[frankmehta]

Originally Posted by shreyasma

What should we speak about? The ICE or the camera?

Do something about the sub wires Frank. Looks a lil scattered

the sub wires will be hidden soon. last night i just moved the enclosure to show dad the amplifiers. hence the pulled wire.

the camera is nice, init??

Originally Posted by pranava999

thanks mate. the ice bugs biting you deeper and deeper. when do we see the 'horned' esteem next??

i already have 2 sets of horns in my esteem. only problem is, they are for the people outside to hear.

[frankmehta]

some photos of the subs in the boot.

[nitinralli]

Yaar Frank, how are you able to control yourself. I mean you have those 2 beauties in the back but cant play them to there potential. I myslef have been waiting for a week now for my ID Sub to complete its 30-40 hours of Run-in. I mean common man, why do you need to have them run in. Cant they all be already been taken care of before??

[karankapoor]

@nitinrali The subs in frank car does not need that run in period as they used ones so he can run them at full potential without any problem.

[Amey]

So Finally its up and running ! Congrats on the refreshed install.

So when do I get to audition it ?

[frankmehta]

Originally Posted by nitinralli

Yaar Frank, how are you able to control yourself. I mean you have those 2 beauties in the back but cant play them to there potential. I myslef have been waiting for a week now for my ID Sub to complete its 30-40 hours of Run-in. I mean common man, why do you need to have them run in. Cant they all be already been taken care of before??

hi nitin. one subwoofer was already in my car and the second sub is brand new. but then again, luccent subwoofers are not meant to be pushed hard (they can, but i dont like it!). they are best kept at sane volumes, and their skills are best enjoyed over longer periods of time. yes, for a few days i shall avoid songs that push subwoofers to their extremes.

Originally Posted by karankapoor

@nitinrali The subs in frank car does not need that run in period as they used ones so he can run them at full potential without any problem.

one of them was already playing in my car and the other one has just been installed. so yea, i will have to break one of them in!

Originally Posted by Amey

So Finally its up and running ! Congrats on the refreshed install.

So when do I get to audition it ?

thank you, thank you. whenever you make a visit to mumbai, please do come. my car and me, both will be highly honoured by your presence

[pranava999]

What's this about running in a sub/speakers. First time I have come across this concept. Sounds interesting, no pun intended . Can someone throw some light on this?

[karankapoor]

Like we need to run a new car say about 1000km is as same you need to burn the coils for about approx 20 hours. That is why it is not recommended to hear the install at full volume.

[Bass&Trouble]

Originally Posted by pranava999

What's this about running in a sub/speakers. First time I have come across this concept. Sounds interesting, no pun intended . Can someone throw some light on this?

In subwoofers and midwoofers, the parameters for optimum performance are reached after the driver has been played for some time. This is what is 'running in' wrt speakers. I have observed the Fs of some drivers to fall by as much as 10Hz in some instances.

[pranava999]

Thanks Karan and B&T. 10Hz is quite a bit.

[mnhegde]

Congrats for the new install frank. Eclipse (and the whole setup) looks superb man .

@ Karan & B&T: I didnt know that we need to run in new subwoofers for a few hours, before pushing them to limits . Thanks for the information friends.

[Bass&Trouble]

Originally Posted by mnhegde

@ Karan & B&T: I didnt know that we need to run in new subwoofers for a few hours, before pushing them to limits .

I didn't say that. You can't cause any harm to a brand new subwoofer that you could otherwise avoid with a broken-in piece. Both will be equally susceptible or resistant to any damage due to abuse. Just that the new one hasn't settled into the optimum parameters yet.

[frankmehta]

I have already spent a LOT of time (alongwith a lot of fuel, idling with the A/C on at all times) listening and fine tuning my setup in the last 2 days!

