First hello to everyone, this is my first post on this forum. My wife and I have just bought a new Fiat 500 1.3 JTD Lounge in Funk white which we should get on Monday (it's at the dealers but needs taxing)

I wont be driving the car that much but want it to perform a little better so am looking to book it in for the fitting of one of the DTP boxes to boost performance. Once I have I'll post how it goes as I am planning to do before and after rolling road tests.

For now what I need help with is the stereo. Much as I love the 500 the standard stereo is pants so I was keen to here the interscope unit. I finally found a 500 with it on and I have to say that it too was pants, though marginally less so than the standard one. So rather than spend the £250 on the upgrade I am planning to upgrade the unit myself (well get soemone else to for me).

I am thinking at the moment of repacing the speakers, fitting an amp, and an underseat subwoofer. Nothing crazy in terms of output but good quality and loud enough to be heard over my daughters whinging.

So the questions I have are these, is the inetrscope head unit diferent to the normal one and if it is does it have pre-outs and what size are the tweeters and the speakers in botht the front and the rear?

I did read a good post with pictures someone did showing the interscope components but there were no dimensions or other info.

Any help apprecated and I will be sure to keep the post up to date once my upgrades are done for everyone to see.

Interscope was pants??? I find that a very surprising comment.

Yes, I tried the interscope back to back with the regular one. There was definitely more bass but it certainly wasn't up to what I was looking for. Don't get me wrong, for £250 and no hassle it's fine but I am hoping to improve on that. It may be that I turn out to spend substatially more and get no better but I think that I can.

PS The red and cream is a nice combination.

If you want an underseat sub then that can handle most of the midbass as well without upsetting the sound stage too much, but it might still be worth adding a little dynamat to the front doors around the mounting point.

There is no chance whatsoever of getting any bass out of the rear speakers without constructing a box in each since the door cards aren't accoustically coupled to the speakers and the speakers are mounted on a pretty flexible bit of ABS held on three sides only.

The tweeters can be accessed by removing the a-pillar trim, starting at the top.

The front & rear speakers are rivoted in BTW.

This (from the service manual) gives a pretty good description. Looks like the interscope amp runs from speaker level outputs unless it is somehow 'negotiating' with the head unit to run line level over the same connections. But the head unit appears to be the same.

http://sittingbourne.homeserver.com/downloads/fiat/Stereo Info.pdf

Your main problem will be road noise though, it is very broad spectrum in the 500 with plenty of noise at 1kHz and beyond.

Hope that helps.

Thanks pearce_jj, that's just what I needed. I think the way to go for me is going to be a small amp to run the speakers and then the underseat sub. As you say Dynamat should help wherever possible.

Has anyone else doen something along the lines of what I'm thinking?

Points Mean Prizes said:

Thanks pearce_jj, that's just what I needed. I think the way to go for me is going to be a small amp to run the speakers and then the underseat sub. As you say Dynamat should help wherever possible.

Has anyone else doen something along the lines of what I'm thinking?

Click to expand...

I'll be upgradeing my stereo at the end of the year.....

Alpine 9887
Genesis Profile 4 ultra (4x100w) amp
Hertz Mille ML165 + Space 1 tweeters
DLS ca12 (1x400w) amp
DLS RW10 sub

Sub will go where the spare tyre is now. Amps will go to the left and right of the sub.
The front doors will be fully isolated, as will be the luggage compartment.
The speakers will go into original places.

I'm expecting no less than great SQ sound from this setup.

ps: I know I will loose B&M, but I don't care...as i don't use it anyway.

as pierce said its the first time i've heard anyone say the interscope is pants,you must have had a bad demo. by doing what you'r planning i dont think its going to give much better results than just buying the interscope, here is what i know on the system. every speaker is upgraded the system was designed and calibrated specifically for the Fiat 500 passenger compartment. it has six speakers (two tweeters, two woofers and two full-range, all 40w), one 100w active sub-woofer and a 4X30 W amplifier. plus the head unit has an adjustable eq as well as the bass/treble controlls ( i dont think the stock one has this, please confirm )

white 500 said:

the head unit has an adjustable eq as well as the bass/treble controlls ( i dont think the stock one has this, please confirm )

Click to expand...

