That was a massive discount and these speakers are well known for their sound quality. I just picked it up.

BHPian Dr.Naren recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I had bought Morel Virtus 602. Plan was to add DSP, mid range, and an additional amplifier after couple of months. I was ready to get the Virtus installed, but got too tempted with an amazing offer for Morel Elate Titanium 603: 3 way components.

The deal from Motorogue:

That was a massive discount and these speakers are well known for their sound quality. I just picked it up. Motorogue shipped it very next day and the packaging was also good.

Box:

Unboxed

Look at those massive and beautiful cross-overs, they can be biamped too:

Mid bass

Mid range

Tweeters

I was super impressed with the quality and construction of all the components. I couldn't wait to get them installed and hit the roads to Kochi .

Installation was done at Galaxy Kochi. They did a superb job. A pillar work to install tweeters and mid range was too good. Rockford T600-4 was biamped (all 4 channels used) to run the Elate Titanium. They also installed an Audison SR4 to run the Subwoofer. It's a temporary solution, I might upgrade the sub later with a mono amp. The entire wiring for speakers were changed to Gladen 14AWG (made in Germany).

A pillar work with pods:

Mid bass installed

X-Over settings

Time Alignment

13 band EQ

Gladen speaker wire

I was mindblown when I heard the setup for first time. The staging was excellent. The speakers did get better after few hours of listening. They sound damn sweet. I have never listened to such amazing tweeters before, it's that good.

The Complete Setup:

• JVC KW-960 HU
• Rockford Power T600-4
• Audison SR4
• Morel Elate Titanium 603 components
• Gladen M Line 10 Subwoofer
• Gladen 14AWG speaker wire
• 4GA & 8GA power cables

What Next?

• Helix DSP 3.0
• Morel Ultimo Titanium Subwoofer
• Good Mono Amplifier (yet to finalise)

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.

With the advent of technology, each new car coming up with better and better ICE systems, felt the need to upgrade the OEM ICE and spice up things a little.

yogesh.8984 recently shared this with other BHPians.

Honda City ICE upgrade and Dashcam Setup

Little prelude:

Honda City was always my dream car since I was a teen. So when it came to buying my first car, without a second thought, Honda City it was. So in Winter of 2016, on my wife’s birthday, White Lilly came home and became a part of family.

Over a course of 4 years, she lived up to her repute and brought a smile on our face every single time we went for a drive. With the advent of technology, each new car coming up with better and better ICE systems, felt the need to upgrade the OEM ICE and spice up things a little.

Here is a quick update on replacing the OEM ICE system by Blaupunkt Key Largo 970 - 10.1".

Some info on the car below:

• Car: Honda City iVtec V MT
• Bought in January 2016, Oct 2015 Make
• Current Odo: ~45k KMs
• OEM ICE was feeling outdated in the world of big screens and Internet cars

Work begins -

Did some research on YouTube / Online forums / Local car accessory shops and discovered that there are lot of Android players available in market for each car brand / model (along with Android Auto and Apple Car Play solutions). Many of the android player brands are unknown but provides host of features and costs around 10k to 14k (including labor + frame charges). While you buy an android player online / from car accessory shops, you also need a frame which fits perfectly to your car's dashboard and houses the player equipment like a standard fitment.

Somehow I wasn't comfortable with these local brands and their China made equipments (even iPhone is made in China but we trust Apple). Came across a German brand called Blaupunkt and found reviews encouraging for host of its products and decided to go with it.

Couple of my key requirements met with the product I chose (Blaupunkt Key Largo 970 - 10.1"):

• Steering controls functioning
• OEM Car antenna functioning with new ICE unit
• Rear view camera functioning
• Capacitive touch for screen UI (for better performance)
• Adequate Storage for Apps / Media and sufficient RAM for player to function smoothly

Of course, all modern ICE units come up with all the mainstream features one can expect like a Bluetooth, Radio, USB, Navigation etc. Best part of Android player is that you can install any app (Like YouTube, Spotify..) and use it on the go (with either inbuilt SIM or mobile tethering for internet connectivity). The reason why you should choose a player with enough RAM and Storage is to NOT compromise on the performance.

Blaupunkt Key Largo also comes up with its own branded rearview camera which I found to be much better than OEM camera on the car. I got it installed and it's quality is amazingly good (compared to OEM camera).

Here is some key information of Blaupunkt Key Largo 970 - 10.1" -

Android Player -

• Blaupunkt is a German brand established in year 1924
• 2 Years product warranty from manufacturer (you need to register the product after buying on their website)
• 10.1" screen with 1024*600 pixels (looks massive on the dashboard), Initially I wasn’t so keen on such a big screen but it grows on you with time
• Operating System: Android 9.0
• RAM: 2GB DDR3
• Storage: 16 GB
• Phone mirroring: Supported (with cable)

Rear view Camera -

• Model: DH02
• Water resistant
• 170 degree wide angle
• 1080*720 pixels

Dashcam -

I had a Dashcam that my friend had sent me from UK. Took this opportunity to get it installed as well on the front windshield. More details below.

