Spec me some ICE

I've never had much look with in cabin acitive subs, tryed two in the MX-5 both sucked, tryed and alpine one in the Passat that sucked as well, ended up building my own enclosure.
 
Hrm, looks like my only option would be to butcher the false floor in my boot, and find a shallow sub and grille to go in that, not something I'm particularly keen on, especially as I'd have to figure some way of fixing the false floor without doing anything that couldn't be reversed.

Wicksta - That sub would fit under a seat.
 
Out of curiosity - is there any point? The old 2d navigation in beemers is pretty poor by today's standards, it's worse than just about any £50 stand alone sat nav unit. Plus of course, usability of analogue TV is practically zero these days, especially in your neck of the woods.

I'm not bothered about the navigation, I care about the look and functionality of the onboard monitor especially when used for Ipod control.
 
The Navigation isn't that bad either, sure it doesn't look as nice as modern tomtoms etc. (although the perspective mode isn't bad at all) but its certainly fine at doing it's job of getting you somewhere. I thought that was the whole point of sat nav.

The other advantage is the screen is much bigger and you don't have the worry about removing it plus all trace of it when you drive somewhere.
 
I've only read the first 10 or so replys but 6*9's really are not as bad as everyone makes up. Only things you need to consider is they do use a lot of power. I doubt a standard HU would power some decent 6*9's very well and you'll find other bits cutting out. Also the mounting depth; your factory fitted 6*9's will be maybe a few cm deep, where as most of the ones you buy can be up to 10cm deep. You need to make sure you have the mounting depth to play with otherwise they simply won't fit.

I found a set of £80~ 6*9's using exisiting wiring in the back and some cheapish (£40~) sony 5 1/2 front door speakers gave me a pretty good level of sound in my old car.

I never used the factory HU though and I've been told simply replacing the HU (which is a tiny amp in itself, I got a £120~ Alpine job that was brilliant) makes a massive difference.

You're already looking at a new car and have been happy with your audio so far so I wouldn't spend too much time or money or mess about with it too much as it may affect resale value.
 
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people go "ZOMG 6*9s!" because of what they read on other boards, but dont actually know why theyre bad

a set of loud amp'd 6*9s will produce a lot of sound, but as a result of all the mid and trebble, it will drag the sound stage behind you, which you dont want because it will sound bad because human ears cant work out sounds behind them that well (look at the shape of your ear)



I've only read the first 10 or so replys but 6*9's really are not as bad as everyone makes up. Only things you need to consider is they do use a lot of power. I doubt a standard HU would power some decent 6*9's very well and you'll find other bits cutting out. Also the mounting depth; your factory fitted 6*9's will be maybe a few cm deep, where as most of the ones you buy can be up to 10cm deep. You need to make sure you have the mounting depth to play with otherwise they simply won't fit.

I found a set of £80~ 6*9's using exisiting wiring in the back and some cheapish (£40~) sony 5 1/2 front door speakers gave me a pretty good level of sound in my old car.

I never used the factory HU though and I've been told simply replacing the HU (which is a tiny amp in itself, I got a £120~ Alpine job that was brilliant) makes a massive difference.
 
[TW]Fox;15400513 said:
My car has no resale value.

I'd imagine someone on here will grab it when you come to sell! How much do you recon it's worth atm btw?

Still my point stands about mounting depth, check it out before buying as most places will list the mounting depth of speakers and you can get slim ones etc...
 
It's probably worth about 20 or 30 quid at the moment. Once I've retrofitted the M-Sport II steering wheel I estimate this value to climb to about £32.
 
[TW]Fox;15400587 said:
It's probably worth about 20 or 30 quid at the moment. Once I've retrofitted the M-Sport II steering wheel I estimate this value to climb to about £32.

I'll offer you £31 and my Bravo :p
 
I'm not sure i can take anyone who thinks a £120 alpine HU and 5 1/2" Sony door speaker are excellent seriously.

Loud only means good to chavs who don't care about SQ.

