[jkdas]

My two year old Alto atlast got ICE'd !

I already had a HU, Alpine 9870E which was removed from the Safari ( I got 9883 for the Safari) and hence just wanted speakers for my Alto.

• My budget was 5000Rs-6000Rs.

• Compos was out of the way coz of budget and fitting issues ( expertise & time)

• I wont be amp-ing it in future nor would add a sub.

With these in mind, I checked a shop at Alapuzha along with TBHPian drdeepdev. They shop called Raaga (IIRC) seemed to do good work and they quoted 4750Rs for co-axial for front and rear. These were Boston speakers and I was to get it fixed today from the same shop. The connector, plank and fitting charge was also included.

I went to the shop today but since they looked very busy, I drove down to another shop I had seen enroute ( its on the NH, 4-5 kms from Alapuzha town). The shop name is eXtra Palace.


About the shop; eXtra Palace.

• Lot of parking space and away from crowded area unlike that of Raaga (near QRS/Mullakkal Jn road)
• Lot of stuff on display and spacious
• No brand canvasing
• Friendly owner/employees
• Right pricing

They had Polk, MTX, JBL, Hertz, JVC, Panasonic, Kenwood, Auditor and more. They had amp, wiring kits, head units, sub/sub-in-box, etc.

Since I was on a fixed budget, my only options were JVC and Kenwood; I went for JVC co-axial for front and rear.

The front speaker: JVC CS-V416




The rear speaker: JVC CS-V6939





More later.

[monty9991]

JCV 4" for fornt will not dissapoint you at all. they are better than you expect from 4" speakers in this budget.
I also had these in my alto powered thru Amp. no issues in 3 yrs.

[drdeepudev]

Finally, the search is over. I should visit this place. Sounds better than raagam. Any way congrats on the new buy. Please do let me know when you are in Alleppey.

[jkdas]

Some pix of the shop and the brands they have.



The installer is from Delhi ( his name is Ravikumar IRC). They way he worked showed how good and experienced he was.

This is Auditor ( hope I got the name correctly). It looked well built and heavy though very small compared to the 10inch sub I have in my Safari. It costs 12K~.

[jkdas]

The install process.

The issue with ICEing small hatchbacks are?

• SPACE!
• I also dont want removable/movable boxes with speakers in it too.
• I wanted one which was almost stealth.

The solution? a MDF panel on rear boot cut to the space of the panel you have there and then bolt it to the boot door.

The advantage; car looks ICE free without the HU face and hence safer to be parked.

This panel will be swapped with custom MDF ( Rs.550).



How it looks after some metal was cut.




The equipment that was used to cut the metal.



With the MDF bolted to the body ( see the number of bolts used to fix it and the quality! )

[jkdas]

Routing the cables and finishing up the HU install too.



I expected him to route the cables under the carpet!



The front can easily take a 2 DIN unit.



The stock location near the windscreen where the 4inch co-ax went.






The connector



The Alpine 9870E HU and the wiring mess.



Mess cleared up and HU in its destiny

[jkdas]

Originally Posted by monty9991

JCV 4" for fornt will not dissapoint you at all. they are better than you expect from 4" speakers in this budget.
I also had these in my alto powered thru Amp. no issues in 3 yrs.

True ! I didnt expect this quality from a puny 4incher. I was surprised.

Originally Posted by drdeepudev

Finally, the search is over. I should visit this place. Sounds better than raagam. Any way congrats on the new buy. Please do let me know when you are in Alleppey.

Hope we can meet later today. I want to check how the Auditor plays with my mono.


Final pix ( the mobile holder was brought from the same shop for Rs.90 and its my 5800 XM that's in the picture. Used it to take all the shots you see this thread; err, minus these two pix ! )

[greenhorn]

i think credit goes to the alpine HU. It output is very strong compared to other HU's, and can make any speaker sound impressive

[vaisakhr]

Congrats JK. Neat work. I think shops in our area (cherthala, alappuzha etc.) does very neat job. Only problem is its hard to find the shops who knows well about the stuffs and all.

[drdeepudev]

Originally Posted by vaisakhr

Congrats JK. Neat work. I think shops in our area (cherthala, alappuzha etc.) does very neat job. Only problem is its hard to find the shops who knows well about the stuffs and all.

Hello Vaisakh, this particular place (xtra palace) and the staff (Mr. Ravikumar) is good. I have personally seen him working on a santro. Fastidious and knowledgeble. Better than some other shops. Planning to ICE up my Linea after seeing that.

[jithudigitised]

Aha so atlast.. Nice work!!! I didnt expect there will be shops in Alappuzha that does this kind of job..Neat..

BTW isn't this the same alto u tried DIY ?

[thelord]

Congrats jkdas! This looks like an absolute neat install.
Credit goes to the installer as well. The routing of wires, the custom MDF board... all looks fantastic!

Does the brake light just above the rear speaker install make any rattle? Am asking because it's a common problem in all altos.

Enjoy the music!

[Sankar]

Install looks neat. But you could've gone in for the parcel tray installation instead of cutting the hatch door.

[jkdas]

Sankar; it will rattle and I wanted tight thump a box can give. Also, boot is left open, makes it easier to keep/drop/take things from inside car.




darklord; not yet

Originally Posted by Sankar

Install looks neat. But you could've gone in for the parcel tray installation instead of cutting the hatch door.

[frankmehta]

Good stuff! Am glad to see so much enthusiasm and the penchant for perfection by the installer. Impressive, to say the least!
Well documented, JK, and good choice of equipment. Feels like a lot of equipment with that kind of money ;-)