[SA320]

Hi,

As above.. I've now completed 2 little mods which I'm very happy with. First was the angels. As we all know, the standard colour is just too yellow and looks dull. So after some reading on here and a few PM's to people (thank you for your help!) I decided to go with the ones from SSDD. You can't go wrong for £60 and it totally transforms the car. Unfortunately the outer ring isn't as bright as the inner but I knew that was the case before they went in so all was good. At night however, you can see both clearly and they look brilliant.

Then it was on to the sound install. Firstly, I have to say a HUGE thank you to Sameer (Makkan00) who has answered a 1000 questions for me and has given a hell of a lot of advice - So THANK YOU!

I have the standard system which I have to say is a pile of shi*. You'd think that the sound would be half decent having underseat subs in addition to the door speakers, however this is not the case. I'm not hugely into massive installs and cost was also a factor so I started looking into the options available.

I wanted to keep things looking as OEM as possible - keeping the standard head unit was a must. I've had after market HU's before (Alpine) and I know they are great but as said, I wanted to keep things looking stock and I like the look of the standard head unit.

The Alpine retro fit kit was the first potential avenue. However, its costly for what it is and the result wouldn't be exactly what I wanted. Yes, its louder and you have a lot more clarity and the addition of the tweeters is great but it just didn't do it for me. I wanted more of a thump.

Sameer then gave some other thoughts. To get some other door speakers which would be cheaper than the alpine kit and to then replace the under seats with some SWS8's and to then amp the lot.

I liked the idea of this seeing that when I had the roof down the sound would not be compromised, however having listened to the SWS8's - I liked them but again, being a shallow woofer I still wanted more of a thump.

In the end I opted for a 10 inch JL Audio W3 and a JL amp. Having a JL enclosure was important to me as they are perfect for the sub, however this was not possible down to the roof hatch catching on it.

Some may say that by having the lot in the boot, the bass is trapped and that when the top is down you lose sound. You're right.. I do lose a fair bit of the bass when the top is down, but seriously you can still feel the thump by a considerable amount. My brother had a Saab convertible and you could barely tell he had a sub when the top was down but its VERY different with this car. As for when the roof is closed, wow.. I'm VERY happy given that it's a hardtop - its brilliant.

Because I wanted to keep the standard head unit, an LOC was required. So again, Sameer came to the rescue and sold me the VEN4. So away I went..

I told the installers that I wanted to keep the amp hidden, so they fitted it under the boot lining card thingy.

When they fitted the sub, they said that there wasn't enough clearance for the sub to function, so they ended up taking the back seat card off and as result, you can now see the sub when you put the centre armrest down. A little bonus.

Cost wise: Under £500

Anyways, enough talking.. here you go. There's a few more pics in there as was a nice sunny day! I hope you like it!

[1sh@Crystalwhite]

Nice E93 man, great subtle mods!

whats next?

[gchild]

Can't go wrong with JL!

[mistryn]

Looking good there i like the way the sub is positioned

What does loc mean?

[AWBimmer]

Originally Posted by mistryn

Looking good there i like the way the sub is positioned

What does loc mean?

OP, great set up, nice simple and the sub through the ski hatch is a win!

Mistryn, LOC stands for Line Out Converter. It is what flattens the signal from the HU, a much more simpler form of the well known processors such as MS8 / BitOne etc. Where the MS8 / Bitone and the likes not only flatten the signal but also process the sound to make it more unique / customised, the LOC simple flattens the signal. It's an excellent piece of kit on budget and something I initially looked at in my previous car - ended with with a used BitOne at the time.

Back to OP's thread - great car man, Blue n cream is such an excellent combo!

[SA320]

Thanks 1SH - not sure what's next! Want to get some coding done and toying with the idea of the black kidney grills but unsure as part of me thinks they look better as standard! The thing I like about this car is that it looks beautiful after just a few subtle mods.. So not sure what's next on the list. Then again.. That's what I always say

Mistryn - here you go mate http://www.bcae1.com/loc.htm

[SA320]

Originally Posted by AWBimmer

OP, great set up, nice simple and the sub through the ski hatch is a win!

