Just a post for those interested in ICE options for the Neo. What I have in my car:

- Sony CDX-GT800
- Kicker KS65.2 2-Way Components (Front)
- Kicker ES65 Coaxials (Rear)
- Kicker KS-80 8" Subwoofer
- Planet Audio EC20 Electronic Crossover
- Kenwood KAC846 4Ch Amp (driving front mids and sub)
- Audio Sysyem Twister F2 2Ch Amp (driving front tweets)
- Good cabling all round
- Dynamat everywhere

Total Cost: Around RM8k including installation and tuning.

Sony goes to rear speakers direct. One pre-out goes to crossover, and then is split three ways to front mids, front tweets and the sub. Both amp and sub are in the boot, and the crossover is under the driver's seat (there is a very nice recessed hole for it there. Perfect size).

I made a mistake at first. I set my budget at around RM3k, and then went to Quest Audio in Subang Jaya, and he gave me a system matching my budget (but still using factory head unit, and not including the Kenwood amp, which was a gift from a friend). It was improved, but the sound was nothing like what I was expecting. I wanted excellent clarity and fidelity, with good overall punch and soundstaging.

Two weeks later I went back to him and changed the head unit, thinking that was the problem. It improved things slightly again, but I just couldn't get the sound I wanted.

Finally I realised I would have to spend a lot more than I anticipated, and I went to KF Audio in Aman Suria. They added the second amp and the crossover, ripped out all the wiring and put good stuff in and ran my fronts full active. They also tuned the system.

I have had this for two months already, and it is very very very good. All the settings on the head unit are off (EQ is flat, time correction, soundstating tuning and loudness are all off) but it still sounds wonderful and is exactly what I was looking for.

I think my next step will be to upgrade the fronts to 3-way components (from Focal or DLS), upgrade the subwoofer and then the Kenwood amp, and then I will be done.

Hope this helps any Neo owners thinking of playing with their ICE!

Any questions please ask.

Just to say the magic ingredient in my setup is that I am running my front components full active, and that the tweeters have their own dedicated amp. The clarity and punch you get from the tweeters is amazing, and you can make out all the little details and hear the decay of the instruments - this is what makes the system very nice if you ask me.

some pics would be nice

But Sony HU + kenwood amp + 8" subwoofer

This post has been edited by loon1031: Sep 27 2006, 12:16 AM

Is your sweating a good thing or a bad thing?

it is not really a g00d setup (as in SQ).. 8" woofer delivers does not deliver good bass cz the bass produced are not deep enough..

kenwood amp.. no comment..

sony HU has been abandoned from pro-ICErs.. i'm not a user so i can't gif a comment..

if u relli interested to go for sound quality system,
HU - alpine, eclipse, pioneer 8series & above, clarion HXD2... etc..
AMP - a/d/s, alpine, genesis, audio system, xetec.. etc..
Woofer - adire, ImageDynamic, bravox, eclipse... etc..

bro, if u r interested in ICE, u can always try 2 go HERE o HERE..

more educational

u did a good choice 4 the dynamat thingy and also the audio system amp.. highly recomend for HU upgrade.. btw, who served u? siemen liew o the manager?

This post has been edited by mattchin: Sep 27 2006, 12:43 AM

Thanks for the feedback.

The Sony HU I have is their most high-end model. I agree that Sony have mostly catered for the budget market in the past by producing substandard units, but the one I have is very good. Or at least I think it is. The tuner in particular is the best I've ever had (and I've had high end Alpines, Pioneers and a JVC).

The 8" sub might not be deep or powerful, but it is very tight. And I like a good tight bass. Also, my car is a hatch (boot and passenger cabin are not separated by a wall), and a small car, so even though it's only an 8" sub (it's a tube though) it works pretty well. I may change it though, just to get better all-round quality, but I probably won't get one bigger than 8".

Siemen served me. Nice chap.

DeaDLocK@ wonder how badly was the 1st sound system when you setup at Quest Audio...

I spend about RM 5K on 1 Alpine head unit, 1 Magnat 4ch amp, 1 Magnat monoblock, 1 10" double voice core, cabling and workmanship for the side doors at Quest Audio. Brought my own focal component speakers (1 pair as only for front) and sound damn good dy...

think you really over budget yourself when you go to 2 different places for your audio...

This post has been edited by KidsCode: Sep 27 2006, 07:29 AM

For Sony HU although that is the most high end for Sony HU, but for that price I can find a better sound quality HU than that HU.

Kenwood amp try before, sound not so good....

Kicker 8" subwoofer bass not enough solid + low.

