[sushrutha]

Originally Posted by arvi86

The Concorde looks amazing and the projector headlights just adds that pinch of aggressiveness to the car. Let me go and search my library to check if I have a picture of my Civic in this angle.

dot, Good to see that the Scorponok has had an ICE upgrade. So, it should be all rock-n-roll inside the car now I guess.

Originally Posted by Ace F355

Congrats on your ICE'd Scorponok. It must be sounding nice as I am sure. We need a detailed review once the system breaks in and settles down.



Concorde is looking mean, sushrutha. The perfect devilish look in her eyes! Sweeeeet...............

Thanks you guys.
Yep .. feeling good now.
Hey Rohith... new Gatling gun 2.0 shrouds have arrived just now (2 mins back ;-) )..Gosh.. they are huge when compared with the existing gattling gun shrouds I'll be replacing the matt black shrouds with these .. that will definetely add more character to than the existing one for sure..
Very very similar to the one you have , but bluish white is the colour of the CCFL rings, which will match my car perfectly.

[dot]

Originally Posted by sushrutha

@dot, Arvi,
A recent snap. Frontal view.
Dot kindly excuse for hijacking your thread ;

There is no excuse, as a punishment you will have to put up more pictures.

Honestly, you have the knack of bringing out amazing angles of the car. They look so good, you know. I will try to duplicate them at a good location.

Originally Posted by arvi86

dot, Good to see that the Scorponok has had an ICE upgrade. So, it should be all rock-n-roll inside the car now I guess.

Originally Posted by Ace F355

Congrats on your ICE'd Scorponok. It must be sounding nice as I am sure. We need a detailed review once the system breaks in and settles down.

Thanks guys.
It has been almost two weeks since the ICE was installed. The speakers are sounding better as time progresses. Tuning tweaks are still ongoing. The system sounds pretty nice; warm and punchy. Rock numbers from Linkin Park and Electronica from Black Eyed Peas are the norm now inside Scorponok as they should enable faster run-in time. The sub sometimes seems to have a mind of its own, specially in Bollywood music, which needs to be tamed. More reports to follow.

[Ace F355]

Originally Posted by sushrutha

Thanks you guys.
Yep .. feeling good now.
Hey Rohith... new Gatling gun 2.0 shrouds have arrived just now (2 mins back ;-) )..Gosh.. they are huge when compared with the existing gattling gun shrouds I'll be replacing the matt black shrouds with these .. that will definetely add more character to than the existing one for sure..
Very very similar to the one you have , but bluish white is the colour of the CCFL rings, which will match my car perfectly.

Cool, I have Gatling Gun shrouds in my headlights too! V2.0 are even larger than mine, I guess. I thought of getting V2.0 for my lights as well but then, I didn't like their all chrome finish. The original Gatling Guns are part chrome and part dull silver finish. Now, go out there, replace the shrouds and treat us with new pictures to drool upon, will yaa?

Originally Posted by dot

There is no excuse, as a punishment you will have to put up more pictures.

Honestly, you have the knack of bringing out amazing angles of the car. They look so good, you know. I will try to duplicate them at a good location.





Thanks guys.
It has been almost two weeks since the ICE was installed. The speakers are sounding better as time progresses. Tuning tweaks are still ongoing. The system sounds pretty nice; warm and punchy. Rock numbers from Linkin Park and Electronica from Black Eyed Peas are the norm now inside Scorponok as they should enable faster run-in time. The sub sometimes seems to have a mind of its own, specially in Bollywood music, which needs to be tamed. More reports to follow.

Dotty, it is good to know the car is rocking even more now! Looking forward to further observations.

[sushrutha]

Originally Posted by dot

There is no excuse, as a punishment you will have to put up more pictures.

Ok accepted.
One more then.

Originally Posted by dot

Honestly, you have the knack of bringing out amazing angles of the car. They look so good, you know. I will try to duplicate them at a good location.

Thanks for the appreciation Dot.
Sure bring on your pics, Just make sure abt the background, if it's perfectly fine any pic will come out good (I'm not an expert in Photography), Just refer the above pic.

Originally Posted by Ace F355

Cool, I have Gatling Gun shrouds in my headlights too! V2.0 are even larger than mine, I guess. I thought of getting V2.0 for my lights as well but then, I didn't like their all chrome finish. The original Gatling Guns are part chrome and part dull silver finish. Now, go out there, replace the shrouds and treat us with new pictures to drool upon, will yaa?

Yep these are large shrouds.
But not fully chrome, some part is almost matt silver and rest Chrome, which looks good.
I'll post a pic later.

[arvi86]

Originally Posted by dot

Thanks guys.
It has been almost two weeks since the ICE was installed. The speakers are sounding better as time progresses. Tuning tweaks are still ongoing. More reports to follow.

Good to know. Awaiting a full report after these initial tweaks are over.

