AV/ICE recommendations
 

Ok chaps: given a bog standard early S2000 i.e. as per original model, what do you suggest to beef up the puny hifi?

a) adding decent bass/mid range
b) having bluetooth hands free phone support
c) ditto possibly for an Android or iPhone bluetooth music
d) USB/MP3 plug in player / power out e.g. my v old Sony 2GB walkman
e) retaining steering wheel controls if at all possible, I don't like losing existing functionality

Idea of costs would be appreciated too. I am thinking of a budget of £500 but I might be persuaded up - or down!

(I sold a great sub woofer that sat in the curved bottom of the boot but I think that perished in one of Paul's drama queen episodes ;))

I think the sub box lives on in someone's car, somewhere.

Pretty much all the modern head units will do what you want in terms of bluetooth/mp3. Alpine do them from around £100 to £200, so take your pick with our without CD. The main difference is things like parametric EQ and built in crossovers which are useful if you want to use an amplifier (something I'd recommend).
Cheapest Alpine: http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/alpi...media-receiver
Most expensive Alpine (includes DAB if you want it but that will require additional stuff for the aerial) http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/head...-bluetooth-dab

The autoleads kit will sort the dash controls, though the Modifry is fancier but much more money:
HONDA S2000 CAR RADIO STEREO STEERING WHEEL STALK ISO ADAPTOR PC99-X61 NEW | eBay
DCIs (Dash Control Interface)

Pick some speakers which are in budget, and add an amp if required, something like this will do: http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/alpine-pmx-f640

Sound deadening for the doors - stop the stuff from rattling and remove that noise from the equation. Shame you can't have a listen to mine or Simons for that matter.

I am up for that be good to meet you in the flesh so to speak :) Is that Simon aka Lovegroova? I thought he lost his S2000 :freak1: edit: p.s. thanks Lovegroova ;)

We've friends and family over in Norwich - if we are over that way, i'll drop you a PM. Equally if you're over Hertfordshire way, do the same :) I'm with Simon on the above advice in terms of kit though and like him, i don't rate the headrest speakers that people seem to love.

Some decent 17cm component speakers and MDF speaker rings too.

Problem with most aftermarket speakers is the dreadfully thin plastic spacers that come with them and offer no sealing properties nor "mass" for the speaker to reverberate. You'll notice an improvement from that.

:321:

I was able to salvage most of the old stereo stuff from the old car (thanks, Ray). I only had to get some new speakers for the new one.

Kit list as follows:
Head unit - Alpine CDA-9887R (no longer available) £290
Amplifier - Alpine PDX-V9 http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/alpine-pdx-v9 £480. This is mounted above the fuel tank so is nicely out of the way.
Door speakers - Herts Mille Pro 165.3 http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/hert...way-components £300
Subwoofer - Alpine SWR-T10 (no longer available) https://www.caraudiocentre.co.uk/pro...0_p-27155.htm# £250
Sub is in a darkside V1 enclosure - DarksideSubs - Enclosures £200
Intstallation/cables/sound deadening etc about £200.

:eek3: I've just added all that up. Slightly over your budget!

It might be worth sending a PM to Lawrence aka soudragon. He got a very nice installation done by Impulse in Watford, Head unit, amp and speakers.

Thanks LG, UF, Tom - all sound advice! Shall also study eSeM's signature bound to be clues in there ...

Budget? What budget? ;) I was spoiled by my 2nd S though my ears aren't getting any younger. In truth I doubted £500 would stretch beyond a decent head unit, pair of speakers and the dash control lead. Mission creep is always possible though a lot of what we listen to on the road is retro and not really high fidelity in any case. Subwoofer and separate amp would at least double if not treble (sic) my budget but ... hmmm ...

Agree about high level tweeters though never had them in an S. They tried to cure the lack of volume from my motorhome satnav (inaudible over 30 mph due to high ambient noise levels) by fitting a pair. Made it worse if anything and I had to tweek the EQ treble down to remove the shrill top end they had added.

edit:
Shall take a look around Naarch there are some good auto AV specialists around. Watford's a bit of a schlep

That's soundstage and with a decent headunit is very much adjustable. The difference between an Eq'd Alpine setup and a none Eq'd one is more audible than you'd think. No doubt modern stuff does it better and with less fuss / tinkering.

