[santosh.s]

A few more doubts:

1. The HU as well as amps have built-in crossovers. Which one is preferable?

2. This one may sound a bit crazy- Is there any way to find out fundamental resonance frequency of the cabin (i.e. the lowest resonance) without needing professional tools (or the ones that may be available with a good installer)? I have to anyway get a suitable sub-box made, therefore if there is any opportunity to tune it, I would be willing to do that.

3. How much do I expect TS parameters of the sub to deviate from specs (specifically Qts, Vas and Fs)?

[low_bass_makker]

What are the crossover features in the HU. If you have different freq available then HU else go for the crossover in the amps..

Need not go for the car cabin freq as you are going to put it in the boot....What are the specs post it here can suggest you a appropriate enclosure volume for the same...

They will be quite close when the sub has run-in.

[ibm_jennifer]

Will this MX Site honors online orders? https://mdrelectronics.com

[navin]

Originally Posted by santosh.s

A few more doubts:

1. The HU as well as amps have built-in crossovers. Which one is preferable?

2. This one may sound a bit crazy- Is there any way to find out fundamental resonance frequency of the cabin

3. How much do I expect TS parameters of the sub to deviate from specs (specifically Qts, Vas and Fs)?

1. depends on what XO freq are available at the HU or amp and which suits your speakers better. I prefer to use the amp so that if my car goes for servicing the settings are not cleared when they disconnect the battery.

2. fundamental resonance freq of a cabin is a complex question but it need not be answered because what you need to compensate for more is things like road noise, reflections from the glass surfances and such. Due to all of this the cabin's transfer function is not as simple as most living rooms.

3. typical deviations can be +/- 10% from published specs of good companies. the published specs of lesser companies are not worth the paper they are printed on. a 10% deviation can be massive. This is one more reason to prefer sealed boxes over ported.

[santosh.s]

Sorry for the late response.

Here are details on crossovers-
2-ch amp: HPF 40-200Hz variable @-12db slope
Mono amp: LPF 50-200Hz variable @-24db, subsonic off, 15, 25Hz @-18db
HU:
In "normal" mode: off, 50Hz, 80Hz and 125Hz for both HPF and LPF. Couldn't find out the slope in this mode, but I guess it should be equal for both filters.

In 3-way mode, I can use HI and SUB (ignoring MID) and vary LPF/HPF frequencies anywhere from 25Hz-10KHz, and set slopes to -6, -12 and -18db. Normal/Reverse phase is also supported in this mode.

The speaker's freq response is mentioned as 65Hz-20KHz, but 160W RMS is specifically for 100Hz HPF! I think common setting around 80Hz should be safe (can sub be usually located at this setting? hope not.).

HU gives more control, but as Navin mentioned, it may be quite dangerous in case it is set to flat after battery disconnections (in normal mode, default is flat indeed for his HU)


Regarding the cabin frequency, all I am trying to explore is whether I can fine tune the box volume as per this recommendation mentioned by me earlier somewhere:
CDTAUDIO Premium Car Audio Sound Systems
(Basically, trying to make Fb=resonance freq. while keeping Qb in between 0.7-0.8)

One method that I know of is to measure longest internal dimension and get a rough idea of the resonance. Based on that, it comes out to be close to 66Hz (firewall to parcel tray/shield) and 55Hz (firewall to rear number plate). Cabin is far from a rigid rectangular box, so if there was any way to measure it like they do for Fs of woofers, it would be better I thought.

By default, I would make the box volume = 0.7 cu. ft. as in following plots. It is not explicitly mentioned but I believe it corresponds to 66Hz typical car (based on other plots on their site).
http://www.cdtaudio.com/pdf/EF-100%2...paramaters.pdf

And yes, I am not considering anything other than sealed box, for multiple well known reasons.

[santosh.s]

Received all my stuff safe and sound
Customs did give my friends a tough time in an attempt to extract some money, but they managed to get away without paying a single penny.

First impression is that build quality of all items is good. To keep up the tradition of ICE section, attaching a few product snaps (pardon me for not-so-good photo quality, because all were taken at night time).

