Multi-Source ICE System

[HowieP]

At last, after 8 years of paper cones I'm tackling the ICE department! Yesterday I turned the Legnum into a one seat van in an attempt to "do it properly" and also because I had never removed the original non-functioning navigation and tv unit, all 120ft plus of wiring...

I am installing a Becker sat-nav cd/tuner, auxiliary walkman/ipod input and...a cassette deck (an age related thing!). Now, we have a problem. The original equipment cage and the dash trim are described as "double DIN" but this doesn't work as "two DIN" does it? There is no problem with a standard head unit mounted without its' separate cage and outer facia surround but, the Becker unit is cage-free and consequently wider than a bare caged unit, has an integral facia surround and no bolt holes in the side casings. Has anyone overcome a similar situation, perhaps using UK market fittings? Also I traced a single wire from the old wiring plugs back to the speedo head. It is connected to the screw on the circuit board to the left of centre of the speedo when viewing the back of the instument pod. I assume this is a speed signal pick-up which I can use for the "GAL" fuction on the Becker, is this correct?

Any thoughts?

If all goes to plan-ish, we will have Alpine S components in the front (Genesis powered), Alpine S co-axs in the rear (Rockford Punch powered) and some combination of another Punch and a Phoenix Gold driving some subs and possibly a couple of 5" mid/teble highlighters in the boot. The theory's good!

All advice gratefully received, cheers H.

[barney_r1]

Love to give some advice but i'm one step behing you so will be very interested i this feed. The car i just got has had the double din removed prior to arriving in the uk and a nasty cheap sony single (normal ) head unit put in, looks bloody nasty with all the space under it and i WILL be changing it for something. What about speakers, sub or an amp, is that something you are gong to do as well?

[HowieP]

I was warned that fitting and setting up the Becker would be a bit taxing but didn't think it would take two months of Sundays!

Yesterday was initial test time after completing all the necessary connections and complicating matters further by having 2 1/2 DIN of head units courtesy of a parametric equaliser/line driver.

Everything worked! Reverse signal, speed signal, aerial levels and even the calibration drive despite managing to leave myself with a screen full of Danish instructions! Cannot believe the quantity of sound available from a nominal 135 watts and the quality? If you haven't heard a metal tape recorded on a Nak home machine from a Linn turntable source and played back on a Nak car deck, go and do so! The depth and clarity of the output clearly outperforms poorly produced CD's, very evident from the Becker's ability to pull every minute detail from a disc.

Nephew did a frequency test compilation on an iPod from 30 Hz up and even this played through but it must be said below 40Hz the Alpines (17cm) winced a bit (no JBL 10's installed yet).

Sat-Nav performance is very good and I recommend the Becker Traffic Pro to anyone who does not need to play MP3 or WAV format discs (later models can do this). There were some on e-bay recently at £250, original list £799.

Can't wait to get the rest of the gear in and of course, I will gladly offer any help if anyone else tries to upgrade on similar principles.

[Roberto]

Sounds like you are doing a good and proper job.

I like good music as well, but relented on going mad, just decent Sony gear allround with interface for HD5 input and bluetooth for the phone(very handy).

Would love to hear that sort of clarity.

Used do Sound-Off competitions, now that was silly money for some dire systems.
Where you really sound like doing a well worked system.

[MR.VOODOO]

the legnum is a piece of piss do any stereo mods you like i should know
i will post some pictures soon ..............

[MarkSanne]

@howieP: Linn LP12 turntable by coincidence? and... pics of the 2-month project please !!

[Turbo_Steve]

Unless you're planning to ferry around rear passengers with similar audio tastes to yourself, I'd be disinclined to bother amplifying the rears, as you're going to be predominantly faded forward to retain the stereo imagery, as well as the detail.

Dynamat is a great idea, but I'd go steady: it isn't light, and you end up dragging around another person in weight if you go overboard! My preference is to do the insides of the front doors and leave it at that. If you're fitting a sub, it's worth a little proofing around that too.

Given the amount of road noise you get in the VR-4s, I'd suggest a subwoofer was essential. My preference from previous cars is to mount this into the bodywork in a fibreglass box that follows the body panels. It retains as much boot space as possible.

The biggest struggle so far seems to be keeping amplifiers cool if you hide them away places. Fans and ducting work, but can end up being very intrusive. I've used a PC watercooling setup to a radiator under the car with a lot of success, but it tended to overheat at a standstill, and a fan under the car isn't going to last long.

Other tips...
Use serious grade power wiring everywhere. The biggest grade for the amps you can (4AWG should suffice unless you're going for serious power, in which case 0AWG). Make sure it's fused properly. Always run a negative return to the battery of the same gauge.

Capacitors are overrated IMO: a good amplifier will have it's own.

Running a 4AWG + & - from the battery to behind the headunit (fused at the battery, again). The -ve earths the headunit. The +ve is split into a pair of 16AWGs...one goes direct to the permanent live of the headunit, the other runs to the switched live input via a relay triggered by the cars switched live.

This simple wiring job makes an astonishing difference to the sound quality, as your headunit isn't struggling for current on the factory spidersweb. Have a look at the factory wiring: it's tiny.

[MarkSanne]

I installed a 2DIN headunit with everything in it (pioneer avic-hd1bt) and changed the front door kick-bass speakers for Hertz HSK165's and put in a dynamat door kit. What a difference! Even with the factory rear speakers installed it sounds very, very good. Later on I had a custom car-audio shop (and owner of Galant V6 with a compressor/supercharger!!) install a custom subwoofer enclosure (with Atomic sub) onto the subwoofer vent in the headliner (is it called that way?). Takes up a minimum of space, but sounds awesome. It's connector to a class J earthquake PH2000W/D1 amp. You can see it here: http://www.zx-audio.nl/?target=r&item=4

[MR.VOODOO]

you should have a set up like mine

pionner dehp88rs
directed dvd palyer
5.8 screen in steering wheel

3 x orion 17cm @ twt in each front door
1 x orion 17cm mid @ twt rear door
6 x orion hp 12 subs
3 x hccad500 amps
2 x hp2800 2 channel amps
2 x stinger batteriers
1 x 200amp split charging relay

0 gauge for batterires
4 gauge for amps
12 awg for speakers

lost of dynamat

[MarkSanne]

pics mr.voodoo!!! pics!!!

[stu1888]

i had the linn system in my house was the best sounding system i ever had still got my speakers but its through my rotel amp (from a recording studio) and nad cd player both very good but the linn,,,,,,,,,ahhhhh sometimes i wish i never split up,,,, she broke it,,,,,,, a woman scorned tut tut lmao

[MarkSanne]

Sorry to hear about the 'break'-up stu1888.

I have been (and still am) listening for almost 10 years now to a set of Linn Index + Linn Tukan speakers (3* Index for front L/R/Center, Tukans for rears) with a REL Strata II sub to supplement the lower frequenties. Still like it, but I'd really, really, reeeeaaaally would like to have a Linn LP12 phonoplayer.