Going about a serious ICE install

[Nathan]

Hi,

I've just bought an E30 325 and am about to embark on sorting out a system for it (well I willl be once its got an mot!)

Anyway I just after some general info really:

Front speakers: What size are they and how much space do you have around them? (the magnets on my mids are quite bulky)

Sound deadening: I usually do this as a matter of course in my cars but are there any areas which I should pay special attention to?

Bass: Seeing as how the boot is totally sealed from the cabin how easy is it to get decent bass into the cabin (I only plan on running 1 sub with a moderate amount of power behind it).

Cabling: How easy is it to get a cable through the fron bulkhead? Will I have to drill a hole? and how easy is it to hide cables, I'll be running 3 rca's and 4awg power cable.

Cheers

[fowler]

Right for starters
Head Unit
Pioneer deh-80 mp
Directed electronics Graphic equaliser
Directed 1100d5 amp
Directed studio 12 Sub
1 cubic foot box for sub
1 Farad Capacitor ( directed again)
Yellow top deep cycle battery
A sh**t load of dynomat sound deadening
Door Pods OFF PLacey
SPEAKERS
up front
Alpine component set due to the depth of the speaker magnet

Cut the metal in back shelf and get you hands on a set o Vibe 6x9's they are f**king great

Cables
RCA 's Run down passenger side of the car no big power cable s down that side
Power +remote
Down drivers side


NOTE: make SUre Car Earth To the Body is able cope with the extra current as it will cause you shit loads of headache later on
Regards Fowler
PM for more details

[placey]

nathan

take a read of the ice article under the articles menu. it will answer most of your questions. as for the 4 gauge through the bulkhead and sound deadening details: there are about 3 options for the baulkhead which right now soaked in a liberal amount of early evening whisky i can't remember too clearly. i recall that i pushed mine through near my battery somewhere without drilling and then spotted a better option about a month later. is your battery in the boot? as for sound deadening the outer skins of the doors and quarters need doing, the baulkhead and the rear seat back area for starters.

deep cycle batteries are not for everyone. they give great car park time as they are designed for slow steady current drain but don't like regular engine starting duties as much. a large diesel battery is better for everyday motoring and considerably cheaper....

how much time are you willing/forseeing putting into this install?

paul

[Nathan]

Well my last install robbed month's of my life, so I can kinda see the same happening again.....

I have all the gear already though which is a bonus, I just need rip it all out of my cav and work out where to put it all!

Pic of my old system:

[placey]

that's a very neat looing install there nathan - impressive! so you know what you're facing then getting decent sounds into a car - a load of work.

alpine and jl audio eh - almost exactly the kit i'm running right now.

there's a couple of options worth considering for the sub - either through the ski hatch (centre armrest rear seat needed ideally) or suspended under the rear shelf - either way it then fires into the cabin rather than playing to an empty boot. the rear of the seat back is an easy basis for fixing it all to in either case. it also leaves a clear boot for luggage and access to the spare wheel should you need it, the only downside being that the sub doesn't get seen should you want to show it off...good for anti-theft though.

paul

[Andy_magic]

They look like Alpine 505's - superb amplifiers. I had 3 of them in an old skool XR2.

A nice install too, very neat!

[nate]

Alright guys,

Ill be keepin an eye on this one. I have recently opened up the ski hatch behind the arm rest.

Ive had an idea of placing a square sub 10" facing in to the car. So when u pull down the arm rest 'POW' a sub sittin there ready for action.

This is a real good way of showin off your sub plus covering it up for the security too.

But is this possible? Would it be difficult?

Any ideas guys

[Andy_magic]

It sounds feasible to me.

I had thought about designing a box to suit the sub and then mount it using some thick covered MDF so the drive unit is sealed from the boot and fires directly into the cabin through the hatch.

One thing I will say is when designing a box make sure its suited to your speaker. I've got a Pioneer 12" sub and 2 boxes, it sounds great in one box and absolutley sh1te in the other.

I've got some software that you enter the Thielle small parameters into and it calculates dimensions for your box.

In the end I stuck a 15" in the boot and used the brute force method of getting bass in the car.

[Kedge]

I've taken out the ski hatch which seem to be the best thing to do.

I've just changed my sub and amp from a 12" Alpine Type R running of a Kenwood 1000w 2channel amp to a 10" Audiobahn sub running of a Geninsis 300w 2channel. I've alos changed all the cables as well to much thicker phoenix gold stuff. The difference is amazing. The sub is in a speacily made box to suit it and isn't even facing the ski hatch like my old one.

So i reckon the most mportant thing is that the sub box is the right one for the job and that the cables are up to the job.

HTH

[nate]

So Kedge

You think i wont get as good sound perfomance if i place the sub in the ski hatch,
i'm mainly concerned about the quality of sound more than anything.

Even tho it would look well good being apart of the furniture in the back seats!

[Kedge]

Don't think it would affect it, i was planning on mounting it there and building the box round it, my old sub was just in a normal box facing the ski hatch.

Would have done it with my current set up as well but not got room, i was just saying mine sound bloody loud and yet its to the side of my boot facing the middle and is samller and less powerful.

Try it, i reckon it should work. Just make sure the box is the correct size.

[placey]

box size is key for subs for sure.

nathan is using a jl audio sub by the looks of it - jl audio produce a large folder detailing every combination of sub and box size which they score for volume and sound quality - enabling the enclosure builder to taylor performance towards the required results. any jl audio dealer should be able to let you know enclosure sizes for your particular application. if you can't get this info then post your sub model number and i'll post back the details for you.

with regards to the ski-hatch in/out question it seems too obvious to state that if there is a free path for the sound waves to travel into the cabin sound waves will be heard by passengers more clearly - benefitting both quality and volume.

i was involved with an install that put 2 15s angled into the cabin through the ski-hatch - sealed from front to back in a v shape, running from a very large directed bass amp. we took it to southampton, parked up in a retail park and shook the ground for a fair distance from the car!

paul