That said, you'll never make badly installed gear sound good no matter how good the gear.

Seconded for Impulse if you can't fit it yourself.

See you at the next meet in Norfolk in your latest "S" with stereo upgrade. :cool:

Ok having a think. I see Impulse do various other stuff e.g. parking sensors: I want some on the motorhome for rear corners - blind spots on the reversing camera ffs. As always access may be a problem, it's a big old beast. Do Impulse do it 'while you wait' otherwise I guess a 20-25 minute walk up from Watford Jct train station?

If you've got a bit of work on more than one vehicle ... ask if they do mobile fitting?

Impulse will do it "while you wait", but it can take quite a long time - several hours. Maybe go off to the Harry Potter tour for the day, if you're interested in that sort of thing?

Alternatively, get on a train into London from Watford North (or walk/bus it to Watford Junction).

Haha we shall see. This is very early days ...

Good idea but atm I don't have the/an S ... early days ...

Sadly Harry Potter is not my bag although I used to live 5 minutes from the end of the line just up Holywell Hill in St Albans. My no1 son lives in Northwood Hills so it might be an overnight visit opportunity ;)

Anyone uses focal ps165v1 components?
​​​​​​
​​​​​​I found a few reviews online that seem decent.

Would like to confirm they fit in the S!
​​​​​​Cheers

I fitted a pioneer unit with dab and bt, that was c£120, i think superceded by this http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/head...luded?___SID=U

then something like these http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/alpine-spg-13cs £80

then an underseat sub Kenwood KSC-SW11 Powered Subwoofer System | very.co.uk

£130

so way below your budget, add some of the sound deadening and it sounds good. Your M has underseat subs, they are an excellent middle ground i think.

Feck me I never felt a thing under my arse. Heated, subwoofer, the bloody seat of kings it is!
That sounds more like it Jason (pun intended) How much your charge to install? ;)

The only caveat with doing this to your car is making sure it goes back together with nothing snapped or rattling - as bad as the stock speakers might be, a rattle from a fecked clip will drive you insane.

Good point UF I am more likely to use a pro shop than not. Motorhome sensors though sounds like my level of skill :)

Haha we could do it one day when i'm not working foc however the petrol getting here might be the issue :D

i made speaker rings from MDF then sealed with mdf sealer and rattle can'd black. The sub was a bit of a pain as it comes with a loom and needs power, i put its controller in the little glove box thing. You should also fit a bracket to hold it unde your seat.. i haven't done that...

Hmmm sounds more like gifted amateur than pro', Jason - no offence :p But you never know.

I do get up that way at least annually (e.g. cricket in less than a month assuming we can get tickets). If I end up needing to replace the bushes etc at Ray's you wouldn't be far off my route via Kegworth and the A50. Might be a while though and also I gather he has a bit of a waiting list. But one of my Manc cousins just died so I might be passing through next week or two. See if you can finish it off properly by then eh? :LOL:

p.s. Le Mans just finishing, live on Quest Freeview 37

If you buy two of those speakers ;) i.e. four components (£132.99 + £79.99.+ £79.99 + £139.99) plus £19.63 for a steering wheel adapter harness it all comes to £452.59 almost bang on my budget of £500 with other materials, MDF, sound deadening etc. But for DAB to work I think Simon said the aerial needs enhancing?

I am not impressed by the Pioneer unit with my motorhome so will look at Alpine, even if they are perhaps pricier. Should I use Impulse, they may well offer better options - more buying power. (Waiting to hear from soupdragon.) I like the idea of a powered under seat subwoofer, a lot less expensive than a separate amp and subwoofer installation while, admittedly, not as hard core high fidelity.