Why there are always got people like to say this brand no good and that brand is bad? When talking on entertainments, is there a general judgement for it?

plz don make ur statement here hard.. u'll feel the wonder wif 10" to 12" woofer.. u will here even more from them.. i'm not trying to say sony is not good but there r better ones out there.. and like i said, u'll here more and feel the wonder wif a better 1..

btw, once u haf stepped into KF audio, u're IN.. ha! ha! the ICE poison will circulate in ur blood now.. u won't go wrong wif 'em.. i've been a customer wif them since my father's gen till now..

do audit car's that has been setup by KF.. then ur poison is "kao kao" liao

Is your English is really bad or I cannot understand simple English?

warhh.. look.. u got a star..
dumbo..

So this means that my English standard is lower than you, ok, let you be the winner. Think can improve my English skill here but... It make me worst than earlier by reading your postings.

ha! ha!..

yeah.. bad english from me.. and urs r soooo great.. u can't win ICE now u talk ENGLISH.. wat a crap..

if ur talking in terms of Sony HUs then its because ever since the Xplod series their HU absolutely sucks in reliability.

alot of my friends Xplod started skipping like mad within the first 3-4 months. and 1 even died on him and another just wouldnt play CD at all anymore. simple as that.

as for kenwood amps (or other commercial brands) they dont really produce the oomph u would expect from their specs. another un-commercial brand of the same (or lower) specs can spank them easily.

but as with all audio equipment....to each their own.

@Deadlock
i drive a kelisa and i have a 12" sub in a sealed enclosure box in my boot man u should give the 12" subs a go and see if ur satisfied with it. the adire shiva would be a bang for buck SQ woofer. and some even say it can be used for SPL. never tested it out muhself though and dunno where to get oso... i know penang got easier to get it than KL.

my setup is more towards SPL as i listen to metal only. can see the specs in muh sig.


as for everyone else... ALL ur english oso suck la...

my engrand is more powderful than urs

yarh..

u r the good"est" aledi..

wat the fork

got flamed

He don't accept we say his stuft no good mah.....
If don't want let us give comment why post here??

LOL of course I accept. Did I ever say I didn't accept? Mine is not a super-duper high-end system, but I guarantee it sounds better than you guys expect. Your ability to judge is limited by the fact that you haven't heard the system, right? Have you heard a Sony GT800? If not, why do you assume all Sonys are made equal? It's not as great as a high-end Alpine, sure, but at the end of the day the HU checked off all the criteria I wanted. Not cheap either - RM1800! But I'm happy with it. And before you judge and say "RM1800 should have gotten Alpine!!!" - have you heard this Sony? The same principle goes for everything else in the car.

I asked the tuner at KF about his opinion on the setup after he had finished installing and tuning everything, and he said it was very good already. Anything beyond this would be creeping into expensive high-end territory, and for a high mid-range setup it was sweet.

Still a lot of room for improvement though, which is why I continue to welcome comments, even though I have a right to disagree, especially if you have no direct experience with the components I'm using.

Just to say that I am considering upgrading the HU, front components and the sub, but I am not sure if it would be worth it. Of course I can get better sound, but where do you draw the line?

Kena poison already.

i think thread close better.....

LOL. Now thread must get closed? Let me explain what happened.

1. I said what I did in my car

2. Some people commented that the stuff isn't all that great and it can be improved

3. I agreed, but I explained why I chose the things I did. I also said I was considering upgrading all those things anyway. And I thanked people for their feedback.

4. Some people accuse me of flaming and not listening (!!!! What did I say?)

5. I replied to those people.

That's it. No harsh words or anything - just misunderstanding and misinterpretation. No need to close anything.

i wonder if he will said " u system sound like crap
u're wasting ur money investing this kinda shiet"

room for improvement

1) component set
2) active crossover (u r on active or passive now? )

not so important aspect
if budget permits.. u can ask siemen to let u try out the steg that he has
i believe u will be amaze by how much improvement u will have

also..u can ask siemen to let u try the 9 inch Focal sub.. brilliant sub
which is good for compact car

HU is actually adequate already... no need change
i have heard the new range b4...not too bad ... and nothing exciting...

added:
show some pics la...
since u got a D70
shud have show us some great pics

This post has been edited by driftmeister: Sep 28 2006, 12:30 AM

Haha.

No he didn't say that - he did say there was room for improvement, but 8k system how to compare with 15k system?

And KF Audio are very good and very famous in the Malaysian ICE crowd for their quality installations and tuning, so I trust what they tell me.



I would have gotten a 12" sub in the first place, but I'm worried about my boot space! As it is almost got no boot left. So I got the 8" on a two-week trial, and was surprisingly happy with it. To get the "tightness" on a 12" I would have to spend a lot of money, so not sure if it's really worth it.

Thanks. THIS is constructive feedback.

I'm interested with the 9". I'll check with him on that.

My crossover is active - no passive crossovers anywhere in my system.

What is the "steg"?

Yeah nothing exciting about the new Sony range, but I must admit the FM tuner is very good compared to all the other HUs I've had in my previous cars (including two high-end Alpine and JVC units). The sound is not earth-shattering, but it is decent enough. As it is I think the SQ is bottlenecked by my speakers anyway, so I won't consider changing this until I change the front components.

