[leadf00t]

Hi Fellow TBHPians.

I have the right car for my needs and the right car to satisfy my need for speed. However driving gets boring esp on the Mumbai - Pune expressway without some entertainment on the go. Not just any entertainment but something that creates more than illusions of great sound.

I started with a dream to own a lancer, which i eventually did last December. But the insatiable thirst for better didn't end.
Hours and hours spent on TBHP did brainwash me that the sony's and kenwoods of the car ICE world are not just enough and yes if you have the budget ( which is never sufficient ) you can definitely get better that you think exists.

My saga of ICe upgrade hit a road block when i knew that i was traveling to Amsterdam,
So i held on to my upgrade since the car was anyways going to be hibernate for a while, and what the heck there was no need to hurry and ICE it, I might get better stuff in Europe So thought that Amsterdam might have something nice to pick on my way back but it was too damn costly there.


you can read some of that here

so started putting down my requirements to the guru to help and shop in India here

I came back in the last week of June saving the euros and instead deciding to do my car in India. But NO. The day had to wait. I had to travel to Chennai and met Nitrous. His reputation says that he can unearth things that seem to be impossible to find ( for me it was the JBL 75.4 ) just the mention of that and nitrous was kind enough to arrange one for me in 2 hours flat and delivered at my guest house.

I lugged the huge beast in its the-color-that-Sam-likes box all the way through the Chennai airport, the jet airways flight back to my home.

so there the saga restarts.

So now I have the pivot of my setup the JBL GTO 75.4, revered and loved by many.

Next was the front compos. I heard a lot of good about the Illusion Electras EL 6.1 and who better to reach out than Ajay (B&T). I wanted to audition it and Ajay redirected me to Boom at Carter road Bandra for the audition and installation.

I finally chose to put the below setup

1) Amp - JBL 75.4
2) Front Compos - Illusion EL 6.1 - powered by the front channels of the 75.4
3) Rear Fills - retained old Pioneer Ts-A6960
4) Ground zero PK 10 - 10mm2 cabling kit (includes amp power cables,speaker cables & 1 RCA)
5) Monster RCA for sub
6) illusion reference series 16 AWG speaker cable X 2
7) Ground Zero GZTW 12MK² Subwoofer - rear channels bridged
8) Pioneer 4050 Head unit.
9) MDF subwoofer enclosure

below are some of the install WIP pics.

The EL 6.1 mid bass , tweeter and crossover in the box


The Cabling kit


The monster RCA


The Wired Crossover


The Illusion speaker cable


The door pad opened


The MDF spacer in place




The mid-bass goes in place




The Amp grounding cable fitted.


Crossover nicely tucked behind the glove box


The cable nicely tied with plastic cable ties.




No more words for now , I am just loving the SQ out of the whole setup.


Will post more completed setup pics , configurations and impressions later in the day in further posts after the mods approve my thread.

P.S. YES O' ICE GURUS. I inevitably ended up spending more than my budget and still haven't really convinced my dad of why I need to spend more than 30K on "just a car music system" which I know is not just "any" car music system

anyone volunteering to prove to my Dad that I didn't splurge


Thanks to
Vid6639 - basic ICE discussions in the sincity metro ( btw Vid that travelogue is still waiting
B&T for valuable suggestions and redirecting to a real good installer in Zohir at BOOM
DerAlte - for the right direction and advice
Nitrous - for arranging the 75.4 and all the hospitality in Chennai inspite of the empty fuel tank
Sam,navin, LBM ,hydrashok and other ICE gurus for all the posts in the ICE section
Amit_engg , nishantgandhi , vebmetal and other guys who stole all my queries and created nice newbie guides and almost always cleared my Q's reading your threads.
Ramie2400 - for his DIY spirit to inspire me to take the plunge
and all the fellow BHPians who by their innumerable posts added bucketfulls to my knowledge.
please forgive me in case I missed anyone's name unintentionally.

MODS: sorry for the long post. but yes more yet to come.

[s0uljah]

Hey! Nice choice of equipment

Turn off the rears for a while so you can actually experience the comp's performing. If your driving then who needs rear's anyway.

Enjoyyyyy

[leadf00t]

Let the pictures do the talking.