The bigger units jus give you more bass. The M copes well with an amp and small subs

the speakers are a pair so incl 2 x mids, 2 x tweeters and 2 x crossovers. If you're fitting 4 you'll need to go behind seats, dunno what fits there.

worth a trip to helfrauds to try units before you buy.

for dab i use a twig which sticks to your screen. On the Cashciw i put a roof mounted job. On here somewhere is a coassic graves pic of his gorgeous NSX with a bumper car power line on it, he says that works anywhere....

A little search has revealed what soupdragon has (he may be in Spain right now)

Here is a suggested system:

Alpine UTE-92BT £120: http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/head...ith-bluetoothr
Kenwood sub £105: http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/kenw...50w-active-sub
Alpine PMX-T320 amp £90: http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/ampl...lpine-pmx-t320
Alpine SPR 60c £140: http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/spea...alpine-spr-60c

That'll sound excellent.

I did this myself, there or there abouts with Pioneer component speakers and acoustic mat on the doors underneath the door cards. Sounds ace all the way to Autobahn speeds.

I've got the Focal Access 165 and they fit, you have to be a bit creative with the placement of the crossovers ( I think I cut some polystyrene out in the end ) and you'll need speaker rings to give you some depth. I was able to extract the tweeters and mount them in the existing mounting points too although can't remember quite how I did it in the end

Ok ta yes a visit to Halfords to listen is a good plan and the DAB aerial as you say many ways to skin the cat!

:iagree:

Separate 2-channel amp is 2 x 50w which is the same as the head unit can do - so why??
Impulse charge £80+speakers £80+subwoofer etc according to their web site so I can budget that.
Would assume they will take care of sound deadening and should warranty the whole installation, which is good.

Thanks a lot fellas, I think I now have a good AV plan. :tipwink:

p.s. I do need to play CDs sometimes but I am sure that is a minor tweak on the head unit model.

The head unit is "Max Power 50W" per side, the amp is Max Power 155W per side.
It's the old "Max versus RMS" power quoting game.

As for head unit, yes, swap for a CD model 185BT or 193BT are both £140

I use DAB for twice things, radio x (which you may not like (its awful in the morning with Piss Boils on) and bbc r5 stuff as am is terrible reception ime

you can forego it and stream radio on your phone but some sport is restricted on web broadcast

Thx LG, Nottm I had forgotten how much you like Chris Evans ;)

Decent power will max speaker performance, avoid clipping etc. Not that I am a head banger :banghead:

Soupdragon confirms the good work Impulse did plus that they know the S2000 very well having done quite a few.

Its a pretty easy job, the speaker mounts took me a bit of time and i had an issue where the speaker connections were close to the door metal (the hole is small), also one issue where the connection got a bit corroded so they are now soldered and covered in shrink wrap.

i posted some pics on here.

never added an amp, i dont need it. i guess it would just need ignition power and maybe you then dont use an active sub? Dunno..

Arsie,

Like you I was on a mission for a cheap and cheerful install which I plan to upgrade over time. I already had an alpine deck which integrates with the steering controls and pumps out 50w/channel, so I was quite lucky in that respect.

I have opted for some 13cm coaxial speakers, they were £50 reduced to £10 because they were ex display! I have also fitted a Kenwood under seat sub in the passenger side, which fits perfectly. I have it turned up about 2/3rds of the way in terms of gain and set the crossover freq. to 110hz. I have also just put deadening in the doors.

So for £120 plus some speaker cable I had knocking around, I got a monster upgrade from stock! Makes a massive improvement. The best bang for buck has definitely been the deadening - made a massive difference.

Good mid range configuration thanks LG with one of the CD head units and the eBay wiring comes to £495 so 1% under budget :thumbup: Halfords locally were not much use, some Kenwood, Pioneer head units and lots of Sony was all

Just to top up the thread rather than start a new one, my DIY MDF speaker rings got damp despite sealing with many layers of PvA and I've been looking for a replacement. Just ordered an H-D polyurethane set from Modifry that they've based on their discontinued MDF ones. They look like a much better option than the Autoleads SAK-1211 that seem the only other option.

Modifry Plastic Speaker Rings for 6.5" drivers