I have parked outside a shiny new octavia.

Whilst it is a lovely car the standard stereo needs a bit of improvement so I shall be starting work on it in a couple of weeks.

Before that I have a couple of questions though.

The front speakers look like standard 6" jobs , is this right?

If so , what do people recommend as I've heard there may not be much mounting depth.

Also can you just take off the lower bit of trim without removing the whole door cards? Also do the tweeter surrounds front and rear unclip or is it more of a job to get at them?

Running cabling to the boot should be fairly straightforward.

I plan to have my changer back there as well as my JBL sub from my old Ka.

Any other surprises I should look out for?

Without appearing rude your best bet is to do a search on I.C.E or check the FAQ, there are plenty of threads and info to read.

Everything that can be done to improve matters for you has already been done, posted and discussed.

Cheers.....and good luck (hope you have a spare week to read them)

Andy

ps and welcome by the way

As Andy said, it's been covered on here before, but takes some

searching, so I'll give a run down as best as I can!

Front speaker size - 17cm (think that's 6.5", but 6" will probably

fit in with a mounting plate/ring).

I have Infinity's in the front (652i's I think). However, these are

discontinued, but there *might* be a replacement the same

size. I think Pioneer "shallow basket" ones will fit in pretty

easy too.

The door card doesn't need touching, it can all be done by taking

off the grille.

Tweeter surrounds at the front just pull off, don't even need

any tools. Not sure on the rear - it's easier to unplug some of

the wires in the boot (this is covered in the FAQ).

Cabling to the boot is pretty easy.

And welcome to Briskoda!

Rob.

Welcome to Briskoda, DZ - I'm guessing you're a futurama fan?

As Andy says, this has been covered by quite a few people, so a quick browse through the ICE Forum should answer most of your questions

I don't have an Octy myself so don't have firsthand knowledge, but from memory the front speakers can be replaced, although there isn't much mounting depth, so a lot of "normal" speakers won't fit.

Running the cables shouldn't be a problem - I think there's a grommet somewhere on the driver's side that allows cable entry (whereas on the Fab it's on the left IIRC).

As for surprises, try searching the forums for "k-line" - the wiring loom for the head unit has a slightly different configuration from normal as I understand it. Won't damage your head unit, but could damage the dealer's diagnostic tool!

Even though a lot of this has been covered before, it doesn't mean no one will answer any questions you have, btw

BTW, have just added some futurama smilies to my site - http://quakezilla.com/smiles

Thanks to those who replied.

I had done a search on the forums but all I seemed to find were people telling others to search the forums.

Looks like it was a while back that the questions were answered directly.

I'll be ordering my stereo today so I'll see if I can get some suitable speakers at the same time.

Welcome Dr, as rob said 6's in the front with sep tweeter, disconnect the rear tweeters and replace the rears with some coaxial units... the h/u is th emain prob but soulds like u have this covered! let us know how you get on!:cheers:

Originally posted by ffelan in this post

replace the rears with some coaxial units...

I'd also recommend buying some longer screws and a bag of

washers when doing this...

Rob.

Well all the electronics are now sitting in a big pile in my lounge.

Got a sony MP80 head unit which looks superb but a bit shinier than I had expected. All the pics I had seen seemed a darker grey which would have matched the dash better.

I decided to go to a real shop for the speakers rather than ordering off the net. It will cost a bit more but I can be sure they will fit that way , and I should have it all in on saturday with pics to follow if anyone is interested.

I'm considering mounting the Sub , changer and amp to a false floor in the boot which would make things a little neater and remove the need to drill holes into my shiny new car.

Originally posted by Dr zoidberg in this post

I'm considering mounting the Sub , changer and amp to a false floor in the boot which would make things a little neater and remove the need to drill holes into my shiny new car.

A wise idea! The Octy does essentially have a false floor anyway,

as the underside of the boot carpet is wood-lined...depends if you

want to make holes in this though, and how well fitting it is...

Rob.

Dr Z,

did you get the wire adapter as well? Don't need one for the HU to work but will prevent K-line problem.

Cheers.

Adrian.

Nope , not got an adaptor yt. Will definately want one for the aerial power feed and will see if I can get one that does the K thingy as well. If not I'll find out which wire it is and change it by hand.

Do a search for "After market radio problem"; there's a diagram showing which pin to short.

Ross-Tech's explanation of the problem plus the fix is here.

Ah , thats dead easy , thanks.

Turns out I didn't need to do anything , my Sony had nothing connected to that pin anyway.

Know I'm joining this one somewhere in the middle but could someone confirm the (lowest) budget required for the front speaker mod to the vRS? I called at a shop just now and they quoted me

Nick,

I assume you mean these:

Speakers - Infinity Ref 6502I

* 6.5" 2 Way Speaker

* 60w RMS

* Silk Dome tweeter

* Uni-pivot tweeter mounting

Hmmm - seem to recall some people have made holes in the plastic membrane leaving the plastic draped over the speaker from above. Otherwise I guess some kind of spacer might be required - others will advise here but I expect it'd be nothing flashier than a bit of cardboard tube ...

Its not the plastic membrane that gets in the way , but a piece of metal just behind it that catches on the metal basket of the speakers.

Some speakers like the infinity ones have a much shallower mounting depth so they won't catch.

Chrish,

I've used Pioneer TSE-1775's in the front, be careful of '03 model Infinity's as I was caught out badly by this.The 652i's should be fine but watch out for the 6502's which I think is the '03 model as these won't fit the Octy (too deep).

Any problem's or if you need any help/tips for installing front's, just give me a shout.

Cheers

Hugh

Apparently cutting the plastic door membrane improve the sound quality as you are allow more air movement.

I haven't done this and have the Infinity 652i fiited. The new model, 6502i, is too deep so you'll need a spacer (or 2).

If you want to retain the original tweeter you can either get the conversion connectors and jsut connect up or you can cut off the original connectos and use some spade ones. Be aware you need small and medium for this. On the connector front IIRC someone had a problem with the conversion connecters from Halford; gave a funny sound.

Speaker grill just pulls off although you will need a small flat screw driver to prize up one edge Do carefully so not to mark the plastic.

Fro what is a simple job, Halford make a killing by charge

When it comes to mounting your amp, I dont know what others have done but mine sits very nicely in that bit of polystyrene under the boot. Just hollowed it out (quite a lot) and fixed in some vinyl covered wood (using silicone sealent) and mounted the amp. Now when you open the little flap all you can see is amp and none of the connections. Looks very nice and tidy

simon :1:

Jon (TaviaRS) has done this as well; nice and neat I reckon. However, I wonder about heat dissappation as it's under the "floor" and because of this whether there's risk of the polystyrene melting or even catching fire. Never had an amp in a car before so don't know what sort of heat is generated.

Just interested.