Basic In Car Entertainment (ICE) - systems at various budgets -10K, 15K, 20K, 25K & 30K
This is not an exhaustive exercise and can depend a lot on car and music used but it is just to be used as a starting point for newbies. If you are a veteran at ICE your views might even differ from ours.
Keep in mind we are considering the fact that the car in question has NO speakers or HU (Head Unit) installed.
1) 10K
At 10K it will be a good idea to consider about 4-6k for a HU and 6-4K for 2 pairs of coaxial speakers.
JVC, Sony, Pioneer, Kenwood and Blaupunkt all make good HUs in this price range.
At 2K per pair of speakers the list is small. Better brands at this price are JBL (GT5), Blaupunkt (GTO), Ground Zero (Titanium) and Pioneer.
2) 15K
Again I would budget about 6-7K for a HU and the rest for 4 good coaxial speakers. The HU recommendations essentially remain the same as those above (Clarion might now also be affordable). At 3.5-4K per pair you can now afford better brands and Hertz, JBL (GTO), Blaupunkt (Thx), Illusion (Electra), Gound Zero (Radioactive) and Alpine (Type S) are some speakers in this price range. It might also be worth your while to spend 2K on some damping material for the front doors (that is if you are installing speakers in the front doors). Another option that is now affordable is a rear deck made of MDF (Rs. 700-1,000). This is useful if you have a hatchback and you can afford to sacrifice some boot space. MDF is almost mandatory if you want to install 6x9" speakers in the rear deck.
3) 20K
About the price point where plethora of choices can confuse.
It depends on the music you like and the ammont of cabin/trunk space you are willing to sacrifice.
Someone who is looking for BOOM for example can...
spend 6-7K on the HU with one or more preamp outs (as above)
spend 5-6K on 4 speakers for the front and rear (as in the 10K system)
get a economical 2 ch amp and sub (Sony 552 and Pio 12" sub) and a pair of decent RCA cable (Monster Interlink Jr) for about 8K.
Someone looking for resolution might prefer...
Spending 9K on a HU with more features (such as USB and Ipod compatibility) and better sound quality and 10K on front components and rear coax speakers.
It also starts becoming essential to listen to multiple brands and combinations before buying ICE at this price point and above.
Brands recommendations are still the same as those for 10K and 15K with the addition of the Sony amps and Pioneer subwoofers and Clarion HUs.
At this point one must consider a good amplifier kit along with better RCA wires. Such a set of wires can run about Rs.3000. Monster, Twister, Audison, etc all offer such a kit. As a rule most members have not been happy with the BOSS kits in the Indian market so treat these with caution.
4) 25K
Now you can afford a bit of both BOOM and Resolution or more BOOM or Resolution! For More BOOM just get the Sony 554 amp instead of the 552 and one more Pioneer 12" (see 20K BOOM system above). There is also a 4 channel. JVC amp I am told is now available but I have yet to hear it leave alone use to drive a subwoofer. Still it might pay to give both (Sony and JVC) a listen. Other 4 amps one can consider are the Pioneer 6300, JBL GT5-604, Blau Gt4 Special, Kenwood 8401 and Ground Zero TA4000. These will cost about 7K each but are a definite step up from the Sony 554.
For more Resolution consider a better HU (all the brands mentioned above) but Pioneer, Clarion, Alpine and a few Kenwoods might be your best bets. For speakers with more Resolution consider Infinity, Illusion, Hertz are good choices.
For a bit more of each (BOOM and Resolution). Consider a Ground Zero, Hertz, JBL or Alpine sub instead of the Pioneer in the 20K BOOM system and consider changing the front speakers to components. Your budget will look something like this -
8K for HU, 7K for 4 coax speakers, 10K for JBL/Alpine/Hertz sub and amp OR 8K for HU, 10K for front components and rear coax speakers and 8K for the Pioneer/Sony sub-amp combo used in the 20K BOOM system.
I told you can get confused!
5) 30K
Now we are getting serious. You can consider USB/I pod compatible HU’s or even DVD HU’s.
You can now afford a good HU or a good subwoofer along with very decent speakers and a better amplifier.
A sample budget:
HU: 8K - you know the drill....
Speakers: 10K. Yes components in the front and coax in the rear
Sub and amp: 13K a decent amp like the Pioneer 6200 or Blaupunk GT4 driving the Pioneer 12" and front speakers.
OR (this option is really useful if you are looking at building a system slowly).
HU: 9K with 3 preamp outs for future expansion
Speakers: 10K
Pio, Kenwood, Blau or JBL 4 channel amp with 2 sets of RCA wires: 9-11K
you can then add a subwoofer later and use the HU to power the rears till you can afford a subwoofer amp.
If you are considering spending more than 30K on your system you need to do more research that just reading this "ready reckoner".
AMP = AMPLIFIER.
HU = HEAD UNIT
SUB/SW = SUB-WOOFER (speakers that produce only low requencies usually less than 100hz)
MONOBLOCK = Amplifiers with a single channel of amplification - usually used to drive subs.
DVC = Dual Voice coil Sub, having 2 voice coils in same SW. either 2 ohms or 4 ohms each, to give u great wiring options to extract the max outta ur amp and SW set up.
SVC = single voice coil Sub, either 2 ohms or 4 ohms
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