Back to OP's thread - great car man, Blue n cream is such an excellent combo!

Thanks mate! Yep, love the combo! It was either black and red or blue and cream.. Guess you can tell what I like best!

[AWBimmer]

OP, would you mind posting up pics of your SSDD / Teddy's lights from diff angles both daytime and at evening or night please? Interested in the output

[impys]

Originally Posted by AWBimmer

OP, would you mind posting up pics of your SSDD / Teddy's lights from diff angles both daytime and at evening or night please? Interested in the output

I would also like to see the lights pics please

[MEGA]

Top stuff. Love JL gear

[makkan00]

Suraj, firstly nice and clean car.
Liked the photos.

Looking at your sub installation, it is indeed very clean installation.
I would love to listen it.

I lived in couple of middle east countries and trend there is;
Sub heading / exposed to cabin and by that you get good clean bass.

If you leave your sub enclosed in the trunk, you end up having rattling and bass diffused in the trunk.

Glad you are happy with the outcome.

[SA320]

Thanks guys. Really happy with the outcome!

Sameer, thank you again for all your help and advice.

RE the angels, Ill try and get some pics taken soon.. Left my camera at my girlfriends place. In the meantime have a search as I remember a fair few threads that had some shots in different light settings. Will try and get some up shortly though

[Cyprio]

A very nice motor Suraj; and a lovely colour combo too.

[bruce287]

Beautiful car and I love the arm rest exposing the sub! I think its worked out for you there

[dappamikey]

Hi Suraj - What amp are you using to power interior speakers

[SA320]

Originally Posted by bruce287

Beautiful car and I love the arm rest exposing the sub! I think its worked out for you there

Thanks mate! Yeah I'm pretty happy that its worked out like that! I know its nothing to show off but looks really cool!

Originally Posted by dappamikey

Hi Suraj - What amp are you using to power interior speakers

Hi mate, I havent amped the door speakers. Just the sub. everything is standard apart from the boot install.

[parapaul]

Sub through the ski hatch has been a very well worked mod on a lot of E46's - not seen it on many E90s though, good job!

[dappamikey]

Hi mate, I havent amped the door speakers. Just the sub. everything is standard apart from the boot install.[/QUOTE]

OK - Is the balance good - I would have thought with an amped Sub and non amped interior speakers the quality would be unbalanced

[SA320]

Originally Posted by parapaul

Sub through the ski hatch has been a very well worked mod on a lot of E46's - not seen it on many E90s though, good job!

Thanks dude! I've had a few friends pull the arm rest down and they loved it!

Originally Posted by dappamikey

Hi mate, I havent amped the door speakers. Just the sub. everything is standard apart from the boot install.

OK - Is the balance good - I would have thought with an amped Sub and non amped interior speakers the quality would be unbalanced[/QUOTE]

Hi mate.. To be honest it doesn't sound unbalanced as such. The amp and head unit settings have been done in a way to compliment each other IMO. The sub doesn't overpower the normal speakers at all, you can clearly hear vocals etc.

The only thing I'd say is that there's not a considerable amount of mid bass in comparison to sub bass. There is midbass.. But isn't as powerful as the sub bass but isn't that significant for me to change anything to be honest.

I absolutely love it HTH

[P 5UML]

welcome to the JL crew! look the ski hatch set up nice work !!!!

[SA320]

Originally Posted by P 5UML

welcome to the JL crew! look the ski hatch set up nice work !!!!

Thanks mate! Still.. Nothing compared to that beast in your boot

[P 5UML]

Originally Posted by Suraj_320

Thanks mate! Still.. Nothing compared to that beast in your boot

LOL!....wait until next year...ima put another one in there haha