I.C.E a beginners/intermediate guide (Buyers Guide: Car Stereo)

Member Name: paddythedaddy

Product:	Buyers Guide: Car Stereo
Date:	05/02/01 (4127 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Make your car sound better than your house stereo

Disadvantages: Can get expensive, bad image of 'BOOM' boys

***Please Rate this opinion!!***

Having a father in the motor trade has its advantages....

I have had too many cars to list. When I started driving I had a 957 cc fiesta with a stereo that was complete pants. I soon sorted this with a Blaupunkt Montreal Head Unit (It was cool at the time!) and some 6 x 9's. Every car I've had since I have moved my stereo into, added onto it, and upgraded into the system I have now.

This is the cool thing about In Car Entertainment (I.C.E), you need not spend a fortune straight off, just build and add bits as and when you can afford it.

I am not an I.C.E expert, rather a hobby enthusiast so those of you who know the score may find this guide a little too simple. This is really for people new to I.C.E, or those with some knowledge wishing to build further.

If you have ANY questions feel free to contact me.

The place to start should be the head unit. Nowadays you can choose from cassette, CD, minidisc, Sat Nav, TV blah blah blah... (MP3 is also available from some companies!). The choice really is endless, but lets face it, you'll probably either listen to a CD or the Radio, so this is probably the best place for most of you to start! Prices range from £50 up to £1000's. Kenwood are a firm favourite amongst the boy racers with their mix of feature, reliability and low cost. Their 'Mask' and 'D-Mask' Range are also good theft deterrents.

It is important to find the right quality head unit. You could find yourself spending a fortune on something just because it has the latest feature, that you will never use! My advice is to go into a shop where you can have a fiddle with all the different models and get a feel for what it is you need/want. When I first started, I wanted the ones with all the flashing bits and extra features, but now that I prefer quality of sound reproduction, I have plumped for a Nakamichi. This has less features than say, a
Pioneer head unit, but once you have heard it, you will never regret the £1200 price tag!

For most people the comparable change in sound quality is negligible and not worth the extra cash. To improve overall sound we need to think about changing speakers, amps and extra bits.

1.) DIRECT REPLACEMENT SPEAKERS

Most cars have 4 speakers. You will find that manufacturers such as Kenwood and Pioneer do direct replacement speakers, that fit into the factory standard holes. These will better the sound quite a bit, make sure you go for 'Co-Axial' speakers, these are sectioned into 2 parts of the speaker for better sound.

2.) 6 X 9's

There was a fashion at one time to fit 6 X 9's into the rear shelf of your car. The 6 x 9's are able to offer more 'mid-bass' sound (as well as higher frequencies provided by other speakers in the car). The fashion was to cut dirty great holes out of your parcel shelf to fit them in. Not only does this get expensive if you want to by a new shelf when you sell the car (or build one out of MDF - handy andy's fave) but it only really adds to the rear fill sound in the car. Use 6 x 9's if you want a loud system, for quality use:

3.) COMPONENT SPEAKERS

These are 2 seperate speakers, normally fitted in the front of the vehicle to produce mid range and high range (through the 'TWEETER') sound. It might be necessary to make some room in your front doors for the speakers to go. Fitting Components will give you an excellent front sound stage. If fitted correctly (angled slightly towards the drivers ears) the sound stage should be like it is filling the car up from dashboard level.

4.) SUB-WOOFERS

Sub Woofers are the larger speakers which produce Bass. There are 2 main types:

a. Free Air - can be fitted to parcel shelf or ported sub-box
b. Boxed - require an enclosure (sealed or ported depending on manufacturers spec) r>
For the reasons of size, Subs are normally fitted into the boot of the car. Most require a box in which to fit them, if yours does not have one, check with the manufacturer as to what size box your sub requires. Box sizes are very specific to each sub, a wrong size box could make your expensive sub sound pants.

Many people choose to use multiple subs so that when they are at the traffic lights their car vibrates (normally Ford Orion drivers - or Novas). This is all a matter of choice. I once ran 4 x 12inch subs in a band pass box in an Astramax, it was very loud but over powering.

For quality now, I have 2 x 10 inchers, dual voice coils which require smaller boxes.

WARNING: Using multiple sub set ups seriously encroach on your boot space!!!

5.) AMPLIFIERS

If you try to run all your speakers off of your head unit, there will

a. not be enough power
and
b. Sound quality will suffer

Most people tend to fit Amplifiers which run straight off the battery and are linked to your head unit to increase the power signal of the sound. Most Amp's require RCA leads, check that these connections are available at the back of your head unit. If they are not, you can patch the sound to SOME amps by using the ordinary wire speaker outs (the AMP will require the ability for 'HI-LEVEL INPUTS' make sure you remember this!!)

Amps come in all shapes and sizes. Most people start by amping up their sub for more bass. It is important to match the power figures up.

XX IMPORTANT NOTE XX

When looking at power figures, look at the RMS figure, not the peak power figure. The peak figures are often over exaggerated and mismatching can result in a blown AMP/Speaker or just poor quailty sound.

Wiring in an Amp can be an easy job if you know a little about electrics. If you want more info on this, please feel free to e-mail me!

6.) CROSS OVERS

What a cross over
basically does is seperate the different levels of sound (I mentioned high end, mid range and Sub bass) and sends the RIGHT SOUND to the RIGHT SPEAKER.

Amps often have built in X-Overs to send bass signals to your sub. This can help keep the best sound and prevent the wrong ones going to the Sub and damaging it.

Passive cross overs are connected just before the speakers and are often used with the component sets mentioned.

Active X-Overs are used before the Signal is Amplified and seperate the sound to the correct amp. These are especially useful for multiple-amp set-ups.

6.) EXTRA GOODIES

If you are like me and love a gadget, you can fit some more advanced parts to your I.C.E system.

Sat Nav is a like an on-board route and traffic planner.

You can get T.V tuners and screens for either video, DVD, games consoles or even your lap top if you want!

7.) CONCLUSION

There is really no limit to what you can do to your I.C.E. You can spend as little or as much as you want.

There are other avenues of I.C.E i have not mentioned e.g wiring, fusing, earthing, capacitors etc. If demand is great enough i will write another guide, So please leave a comment if you found this useful!