Re: E90 LCI 323i
Another update to share, decided to upgrade the stock sound system. With a small budget , I started reading on some of the possible upgrades. Found out that our cars actually have weird sizes woofers (4" and 6.5"). As such, either we sacrifice our stock panels and cut holes or buy systems which are made specifically for our cars. The other issue is that if we choose to change the headunit, there may be errors and the possibility of not being able to update our ECU.
After doing some homework and visiting of shops, decided to do it at Nam Huat Audio Garage. Will let the pictures do the talking.
My budget haul
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Gladen 200 speaker setup- includes 1" tweeter, 4" mid , crossover and 8" woofer
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Rockford Fosgate T400-4 Power amp
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Alpine ICS-X8 Cloud Hu
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below are some of the other stuff needed so that there are no errors and the usage of all our steering controls.
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other stuff below
face plate to accommodate air-con relocation
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Alpine reverse camera
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Domes for tweeter
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Install process below
Dismantling starts
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stock under seat 6.5" woofers
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side by side comparison with the 8" Gladen woofers
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woofers installed
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wires!!
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all internal wires are wrapped with zip ties every 2-3" and all connector junction wrapped with felt cloth.
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door dampening
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headache
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stock HU removed
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new HU installed
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stock 4" door mid driver
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comparison to Gladen 4" driver
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installed
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dampening up
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tweeter positioning adjustment
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reverse camera installation- ( that's Mr. Foon by the way)
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power amp placement mat positioning
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power amp positioning
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crossover pics
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tweeter mounted
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not sure what this is but I think its some kind of fuse
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power amp mounted
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final tuning done by Mr. Foon himself
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Came back home and realized that my Pro Clip ( for Samsung Note 2) order has arrived as well. Will take more pics after installation of the Pro-clip together with my audio setup.
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Verdict:
All I can say is that the sound blew me away. I am not sure whether I set my expectation too low or I am not used to hearing good sound from cars but the difference was almost night and day. Add to the fact that I can mirror my Samsung Note2 apps including Google map was a super bonus.
Other notable features includes, bluetooth pairing for answering calls and music playback. It also has USB link for both my Note 2 and my wife's Iphone 5. The other reason for choosing the ICS-X8 over their 530 model was due to the fact that this has in built sound processor as well. I foresee that I probably won"t go into adding a separate processor in the future.( but if I do want to go into it, this system also allow that , hehe)
The best part of all is Mr. Foon shared that I need to come back after roughly a month as he will tune the system again as the system will be "run-in" by then and it will sound even better!
I also have to commend the professionalism that Mr. Foon and his team have shown throughout the install as I was with them the whole time.He not only did the final tuning but also got into the action of installing and checking every part of the install process.
For your reference, I visited the shop today at around 12.30 pm today and they worked non stop and finished the job at around 7.30pm just nice for me to reach home for my family dinner.
I hope you enjoyed the write-up and as usual if anybody has any queries, feel free to contact me. If anybody want to listen to my humble setup, you are also welcome to contact me but probably after the run in period of 1 month.
Thanks guys..