[Sankar]

Focals and laid back sound doesn't fit in the same sentence!
It wasn't anywhere close to laidback with the X794, but it sounds just better with the Alpine.

I wouldn't use laid back or bright to define the sound before and after the HU change. All i can say is its a lot more detailed and it isn't bright.

[nitrous]

This is bamboozling me.
I've tuned two 117s and I know it's bright.
Probably, I will have to listen to your setup to get it.
Anyways, alls well that ends well for you.

[Sankar]

Anyway my MP3s are playing with higher fidelity through the CDA117 than it did through the X794, this must be due to the Burr Brown DAC. Media Expander is turned off.

Anyone know which DAC is used in the X794/994?

[nitrous]

Is it true that the kenwoods can play wav?

[Sankar]

Nope the X794/994 doesn't play WAV from USB. But there was an older model Excelon which could play FLAC, i forgot the model.

[Sankar]

Alpine 117 eventhough it ticks all the right boxes for me had one major irritant in its features list - Banking. Whenever a thumb drive is connected to the unit it reads the ID3 tag information of all the music files and stores it in its memory, i.e., till the unit is switched off. This was a major irritant for me because if i need to look for a song i have to wait till its get banked, it takes a long time when i connect the 16Gb thumb drive and for short drives this is a problem. But the remedy is simple, i removed ID3 tag info of all the songs in the thumb drive and now the banking gets over in couple of seconds, perfect I search for my songs folder wise so i'm not missing anything.

[Sankar]

Made two small changes in the configuration and it feels better now.
The Focal Access 3 Way set is replaced with a Polyglass VB set up front. In the rear the Auditor midbasses are replaced with two Polyglass midbasses, no tweeters. The installation was done at Jerry's Performance, finally a place in Trivandrum with an installer who knows what he's doing and does a clean job. Music is now more pleasant, the polyglass tweeters are clearly a lot better than the Access tweeters.

The two focal 165VB polyglass sets are from different timelines, one in the front is newer and the old pair are put in the rear. The midbasses are the same but the tweeters are slightly different between these two sets. TA241 is the model number of the old pair and the TA246 is the new pair. The new one has an inverted cone like thingy on its grill, its absent in the old set. Apart from this both looks same.

The box


The tweeters were direct fit in the holes occupied by Access tweeters.



Old Polyglass tweeter. TA241


New Polyglass tweeter. TA246. Note the thingy on the grill.

[Sankar]

I've been wondering about the new TA246 tweeter design by Focal in their polyglass VB series. I had sent Focal an email asking what the differences are. I received their reply today, and there isn't much except the following.

Dear Sir,

Actually, the TA 246 tweeter is the evolution of the TA 241. The TA 246 has a phase plug on the grille that regulates the frequency curve.

Thanks again for your interest.

Sure it helps a bit and glad to see them respond to customer queries.

[Sankar]

Amazing!! ZZ Top never sounded this good in my car before Revised my TA settings and this time i did it the way its prescribed in the CDA117 user manual after taking measurements.

Locations: Midbasses are all in the doors - stock location. Tweeters up front are in the APillar. Sub is behind the rear seats.
Distance measurements:
Sub - 51"
FRMid - 44.2"
FRTweet - 39.2"
FLMid - 55"
FLTweet - 50.5"
RR - 31"
RL - 46"

Rear is powered by the HU and right now power IC is off so consider this as only a front and sub setup. Discard rears.

As you can see, the farthest speaker from my ears is not the sub but its the FLMid. So i have saved two TA settings with one farthest as the sub and the other the farthest as the FLMid. But this is not an active setup.

TA settings 1 - Sub farthest
S = 0"
FR = 12.1" (0.87ms)
FL = 0" (Actual delay in ms calculated = 0.02ms which has no value except 0 as per the book)
RR = 6.7" (1.48ms)
RL = 5.4" (0.37ms)

TA Settings 2 = FLMid farthest
S = 4" (0.29ms)
FR = 16.1" (1.16ms)
FL = 0"
RR = 24.1" (1.77ms)
RL = 9.4" (0.67ms)

Both settings sound very nice and aligned from the driver seat. The bass is upfront. The vocal sounds on top slightly offset to the right and instruments are spaced and clearly spaced on the dash. The difference i could feel with the 2nd TA setting was that the vocals was slightly more emphasised compared to TA Setting 1. Sub sounds integrated in both setup.

Guess i'm falling in love with my audio setup once again i had lost interest in between.