Thanks.

damn thats funny.... u misunderstood la bro... NO ONE accused u of flaming and not listening....

its jojo902156 thy were talking about. mattchin got flamed by him/her and loon1031 decided to join in... but i get the feeling that loon1031 accidentally targetted the wrong person

anyway... i dunno why ur so worried about boot space in ur car... unless ur talking about 2x12" la then i would understand. but if ur talking about 1x12" in the boot... then its a small matter la provided u use a box instead of tube aka bazooka enclosure. like i said i drive a kelisa and i have a 12" in my boot and boot space isnt much of an issue unless i decide to carry big stuff that takes up half the boot space.

also, i say stick with ur current HU. u already spent quite abit on it so live with it for awhile...besides... ur happy with it so let it be la.

"Steg" is a brand...very popular among ICErs

u also mentioned upgrading to 3way comps for the front.. why man? id prefer to leave them as 2-way personally.

by the way, what kinda music u listen to?

wow.. since u said sony's tuner is g00d then i will blif cz 2 me alpine is aledi considered a good 1 if 2 compare wif eclipse and pioneer..

focal came out wif a 9" sub.. ? cute measurement wat's the ideal size for the box ah?

u can go better wif a g00d component

Hoho...!
I not target DeaDLocK @ ma..
I don't under stand the jojo guys why don't listen to what people comment!? Not open mind at all

ha! ha!..

if he/she is an old uncle/aunty i can accept that kind of attitude but if he is juz a 20+-, the fellar no hope edi.. can masuk kilang and remanufacture..

btw loon, haf u heard of adire shiva in PG?

Nope! I don't hear any adire shiva in Penang...!
Do you know Penang where have it?

u guys should go to autoworld.com.my forum and go to the ICE section

most of the sifoos there are from penang and they have ICE TTs quite often.

i get most of my answers there and up to date they havent failed me yet. especially this dude with the nick Pras. very knowledgeable and very helpful.

they should know where to get the Adire Shiva in Penang.

EDIT: A shop called 'Golden' somewhere in Bayan Lepas happens to have been mentioned alot by the Penang ICErs in AW forum.

This post has been edited by mADmAN: Sep 28 2006, 05:54 PM

But The Golden Auto Boss qiute "lan shi".

try the scanspeak 9" also... tht one can go very low and good for SQ as well...

adire shiva is a g00d woofer but it's a power hungry woofer.. i can't recall where my fren bought it from (in PG).. i'll ask for u if u wanna check that out..

i thought the IASCA champion (SQ) for these few years r KF Audio and Sound Quest?

I don't want power hungry woofer..!

First, I think you have to make my statements right at the first place. I said let you be the winner is your 'good' english that you have. Like 'here' the sound or 'hear' the sound, which 1 is the correct word for hear. If you still insist that your english are good, then I got no say.

Anyway to others that says Sony not a good brand that have alot of problem, why not file a complaint against them? If Sony don't want to entertaint, can always go to http://www.kpdnhep.gov.my/index and make the compalint rather talk over here.

i've come to learn that winning a competition doesn't mean that it will sound good.
generally speaking:

1. who are the other contenders? what is their standard? if the A get 7/10, and all the others only 5/10, of course A will be the champion, but A is only 7/10, does that mean A is good?

2. some people tune a system to win competitions, but have a different setting for everyday listening. that doesn't seem logical. a good setup should be able to cater for all sorts of judgment, competition or not.

this is a just a general statement, and not directed at any particular competition or at KF etc...

i feel that in the end, you are spending your hard earned money, so just do some research, audit some cars, then u know what kind of sound you are looking for, then plan a budget, and work towards that sound. i think in that way, that would be the most satisfying approach. just my 2 cents

well said wai ...
ppl tend to think that IASCA champs means sound like heaven..
in fact.. the system is just tune to match the judge's taste.. lol
moreover, the installer is the judge...

well, for me those champs r a g00d trustable installer.. regarding the trophies are juz some marketing materials 2 walk in customers

i've experienced wif an ICEr (who think he is the rep of the acc shop) thinks that his car has a so so so good sQ.. he told me that his car has center staging.. but when i auditted his car.. it was so

the tweeter sound was on the dashboard and the mid sound was around the leg room n he said got center staging.. the sound was so seperated.. i do call this ICEr..

he was running wif alpine dvd+monitor HU, rainbow comps, PG amp, JBL amp and JBL woofer.. spent more than rm10k @ that shop



This post has been edited by mattchin: Oct 3 2006, 09:26 PM

how to use ipod in satria neo? anyone knows? sorry for a noob question like mine

$8K for the above ICE is a bit on the steep side considering you are still using a compromise 3-way setup with those 2 amps combination. You should have invested your $$ 1st on the amps prior to other equipments to get the best out of your current budget.

bro... its 2006's topic...

so now it's 2009

hye.. it's 2014 already...