Head unit + Speaker upgrades

[bryntech]

Just wondering if anyone has any experience or advice about head unit and speaker upgrades for my new trophy.

Not looking for a crazy install or anything like that, just looking for a half decent head unit that'll play MP3's and will be able to hook up to an ipod; And a set of front and rear speakers that have a good quality sound.
Not looking to spend the earth, but am also looking to improve the sounds in the car so not looking for any trash either, any feedback on types recommended and sizes required etc.. would be great..

 

[FunkyMunky]

without being patronising - if you do a search there are quite a few threads on this topic, you'll find loadsa information also in the garage on peoples setups too :wink:

As a steer - look in particular for ones from Oliie and 7MAT - they both have excellent setups and are also helpful with giving advice. I've experienced Oliie's setup first hand and it is excellent 8)

 

[bryntech]

cheers Gareth, thanks for the info'.

 

[chiefsilverback]

Somewhere on the 2nd page are the details of my system....

http://cliotrophy.co.uk/forum/viewtopic ... a&start=15

 

[oliie]

Heya!

Sorry for not seeing this earlier.

I do a lot of motorway driving so have found over time that a good system is critical to any car I own; this has been the case over the last few cars I've had.

Over that time I've slowly started to appreciate good components and have now settled on what I personally think are peerless components (before spending silly money: read £1000 on two 5.25" speakers).

I settled on Focal Poly Kevlar K2s for my front stage. These are as deep as the doors on the Clio will allow before putting them in pods. They are widely recognised as the best speakers you can buy, along with the Focal Utopia range (read: silly money!). To listen to these is like comparing chalk and cheese, especially with the Japanese brands (perhaps not including McIntosh).

I am driving the fronts with an alpine amp (110w RMS per channel).

I have a musical sub (not designed to set off car alarms) which is tight and controlled at all levels. Again, I've opted for a Focal sub in a non-ported box. However I could not justify spending over £1000 on a sub so I settled for the Focal Polyglass, 12", boxed which is worth half that amount.

The sub is driven by a dedicated Alpine V12 digital monoblock amp. I think it is rated at 500w RMS (matched to the handling capability of the sub).

The system is driven by a head unit operating purely on pre-outs (with the built-in amplifier in the head unit disabled to produce a more natural sound). For this I am using a Blaupunkt DAB 54 which reads SD cards and supports DAB (and direct recording onto the SD card with a Timeslip function), CDRW etc etc.

I've also go the control unit which allows for the use of the steering wheel controls to control the system.

It is one of the better sounding systems I've installed although the general lack of soundproofing in the Trophy certainly pushes it to the edge of refinement.

Everything is mounted in original locations (including the titanium tweeters which sit under the dash) for a complete stealth look (including a false seat back to support the amps). I've taken out various bits and pieces (e.g. ISOFIX bar) to compensate for the weight of the sub and the amps. All up the weight cancels out which means I get a great audio system without a weight penalty.

To summarise: spend a bit more and get the best you can afford. It is worth investing in even a small amplifier - even off eBay. A budget of around £750 will yield good quality second hand items that will hold their value even when you come to resell them.

With a proper set-up you will never want to leave your car. Unless of course you have a better sound-system at home!! Ok, probably a bit boring to sit on the couch...

Hope this helps. If you need any more info do let me know.

Cheers
Oliver

 

[oliie]

Any updates bryntech?

 

[bryntech]

sorry Oliie, hadn't realised that this thread had been updated..
No progress to report of as yet, in all honesty an install of that calibre is beyond my limits at the moment, but i have got a few ideas.
I know they're not great, but i do have a set of Infinity Kappa 6" x 9"s currently on loan to a friend, which i'm gonna get back, was thinking of banging these in a stealth shelf in the rear and getting hold of a set of Infinity Reference components for the front.
I've got an alpine amp to run these with but am unsure of the best configuration?
Also i need to purchase a decent head unit, functional and stylish yet within my financial limits (read less than £200) .
The lead you have installed to use the remote controls... was it a pain to fit?

I know this system probably seems a bit amateurish in comparison to yours but i would appreciate your feedback / comments none the less.

Bryntech

 

[Olliev8]

Oliie - sounds like you have a taste for a good sound system!

Although i don't have a Trophy (YET!! i pick it up of friday evening!! in time for weekend YIPPY!!), the current system in my 1.4clio is nothing like Oliie's but wasn't too expensive yet still sounds crisp! all will be transfered after friday.

Headunit - Sony CDX-7500, nice silver number with orange/reddish back light which fits in nicely......... and will do in the Tomato....... cost around £200 when i got 18months ago. i also have an adapter that allows the control stick on the steering wheel to control the stereo.

Front speakers - JBL gto506ce (Grand Touring Series) cost £195. fill the front door nicely and comes with a set of tweeters that fit like a glove into the space where the standard ones are.

Rear Speakers - JBL but un sure of which model as they are on loan from a friend. fit nicely in place or standard ones.

i did have a Pioneer sub and amp, but they added weight and i found they made it all a bit too much for me!

 

[oliie]

sorry Oliie, hadn't realised that this thread had been updated..
No progress to report of as yet, in all honesty an install of that calibre is beyond my limits at the moment, but i have got a few ideas.
I know they're not great, but i do have a set of Infinity Kappa 6" x 9"s currently on loan to a friend, which i'm gonna get back, was thinking of banging these in a stealth shelf in the rear and getting hold of a set of Infinity Reference components for the front.
I've got an alpine amp to run these with but am unsure of the best configuration?
Also i need to purchase a decent head unit, functional and stylish yet within my financial limits (read less than £200) .
The lead you have installed to use the remote controls... was it a pain to fit?