[dhanushs]

Hey dot, I dont know how I missed this wonderful thread of yours. Just like you, I too would love to switch to a Civic from an IKON. Earlier, I was eying the Fiesta, but now, the petrol prices have managed to make used examples of the Civic drool worthy. (07 Model, 38 kms run, going for Flat 5L).

I will be closely following it hereon.

As an intro of me, to this thread, I would love to present you with some images your ride! P.S'd of course. Its a recent hobby I started, and I'm starting to love it!

[GTO]

Note from Mod : Please stick to the topic. A lot of off-topic posts have been deleted.

[dot]

The last few weeks have been amazing. I had the new toy to play with, the amp and ReQ. It took me almost a month to figure out the best settings of the duo and I dont think it is over yet. In the mean time the sub and the speakers also took their own sweet time to run-in. Specially the sub, it's controls had to be continuously reduced in gain and punch (dB boost in Rockford lingo) as it started getting louder by the day. What was a good gain and punch setting during the first week became miserable by the third week.

First the ReQ setting. The front and rear signals were given full voltages. The sub setting was a "band pass" where less than 40Hz were cut off by ReQ's high pass filter and higher than 120 cut off by the low pass filter. Rest of the settings were done on the amp. Here is a diagram of the amp's tuning face, taken from the manual.



As you can see there are separate gain controls for the front and rear. They are kept below 2 and 3 for both to allow the HU and Aux-in stations's volume control to continue it's salaried job. Moreover it eliminates the alternator whine.

Initially I had kept the front and rear filter at "all pass" position. Later I have changed them to High pass at 80Hz position with bass boosted to +6dB. This setting somehow improved the mids. For example without the boost, Aerosmith sounds rather tinny. The spectra of the 80Hz high pass filter and the bass boost are shown in the following figures.





When frequencies starts attenuating below 100Hz for the mid-bass speaker, the bass boost will ensure a sharper cut off as the drop from 100-80 is about 3dB and the boost in the same region is also about 3dB. Without the bass boost, the sound from the mid-woofer lacks power.

The sub is kept at mid gains and the punch control is kept at minimum. The following figure illustrates the sonic spectra of the controls.



Since it is known that bass boost distorts sound, I thought it was better to keep that at a minimum and let the gains do the job. It did. The rumbles and muddy notes from the initial days have disappeared, giving way to cleaner, crisper and deeper thumps. The rumble was totally eliminated by the ReQ subsonic high pass at 40Hz. Apparently no musical instrument produces notes below 40Hz, any recorded sound at those region probably comes from electronic bass. From example when I was playing "Waka waka", the initial sub-sonic rumble was so loud that it was not possible to sit in the car. Now, with these settings, it is much nicer. The subs's high are limited by the amp's low pass filter set at 100 Hz. I had kept it at 80Hz, but the boom was missing.

Crossovers for the twitters are factory set at 4500Hz. Twitters are not the chirpy and bright type like JBLs. Which is fine as there is no deluge of treble at any volumes.

So to summarize, any sound above 4500Hz is going to twitters, frequencies between 100Hz and 4.5k Hz is going to mid-rangers and between 40-100Hz to the subwoofer.

I keep the phone equalizer at default setting, that is flat. Which is fine since sound is reproduced as it was recorded. Most rock and pop numbers sound rather warm and natural in this mode. Bollywood sounds a bit muted as they tend to love highs. Classical sounds very rich, it feels that some one has brought the piano and violin inside the car.

At 50-60% volume, one can hear music outside the car. It is not possible to sit in the car at those levels. I am a guy who does not like too loud music. Normally I keep the phone at full minus one step less volume and use the Aux-in station's volume control to set the sound level. Typically when I am alone driving Scorpo, I keep the volumes at 40-50% levels, depending on the number that is playing. At these levels, one cannot hear outside noise, even the indicator tics. I have not heard any distortion yet. There was a trunk lid number plate rattle. It was solved by three layers of double sided tape on both sides of the plate.

What can improve? At this point I feel that the sound definition can improve. Things like identifying each musical instrument's finer nuances is not clear. For that a better HU and better speakers are needed. Not going to happen as I am done ICEing. However, the experiments with the settings will continue. Hope to give any updates if something changes for the interesting.

[dot]

I was going through some of the older pictures when I realized that couple of great meetings have been kept under wraps. These were the times Scorponok met some other stalwart Civics of the forum. So instead of letting the pictures live a life of inglorious solitude in the corners of digital dusty death, here they are.

The first two was taken when BQ came calling. She was going to Delhi via Pune. And Scorpo and I would never miss this opportunity to meet her and her illustrious driver, Spadix.


The proud mud of crunched miles.


I will follow your lead.

The next set from the meeting with mdsaab's Chicca. This was when Scorpo went to Goa unaware that Chicca was already waiting there.


Here I am. Where have you been, dear?


Both taking a well deserved rest under a balmy sun and a fluttering breeze, reflecting good times, roads that has been conquered and great things that are yet to pass.

Finally the meeting with the rockstar, The Saint's ride. Scorpo learned some ICE inspirations from her.

