I.C.E for 1994 Fiat Punto Sport 55 - help!

[willay]

Alright there boys, first time poster. I've had this old fiat since March now and I've been planning to fit a new sound system in there, cause its one of the objects we all need. Anyway, I need some advice for buying the ICE for the car, I'm not going to go ott cause of the money involed etc, basicly I just want:

Mp3 player headunit (Kenwood KDC-M6021G , check CAD under 'under £300 mp3 players')

Front speakers (these will need to be placed inside of the door cause of the extremly gay position/size of the factory fitted speakers, also if anyone has urls/articles on making holes in the doors and fitting them, please post!)

Back Speakers (again due to stupid factory fitted speakers, these will probly need to be fitted onto the parcel shelf,again any docs/urls on doing this normally/stealth?)

now I've set a limit of around.. £400 to do this all, £199 will go towards my head unit leaving £201 to sort out the rest, reckon its enough? will i need a amp? why would i need one? (sorry very new to this)

Last but not least, any docs on fitting the wirring and stuff? I dont feel like I'm up for doing it myself, to be honest i'd rather pay someone else or get someone who knows what they are doing to help.

This url below will show people who dont know about the gay factory speakers where they are actually placed
http://www.caraudiodirect.com/directory/cars/fiat_punto.html

Thanks for all the help and keep all them posts coming !

------------------
Fiat Punto Sport 55 1994
- it currently sucks

 

[Barakka]

Right... of we go then...

Firstly ICE is a subjective topic and very much open to an individuals opinion.
Also it depends what your goal is, from impressing the pre-pubescent girlies at the Drive-Thru, to simply increasing the SQ (Sound Quality) and Staging of the sound system.

If the former is the case then your budget is way too low as you're gonna need wood, carpet, neons, lots of subs, plus loads of cash for the extra petrol you'll use carrying all that weight and the hike in your insurance premiums... <img src=icon_smile.gif border=0 align=middle>

If the latter is the case then you're not far off the mark budget wise...

You mentioned the magic word "Stealth" in your original post, this means hiding the system so that scum-bags won't see it and want to nick it, this can be achieved using a stealth shelf for the rear which covers the speakers with carpet making them "invisible". However stealth shelves are expensive to buy/make and usually are of a much higher quality than the original product so Yes you are hiding the make/size of the speakers, but you are also advertising that you've got something worth hiding <img src=icon_smile_sad.gif border=0 align=middle>

If it's stealth that you want then you want to hide absolutely everything ! To do this you want to put your new speakers in the original locations and hide anything extra.

A Suggested System...

Front - Replace the front factory fit speakers with a better set, say Alpine on a budget or JBL GTO's for more money... go for component sets and mount the tweeters on the dashboard somewhere...
To stop them distorting with the bass fit capacitors to them to limit the frequencies they recieve (A good ICE shop would be able to advise on this). Power for these discussed below.

Rear - Replace the rear speakers with some uprated co-axials but these are not that important in the long term and can be bought later. (Unless you carry rear passengers a lot). These would be powered from the head unit.

Sub and Power - As the front and rear speakers are not very big (and limited by capacitors to stop bass) you need bass sound so get a sub, box, and amp for the boot. With the amp you could get either:
1) A mono amp (or 2 way bridged to mono) to power just the sub.
2) A Tri mode amp to (e.g. 1x200w & 2x100w) to power the sub and the front speakers, but then you would need to make sure you get quality front speakers that can handle the power.

This type of setup would create a good sound stage with the music coming from the front of the car. In the past people used to just put big back speakers in but that creates a sound stage to the rear, and you don't go to a concert and stand with your back to the stage do you.

Costs: MP3 head unit is a good choice, just make sure it has pre-outs if you want it to run an amp.
Front speakers talking £50-150
Rear Speakers £20-50
Sub + Box + Amp around £150-300 depending on what you want.

I'd say get the front speakers + head unit first which increase the sound ten fold. Then save for a decent sub and amp, and then get the rear fill speakers if you think you need them...

The other advantage to using your original speaker locations is that you won't need to soundproof the doors which would add £100+ on the installation price.

Barakka

=======================================
"Help, my arm it is stuck in a loom"...
"Yes Hello"
"No, Not Hello, My Arm it's in a loom"
"Yes Hello"
No, Not Hello, My Arm, it has gone maroon"

 

[willay]

easier said then done.. if you have checked that link i posted, you may of noticed i'm limted to when it comes to speaker size..front panel takes 8cm size, and back takes 10cm, i think thats rather small, plus the front ones are ****ers to get at advise? thanks for replying, someone had to

oh, the system is for just SQ, i dont think i'll fit in with the other crowd with their modded to **** cars and 15 year old girlfriends in the maccy d's carpark :>

regards

willay

------------------
Fiat Punto Sport 55 1994
- it currently sucks

 

[ashills]

One idea for the fronts is to get a set of door pods from a GT or sporting (if you can find one) they will take 17cm speakers but they need to be fairly slim ( try the HQ kenwoods )

 

[gaz6649]

i have the ice install from my punto and the neons 4 sale mail me if you r intersted

Gaz6649™

Live Fast, Die Hard

 

[ben_obi1]

Hi,

Ya can get custom speakers that fit straight in to the holes in the front.. (direct replacements) Kenwood do them but very pricy!! i used sound lab they have a funky green cone but sound pretty good given a size of 3 inch!! i consider them as jumbo tweeters myself.. but worth installing as they bring the sound up where it counts..