that the power that comes from cars, particularly the quality of alternators used in Indian cars, the quality of the current is a lot less for optimal functioning of any good system. Considering how sensitive the equipment that is being proposed to be used, the fear of impure current flowing into the system was always a worrying factor.

After much research, a DC to DC convertor/pure power supply equipment was needed. Micro-precision, a well renowned German manufacturer of High end Car audio, has a DC-DC converter in its 7 series. This accepts the 12V (which is constantly fluctuating and is not constant) from the stock battery, and puts out a constant volt ranging from 12 to 16V( which is programmable). The output was set at a constant 14.2 V and is fed to the distribution block, from where the rest of the equipment gets clean power without any grounding issues and associated undesirable noises. JK Automotive, Coimbatore is the official distributor for Micro-Precision in India. His name is Mr.Karthik as well and is a very good family friend of mine for over a decade. The transaction was a breeze and the DC-DC converter landed at Speedfreaks, in no time.

The importance of using the proper fuses is the key. Even earlier, i had not had much belief as to how a simple fuse could help in SQ improvement. Speedfreaks had specifically chosen and procured the required fuses and once the switch happened, the difference was huge. The fuses are from Dios-dela musica, a brand from Indonesia. Specifically hand crafted and along with custom made, Gold-Plated distribution and ground blocks, the power required for a system of this magnitude is well taken care of

Micro precision DC-DC converter



Power Distribution block with Diosdela Musica Fuses



Ground Distribution Block



Microprecision neatly installed under the seat

[DicKy]

Was thinking why would anyone upgrade the music system in the Harrier before realising you are the same BHPian who did THE Sonet music system installation.

Originally Posted by flipflop

we decided to do one No holds barred install. The best that i could afford. The equipment was finalized( will post a detailed explanation and the reasons we picked them later)

Even more No holds barred than the Sonet installation? Can't wait to see the whole process. And wish one day to enjoy your music system.

[flipflop]

Thanks sir

The Sonet was indeed a very high end install. But then when we decided to do this, Speedfreaks did not want to miss out on anything.

[flipflop]

CABLES, INTERCONNECTS AND SOURCE
The big 3 update was duly completed. With the aid of the micro-precision DC-DC Converter and with the use of superb distribution/ground block, along with appropriate fuses, the power supply is now very clean with a constant output of 14.2 Volts.

Cables and Interconnects :As much as clean power was achieved, the importance of the speaker cables and interconnects really do matter. We used Tchernov supreme speaker cables and Diosdela Musica RCAs.I had the opportunity to do some comparisons in one of the demo cars at speedfreaks. The sheer musicality these RCA brought out, even in a basic two way setup was convincing enough to procure them.

Source: Garbage in, Garbage out. PERIOD. There are no two ways to it. I had retained my beloved Cayin n8ii, the DAP that was the source i used in my previous build. But then, when trying to achieve the absolute musical fidelity, there are much better and more advanced options. Music these days are extremely digital. The quest towards achieving the best, needed a lot of research, analysis and feasibility. Chord M scaler, a home audiophile grade product, which takes in a digital signal, upsacles anything to max 768 khz. Almost 16 times the original sample size of a 44.1 khz recordings. Then it transfers the same to Chord Hugo TT2 through dual BNC cables. The digital to analog conversion happens at the TT2, which features a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) DAC.

Now both these are home devices. But they operate on 15V only. Even Rob Watts, the person who designed this suggests using powering these with batteries so that no RFI gets introduced in the signal chain. Thanks to DC-DC Converter, and using a smaller DC buck, the required clean power to use these in a car became possible.

Chord M Scaler and TT2



DC-DC buck for powering the Chord

[flipflop]

ELECTRONICS:
Any system will sound only as good as its weakest link. . This statement could not be more true.

DSP:
I always consider, the Digital Signal Processor (DSP) to be the heart of any audio system. I had the BRAX dsp from my previous build and according to me, nothing surpasses its processing abilities, that is available in the market today. So the same was retained in this build as well

Amplifiers:
I had used the ground Zero Reference Amps (Ver.1) in my previous built. Up until that point and even now, those are one of the very few amps that had been extremely musical and clean. Something i would always hold onto, despite not being used. It is next to impossible to get them these days. But the curiosity and the quest towards something better was always on the cards. A lot of options were considered. Audison HV venti , Quartorigo ETC., But we finally decided to go with the Brax MX4 pro amps. Oh my, these are absolute monsters, literally. Each weighing about 12.5 kilos. We use two of them to power the front speakers. Further, even though the car is already having clean current, it was needed to include two of the BRAX capacitor/power conditioners. Despite the fact that the power transducers in the Brax are top notch, adding the power conditioners was suggested. For the mono-blocks we use Helix M one X and Helix P one MK2. Over-all, the Dsp and Amps are from Audiotec-Fischer.