[theexperthand]

After lot of searches and tentative decisions, today I brought the Alpine CDA 117, and the biggest decision changer was your review

I started with the plan to buy a JBL 333 and ended up with CDA117 - I am almost sure my family will disown me before I complete my ICE set up. Now waiting for the set to arrive at my hands.

Thanks for putting up the detailed ICE journey.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by theexperthand

After lot of searches and tentative decisions, today I brought the Alpine CDA 117, and the biggest decision changer was your review

Thanks. CDA117 wouldn't disappoint you. What it doesn't have is 9887's imprint built in, but you do get TA and basic xover settings and a peq.

[humveeguy]

Originally Posted by jkdas

Well, its got a sweet engine and handles well at high speeds. It is priced fine for what its worth for. Its comes with power steering ( which is pretty light even at high speeds; read bad), power windows, cd/mp3 player with aux in and lot which had nice thump. err, just thump !

I am talking about Suzuki A-Star, a car I got to drive for 400plus kilometers in a day! Why? I was to take it and its owner, Sankar to Cochin to ICE it.

We were on a S T R I C T budget! Strict as in, dude ! stay there, %^there not an inch forward!

What should it cost in total ? 30k Max

What did we have? A HU and a 4 Channel amp.

What did these cost? 130 + 130 dollars ; almost.

What we wanted ? VFM compos at front and coax at rear door; no cutting!

What we want in future? A 8/10 inch sub; powered by a mono!

What all we got ?

Clarion HU
Clarion 4 Channel Amplifier
Auditor Components
Auditor Co-axial
Stinger RCAs
Cadence power cable & fuse
Noise Kill
Executed @ Galaxy Cochin

End result? Great ICE for a budget, no bull !
I got pix, lots as usual. Will update by tomorrow.

Hi, Just wanted to check if the stock HU in astar has the option of enabling SUBwoofer from the menu or is it that, sub output is enabled all time. ?

cheers
humveeguy

[humveeguy]

Hi,
Thanks for sharing the iceing of astar. I also purchased recently astar. Im trying to add a subwoofer to the stock hu . Did u find that the hu is having an amp pre out ?. The brochure says

Integrated Audio System (NSCR 05)
CD/MP3/WMA Player
• Design in Line with Vehicle Interiors • 4-Channel High Power Output (45 W x
4 cm.) • Rotary Encoder Volume Control (Endless Type) • Front Aux • In for I-Pod
Interface • Pre-out for Optional Amplifi er Interface • FM/AM, 24 Station Presets
(18FM, 06 AM) • CD Changer Compatible (Optional)

As such any description is available that shows the wire connections ?

humveeguy...

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by humveeguy

Hi,
Thanks for sharing the iceing of astar. I also purchased recently astar. Im trying to add a subwoofer to the stock hu . Did u find that the hu is having an amp pre out ?. The brochure says

Integrated Audio System (NSCR 05)
CD/MP3/WMA Player
• Design in Line with Vehicle Interiors • 4-Channel High Power Output (45 W x
4 cm.) • Rotary Encoder Volume Control (Endless Type) • Front Aux • In for I-Pod
Interface • Pre-out for Optional Amplifi er Interface • FM/AM, 24 Station Presets
(18FM, 06 AM) • CD Changer Compatible (Optional)

As such any description is available that shows the wire connections ?

humveeguy...

Here is a picture of the OEM AStar CD player.


As you can see there are no RCA preouts from the back of this device. The black rectangular connector is the one which connects to the wiring loom of the car, the extreme right connector is for the radio antenna, and the black round must be for a CD changer. I don't know what the white one is for, it must be for an ipod module which is available for this HU.

You can still add a subwoofer using line level output.

[humveeguy]

Hi Shankar,
Thanks.
I also doubt the pre amp thing. Since in the brochure it is mentioned,
I will ask maruti care for details if they know about it.

I have few more queries:

What is the size of the speakers needed for astar door (front and back side). Is it 6 inches or 6.5 inches. ?

If I purchase a offshelf speaker and connect directly to the stock HU, what ohm rating and wattage will u recommend ? My idea is to add a high rating speaker for door now and later connect them to an amplifier when budget permits. will that be good or bad idea.

Curious one though: suppose I add the auditor 165 C coax to stock HU, will the receiver be able to give enough power to it !! Afaik the nippon one is actually a kenwood stereo with slight mods for every maruti variant.

cheers...
HG