How Many People Have An ICE Install??
 

Hi,
I was thinking of buying a complete 'Ice' setup for my scooby beacause i really liked having a decent system in my old car, but now everytime i seem to put the music on pause! beacause i love the flat four burble too much! is anyone like this or does the noise after a few years wear off??
Cheers

Can I suggest you look at the ICE section :D

The short answer is "lots". Put a bit of sound deadening in the doors, fit a decent head unit and decent speakers and you've made a vast improvement. Then add amps, a 1/3 octave eq, sub, more amps, bass cube, a bit more amplification, some more sound deadening, fibreglass, body filler and you're there. Then you decide to run an active setup, need more amps, and it starts getting complicated :D

Thanks, i'll have a butchers'

500kg later you have a sound system to be proud of.

Now...... where did I put that 20 grand, to spend on the engine, to get my power/weight ratio back to where it was, before i foooked it up ??????

Paul

Paul's got a point - my system is slightly pared down now. I'm running a single amp (Soundstream Continuum - old skool goodness), a single 12" sub, and a component set in the front. Weight is "acceptable" for the improvement in sound it gives :D

ICE is a pain in the ass. Takes ages scraping it off the windscreen in the morning. ;)

Bob

probably next to where you kept the 20k you wasted on ice.


Don't other with a system in a car, it will never be very good. A basic cheap set up that sounds great for not a lot of money. That's the only way forward.

Agree with Adam.... espcially in a car such as the Impreza and it's rattly panels etc (more so MK1). I've limited myself to a fairly cheap (Rockford) single Amp, 10" sub and front components. Sounds ok.... which is all i hoped for really. I've spent more on the stuff in the house where you can really appreciate the difference.

Tony.

I don't agree with that Adam, Iv'e heard some wonderful sounding car systems in my Local "Cheltenham-Car-Hi-Fi" centre, that would put a lot of home systems to shame.

It all depends on the planning and the preparation as much as the quality of the kit.

That aside though, I have been there done that and shattered the boot window of my little 106 Rallye..
Next try was a 306 cabbie and because of the lack of roof (same equipment as 106) it did sound crap.
Onto the scoob and the factory head unit is attached to some midly uptarted door speakers and that is enough for a bit of local radio when I'm bored..
The rest of the time is spent listening to the flat four "Waking the dead"
3 years on and although the note has changed it gets no less pleasing to the ear. :D

Keep the scoob true to it's heritage I say and leave the 15" subs to the chavs..


Andy

Do ya wanna sit in my car go for a drive and then tell me if you still think the same way???? :norty:

Paul

ICE is definitely an area of diminishing returns. 300 quid on a head unit and 200 quid on speakers will make a massive, massive improvement. 2 grand on amps, 1 grand on front speakers, etc will make a relatively small difference from the 500 quid improvement already made...

Crap equipment installed well can sound better than thousands of pounds of equipment installed or set up badly. I speak from personal experience here from when I went for an active setup, and found that I did not have the time or skill to get the best out of the equipment I had - so resorted back to passives.

yet got a full on system in mine 3 12" subs in the boot up rated speakers alpine head unit etc. very loud but to be honest i listen to the engine more

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Depends on how you use the car. For weekend fun, trackdays etc, ICE, air-con etc is pointless. If the car is daily driver, many miles, IMHO both are essential. The flat four burble is not an interesting listen for 2 hours at a steady 70 (honest guv!) in top gear on a motorway

I'd say the best option is a decent headunit (£2-300), decent front components (£100 or so), a fairly small but decent amp (I got a nice little 4 channel phoenix gold for ~£150) and something for the back (components in shelf, sub in shelf or sub in boot say another £1-200 or so). Throw in a little dynamat Xtreme in the right places. For perhaps £600 you'll get a very nice sounding, non too heavy system, loud enough, that makes long boring motorway journeys much more pleasant. That's the theory I followed, mine sounds perfectly nice thank you.

I agree with the diminishing returns thing. Because of the problems with sound reproduction in a car, background noise etc, whilst a £10-20k set-up may sound very good in a showroom/custom built install, it will take an awful lot to make it sound very good in a normal looking scoob. Also agree with Tony - whilst I've heard some very good car systems, never heard one that even gets close to my (admittedly pretty expensive separates) home hi-fi.

i think i'll just install some components maybe a sub, i usally only drive mine short distances at a time, 15-20mins, so i listen to the flat four', but incase for the motorways ill have something to drone out the sound... cheers for help

BOB'5 :lol:

Vipa - next meet maybe, mate.

Paul

No problem Bob......:lol1:

Have totally drowned out the flat 4 burble now.... almost a KW of power floating round the cab!!!!!

Don't get me wrong... I love the sound my car makes (even through the pea-shooters) but I do 25-30k a year and spend a considerable amount of time in my private little space....

My flat 4 is a bit like Kylie Minogue...... I love riding her and listening to her for 15 mins at a time but any more than that and it'd just get boring :D

Paul