And thus far, I have noticed one quirk of the Eclipse CD7200MKII, and that is its ability to literally tear apart any recording and allow you to evaluate it critically. If the recording is bad (most Indian '320 kbps' MP3 tracks) the recording will sound bad, period. But throw a relatively well recorded track at it, and the Eclipse will astound you with its honesty and mind bogglingly honest reproduction of the track. I have heard the SAME recordings on my Alpine CDA-9887, from the SAME speakers (albeit on a different amplifier, but an amplifier does not have any positive/negative effect on the detailing) and trust me or dont, but the constant emphasis of the mids and highs of the Alpine CDA-9887 made some part of the music MORE prominent than the other parts and therein lied its inherent weakness. The Eclipse, on the other hand does NOT accentuate anything. It tries to project the recording the way it was meant to be heard. That's the beauty of the Eclipse!
In my first few listens, I was slightly disappointed, as I was used to hearing exaggerated mids and highs (9887) which made the head unit sound 'better' to many, but in actuality, took away some of the originality of the recording.

Mind you, both head units have ZERO equalization dialled in, and all 'performance enhancements' like Circle Surround, Harmonizer, Media Xpander etc. were switched off before I made any critical evaluation. I would like to state, cheekily albeit, that the Eclipse raises the front stage even more than the 9887, and makes the tweeters 'sing' more accurately.

Of special mention is the ability of the Eclipse to improve midbass performance to no end (could also be attributed to the clean power from the DLS amplfier that just wakes up the speakers!) There were songs where I thought midbass was slightly lacking in the 9887, but the same songs sound just perfect in the Eclipse now. Try Sara, from Fleetwood Mac in both headunits and hear the difference!


The sub-stage in my car, which is already a winner, due to the superior subwoofers and the beautiful monoblock powering them, plays so well and blends so well with the fronts, that one an easily forget that there are 2(!) subwoofers playing in the boot.
The Eclipse plays an important role here too, because the time-alignment is so accurate, that the Bass from the subs feels like its coming from the center of the bonnet. That's a feat, considering the subwoofers are in a sedan, with the subs themselves facing the boot. Such is the staging from the Eclipse.

In all, the Eclipse has impressed me to no end, and though it does have a few disadvantages, they are offset by the prime reason why I invested in it. And that is the sound quality and superior imaging. Hands down, the Eclipse is better than most head units available in the market and I love the way my system sounds!

That was the initial review for my setup. More from me on this, later.

[pranava999]

@ frank. Like it's normally stated on ice thread in the forum. It's great as long as you love it . Nice to see you so passionate about the HU and the setup. Guess EOD the the most important aspect is to feel that every rupee spent was worth it and you get the best detail for the buck! Congrats and if ever I drop into Mumbai will definitely knock on your doors for an audition. Hope you won't mind it. Cheers.

[akbaree]

I have missed this thread for really long time. But I had to pay for my ignorance with all my Saturday.

I have just completed reading close to 60 pages of this thread. And Frank I must say, that you had great ICEy journey. I mean with the kind of regularity of upgrades, it's stupendous. Congratulations on your latest upgrades and I am sure you must be feeling great discovering new limits of music.

Originally Posted by frankmehta

I have already spent a LOT of time (alongwith a lot of fuel, idling with the A/C on at all times) listening and fine tuning my setup in the last 2 days!

I am sure you must have paid attention to the Non Fader settings for phasing your Sub. As listed in the snapshot below (taken from my CD7100 manual), it has a Phase setting that can be selected for better sound integration with the front stage. I don't really understand this setting. Should we chose reverse when the subs are reverse mounted as in your case. Please tell me how much that phase setting really helped.


I would have also liked you to share your experience with subs played in stereo mode but alas you are running both your subs with a single mono.

Last but not the least, please share your experience on integrating your steering remote with the Eclipse. And if you find a way to display Idv3 tags when searching mp3 files (with the USB) using the rotary mode.

Originally Posted by frankmehta

The highlight for all of us are the Luccent Subs, and the beautiful, subtle punch and the control of the Genesis Amp over them make them the best part of the system.

IMHO your HU is adding some good extent to the authority with which the lows, mids and highs are being played.

P.S.: I am trying hard to resist from making this statement, but when are you upgrading the front stage?