The stock head unit does have an adjustable eq and bass and treble controls.

I must have had a duff demo if you are all saying that it's a good unit. In any event I am now stuck with what I have. I've priced up my options and think I'm going to do it in stages and see what it sounds like.

Stage 1

Replace fronts with a new set of Focal components
Fit Focal under-seat sub.

If this isn't up to scratch then I plan to put in;

Stage 2

4 Channel Amp (undecided on brand as yet)
Focal 2 Way speakers to rear

The focal stuff is obviously decent. I really wouldn't spend any money on the rears though unless you find the stock unit distorting if you like it really loud. As rear fill they're OK though.

I once watched a test between Mercedes, Audi and Lexus sound systems.
They said they were all decent.
But if one person is just a bit "into music" and knows a thing or two about sound processors in HU, crossovers, time-delays, damping the doors of the car.....they know that stock system (even upgraded) is almost crap.

No original HU in any car has as good of a sound processor as (let's say) Pioneer or Alpine in the range of 500€.....and an amp and speakers for 1000€ can't compensate the loss of a not so good sound processor (that usually is in the original HUs).

.....just my 0.02c

pusko said:

But if one person is just a bit "into music" and knows a thing or two about sound processors in HU, crossovers, time-delays, damping the doors of the car.....they know that stock system (even upgraded) is almost crap.

Click to expand...

To be fair the interscope is only £250 and the main point of it is a seperate 4 channel amp with some quite decent DSP. It's a sizable unit mounted behind the drivers side (on RHD cars) rear quarter. The DSP is set up to produce a sound stage just over the dash.

It's no Bose beater but it does sound like a reasonable home hifi at a similar price point.

Evening all, just thought I'd update you on the upgrade. I ended up fitting the following;

Focal Access Components - 165A1's
Focal BUS 25 Subwoofer
Dynamat

I was going to go for an amp and one of the JL Audio cleansweep's as well but at the end of the day you can go on forever (and I was running out of money fast after my wife spec'ed the car up).

The sound now is definitely better than the interscope option but at the end of the day it cost me £610 as opposed to £250. If I had the choice again I would go for the interscope unit and save the £££'s and then fit the dyanmat as it makes the car much quieter when the stereo is off, as well as improving the sound when it's on.

As a note to everyone the sub fitted nicely under the passenger seat when mounted sideways but it was snug to say the least.

Hi, glad you got it sorted - where did you stick the dynamat?

I didn't install it myself to be totally honest but it was in the doors. I believe it is to the outer skin but could be wrong. The people I used are Source Sounds in Sheffield. All top guys who have done some amazing installs but their kit is expensive, no discounts on the gear and I think fitting is around £30/hr.

Points Mean Prizes said:

Evening all, just thought I'd update you on the upgrade. I ended up fitting the following;

Focal Access Components - 165A1's
Focal BUS 25 Subwoofer
Dynamat

I was going to go for an amp and one of the JL Audio cleansweep's as well but at the end of the day you can go on forever (and I was running out of money fast after my wife spec'ed the car up).

The sound now is definitely better than the interscope option but at the end of the day it cost me £610 as opposed to £250. If I had the choice again I would go for the interscope unit and save the £££'s and then fit the dyanmat as it makes the car much quieter when the stereo is off, as well as improving the sound when it's on.

As a note to everyone the sub fitted nicely under the passenger seat when mounted sideways but it was snug to say the least.

Click to expand...

Focal Access Components - 165A1's
These are one of the best for that money range.......

I'm doing my installation on 1st of December. I hope to get some pics to post here.

Well having had my car for 2 months with the interscope and spending 10 -15 mins adjusting the bass / treble and equaliser it now suits my type of music, and played loud is excellent, no buzzing our distortion ( yes i did go full vol but only lasted 0.5 seconds )

Play anything else and it needs to be adjusted.

I am well impressed.

how do i remove the HU?thanks.

i think you have to take it to you'r local dealer

DURANROSS said:

how do i remove the HU?thanks.

Click to expand...

I hope this is what you need?! See attached pics

Here you can buy that "tool" what you can use to remove the HU. But to be honest I don't think you really need that piece of wire

<external link deleted by moderator as no longer valid>