While the M one X sits under the driver's seat(No place to accommodate it in the Boot), the rest of the Electronics were placed in a well designed Boot. T

The Chord products are installed on a custom designed shelf where the parcel tray is supposed to be. The brax amps has its cooling fan in the bottom. The floor of the Boot was raised a few inches to accomodate the Brax to breathe and houses the massive MX4s. The DSP and MK2 sits each side of the subwoofer

The boot layout



Disodela Musica RED RCA



Some Bling



Without lights. The final layout



Another angle

[flipflop]

The Configuration:

During 2014, in my Swift then, we had installed a four-way configuration consisting of Audison Thesis drivers and a Dayton AMT as a Super Tweeter. Two of the Audison Thesis Quattro Amps were used to power them. In the Sonet, it was restricted to a three way since, i did not have the required amplification channels.

With 8 channels of raw Brax power, nothing was stopping us from doing a 4 way again. Some may ask, why the ambience tweeter? when the human ear can't hear anything above 20 khz? . A super tweeter, or an ambience tweeter li, provides a sense of openness, space and transparency when tuned correctly. People need to listen to them to know the difference. I have two settings, one with and the other without the ambient tweeter playing and once we get used to the ambient tweeter, it is impossible to listen to music without it in car, at least for me.

Further, in a car, due to the positioning of the Mid-bass stock loactions, irrespective of how it gets fabricated or angled, there is always a huge NULL somewhere in the 53-70 Hz. And one of the ways to address that is to bring in a front sub-woofer, which fires in a totally different direction. So, it was decided that the configuration will be 5 way active, with ambience tweeter, 3 way drivers (High/mid/mid bass), a front sub, and a rear Subwoofer to play the ultra lows.

Speakers/Drivers:

From my own experience of having good ICE in my cars, i have come to understand one thing. People always believe that choosing the best speakers, which they can afford at that respective time, would decide the SQ of the build. Sadly, the above is not true at all. Yes, sometimes it is better to buy the best speakers upfront and look to update the rest of the system later. Sadly, the same is not feasible in a car due to the complexities involved in the installation processes.

Having decided on the equipment's, from getting clean unadulterated power, to a good source, to top notch electronics, interconnects, cables, fuses Etc., the next decision that needed to be made was the drivers to be used in this set-up.

In my previous build, we had used the Focal Utopia speakers. Three way upfront consisting of Focal TBM tweeters, 3WM midrange, 6WM mid-bass and 10WM Sub-woofer. Again, up until that point, these speakers were the best i ever used. I had used Audison Thesis and hertz Mille speakers earlier and the Utopia's were my favorite.

However, a build of this magnitude, combined with my own personal quest to achieve musical bliss, options of upgrading to other brands were considered. Accuton and ZR labs were the most considered brands. However, i have not listened to them personally. And having known me for well over 14 years, Speedfreaks knows exactly my taste and preferences when it comes to sound. And he, decided to take another route totally.

Ambience Tweeter:

The thought of using AMTs like Mundorf or other brands were considered. However, the key in choosing the ambience tweeter, is in its abilities as to how high it can play. The focal Utopia TBMs play very linearly up to 50khz. Even though the AMTs are relatively much cheaper, since i had the Focal TBM, it was to become the Ambience Tweeter in this set-up.

Tweeter:

I believe any system will sound only as good as the installer's capabilities. A good installer, along with understanding of proper positioning of the drivers and the ability to tune them correctly, will always bring the best from the drivers. However, the ability of the tweeter, to reproduce the highs with absolute precision and poise, depends only on the quality of the tweeters itself. Sadly, if the tweeter is not able to resolve and reproduce the highs optimally, the installer cant do much. The Focal utopia TBM from my previous build is a top-notch tweeter. Extremely detailed and plays as high upto 50khz. However, With the quest towards musical bliss in mind, multiple options like Accuton Ceramic, ZR labs Saturn etc were considered. Finally decided on the Focal Ultima Tweeters. The detail and transparency is something that i had not experienced before. It took a good 100 hours for it to break in, but once its done, the body in the highs, which i never knew existed gives goosebumps even from the recordings i had listened a zillion times.

