anyone upgraded ICE on E90?

[__iceman__]

Re: anyone upgraded ICE on E90?

Hahah I was trying to avoid extolling the 701's virtues. Everything that oneheadlight said is true - this is a very useful unit. I'm not sure if chia has an RTA - if yes, he should use it to get a baseline first.

One more thing - the 701 has 6 presets for your settings. For example, you can tune for pinpoint imaging to place Norah Jones right in front of you, on top of steering wheel, or in the centre of dashboard. At a click of a button, you can woo your passenger by shifting Ms Jones right in front of passenger side.

My settings are:

1. (Music) Passenger direct front - for passenger
2. (Music) centre of dash - for passenger
3. DVD 5.1 DTS setting for passenger
4. DVD 5.1 DTS setting for driver
5. (Music) Centre of dash for driver
6. (Music) On top of steering wheel - for driver.

Alternatively, you can also set bass levels etc to really tune for different genres of music, or compensate for crappy Mp3 music (they sound so different from audiophile CDs of course, but at least can help).

Again, takes lots of time and dedication to get it right. Not only should tuning be done at the 701, you will need to also properly set the gain levels of the amps first, and not to bandaid it with the processor.

 

[Motofish]

Re: anyone upgraded ICE on E90?

Think I am slowing stepping into a deep black hole. One week ago I was over the moon with the new set up and now I going back to have more stuff added. Need someone to talk some sense into me, my wife is not very successful in this aspect. Was at J4C couple of days ago and I am keen on several of their proposals. I guess that only way to save me from been suck in further is to get an oversea assignment. Anyway, unless I have a call from the Big Boss to fly tomorrow morning, I will be at Sixth Ave deciding if I should sink another grand into the e90.

 

[Motofish]

Re: anyone upgraded ICE on E90?

iceman - with only one pair of components up front and a 10" sub at the back, can I still move the music around like what you described above? I guess DTS will be out with this speakers set up but that's ok with me cause I don;t have plans for DVDs and LCD panels in the car. Thanks.

 

[Motofish]

Re: anyone upgraded ICE on E90?

Was at sixth ave @ 0930. Chia shown photo of another e90 with 10' sub mounted on rear board without the box. He mentioned that e90 insulation on the booth is too good and it trap most of the power from the sub. Without cutting metal, he was able to get the sub waves into the cabin. I was convinced and commission him to remove the sub driver from the box.

My biggest problem was with the sound staging. Chia did not have a Alpine 701 DSP in stock and called several other dealers with no luck. He suggested trying out the Mass Engineering vacuum tube pre-amp. He acknowledge that the pre-amp is not a DSP but mentioned that it will make the music more pleasant. With no obligation, he wired up the pre-amp and I listent to it from various position in the car for about 15 mins. The sound has indeed improve, clear tweeters and smooth, warm mid-range. I am not an audiophile but I can say that it was better than before. I was able to hear details, even the singer breathing, which the CDT and Blaunpkh amp alone could not provide. On the sound staging, its more centralize, more natural. But the depth and width is not there. Guess only the DSP can provide that.

I was then left with the decision to wait till a DSP is available or go with the pre-amp. After deliberating for a while, I decided to go with the pre-amp. Maybe it was a rush of blood as I like the sound after the pre-amp. But I heard so much about the 701 and wish I could do all the stuff that are listed above.

Anyway, 5 hours later it was completed. The installer did a fantastic job with the rear board mounted sub driver and we started tuning the new set up. When it was done, I started my slow drive back to the East. Why slow drive? I was sampling every piece of music in my collection. Its certainly more enjoyable and the wife approves. While I am happy with the new set up, I am still wondering at the back of my head if I should have waited for the 701.

Will take some pictures tomorrow and post. Thanks to all who contibuted ideas and shared experience. Cheers.

 

[Motofish]

Re: anyone upgraded ICE on E90?

View attachment 6621

View attachment 6622

As promised the pictures.

 

[aguy]

Re: anyone upgraded ICE on E90?

nice looking sub you have there. Tube pre-amp from mass engineering is nice stuff. it really produce nice and clear and wider sound. good choice u have there. As for the alpine 701, it can do more as it got 62 bands to the front and time alignment, with this you can do even more so cannot compare with the pre-amp. each of this item got there own advantage and quality. Most important is you are happy with the money you spent.

 

[aguy]

Re: anyone upgraded ICE on E90?

may i know where u install your tweeter, maybe i can help you with the staging of your system

 

[__iceman__]

Re: anyone upgraded ICE on E90?

Since you went with the preamp already - we cannot bear to say anymore good things about the 701... hahah perhaps next time.

For the tube preamp - this is one of the finest ones around, BTW - do you get the delay of abt 10 secs each time you start up?

 

[aguy]

Re: anyone upgraded ICE on E90?

bro, the delay for the mass engineering tube pre-amp is 20s..... for all tube products in car audio sound nice after the warming up. As what we always said "good things have to wait".