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by dot

These were the times Scorponok met some other stalwart Civics of the forum.

Hi dot,
Why only Civics ? Dust off and display snaps of Scorpo with other suitors too. Don't be bashful !

[Ace F355]

Originally Posted by dot

I was going through some of the older pictures when I realized that couple of great meetings have been kept under wraps. These were the times Scorponok met some other stalwart Civics of the forum.

good decision, posting these pics here, dot. A pair of Civics is a sight to behold, what'd happen when 3 come together! mdsaab's ride looks sharp, well for that matter all Civic's look sharp!

I and spadix were planning to meet last weekend but couldn't do so, being busy with our daily life. Spadix told me fellow BHPian Behemoth lives pretty close to his place. Hope to meet BQ and Behemoth's Civic some day! Lets see when do we find some time for the same.

And looks like you are enjoying the ICE to the fullest. I envy you.

Originally Posted by Guderian

Hi dot,
Why only Civics ? Dust off and display snaps of Scorpo with other suitors too. Don't be bashful !

I echo your sentiments, General!

[Swanand Inamdar]

Wow, those sure are some wonderful times the Scorpo had! The Goa photos are awesome. Is that Aguada in the background? Oh, that reminds me. Wasnt there a TLog coming from you? (Sorry, that's like pot calling the kettle black! I have two pending already).

@General: We share the same sentiments. But, let's give our Dotty that leverage. Perhaps there is something special coming up?

[dot]

Originally Posted by Guderian

Hi dot,
Why only Civics ? Dust off and display snaps of Scorpo with other suitors too. Don't be bashful !

Ok, some more dust brushed off.. The first one is a spatter of good looking vehicles. The second one is a poser.

Originally Posted by Ace F355

And looks like you are enjoying the ICE to the fullest. I envy you.

Dont. Come to Pune and enjoy her ride.
Frankly I am surprised at the outcome. I had learned from various threads here that ICEing the Civic is a difficult proposition. It took a month to get the settings in right order. The clarity is amazing from the Morels. Now even Bollywood is sounding nice. As I have said before, the DNA of the OEM sound has been retained with greater clarity and better thumps.

Here is a link to a comparo review of Morels.

Mobile Electronics AU | Articles | Affordable 6.5” Two Way Components Review

Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar

Wasnt there a TLog coming from you? (Sorry, that's like pot calling the kettle black! I have two pending already).

@General: We share the same sentiments. But, let's give our Dotty that leverage. Perhaps there is something special coming up?

So much to do and so little time.

[spadix]

Originally Posted by dot

The first two was taken when BQ came calling. She was going to Delhi via Pune. And Scorpo and I would never miss this opportunity to meet her and her illustrious driver, Spadix.

Thank you for your kind words, dot! I know I've kept you waiting long enough to post these pictures. Unfortunately I'm just not finding the time to post a travelogue of my drive. In fact there's a pending travelogue from my visit to Bharatpur earlier this year that's currently in the works, and I don't know how long that'll take either to come up. :(

Here are some more pictures from our mini-meet -


The two proud owners

We were a little worried about stepping out on to the highway to take a picture that shows both cars clearly. Dot on the other hand took that risk to get a couple of good pictures.


From the safe side - not a wide enough berth this side on this side either to get good coverage

By the way, I really love your detailed post on your ICE setup and tuning. It's giving me a lot of food for thought especially after my haphazard money-blowing on the ICE on my old M800 (still have some components remaining from that setup).

Regards,
spadix

[dot]

Originally Posted by spadix

I know I've kept you waiting long enough to post these pictures.

Oh come on! Settling in a new place has its tolls.

Originally Posted by spadix

We were a little worried about stepping out on to the highway to take a picture that shows both cars clearly.

That is true. The parking spots were anything but ideal for any kind of photoshoot. Wish we had a little more time. Nevertheless, I am amazed by both of you (Mr. and Mrs. Spadix), the tenacity to make it to Delhi from Hyd in three days.

Originally Posted by spadix

By the way, I really love your detailed post on your ICE setup and tuning. It's giving me a lot of food for thought especially after my haphazard money-blowing on the ICE on my old M800 (still have some components remaining from that setup).

Thanks. During the initial days of ownership, ICE was pushed out of mind. That was painful as my Ikon had a delightful setup (6*9 JBLs, Illusion electra comps, JBL amp, Sony HU). Later the bug came back as the OEM setup had its limitations, specially the lack of aux-in. This would not be true for post 08 models, however. Finally a little push from BHPian Jealousdiamond and a glorious opportunity of a trip to Hinterlands made the desire a reality.

Now, these "food for thought" are pretty dangerous objects.

Today we had an interesting little entertainment due to the ICE. A security inspection of the trunk was occurring. The guard was disturbed by the glowing red box containing loads of electronics and wires going to a glowing blue box. With a disturbed face he came back to ask me what in the world was that.

Then I increased the volume. "I hate you like I love you".

He shut back the trunk.