Hello,

I recently acquired an Alpine IDA x100 on ebay for a very good price considering it included the ipod lead as well, stock picture attached. Click here for specifications.

Reading up on other people's setups, a lot of people are recommending Alpine SXE-1750s 6.5" as they are a direct fit and offer a nice upgrade over standard.

I have heard various opinions, but if I bought these would I be able to create some kind of decent set-up? Obviously an amp would improve the sound quality, but is it necessary when listening at low to medium volumes? I don't typically like having the music very loud, but would like it to be decent quality. The HU lists this under the specifications: "Power Output: 4 x 50W High Power Amplifier".

Secondly, if I run these, with standard rear-shelf speakers, am I going to have a system which has good mid and high range, but then nothing low down? I don't really want massive, car-shaking bass, but obviously I don't want to spend money on an audio system which ends up tinny and only playing 2/3 of the frequencies properly.

Thirdly, how much of a pain is installing something like this going to be? I was thinking of potentially finding some OEM interior wing mirror covers with the tweeter holes and trying to make these fit behind them. Are the speakers particularly difficult to wire up etc.? If I did need an amp, I am pretty much clueless about them. A friend of mine has a full alpine set-up in his clio 182 & he uses an "inline amp" which he wired inline with the HU, thus not needing an extra power supply as this saved a lot of hassle.

Alternatively, I could replace the shagged speakers with a full spare set of phase 2 OEM ones for free & have okay SQ with all of the good ipod functionality etc.

Any thoughts, advice etc. would be very much appreciated. I don't want to spend massive money at all, so recommendations for cheap set-ups that will be significantly better than standard would be appreciated. I do realise that you probably get what you pay for. If you have to spend massive money to go better than std. I will probably not bother.

Thanks.

RetroPug has attached the following image:

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61k miles Ph.1 Diablo '6 Project Thread

You should notice a nice improvement just fitting the head unit, aslong as like you've said you don't want the volume up too high I've always found the standard speakers to do a fairly decent job if in good condition.

Obviously a set of the speakers you've linked will improve quality again but will mainly give you clearer high frequencies. Personally I'd just fit the head unit, have a play about with the settings and then see if you feel the need to upgrade further.

I'd say the same if you decide to upgrade the speakers tbh, you will notice they are better than standard and they will work just fine without an amp but would be a further upgrade with one. It all depends how far you want to go and what your happy with really.

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Ryan

Standard audio is gash. Dont be tight and spend some money

Remember you can spend your Christmas money

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Team Peugeot Sport 308 Gti�

Black T'99 Gti - may she rest in peace - written off in a shunt on the A329m

Erm ISO connectors dont have anything to do with the aerial connector and DIN is reference to the head unit size.

You having problems with your aerial lead?

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Team Peugeot Sport 308 Gti�

Black T'99 Gti - may she rest in peace - written off in a shunt on the A329m

Ha ebay. That explains it. On the same page it actually has a picture of what a real iso connector looks like. Muppets.

Anyway as for stalk control you will likely need 2 leads. Talking from experience on my pioneer. One pioneer lead that connects to the 3.5mm mini jack style socket in the head unit and a further autoleads harness that then links that to the car. From memory I was looking at alpine units before and would have been a similar setup. You will have to have a hunt for online car audio shops that do extensive ranges of this kind of paraphernalia. They are about if you look hard.

It was so long ago I got mine now I cant remember. But they were both from the same place. Be aware autoleads (from memory) have different harness adapters depending on what phase your six is so be diligent your ordering the right harness.

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Team Peugeot Sport 308 Gti�

Black T'99 Gti - may she rest in peace - written off in a shunt on the A329m

The aerial adaptors are labelled as ISO or DIN as I thought, Maplins and Halfords also stock them labelled in this way.

