ICEing my Ritz ;)

Recently I bought a new Maruti Ritz and I have been checking out for some time for a good music system.

For the HU (Head Unit) I wanted a player with connectivity through SD Card, USB stick and Aux (Cable In) and I did not mind if it did not have a CD player! Since most of my music is in a digital format today, the CD player is fairly irrelevant.

Surprisingly I found that there are very few models in the market offering SD Card + USB connectivity and they are made by Pioneer.

I have installed the Pioneer DEH - 4290 SD

I bought this from Poona Motors (Pune Cantt. East Street) after inquiring in vain at several Mumbai shops for such a device and finding that they had not heard  of them. Poona Motors stocks a good range of audio gear and I was pretty impressed.

If you are looking for a similar unit, bargain to get it in the range of Rs. 8000 or lower. It is worthwhile to spend a little extra for the alternate connectivity options. I predict that soon we will not be listening to CDs any more. It is certainly ages since I burned any music onto CDs though  I carry some lossless files in my MP3 player.

Anyway, coming back to ICE (In Car Entertainment), options for speakers were limited for me as I used up most of my budget on the Head Unit.

I opted for Pioneer speakers. The Ritz has all 4 door mounted speakers and I chose to use this option rather than mount a parcel tray in the rear that would take up boot space. I know, it is not audiophile nirvana, but at a budget of Rs. 13000, I have my limits :)

I installed 4 -way speakers in the front and 2-way in the rear. As I am always the driver (and usually the sole occupant) of my car, rear speakers are not relevant. Maybe later, I will look at an amp or even a sub.

But for now,  I am happy with this option which is giving me great sound in the front of the car :) And including installation it all came in at Rs. 14000.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 25, 2010 at 1:47 AM

    Thanks for a nice post. It is interesting to note that you have installed better/powerful speakers in the front moving away from the conventional arrangement. The idea is good, but does it really sound better? There is more space for the sound waves to diffuse when the speakers are in the rear.

    Will you post your experience with Ritz. I read in rediff or sify article Ritz has several pro points, the con being mainly a long waiting time. It has an ugly side view, but the owners I have talked to rave over it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. NishaMay 25, 2010 at 2:01 AM

    Thanks for your comments. I am still getting used to having the 4-way speakers in the front(It has only been a day) and I will definitely post my impressions after some time. One thing I noticed is a certain amount of ear fatigue (but then I was playing really loud).
    As for the Ritz, I too am a victim of a long wait (nearly 3 months) but ultimately very happy. It's a fantastic car to drive. I have upgraded from an Alto, so maybe I do not have a benchmark, but I am very happy.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anand SMay 25, 2010 at 11:25 PM

    i bought the Ritz in Bangalore and did not have to wait long though some colors could entail a wait longer than a month. i chose the uncommon Racing Green which i got in two weeks. The Swift has a long wait of three months when i checked last. the Swift and Ritz are comparable in many aspects but the shape of the latter makes it unappealing to many. the K Series Engine i am told is superior. i installed speakers on all the four doors each of 190 watts. what is a 4 way speaker ? i chose a Sony over the Pioneer not because of anything but the brand i have a bias towards.

    ReplyDelete
  4. NishaMay 26, 2010 at 9:09 AM

    Hey Anand, Racing Green is a great color! I was offered a white car for instant delivery by the dealer, but opted to wait for Baker's Chocolate or Racing Green. Ultimately, I got a choice of only Blue Blaze or Gray when the batch was delivered. So I chose the blue. I agree that the rear is a very funny shape. Someone joked in the Team BHP forums that Maruti is now making hunchbacks not hatchbacks :) But I am used to it.
    The engine is touted as one of the best among B segment cars - proof of this is that they are now going to put it in the Swift as well.
    Four way speakers have woofer, mid range, tweeter and an additional tweeter for very high frequencies. I chose these for the front as I always drive and therefore wanted a good sound in the front of the car. Sony is a good brand and reasonably priced also. I chose the Pio HU because it was the only one with USB+SD Card connectivity. And the speakers, on dealer recco

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnandMay 27, 2010 at 12:46 PM

    The model from sony also has the option to connect a USB device. I was able to connect the iPod Nano and listen to music though navigation is not intuitive since pressing the search button skips albums and not tracks. May be i have not figured out how to skip tracks within an album

    ReplyDelete
  6. NishaMay 27, 2010 at 1:00 PM

    Yes, several models offer USB connectivity. Fewer offer SD Card option (Blaupunkt and Pio have options) but only Pio was offering both.
    I prefer the SD Card option as my iAudio D2 uses SD Card and I store a lot of my music already on SD Cards. You can connect IPod to most music systems using the special cable but as you mentioned browsing is not always optimised

    ReplyDelete

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