[Ad1tya]

Hey,

I need a little help with ICE for my car.

I already used the search function, read up as much as I could, but I didnt really get what I was looking for, and over time as better stuff keeps coming out, Im not really sure how useful it was anyway.

The thing is, Im setting up a Carputer (Either the ION Platform or the Atom Platform, im not too sure yet, but since Im not looking to play HD Video in my car, it would mostly be the Atom platform)

Things I need are..
Amps, Rear Coax, Components, Subwoofer.

The budget doesnt include the Carputer, so its only for the above listed stuff.
Its max. 40k, but Id prefer if I could save as much money as possible :P.

What I was thinking was..

Components > Illusion Electra EL 6.1 (About 6.5k)

Coax > Illusion Electra EL 693 (About 5k) or the [COLOR=#000000]GZTF 690MK²[/COLOR] (about 5k again)

Amp for powering the Comp/Coax > ????

Im totally stumped on the Amp's & Woofer.

Woofer, I want to stick to a 12".. I already have a BassworkX Box, with a Pioneer 306DVC (really really old now :P).
Id like to keep the box if possible! :P..

Woofer > ??
Amp > ??

Music I listen to > Vocal Trance, Balearic and Progressive. A little bit of Hip-hop/RnB too.

Please do recommend the best setup for me ..


TIA.

[abhinav.gupta88]

40k is decent but as everyone would say, nothing is best.

Electras 6.1 are 7k
Electra 525 are 5250.
You can take The GZ amp to power the compos. ( Frankmehta is selling one) 9.5k if you take that.

Sub you could go in for the GZ 30T 8k
And a 2 channel / a mono for around 10k.( though am not sure if you'll get one in that range)
The rest some amount goes for Wiring + Install ( which is outside 40k ) - Sorry can't help it.

You can contact Bass&Trouble for all this and more on Illusion / GZ setup


If you can increase the budget, you can go for higher subs and a bigger mono

[zucchero]

for the subs i would recomend jbl or id.i think it will suit your application.
amp-jbl great vfm.

[abhinav.gupta88]

Yea Even the JBL 1004 is a pretty good amp.
Also you would have to change the box according to the sub recommendation.

[valhallen.282]

TO start with welcome Aditya to the ask the gurus forum. i hope your reading has taught you that at the end of the day you will be presented with options and its for you to select. you can pick up a hertz or illusion or audison 5.1 or 4.1 channel amp and save yourself a lot of trouble on the amp front. those are about 20, speakers up front you could also consider the hertz DEICI i loved the sound.

secondly the ion is the atom processor with a motherboard and graphics platform thats on steroids. even the current atoms are completely HD capable. i have a 1000H with dolby support and it is fantastic. runs just fine.

MY most important question to you is that is this a SQ OR SPL setup. if it is SPL then i suggest you do what abhinav says but i think otherwise a simple 5.1 amp for about 20k should be enough punch. add 6 k for comps and the sub and box you talking about and another 4k for rear. my suggestion is if you can try and get this halfdin head from audiobahn that is a sound processor. don't remember the name. thats about 10k

[superbhikari]

frankmehta is selling his RF 2 channel Amp for 8k. It will be quite decent to power the sub.

[frankmehta]

hi aditya! welcome to team bhp. spoke to you on erodov the other day.
anyways, here is my 2 cents.
1. Rear coaxials are not required if you drive around. You would rather use that 3-4k on better amplifiers/better sub/better front stage.
2. for the front soundstage, the illusion electra 6.1 is always my preferred choice. the best speakers below12k IMHO.
3. for the sub: you have the option of a ground zero tw30t. a very good sub that is rated @ 400W RMS.
4. for the amps: you have 2 options
a. get 2 powerful 2 channel amps. (one for the components and the other for the sub)-----MY FAVOURITE option
b. get a 4 channel amp (where you bridge all 4 channels to supply the fronts) and a 2 channel amp/mono for the sub.

the choices: well, as for the 4 channel amp, i would recommend a blaupunkt/jbl amp doing 60*4. and for the sub amp, my rockford fosgate 2 channel (325W @ 4 ohms)
or a competent mono would do fine.
the other 2 channel can come through the KMD route. 10k for the 2 channel can get you a beauty of an amp from USA.
you should look to supply about 75W to each side of the components we are talking about, and about 300 watts for the sub to utlize their potential and make the system sound awesome.

so here's the breakup:
1. Fronts: 7k
2. Sub: 8k
3. Amp 1(4 channel or powerful 2 channel)= 8-10k
4. Amp 2 (My RF/equivalent)= 8-10k
5. Wiring, RCA's, some amount of damping and Installation= 5k

there. 40k well spent. very well spent!
Installer of choice: mumbai people are lucky to have ajay kamath (bass&trouble) on this forum

[Ad1tya]

Id prefer to have Rear Coax' as well. It would just seem odd if the sound was only from the front ... Lol..