 

[oneHeadlight]

Re: anyone upgraded ICE on E90?

the black hole... the pursuit of ice nirvana... oh dear oh dear.

STOP !! calm yourself down... take time to research and decide. There is actually another school of thought in ICe... its called KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid. haha... as iceman had mentioned, pre-amp does nothing much.

anyway, the stock headunit suck bigtime. Some would argue rubbish in, rubbish out. U need a very very good LOC to convert the signals.

Moto, i wud suggest u stay away from any shops, any ice sampling. Just enjoy your setup first... slowly u will learn wats not right in your setup, and then fix it. Else the shop will just take your money happily. Don't expect shops to be totally ethical. They have overheads to take care of.

 

[Motofish]

Re: anyone upgraded ICE on E90?

The tweeters are mounted on the front dash board, very basic mounting. I have seen another e90 @ HG with a moulded mount for the tweeters that looks much better.

Yes, the tube pre-amp does improves the sound a great deal and there is the delay during start up. Chia never told me about it and I was wondering what went wrong with my audio the first time I started the engine. Not sure if its 10 or 20 seconds. If I find a stop watch, I will let you know.

That's about all that I will do to the ICE set up. As suggested, I will enjoy my system first and listen to other setups and learn. Save some money to replace the wheels Thanks.

 

[__iceman__]

Re: anyone upgraded ICE on E90?

We will live to poison you another day. Give you some time to recover and enjoy your system first. :nehnehhh:

 

[Motofish]

Re: anyone upgraded ICE on E90?

My mistake was to sit in a friend's 530i with Logic 7. After that I could not stand the stock set up anymore. I guess if I were to sit in iceman or oneheadlight's ride, I will be in trouble again. Will try to stay away from you guys. No just kidding. Looking forward to meeting and thanking you folks in person. ICE is not as good as the Logic 7 yet (unless I add 701, hmm) but I am happy. Should I say that I am getting slightly annoyed with the 16' rims and RF tires.

 

[oneHeadlight]

Re: anyone upgraded ICE on E90?

U can come sit in my car and enjoy stock e46 ice haha... welcome welcome...

 

[__iceman__]

Re: anyone upgraded ICE on E90?

After all the rubbish I have tried making the 701 do... hmm... maybe new project is to get the entire system plus twin 12" subs... retuned to EXACTLY replicate the orginal BMW sound system with paper cone speakers! Hmmm...

 

[Motofish]

Re: anyone upgraded ICE on E90?

If I need to feel good and save money for the new set of wheels, I look for oneHeadlight. Only when I am looking for trouble with the wallet then I will see iceman.

 

[oneHeadlight]

Re: anyone upgraded ICE on E90?

If I need to feel good and save money for the new set of wheels, I look for oneHeadlight. Only when I am looking for trouble with the wallet then I will see iceman.

Hehe.... U can try....

 

[longhorn]

Re: anyone upgraded ICE on E90?

hi

Have upgraded my front speakers to boston acoustics Pro 6.53 3-way components. And added a boston C110 subwoofer in the boot.

Like motofish, I have found that the sound insulation of my E90 boot to be (too?) good. I can’t seem to get the bass into the car.

The pro 6.53 comes in 6.5” woofer (mounted under front seats), 4” mid (mounted in door), and 1” tweeter (mounted on dashboard)

In order to improve the bass, ICE shop suggests that I replace the 6.5” with the Hertz Space 8 Neodymium Woofer. See www.hertzaudiovideo.com. He said this thin woofer can fit nicely under the e90 seats. He’s willing to let me try, no obligations.

Wondering if ice gurus here have any thots/comments on this setup? Main idea is to try to improve the bass. Appreciate any recommendations.
Thanks in advance, have a great Easter weekend…….

cheers

 

[__iceman__]

Re: anyone upgraded ICE on E90?

I am most concerned about the enclosure that would be offered to the working environment of that woofer under the seat. Especially if its a big change in size from 6.5 to 8"... how are they going to ensure that the woofer is in a proper enclosure?

A woofer will only work well if it is given a proper enclosure. If you hold a woofer in mid air and play it, you only see it flapping around,but no sound, let alone bass. Place it into an enclosure that separates the air masses of the front and rear of the woofer, magically the bass comes thick and strong.

I dunno how they can find good space under that seat, and whether it could pump anything decent or not. Given a chance, those woofers may work many many times better if given a proper chance to.

Again - I can't say coz I haven't got a clue on how this enclosure looks like. But if its a mass production car - don't expect much better than flimsy plastic, as opposed to proper subwoofer enclosure requirements of solid thick MDFs, not only NAILED, but GLUED, together, with proper SILICON seal on all edges. These details can easily add precious dBs to the output of the sub. Together with the proper delivery method into the car's cabin, they make that difference between prodding your eyelid with your pinky, vs mike tyson punching your eyeball into the back of your head. (Ok ok, I know too graphic liao).

 

[longhorn]

Re: anyone upgraded ICE on E90?

ouch, too graphic yes...... but hey, thx for yr thots. appreciate it. cheers