# Latest ICE install progress



## JayGemson (Jun 8, 2004)

Right then, where to start! I bought my car a year ago now, content with standard sound quality but knowing I'd end up doing something eventually so not fussed about the fact it didn't have the BOSE upgrade.

After 6 months of ownership I'd ripped out the standard head unit and replaced it with an Alpine single-CD receiver. This powered the factory speakers for a while using a Sextons wiring harness but there was room for improvement. Finally, a few months back, I found inspiration and started work. Bought some nice speaker cable and RCA leads and proceeded to slowly re-wire all speakers and re-run the amp power lead.

Did some research and found that people seemed to like Focal speakers. A Focal rep even came to Sextons to meet me and I was able to listen to a few different setups there, eventually opting for a set from their new Polyglass range.









These fitted easily in the factory locations inside the doorcards. I've since taped down and re-routed the wiring to stop rattles.









Doorcard sealed up again. I still plan on sound deadening the doors, but the door cards are so easily removed I can come back to that later.









Finishing touch  









Because the head unit's not powerful enough to do these speakers justice I needed to run them using a small 2-channel amp seperately. Not usually a big fan of Vibe products but their new BlackBox range is receiving good reviews, apparantly courtesy of a top electronics buff coming on-board the design team. I ran it like this for a few minutes in order to set the levels before it was fitted.








*NOTE:* In the background on the right is the distribution block for the power and just above that the earth.

It also has a very small footprint so which is essential for where I planned to mount it - in the cavity behind the CD changer. Excuse the cabling nest, this is pre-tidying with me in "look, it fits, take a photo quick" mode  









So the speaker setup is now as follows:
- Focal 16.5cm front speakers & tweeters powered from the Vibe amp taking signal from the front RCA outputs of the head unit.
- OEM rear speakers hard wired to rear speaker outputs of the head unit (no wiring harness anymore)

Next up is to replace the factory CD changer with one that's compatible with the Alpine headunit. Slightly modified the original bracket because the Alpine CD-changer is wider than the factory one. Apologies that the photo doesn't really do the customisation of the bracket justice.









Finished product:









All in all, I am a VERY happy chappy  The sound quality is just in another league compared to the OEM setups I was able to listen to when test driving TTs a year ago. So much clarity and depth but without sounding harsh, and distortion is a thing of the past, unless you'd like to become deaf. Well pleased. If anyone would like more details about the install, how-to's on any part, then let me know.


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## YELLOW_TT (Feb 25, 2004)

looks like you have done a nice look fit there


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## coupe-sport (May 7, 2002)

Good choice - Morgan (UK225) had my old Focals and they were very good. Needs some damping on the doors though to make the most of those speakers


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## kam (Sep 25, 2003)

Nice one :wink: . Can't wai to hear it on our next meet.

What happened to the ones I sold you :roll:


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## j600.com (Jun 30, 2005)

looks very tidy indeed! what head unit do u have?


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## JayGemson (Jun 8, 2004)

Thanks 8)

James, definitely need some sound deadening in the doors. I have the Dynamat Extreme to do it with too, but to be honest I'm not sure where to put it :? Bit of a newbie when it comes to that. Plus the fact that the speakers are actually mounted on the plastic door card which isn't a great start.

kam, the ones you sold me were going to go in the back originally. They didn't have a proper crossover, only a filter for the tweeter so that's why I bought the new set. In the end I sold them on for the same amount, sorry mate 

j600, the head unit is an Alpine CDA-7892, iirc


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## Gizmo750 (Sep 16, 2004)

Hey Jay - can you get Luther Vandross on that thing? :lol: :lol: :lol:

If not then sadly I'm not going to be impressed. . . . . .


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## kam (Sep 25, 2003)

[
kam, the ones you sold me were going to go in the back originally. They didn't have a proper crossover, only a filter for the tweeter so that's why I bought the new set. In the end I sold them on for the same amount, sorry mate 

j600, the head unit is an Alpine CDA-7892, iirc







[/quote]

Thats fine, good you got your money back :wink:


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## Naresh (Nov 22, 2004)

Nice job Jay - glad you got it all finished in the end! Did you end up locating the amp in the cavity behind the driver's seat where the first-aid kit is? Its just that in your photo the amp is shown in the cavity where the CD changer originally was, but the next photo shows the new MP3 changer in there instead! :roll:

Is the changer ok as it is because I notice its tilted in the wrong direction, i.e. slighty backwards? Mine did the same thing because of the angle of the bracket but I've found it doesn't skip. The position of the door on my Kenwood Changer meant it had to be fitted that way which meant that the changer is sitting at around 100 degrees from the horizontal rather than the allowed 0-90, if that makes sense! 