@ valhallen, What exactly do you mean by SQ or SPL setup?.. I dont get it.. Sorry :/..


I think I want to go the 2 Amp's way.. A 4-Channel Amp to power the front compo's & rears coax's.. and one Mono or 2-Channel bridged to power the Woofer.

Ill definitely have a look at frank's Amp's which are for sale.

How are the GZTC-165T compared to the Electra 6.1's??

What rear coax' should I be going for though?
The Polk DB691 or the Electra 525?.. Both are pretty decent and both are around 5.5k AFAIK?

Honestly speaking, Id rather be a little spoon-fed into this, as I'm not very good with car audio and I don't want to be picking the wrong components.

So, Im thinking..

Front Components > Electra 6.1 or GZTC-165T
Rear Coax > Electra 62/693 or GZTF-69T
Amp > GZTA 4.120MK² ? Franks?

Which one is the Electra 525? I cant seem to find any info on it?

For the Sub, hows a Polk DB1240? Seems cheap and good? Or its not good for my application?

Sub > GZTW 30T (12") or GZTW 38T (15")
Amp > Infinity Ref Series 300W Mono or a Frank's Rockford Fosgate Punch 325.2?

Thanks!

[valhallen.282]

THE i want answered by you first is do you want a theatre or a home theatre experience. the difference between the two is very vast. for the first experience i suggest you go for what frank says it will be very crisp up front and the rear will only be a fill. thats the typical old school theatre two channel audio experience.

MY option is to pick up one excellent 5.1 amp and power on. this way everything is fed a level amount of power so your wiring and power come from one place. i speak of a sound stage more for a home theatre like experience where every channel is balanced to you. so you can hear everything at a level. NO its not hard to set it up. personally i like the polk for their brightness but the electra's are a better bet. i would still ask you to look at hertz deici.

here's my setup.

5.1 amp- 20k. speakers 2 pairs-12k. sub+box-8k. wiring etc should be adjustable in this. if you are going for a car pc setup pick up the atom n280 based eeebox for 15k. to go with it the audiobahn processor should be about 12k?

[frankmehta]

for the kind of music you listen to, here's the final configuration that comes to my mind! (you forgot to mention which car though)

1. Illusion Audio Electra EL6.1 (better than the GZ 165T imho) upfront
2. Illusion Audio EL62/EL693 coaxials (depending on which car it is)
3. Ground Zero Tw30T Sub in a sealed enclosure/small volume ported enclosure (this one is a no brainer, its perfect)
4. Amps: 2 2 Channels makes more sense. Let the coaxials be powered by the car pc/head unit.
First 2 channel: Any good KMD sourced amp which does about 75*2
Second 2 Channel: My Amp/any other amp you find that does about 300W atleast @ 4ohms
Wiring and RCA and Installation with damping: You take the call.
Cheers!

[Ad1tya]

@ valhallen, what 5.1 Channel amp's are there?
As in what are my choices?..

I wont be buying an EeeBox, I can create my own Atom based machine for below 10k + around 200$ or 12-13k for the 7" Touchscreen LCD.

Frank, will the rear coax' be powered sufficiently without any amp?.. The carputer wont even provide them 20W will it? I think Id need an amp.
I have a Sony Xplod 504Z Amp right now, 4 Channel. Its just entry level crap, but its better to use it than nothing?

[frankmehta]

aditya. 20 w to rear fills is MORE than enough. its not at all required. id say, keep the sony amp for sale. you will get about 2-2.5k for it man. use that money on the rear fills. you have a budget of about 43k to play with.
get the flow? nifty penny pinching will get you more stuff for the same budget :-P

[valhallen.282]

for the 5.1 channel amp there are options from illusion, audison LRX AND SRX, hertz and a few more companies. i have a guy who was getting me a 5.1 amp for 15. ill find out the name and let you know. well if you do a build try and get something with a spdif or atleast 6 channel out. I do not think that any carpc without a headunit exists that can run speakers without an amp even if its a coax.

[frankmehta]

now that is something i dont know.. can a car pc not power coaxials without an amp?

[Digital Vampire]

Originally Posted by frankmehta

now that is something i dont know.. can a car pc not power coaxials without an amp?

Computer motherboards (in a CarPC) give standard 1V line level signal at best. There are some high end sound cards which give 4-5V line out though. But they cost more than twice that of the Atom board itself. In any case, we'd need an amp to drive the co-axials.

@ OP: Just a note on Sound Quality: Quality of on-board sound from motherboards leaves a lot to be desired. In order to justify your 40K investments on the downstream components (amp, comps, sub..), also consider investing in a good quality sound card since the overall quality can only be as good as the source. In your case, the source would be the motherboard sound chip (ALC662) which in my opinion is compromised compared to the rest of the system.

Here is what I use. HIPPOhifi - The Bloat with the 24Bit Burr Brown DAC upgrade and the works!