Nice coupe ICE install for not too much ££££!

[outrun]

I've been busy getting a reasonable ICE set-up to improve upon the fairly poor standard set-up in my car. I listended to the Hi Fi Pro (now Logic7) and felt it wasn't worth the extra cash. Might have been easier if i'd just specced it but never mind, i didn't so i've has a go at a set-up that's cost about £650 fitted.

Firstly we took out the useless cubby holes things behind the seats (shame the seats don't tilt as this would have been easier)



Next we installed an Alpine f300 power amp. Not too pricy at about £150. I was going to go for the £350, much smaller version but didn't feel that it merited the extra. The cabin is so small that you don't need mega power to push serious bass through.



Now we fabricated some surrounds for a set of Genesis speakers to be installed in the cubby hole area. Nice and tidy and the seat position (especially when you're 6ft 1" like me) adds too the bass.



I took a cover off here so that you can see the speaker better



To finish we replace the factory speaker in the doors etc with same size Genesis units so that it looks stock.

Next up is the Ipod controller that displays the Ipod screen on the nav display. Didn't arrive in on time (been waiting 3 weeks so far) and i'm off to London tomorrow so i'll update the post with details on that in the next week or two.

For me this system is much better than anything BMW offers as long as you can live with the "Barryness" of having an amp on display when you open the boot! You can spend an awful lot more but i reckon this is good enough for most.

[torino]

Can you run an amp and sub from a factory head unit?

[RichardG]

I know it's easy to rubbish other peoples work, but did you consider sinking the speakers further into the holes and covering them with the OEM grills they are about £30 a side, IMO it would look a lot neater and professional. Havn't got a picture of the grills but they are on htis forum somewhere.

They do fit with a bit of fettling over 6X9's you just to cut the shroud off that mates with the OEM woofers.

[outrun]

Advice taken Richard, i've ordered the grills that i didn't know existed. It's a better solutio as i'm tall and i'd like not to squash the speakers with the seat back.

They're going to take 10 days to arrive from Germany so i'll post some updated pics when i have made progress. Cheers, it's a better answer all round.

Torino - yes you can.

[RichardG]

Glad to help, mine arrived in from Germany in about 5 days, did you manage to see a picture of the grills or are you just taking me at my word.

[outrun]

Naw,found some pics of a car with HiFi Pro Logic 7 whatever they call it this week at BMW. Looks nice and stock.

[Robb]

where did you get pick up the signal from for the amp, did you tap into the rear speakers?

[Ian_Mac]

Evening Outrun,

Any chance you can give few more details on where the signal from the amp is derived from, does your head unit have factory pre-outs? Cheers