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61k miles Ph.1 Diablo '6 Project Thread

Is this the correct stalk adaptor for a Ph.1 gti-6? I believe so but would just like to check:
Clicky

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61k miles Ph.1 Diablo '6 Project Thread

Slight thread bump since the OP's last post. It depends what you want from the system. The OE speakers are 15 years old now and were designed down to a price, so replacing them with something aftermarket from a decent brand will be an improvement. That part is a no-brainer irrespective of your budget.

But from there it depends. You talk about a "budget" system. To my mind that means buying a decent head unit (including perhaps units that are being sold at knock-down prices as they are about to be replaced) combined with some good quality drop-in co-axial speakers. That's what I did, and it works well. The bass isn't going to win a sound-off, but the sound is vastly better than the stock setup. And gives a big step-up with little expenditure.

If you are going more elaborate than that, you start moving out of the budget realm. This is because you move into component speakers which are usually more pricey than coax - but are supposed to give a better result, meaning finding somewhere to site the tweeters, perhaps enlarging the speaker holes in the doors, looking at separate amps etc. If you are going to do this, then for all the hassle you might as well spend a bit more and get good stuff in there. If on a budget I would put the money into the quality of the pieces rather than the headline spec - I had a Denon stereo in my living room years ago which was rated at 45w RMS, and it kicked the pants off shiny bling stereos with lots of flashing lights that supposedly were rated at 200w.

If you are going the component + separate amp route, I would design the whole thing as a system to work well together. No point in a separate amp if the speakers are not really up to it etc.

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Cherry Rallye SOLD

No I don't sorry, but Alpine has a good reputation.

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Cherry Rallye SOLD

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306 rallye reproduction decals (full sets/individual decals) | 306 b-pillar textured vinyl weatherstrips
306 slam panel esso stickers | 306 yellow / orange / pension fund red side door badges
gti6 inlet manifold badges | 306 rear boot badges (p2/p3)
winner of Extraction of toys from prams with outstanding vigour award 2009 [source: gti6 owners club]

Bit of a revival as my insurance renewal is in November and I'm about to earn good money starting Monday.

I have been using the HU since I fitted it in January and there was a decent difference in sound quality. I have been thinking about getting components such as the ones listed in the OP, and have decided that a proper amp rather than an in-line one would be acceptable and probably better for less money.
I have been looking at alpine amps that have been going cheap on ebay etc. but unfortunately I really have very little idea what I'm looking at. I know that mono-amps are for subs/bass but that's about it.

If I had an amp and components up front, the sound quality would be pretty decent even though they are budget alpines, and in any case there's a fair bit of road noise in the ph.1 compared to the ph.2 anyway. However, I think it will still be a bit tinny and lacking low down.

I don't want a big sub enclosure in the boot, and I don't want to shake the car with bass etc. etc. I just want to have decent sound reproduction across all ranges, but I have no idea how to achieve this on a budget. I have seen under-seat subs, and shallow-mount subs, but don't know if I'd need a separate amp or whether I could get an amp that would power both.

Is it possible to mount speakers that play low-ranges in the parcel shelf? Alpine shallow-mount subs are very expensive but are there alternatives?

Are there alternative brands that make good, budget amplifiers or decent amps that would be affordable 2nd hand?

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61k miles Ph.1 Diablo '6 Project Thread

if you're about to start earning good money then i would do what any 306 owner would do. put a £20k boot install in



dangti6 tries to play tapes in his usb slot, that's why he struggles with his

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306 rallye reproduction decals (full sets/individual decals) | 306 b-pillar textured vinyl weatherstrips
306 slam panel esso stickers | 306 yellow / orange / pension fund red side door badges
gti6 inlet manifold badges | 306 rear boot badges (p2/p3)
winner of Extraction of toys from prams with outstanding vigour award 2009 [source: gti6 owners club]

Mine came with the ipod lightning lead already, as the previous owner had purchased one, as well as the "slow" ipod cable. I can have a look on it to see if it has any numbers or markings though. I have one of the early ipod touches.

I usually just use the USB lead though and play music from a USB stick. I have been meaning to organise this into folders for playlists but haven't bothered yet!

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61k miles Ph.1 Diablo '6 Project Thread