6x9 mounting depth on a saloon car usually isn't an issue this is due to them mounting under the shelf in free air.
 
I'm not sure i can take anyone who thinks a £120 alpine HU and 5 1/2" Sony door speaker are excellent seriously.

Loud only means good to chavs who don't care about SQ.

6x9 mounting depth on a saloon car usually isn't an issue this is due to them mounting under the shelf in free air.

I hardly ever had them up loud but compared with the stock audio they were very good. I'm sure if you pay more money you would get even better sound quality but for the money I paid I was happy with the results - considering I knew I wasn't keeping the car for long.

The HU was an Alpine Ipod one and apart from the fact it didn't have a pre-out it was really good. Better than some of the Kenwood/Sony/Etc... £300 jobs I've seen in proper installs.

He's been happy enough with his audio for this long so it doesn't really require spending loads of the best audio you can get. I'm sure just some £50 front components would make a world of difference compared to the stock BMW audio which I've heard is shocking.
 
[TW]Fox;15398449 said:
I've threatened to do this so many times now I've lost count, and each time I get a load of advice then it all goes out of date. But anyway, I know where I'm going with the car so hopefully it's more relevant.

I'd like to overhaul the ICE in the car and I'm going to stick with the OEM head unit (As I'll be retrofitting the BMW 16:9 navigation and television in the new year).

This means I need 4 speakers and an amplifier. I'd favour a compact amplifier if possible as i intend to make the install as stealth and OEM looking as possible.

This is where it gets controversial. I'd like to include a set of 6x9's in the install.

Yes, yes, I know. 6x9's. The speaker of choice for the discerning chav in a Corsa. But there is good reason... I think.

I don't want to go to the hassle of having a sub in the boot because it's not particularly stealthy, the boot is a sealed enclosure anyway, etc.

The E39 has 6x9's as standard fitted under the parcel shelf so the theory is I can slip a set of aftermarket ones in there to provide me with some bass. Meanwhile, up front, I'll have a decent set of components fited in the original speaker positions in the doors.

So, I'm after:

1x Amp
1x Set of 5 1/2 components for the front
1x Set of 6x9's for the rear

Budget? Dunno, what do I need to spend? Lets say 300 quid for now. Can I get something that sounds pretty good for the money with this choice of setup?

Cheers guys.

Need more than £300 really mate.

this setup would give you amazing sounds:

audison bit one £450
No idea on comps, i only know of good 6.5's but CDT's would do you well I think. CL class, upgrade to ES when you can/want.

Go with the new vibe liteair 4 channel, it is excellent, Vibe are really good now.

And finally some Genesis 6x9 subs.

I really recommend lots of sound deadening and mount all speakers on atleast MDF baffles.

You also need an amp wiring kit, 4 awg should do, dont go for less, personally I would go for an autoleads 0 awg kit, then you need a 5m rca lead and a pair of 1m rca leads (5m from headunit to audison) 1m from audison to amps, and some speaker wire. Vibe do some flat stuff, which works really well.
 
people go "ZOMG 6*9s!" because of what they read on other boards, but dont actually know why theyre bad

a set of loud amp'd 6*9s will produce a lot of sound, but as a result of all the mid and trebble, it will drag the sound stage behind you, which you dont want because it will sound bad because human ears cant work out sounds behind them that well (look at the shape of your ear)

True but you can LPF them so they only play music under x hertz. At the moment im running my rear speakers in the passat as subs using the LPF feature on my P77mp. No sound comes out of the tweeters and only bass out of the mids. I have everything for a decent sq system (inc a massive 3.5 cuft ported box that looks tiny in the boot) just havent got round to wiring it up.
 
This.

Boosting bass and top is just pure pretentiousness. Mid-range, unspectacular tough it is, is what defines music. Aside from which, music quality and ICE are 100% mutually exclusive.

With bass you need to overcompensate for road noise, vibration and the fact that any soft materials will simply absorb bass.
 
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