I have to get back to work otherwise I might have to break my records of leaving office by 6.30

Please excuse the bad quality of some pics my phone doesn't take great pics in the night

[leadf00t]

Originally Posted by s0uljah

Hey! Nice choice of equipment

Turn off the rears for a while so you can actually experience the comp's performing. If your driving then who needs rear's anyway.

Enjoyyyyy

thanks s0uljah.

yeah actually I can turn them off anyways they hardly audible.
will try tonite.

[esteem_lover]

Nice ICE. sad that we could not meet you, but you met nitrous, that makes up for us.
cheers & enjoy

[razor4077]

Nice choice of equipment man! Front compos and amp are same as in my Lancer. And those compos dominate the sound stage, in a VERY pleasant way!
Enjoy the music

[VJ_MAVRICK]

Congrats on your ICE upgrade and enjoy the music.

[hydrashok]

Congrats, leadf00t! Good stuff there! Enjoyyyy!

So nitrous is the guy to see for hard-to-get stuff, huh?

[nickoo]

nice setup, clean install. IMHO..remove the sub grill doesnt go with the setup.
Enjoy ur ICE!!

[low_bass_makker]

Hmmm enjoy music bro.

Also is the damping done ?

[PatienceWins]

Congrats!! Nice install.

Nitrous, I hope to use your services in the future.

[ramie2400]

nice install vineet really good stuff,so finally you ICE'd your lancer,i see you have a NOS tank in the boot

[speedzak]

Nice setup bro! Good choice of equipment and quality install.

When did Nitrous baba become the ICE baba?

[leadf00t]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

Nice ICE. sad that we could not meet you, but you met nitrous, that makes up for us.
cheers & enjoy

THanks Esteem_lover . Ya I wish i could meet up with you guys. ya probably nitrous marked proxies for all of you

Originally Posted by razor4077

Nice choice of equipment man! Front compos and amp are same as in my Lancer. And those compos dominate the sound stage, in a VERY pleasant way!
Enjoy the music

Yes the 75.4 and EL6.1 make a real nice combo. I did audition the JBL And GZ compos however these really sounded very natural to me and BOY do they dominate and create a nice front sound stage.

I can really feel A R Rahman performing in front of me

Originally Posted by hydrashok

Congrats, leadf00t! Good stuff there! Enjoyyyy!

So nitrous is the guy to see for hard-to-get stuff, huh?

Thanks hydrashok. MY monday morning Expressway drives are not boring anymore and make me realise how good the whole setup really is.

I did hear a lot of nitrous and his capabilites.
However I leave it to nitrous to answer what hard-to-get-stuff he is really capable of getting

[leadf00t]

Originally Posted by VJ_MAVRICK

Congrats on your ICE upgrade and enjoy the music.

Thanks VJ_MAVRICK

Originally Posted by nickoo

nice setup, clean install. IMHO..remove the sub grill doesnt go with the setup.
Enjoy ur ICE!!

Thanks Nikoo . Itoo would have preferred to not have the grill . however there are compromises that need to be done between looks and practicality. I do frequent thane pune trips to work and have other guys with me carpooling and have loads of luggage also to carry . I am not left with too much space now with the LPG tank and the sub so have to squeeze a few things here and there.
THe grill helps to keep my GZ sub safe. btw who cares for looks when the sub can make it presence felt without seeing it

The guy named mohan who did the install at Boom did a nice job with the install and didn't compromise a bit esp on stuff like the plastic cable ties.

Originally Posted by PatienceWins

Congrats!! Nice install.

Nitrous, I hope to use your services in the future.

Thanks PatienceWins. I hope your patience to wait for my install pics does make me feel like a winner

Originally Posted by ramie2400

nice install vineet really good stuff,so finally you ICE'd your lancer,i see you have a NOS tank in the boot

Ramie Anna. NOS Tank LOLZZ I just hope that tank was really a NOS tank.
With it i would just be able to rip my thane pune trips in less than an hour.

With that kinda tank i would have to say NOS "bottom's up" and not NOS shots

Originally Posted by speedzak

Nice setup bro! Good choice of equipment and quality install.

When did Nitrous baba become the ICE baba?

Thanks speedzak.

Originally Posted by low_bass_makker

Hmmm enjoy music bro.

Also is the damping done ?

thanks LBM . No I already overshot my budget so had to skip damping.
Ah. so is it already time for another upgrade? Nah...

for now i dont think in need damping maybe a future damping upgrade will make me appreciate it even more.