Bet you had fun crawling around in the back of you car trying to get comfortable while you removed all the trim and seats! How much were the Focal's? I've always heard them mentioned in Audi insalls but could never justify the cost.

So when are the head rest screens going in??


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## JayGemson (Jun 8, 2004)

Naresh, hi my fellow ICE maniac 

I too had an issue with the 100degree mounting angle of the CD changer. When I set the damping mechanism to vertical it skipped, but only around right-hand corners which was proving annoying when tackling roundabouts :lol: I've now set it to the next notch, 65 degrees I suppose, and it seems absolutely fine, nothing much else I can do :?

The amp is actually in the cavity behind the CD changer. I looked at using the first aid kit cavity but it looked like the holster for the first aid kit would sit right back into where the amp would be which was no good, so I had no choice. If you look at the picture of the CD changer again you'll see the amp nestled in behind it.

The Focals cost me Â£150 brand new. Not cheap, but not ludicrously expensive either, imo.

:lol: funny you mention the trim and seats! I can now remove the rear bench and a trim panel in less than 5 minutes :wink:


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## Naresh (Nov 22, 2004)

Thanks for clearing that up Jay - my amp was too large to fit behind the CD changer but glad you managed to utilise the space. Just hope you don't need to make any adjustments to it - thats something I was worried about so I made sure before fitting back all the trim! 

What did you use to remove the striker pins for the rear panels? I bought some pipe spanners from machine mart. Like you I planned the whole dismantling process for days and now I can do it in minutes! 8)

Thos focals sound like good value - the ones I saw were around Â£300 so maybe I didn't look hard enough. Still, I'm happy with my Alpine components. Do you get much vibration in the doors to justify fitting the dynamat? I haven't noticed any but if you do install it let me know where because I don't know where it should go - either on the door card or on the door frame.

Oh, and I'm assuming your CD's jump in the changer when you gently go around the roundabout hey?? :lol:

Enjoy your sounds mate!


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## Love_iTT (Aug 18, 2002)

Excellent 'How to' pics Jay and it looks a neat install. Your TT is coming on leaps and bounds since I saw it at Gaydon - well done m8.

Graham


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## pjmedlam (Jul 6, 2005)

Very interesting Jay, excellent photos.

I have just fitted new front and rear speakers (Alpine Type R), components for the front and co-axials in the rear. It was interesting to see where you put the crossover, mine ended up below the arm rest.

I have the speakers driven by an Alpine 4 channel amp, mounted behind the passenger seat and partially covered with carpet. I've also fitted 'Waks' Sony MP3 6CD so the photos of your new changer brought back memories (painful -literally!) of squatting in the back fitting that.

I kept the existing Concert 2 headunit and connected the amp to its rear line outs using a PC3-11 autoleads adapter because I wanted to keep the original look of the centre console and the GALA function.

The most interesting thing (the reason behind this post) was that I went to a dealer and we experimented with the coding for the Concert 2 to produce the best sound in the TT. The Concert 2 can be coded for an A2, A3, A4, A6, A8, A4cab, or TT and also for BOSE and non BOSE. After about an hour of trying different combinations far and away the best setting was - A6 and BOSE. This sounded clearer, had more punch and had a more balanced sound than any of the TT settings. Anyone uprating a Concert 2 (or Chorus 2) non BOSE setup with a new amp and speakers I would recommend trying this recode. The differences in sound quality and type with each different code was so surprising that the dealer only charged me 10mins time as he said he had learned something useful for future reference.


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## JayGemson (Jun 8, 2004)

Gizmo, I reckon you'd get Luther Vandross on there, but then you'd be kicked out of my car :lol:

Naresh, I used a pipe spanner to remove the striker pins, no worries there! Everytime I remove the panel I lose another metal retaining clip somewhere though 

Thanks for the kind words Graham, much appreciated  To keep the interest level up I like to take things slow :wink: and often the greatest time is in researching mods and finding bargains. It's slowly coming together now though and I love the car to bits 8)

pjmedlam, that's excellent advice. Might even be worth trying for those with factory stereo setups too to see if it makes any difference. Wonder if that's something that can be done via VAG-COM? :?:


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## pjmedlam (Jul 6, 2005)

Jay, the dealer changed my Concert 2 coding with VAG-COM on their laptop connected to the diagnostics port. All the experimentation was done by entering different codes using the information on Waks site below:

http://www.wak-tt.com/vagcom/vagcomradio.htm


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## bape (Jan 16, 2005)

you are a brave man pulling all those panels off, was it a hard job?