• Brand: Peztio which specializes in dashcam products
• Full HD 1080P wide angle
• Wi-Fi enabled
• Mobile app which connects to dashcam over Wi-Fi
• Comes with 30 GB of Micro SD storage
• SOS button to lock current video (to avoid deletion over loop recording)
• Supports parking mode, comes with Shock sensor to freeze recording
• 1 year warranty

Buying and Installation -

During my initial research, I had figured out a shop (Sony Car Decor) at Nashik Phata in PCMC, Pune. Talked to owner and asked him to procure the product as it was not available in almost all the shops nearby. The comment I heard that most people go with local brands and hence shops order branded products only if there is a demand.

Received a call from the Shop owner next day and I went ahead and got it installed the very same day. Took about 45 minutes to an hour to complete the work.

Total Cost - Total cost of equipment (excluding dashcam of course) and installation was 22.5k . As mentioned earlier, there are options available in the range of 10k to 14k (local brands) and goes as high as tens of thousands depending on the brand.

Fit and Finish post installation -

Once you choose the right frame for your car brand and model, it is as good as a standard fitment. Below pictures shows the finish post installation (Hazard light switch is tuned 90 degrees to accommodate 10 inch screen).

Dashcam installed on front windscreen:

Rear view camera installed on back bumper. The OEM camera remains there (above number plate) but now defunct with connection established to new camera on the bumper.

Overall experience -

Having a 10 inch screen on the dash of a car with all sorts of entertainment options like YouTube can be a big distraction to a driver. So always focus on the key aspect of being on a front right seat of a car - to drive and leave everything else to a co-passenger while driving. Obviously you will look at the screen for navigation but advised not to play with touch screen while driving (as against physical buttons and dials that we are so used to).

Some other observations

1. Cabin feels lot richer now with new ICE

2. Navigation is breeze (as against sticking phones on the dash / windshield), you can set Google maps as default navigation option

3. Sound quality improved over OEM setup (though speakers are still OEM)

4. Rear view camera is a step ahead from OEM setup

Day vision

Night vision

5. Flexibility to install / remove any app you need from Play Store

6. Flexible steering control options (you can program the buttons on steering wheel for various functions)

7. Excellent telephony interface (phone connected over Bluetooth)

8. Radio / FM interface

Not so good things

• Takes almost half a minute to boot up
• Slow internet connection can dampen the performance badly
• Felt the tap response tad slow at times but otherwise okay

Finally signing off, here is one of my favorite pictures of White Lilly.

Thanks to yogesh.8984 once again! Check out BHPian comments for more insights & information.

Pioneer has launched its detachable touchscreen infotainment head-unit in India. It comes with a tablet called SDA-835TAB and SPH-T20BT receiver. The combo is priced at Rs. 33,890.

The SDA-835TAB is an 8-inch tablet. It has a 5 points capacitive touch panel with a screen resolution of 1280x800 pixels. It is powered by an ARM Quad core Cortex-A7 processor. It comes with a 4,000 mAh battery.

The tablet runs on Android OS9 and comes with safety features, navigation and entertainment apps. It has pre-installed apps like Google Maps, YouTube, Gmail, Pioneer Smart Sync app among others.

The SPH-T20BT is a 2-DIN receiver equipped with tablet mount cradle, MOSFET 50Wx4 amplifier, 3 RCA preout, a rear camera input and Bluetooth. It has a video output for connecting rear screens, Wired Remote for connecting steering wheel control and audio tuning settings with a 13 band equalizer.

The unit can also be connected to a rear view camera. The screen displays the feed from the camera when the car is put in reverse gear. Pioneer also offers optional parking sensors.

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is testing a new ‘Smart Wallet’ technology that will pay users in cryptocurrency for sharing data like road and traffic conditions with authorities and navigation services.

As part of the company’s Destination Zero strategy – which aims to achieve zero accidents, emissions and congestion, Smart Wallet will alert drivers on traffic conditions and offer alternate routes thereby reducing fuel consumption and vehicle emissions. Users sharing this data will be rewarded with credits, which could be redeemed for rewards, paying tolls and parking fees or for charging electric vehicles. The Smart Wallet can also be topped up using conventional payment methods.

The British carmaker is testing this new technology at their facility in Shannon, Ireland, where several cars including the F-Pace and the Velar are equipped with 'Smart Wallet'.

Spy pictures showing the interior of the upcoming S-Class have leaked online. The pictures reveal a camouflaged interior with a large vertically mounted infotainment screen and a digital instrument panel.

The new S-Class will come equipped with a Tesla-esque, portrait style touchscreen system on the centre console. At the bottom of the screen, there are a few buttons for driving modes, parking camera, fan speed, hazard lights, power button, mute and volume. There is also a button which looks like a small joystick or a fingerprint sensor housed between the power and hazard light switches, and a button which appears to control car settings.

The car also gets a digital instrument panel, which could be bigger than the one in the existing car. A three-spoke steering wheel gets steering mounted controls. Black leather upholstery with contrast stitching can also be seen on the centre console and door pads.

Last month, we had reported that the S-Class would be developed on 2 separate platforms - one could come with plug-in hybrid powertrains, while the other is expected to be an all-electric EQ S model, which might be sold under the German car makers electric sub-brand.

Source: Carscoops

Big thanks to a Team-BHP Fan for sharing the Android Auto '1740' files (he prefers to remain anonymous). 

• Here's a download link for the Android Auto 1740 files.
• Here's a download link for the 750 files (as a backup).
• Read the thread from this post onward for advice. Also check out this post.

Flash at your own risk :). Make sure you know what you are doing.