ICE Does it matter?!

I accidentally started singing along to my iPod on the bus the other day, luckilyonly 4 or 5 other people on board got treated to my "pub singer" singalongamission veriosn of Tower of Strength about 7:40 am before I quickly realised what I was doing...

I've had some cracking good stuff in my cars in the past. Directed, Rockford Fosgate, Phoenix Gold Z series, Kicker, Xtant... Mmmm.... Those Xtants were the old school ones from before they were bought out by MTX. Proper hand made kit.

I like music and Ilike to have it reproduced properly. My old Morris Minor rag top had a pair of IB 8" subs in the back and people looked round to see where the music was coming from, wheres the Saxo? LOL Can't be comig from that old Granny's car...

That said none of my current cars has any ICE in it other than what the factory fitted and in most cases that doesn't work.

You need quality not quantity. No need to build something that looks like Sony's new dealer demo car. A pair of components up front, a sub in the back and a decent enough amp to drive it all. Job done.

As my various cars get sorted I will probably install in them. Nothing silly. Just enough to give good music. Also I hate to see people cut up an original interior to fit speakers and I like to keep it hidden so as not to attract the thieves.

The thing I find is most advice you will get is all about how to make boom-boom-boom which the chavs like for their bleedin awful dance music. Getting a system set up to play a variety of musical styles well is harder.

Also you have to consider what the car is. A stripped out light weight car with lots of rattles and a straight through exhaust - well, are you going to be able to hear anything anyway... But if a crusier/commuter, its nice to have tunes.

Most head units will play MP3s now, but why not just get a TRIP or similar for your IPOD/MP3 Player and your sorted.

That way there is no need to splodge as much wad on the head unit.

My GT has a Panasonic KDCFX unit, all singing and dancing thing, that has a colour animated display but....... I never use it I perfer the engine tone LOL.

I bought a JVC CD head unit last year for £90. Plays MP3 and WMA (important for me) discs and has an aux input as well. Spoilt for choice!

Then I bought some huge speakers already in boxes from Ebuyer for £30. A pair of old household stereo speakers in the front, the big ones in the boot - BINGO! Big noise and cheap as chips!

But after all that, we rarely listen to the stereo on the move as it has to be seriously loud to be heard above the wind/engine/road noise and it just hurts! Great for camps though.

I used to have a big ol' Sony / Rockford Fosgate / JBL set-up but got bored of being security paranoid and not being able to chuck stuff in the boot. ;D

So I have a 1980s Pioneer head unit and an ipod adaptor.

If you want more though, like AK says - components up front, sub out back. Does the job! Remember: good quality, well-placed front speakers are a must!

First improvement i intend to make specially in an MR2, propper diddy lil things!

I have £xxxs of stereo gear knocking about, CD head unit, multi changer, amps, speakes and subs that i took out of my old golf when i sold it. I' m just to lazy to fit any of it.

I find 350 cubic inches of detroits finest usually does for me.

you get what you pay for with a stereo in a car, if you want good sound you have to build a decent system, same as indoors, the difference between an ok sound and a good sound is amazing when you hear it.

For wires us copper electrical cable,.. cheap and carries as much signal as the expensive jobbies. We used them at the Professional audio company I used to work for (we built digital mixing desks for the emdia and post production industry), saves money and does the job.

As for ICE... my ICE is an LW radio and Radio4 in the Datsun .. I love it.

me hopes oxygen free copper?!