I know this system probably seems a bit amateurish in comparison to yours but i would appreciate your feedback / comments none the less.

Bryntech

What is your budget, all up (HU, front speakers etc.)?

From there I might be able to help you out.

I'd skip the remote controls if money is a bit tight, although it was simple to fit (it plugs into the aftermarket HU). I paid around £100 for the box to allow me to use the steering wheel controls which is absolutely crazy... but the company seems to have a monopoly on them

Basically I propose a 4 channel amp that you can bridge (run the two channels to the front speakers, bridge the other two for the sub), second hand set of Rainbow front splits and a small ported sub. You can even run these from the stock HU to save money (I did this in my 330ci as it came with an inbuilt TV) if you can live without a MP3 player (e.g. you are going to use an iPod). I would not bother with the rears (pointless in a good audio installation as you only need front stage).

If you give me your budget I will see what I can do for you (I may refer the question to the TalkAudio forums - they are incredibly helpful!). The above, without HU, can be done for circa £300... just! It will be a world apart from using aftermarket HU with new speakers, no amp or sub.

Cheers
O.

 

[StevieH]

Hi Ollie

Did you have many problems fitting your focals? as i still have my old polykevlar 136k's which i wouldn't mind fitting, how'd you go about fitting the tweeters as i don't fancy pulling the dash out. Have read the guide over on cliosport and it seems like a recipe for more squeak's and rattles than I could handle.

Did consider the audioscape door pods and fitting the tweeter's along side the mids, but if it's not to much of a drama i'll fit them in the oe locations

It sound funny but your set up is very similar to my last car, with the amps being mounted on the false back board behind the rear seats.

Anyway any tips on squeezing them in would be spot on mate,
Cheers
Steve

 

[oliie]

Hi Ollie

Did you have many problems fitting your focals? as i still have my old polykevlar 130k's which i wouldn't mind fitting, how'd you go about fitting the tweeters as i don't fancy pulling the dash out. Have read the guide over on cliosport and it seems like a recipe for more squeak's and rattles than I could handle.

Did consider the audioscape door pods and fitting the tweeter's along side the mids, but if it's not to much of a drama i'll fit them in the oe locations

It sound funny but your set up is very similar to my last car, with the amps being mounted on the false back board behind the rear seats.

Anyway any tips on squeezing them in would be spot on mate,
Cheers
Steve

Hi Steve,

The Kevlar K2 drivers *just* squeezed into the existing location with no problems at all (this was my biggest concern!) so you should have no problem (we have the same speakers I think!). The weak link is the connector as it goes through the Renault item to get from the door to the car so expensive wiring is a bit pointless without drilling holes in the door (however seems to be OK).

As for the tweeters - I had these fitted in the dashboard. The placement is ideal and the Polykevlar tweeters are on another planet. I just could not believe how they transformed the sound in the car. All in all it was a hassle free fitments with the removal of the dashboard solving some squeaks and not introducing any more. The shop had the dash off in around 5 minutes flat so it seemed to be quite easy to do.

Personally I would not bother with the pods in the Clio as (a) they will knock your foot when driving and (b) attract unwanted attention when parked. You only really need them when spending proper money on the set up (Rainbow Reference - £8,000 a pair!) where you don't want to compromise the front stage set up and where the drivers are too big for the stock location.

As for the amps: I'm not a big fan of the false back as I can't fold down the seats (which I tend to need more often than not). If I had to do the install again I would have a stronger parcel shelf made up and mount them to the underside with the ability to remove them when needed.

All in all... get those Polykevlars back into the car pronto!!!

O.

 

[StevieH]

Cheers Ollie,

will try and squeeze them in soon, as you mentioned they are quite deep even with the rubber protector over the magnet removed. But hey every one loves a challenge!

Just out of curiosity where did you mount the cross over?Am struggling at the moment for a convienient place.

My previous install had two Kicker ix702's amp's one for each speaker and a Pheonix Gold 900.1 mono amp powering a JL Audio 10 '' sub, along with the usual power cap and top grade cables. Sound was excellent but don't fancy loading the trophy up with all that weight and wasting what little space there is .

So am thinking of ditching the amp's and sub and just having one of these Alpine PDX-4.150 powering my polykevlars. Like the fact that it's small enough to go under a front seat and obvously quite stealthy.

Anyway let the saga continue......

Steve

 

[oliie]

Stevie - we are on the same page with the install ideas!

1) The crossovers were my concern too. They were eventually mounted to the underside of the dash and high up against the firewall. This way nothing had to be removed to install the crossovers and they remain accessible, but not visible. Less than perfect, but it has seemed to work. They are tied down with super-sticky velcro so that they can be removed if you need to fine tune the system.

2) The use of boot space was a concern for me too. The Focal box I am using is quite small, but I would have preferred to go for a 10" if I was doing this again. As for the amps - they don't use much space at all as in reality they are only 2-3 inches thick.

3) The weight was a primary factor for me too - I ended up removing the rear bench/seat, ISO FIX bar (and bolts) and rear speakers. All up these netted a 13kg weight saving (yes, I weighed them... quite sad I know!) which was almost the same as the weight of the new install +/- 5kg.

All in all it ended up working out nicely. If you're ever in the area (West London) you're more than welcome to check it out

As for ditching the subs - I really wouldn't The 5.25" Focals are just too small to produce anything meaningful below ~80hz. If you really want to keep the space you can go for a small 6-8" sub, or mount one in a stealth shelf and use the boot area as the box. Or do what I do and buy a normal sub (go for a 10") and just take it out of the car when you need the space!!! This way I have an excuse when my other half wants to go shopping ("but honey, think of the hassle...")

Cheers
O.