Great pics and write up


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## JayGemson (Jun 8, 2004)

Thanks bape 

Pulling the rear panels off is hard work, and cringe-worthy because it just feels like you're going to break it at any moment! The front door cards are really easy in comparison, practically just slide them on and off.


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## bape (Jan 16, 2005)

JayGemson said:


> Pulling the rear panels off is hard work, and cringe-worthy because it just feels like you're going to break it at any moment!


That's the bit i am worried about, any tips you can give would be most appreciated - thanks


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## JayGemson (Jun 8, 2004)

Be prepared to give it some force when removing the panel. Don't pull the top part of the panel too hard though as that seems to be bonded to the bottom part which is stronger, so work your way from the bottom up and listen out for anything that sounds like it's breaking/shearing and try pulling from a different place.

Re-fitting can be tricky too, I snapped off a few metal clips and the plastic locating pin because I was in a rush. So the biggest tip is to just take your time.


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## kwaTTro (Jul 5, 2005)

bape said:


> JayGemson said:
> 
> 
> > Pulling the rear panels off is hard work, and cringe-worthy because it just feels like you're going to break it at any moment!
> ...


Hard work getting back panels off, best way is not to start at top

instead go from the boot first and get your hand and arm half way down the panel. Try to push the panel out from the middle and you will hear some of the pins pop out - makes it easier than trying to pull the panel out from the top as then you feel you are gonna snap the panel!

Once 2 or 3 pins have popped out starting from the boot - the remaining 5 IIRC will be easy.

Just grit your teeth and hope for the best if you doing it for the first time!


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## Naresh (Nov 22, 2004)

Ditto for all the above replies. I started at the bottom of the panel and gave it a sharp tug from the rear bottom corner (where the boot floor meets the panel), then worked my way up gently making sure not to break any clips. If you take your time and have patience then you won't break anything, just make sure non of the clips slide too much out of position in their holders. If they do then just return them to roughly the centre of the holder before you push the panel back on.

You'll know what the clip holders are when you see the panel - just a section of the panel with a slotted groove which the clip slides into. If you find that one of the clips has remained stuck in the chassis then use a pair of pliars to remove it and watch it doesn't go flying somewhere because they are held in pretty tight!

Maybe its something you might want to leave until a group meet if you're unsure but once you've done it you'll wonder what all the fuss was about! 

Like Jay said - the most time is taken up actually researching and asking questions. Good luck!


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## Skippy_225TTR (Jun 28, 2005)

Nice one mate bet your chuffed with the result...

I had all the rear panels off my roadster the other day to try to fit my 12disc changer in place of the 6 disc bose one, found out it wouldnt fit and so jus mounted it down the back of the boot.

Whats next on the list then?

I got to install my speakers still but not looking forward to it as I got to install the amp at the same time which means all the carpets up, all the trim off and the headunit back out. Something tells me that it wont run smoothly :?


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## JayGemson (Jun 8, 2004)

Hi Skippy! It's like all the ******** ICE heads in one place 8) Well pleased with the result, couldn't have asked for better unless I paid someone else mega bucks to do it for me and then I wouldn't have the satisfaction of doing it myself!

Fitting a 12-disc in the place of the 6-disc stacker was a bit optimistic though I have to say  Sounds like a mega job fitting that amp though. Good luck!


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## Skippy_225TTR (Jun 28, 2005)

Yeah i thought id be optimistic about the changer fitting in place of the original 1.

I got to find a suitable place for the amp to go knowing that I will soon fit another the same size to run an upgraded sub. 8)


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## bape (Jan 16, 2005)

Thaks for the replies, it has given me a good place to start 

Used a local car audio centre to do my ICE install and they made a right pigs ear of it :x So this is really something I want to start learning to do myself


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## Skippy_225TTR (Jun 28, 2005)

Its really quite simple mate jus take your time and have patience. :wink:


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