ICE

I'm very much into audio, especially within an automotive environment. So it goes without saying the first thing that I absolutely had to do is the sound system. Getting a base model basically means it comes "audio-less". I had to contend with a dual DIN Kenwood deck that the dealer threw in and the stock MX5 paper cones. The deck wasn't too bad, had decent sound and could change colours. o_O"

But psychedelic displays ain't what I'm after. So that has to go. In goes the Clarion HX-D2 deck from my previous ride(see pic). this thing has got the works. copper chassis, upsampling,etc. Only downside is the limited crossover settings, but its not a deal breaker. In fact, this HU is so good that its the only piece of equipment I never thought to upgrade. I pretty much got rid of all of my old setup except for this. Its the only piece of equipment I had that escaped two setups unscathed.

Next up will be the amplifiers. My previous amps(left) would fill up the MX5's boot COMPLETELY, which would be a problem, since I have no rear seats to fall back on.
I racked my head hard for this one. Took measurements of almost every decent amp out there, from Celestras to Stegs to Sinfonis, nothing really worked out. In the end, I had to settle for Alpine's PDX series of amplifers, the smallest amplifiers that I could find that had decent power. It was ironic that these were actually the cheapest of my choices as well. Not that i minded! I do wish I could have kept my Audisons though.

Speaker choices were more straightforward. There were only really 3 choices I had in mind, Alpine's F#1, Focal's Beryllium range and the Matrix setup from Brax. Settled for the Brax in the end, as I figured the F#1 and BE setups are probably way overdone over here. I didn't include a subwoofer this time, as I couldn't figure out where to mount an 8 or 10 inch sub as well as an additional amplifer without taking up substantial space. Went for an active subwoofer solution eventually; a compact, unobstructive sub thats under the passenger seat. Its by Phase Audio, and if you haven't heard of the brand, then that makes two of us. >_<Here's a picture of the speakers in their boxes when they arrived.

The 6 inch midbass drivers. There are actually 2 versions. I went for the one with the phase plug. The Brax steel plate is nice and all, but I can't quite figure out where(how) to put it. Its still in the box.The 2" midrange drivers. These are actually the ones that I am looking forward to hearing the most once everything's all run in.

The 1" tweeter units. The build around these drivers(as well as the rest) are phenomenal. Talk about German precision.

As for the cables, I'm using Rockford Fosgate 0 gauge for the power cables, speaker duty are provided by Van den Hul's The Skytrack Hybrid, which is basically a biwire version of its Skyline speaker cable, RCAs are on Belden 1505F terminated with Canare plugs. Didn't really take pictures of the wires though.

It actually took a while to round all these equipment up, since with the exception of the Clarion, everything was brand new, and not exactly something I can get in a hurry. I was just glad I managed to finalize the equipment list just about the same time the car arrived.

Next up, I'll be writing more about the equipment layout and the actual installation.