Hi guys,

I've never ventured into ICE as it's not really my thing, however....

I've just bought a Jeep Wrangler for a bit of fun. It's fot a radio cassette built in and it has CD changer controls, so I need to find one of those.....

but the main problem is that with the roof off I can hardly hear the music, so I want a cheap'ish amp & speakers to boost it up a bit. I won't be changing the head unit as I want to be able to leave it parked up with no roof on. Therefore I'm after some basic cheap kit I can put in it.

Are there any good on-line places ?

Al

 

www.hiwayhifi.co.uk was quite good and cheap for me

Steve

 

Why on-line? There is a big ICE dealer in peterborough called ICE DIRECT I think. If you buy on-line, its ok if the web retailer have stock and nothing goes wrong,but dont expect any help or service after they have got your money.

For your car - I dont know how deep the speaker locations are on a wrangler, or the size. These would affect what you can have. I would suggest you need a small two channel amp with speaker level Inputs, and two way coaxial speakers that can handle an amp.

You mind find components too in your face with the roof open, only hearing the tweeters and nothing from the mids. With Coax's, you'd be able to crank up the volume as the tweeters would be lower. (I am assumiing the speaker locations are in the doors!)

Have fun

 

ICE Direct (in Fengate) wanted £400 for a headunit that I bought online for £230.

In their defence, they are very knowledgeable and extremely helpful, with no pressure sales talk, but for that sort of saving I'll take my chances online.

Steve

 

£400 for a £230 unit on-line? Now, for that kind of difference, I'd understand. However, if ICE isn't your thing, then going to a shop is always better, as long as the shop is reputable. You will pay more at the shop, but with a bit of haggling, you should get near the on-line or "MAX POWER" price. For example, say you buy a unit for £200 on line that is £279 in the shop. By the time you add carriage, and fitting charges if you cant DIY, then it will be near £240. (Some shops charge a lot of money to fit if you didn't buy it there.) If you can get the shop to fit it free after doing a deal at £250, the shop is happy and you can go back there should anything go wrong. I would only buy on-line, if there was a SUBSTANTIAL saving and confident of fitting the kit myself. Also only order if they have it in stock.
There will always be extreme examples- decide what you want, do your homework, and you wont go wrong. Hope you find what you want.

 

Thanks guys - I was planning take a trip to ICE Direct tomorrow and make a few notes - I just wanted to get some comparisson prices. Sounds like I should buy a copy of Max Power too then ?

ICE Direct did my pimp tints - nice guys, I just want to check their prices.

Al

 

Dont wave Max power in front of them - most Ice dealers hate them. Dont go for "price match" or "can you beat" etc.. Max prices are cut to the bone, and it will aggrivate them. To get a deal, you want them to think - "this guy is reasonable - if we give him a deal he might come back to us again". Just give an indicator that you know about prices so you get a decent discount.

Good Luck

 

Try crutchfield.com it's an American company but I think they ship internationally. They allways seen to have fair prices and often you can find a killer deal on the scratch&dent section or returned items. (They didn't fint etc... Full warrenty, but a hell of alot cheaper.)

Give it a shot. -TB