The HU has one of the wires described as "OrangelWhite wire (Illumination lead).... Connect it to the car power supply terminal lor illumination."
What is that?

Pictures:
Amps, Sub and Bluetooth kit shipments (kit was unpacked before traveling)

Don't go by sizes and what is written on those boxes, sellers have used extra packing like this

Original manufacturer's packings

Nokia CK20W Bluetooth car kit

2-Channel amp- this one is bigger and heavier than what I expected.


ClassD mono amp


The subwoofer- It has solid cast basket, poly-fiber cone with rubber surround. Magnet/Motor assembly is not much in depth but it is wide in diameter, with a cooling vent.





Much talked about Clarion head unit



What is this "silica gel" and what is it used for?

6.5" Component set

Mid with carbon treated paper cone/rubber surround

Stamped steel basket, it has deep folds that make it firm I believe


So called "phase perfect, elliptical" cross-over


It supports CDT's "upstage" tweeters as well (though I don't really plan to use any)


1" silk dome tweeter. Hardware for flush, angle, surface mount is provided, but swivel mounting doesn't seem to be possible.

Everything awaiting a nice install! But I am occupied these days

[ImmortalZ]

The silica gel absorbs moisture. Good kit, please do post pics of the install during and after.

[karankapoor]

so finally you stuff landed,the built quality of cdt is really goof hope will sound as good.
when are you installing them,do click pics during the installation.

[ankit_chd]

Well the stuff looks sweet and i hope it sounds much much more sweeter ;D
Waiting for the installation , hope it comes soon . And man i wish i had those CDT components .

Off topic
How did u manage so much weight ?? Paid extra for over weight ??

[white_vdi]

equipment looks very nice indeed! wish i can do installs at home someday. really appreciate the effort.

[razor4077]

Sweet! Very nice equipment there! I'm sure you're itching to get it all fitted up Looking forward to some reviews on the CDT speakers.

OT: Could you please share what the Clarion HU box dimensions are?

[santosh.s]

Yes, I am eager to get it installed as soon as possible, but the fact is that I don't know when it will happen! Will definitely post install pictures.

Originally Posted by ImmortalZ

The silica gel absorbs moisture.

Is it to be applied somewhere?

Originally Posted by karankapoor

the built quality of cdt is really goof

Hehe.... did you really mean "goof" or good?

Originally Posted by ankit_chd

Off topic
How did u manage so much weight ?? Paid extra for over weight ??

As I mentioned in the other thread, it was planned in advance. There were many colleagues flying back together. They just checked in one box each, as a separate check-in baggage! No paying extra for overweight and no customs duty. BTW, customs officials argued that since these are car accessories, they don't qualify for exemption under "personal use" items. But I think they were bluffing, if it was a genuine rule then they would have detained the stuff for sure (and hence would have taken me for a royal joy ride). I may be wrong though, if somebody is planning to get ICE from abroad, I would suggest them to find out details about prevailing laws and validate above claim.

Originally Posted by razor4077

Sweet!
OT: Could you please share what the Clarion HU box dimensions are?

It is 5x9x12 inches (that is for the blue colored factory packing, with the additional packing it was obviously much bigger than that)

[hydrashok]

Congrats, Santosh! The gear finally got here without problems, huh? Good stuff there! Waiting to see it all installed now.

The silica gel pouch is put in the packaging just to see that moisture from the air does not get on the electronic components. You can throw it away as soon as you take the equipment out for the install. Back when we all used tapes, I used to use loads and loads of silica gel crystals to protect the tapes from moisture/fungus building. The crystals turn white after a while, once they absorb a lot of moisture.

[ImmortalZ]

And you can get them back into working shape by just microwaving them.

As for the customs duty thing, nonsense. They were trying to get money from your friends.

[santosh.s]

Originally Posted by hydrashok

Congrats, Santosh! The gear finally got here without problems, huh?

Thanks folks! Yes, it did.

Any comments about the "illumination lead" of HU? If I was to guess, it should be connected to head-lamp switch so that when I put on the lights, HU panel lights up too??