Midrange/Mid-bass :

The focal Utopia midrange/mid-bass from my earlier build were to be discarded. Not anything else but due to my curiosity to try something more expensive and exquisite.

As said earlier, after much deliberation, the Micro-Precision Z studio, their top of the line series was selected. Speed freaks had listened to them and is totally convinced that they will be to my liking. Also, I had listened to JK Automotive, Coimbatore's skoda, which had the 7 series drivers in them for prolonged time. Considering that he is almost like family and the fact that i literally stayed in his house for over two weeks, i listened to the Micro-precision 7 series in his car and i loved its signature. I was informed that the Z studios would be in a different league. The thing is, these drivers are handcrafted by its founder Mr Thoms hoffman himself and are made only on order. As always, dealing with JK Automotives was a breeze and a pleasure and once the order was placed, he made a special request to Micro-precision to expedite the process and the Drivers arrived in no-time.


Front Subwoofer:

We were in need of a shallow sub, but at the same time a sub which is extremely fast and transisent to match the speed of the micro precision Z studio midrange. Luckily, i already had the Utopia 10WM. the leg space on the co-passenger area was very neatly fabricated. Sadly, i do not have a picture of the completed fabrication. Will upload one which i clicked during the process.

Subwoofer:

This was a no brainer. I had used the Morel Ultimo SC earlier. This time it is the Ultimo titanium 12 inches. The speed, precision and the ability to go really low is awesome in this. The only downside is they are power hungry. However, the P one MK2 puts out enough juice to do justice to these.

Speaker Placements:

A lot of time, effort and analysis was done. It was never a very quick way to decide the speaker placements. Every time, a new combination of raw-materials to make the pods were experimented. Same with Enclosure volume and angles. As a matter of Fact, it took almost 7-8 different A Pillar pods to be made, measure and decided on the current placements.

The same was with the subwoofer in the rear. As it could be seen from the Boot Pics, the positioning of the subwoofer was first decided and then the Boot layout design was made. The sub, particulary only at this particular angle and enclosure volume, plays at its best.

The Subwwofer angle and placement



Front sub fabrication



Final A pillar Design and enclosure volume for midrange



A Pillar mounted and checked for angle



Finished A pillar



More Angles



Midbass




Now, this particular build was envisaged by me and executed by Speedfreaks. It took a good 6 months, around 1200 + man hours to complete this build. All look forward now is hours and hours of musical bliss on wheel.

[Jean]

That is one hell of an audio upgrade but on a sad point you can say bye to your warranty.

[Auto freak]

Mind boggling install there!
The amount of planning and meticulous detailing that has gone into this install is breathtaking.

I’ve also been a Speedfreaks customer for a decade and 3 cars now. And even for my entry level 2-way installs the amount of attention Karthik and his team give is no less.

Wish you endless musical bliss with your new system!

[flipflop]

Originally Posted by Auto freak

Mind boggling install there!

Thanks a lot so much sir. Let’s catch up soon

[Sbk__Audiophile]

My god a Micro Precision Z Studio build. This is even sweeter. This is an all in all Brax X Micro Precision game. Utopia subs were perfect for front sub and the ultimos just rocks. This about money folks. This gentleman has an obsession that knows no boundaries. Respect.

[flipflop]

Originally Posted by Sbk__Audiophile

My god a Micro Precision Z Studio build. This is even sweeter. This is an all in all Brax X Micro Precision game. Utopia subs were perfect for front sub and the ultimos just rocks. This about money folks. This gentleman has an obsession that knows no boundaries. Respect.

Thanks a lot sir. Yes it is indeed a journey and not a destination on the quest for musical bliss

[Aditya]

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

[ike]

That is an awesome install, the finish looks really amazing. I'm sure it sounds sick too!
Would you mind sharing the costs involved?

[Sbk__Audiophile]

Originally Posted by Jean

That is one hell of an audio upgrade but on a sad point you can say bye to your warranty.

No Jean I don't understand what you said that based on. You're not into audio I guess and there's been utmost care not to cut wires or tamper anything. There's no thing to deny warranty on. Lets not get into judgements were not experts on. This might even take people aback on installations.

People doing audio should not be concerned on warranty as much as installing other aftermarket stuff tampering into. The input is from the DAP, soundproofing has nothing to do with warranty, and the headunit is also a source to DSP.