For those not familiar with this vehicle, the INEOS Grenadier is the brainchild of the British billionaire and founder of INEOS chemical group, Sir Jim Ratcliff. Brought to market in October 2022, the Grenadier looks and feels like what a modernized Land Rover Defender could or should have been. Rugged to the core, this vehicle is designed to handle unforgiving off road terrain in ways many of its drivers will never fully utilize. In our neck of the woods, these beasts are likely spotted blasting through unplowed roads full of snow or navigating the busy parking lot of the local Whole Foods. Yet, I’m sure anyone who owns an INEOS Grenadier takes great comfort in knowing its full capabilities if SHTF. I know I would.
In many ways the INEOS Grenadier is a little too rugged. It’s not without modern creature comfort tech like wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but surprisingly the quality of the reverse camera is a bit “meh”. Certainly not what you’d expect given the $70 – 80k price tag. The interior lacks any sort of meaningful insulation resulting in a cavernous tin can cabin sound. And the audio system? It leaves much to be desired.
INEOS Grenadier Accessories
It’s no surprise this new automobile spawned a vast market of unique accessories designed to improve the Grenadier. Our shop recently completed a large upgrade for an INEOS Grenadier owner addressing many of this vehicles pitfalls. Let’s dive into the details!
Phase 1 – Sound Dampening
If you’re considering upgrading the audio system in this vehicle you must also include some sound dampening. At a minimum you want to apply sound dampening in the doors. Ideally, we recommend sound proofing the full cabin: all doors, roof, floor and behind as much of the plastic paneling that you can access.
In our shop we use Dynamat. Founded in 1989, Dynamat is known in our industry as the original car audio sound dampening product. Unlike many other automotive sound proofing materials, Dynamat is made proudly in the USA.
We use Dynamat Xtreme as a base layer on the sheet metal and frame of the vehicle and also apply a secondary layer called Dynaliner. The Dynaliner can either be layered on top of the Xtreme or on the backside of various panels like door panels, B-pillars and rear cargo panels.
In this Grenadier, Dynaliner was applied to the backside of all removable plastic panels including the center console trim and b-pillars, a portion of which is shown here.
This product isn’t difficult to install, but it is very time consuming to strip down the vehicle interior and cut each piece of material to the ideal size and shape. A full cabin dampening job like this can take about 30 hours to complete.
With the vehicle stripped down, technician John applied dampening in all accessible areas including the front and rear floors as well as the rear cargo floor.
One area that required a tedious amount of attention to detail was this rear door rack. The rear doors were also disassembled and material was applied to the frame and backside of those panels as well.
However, this INEOS Grenadier wasn’t here just to eliminate the cavernous tin can esq cabin acoustics. Ultimately our client wanted an audio upgrade. With the cabin sounding quiet as a panic room, John moved on to addressing the lackluster Grenadier stereo system.
Phase 2 – Audio System
The Grenadier is equipped with just 4 speakers: a set of 6.5″ coaxials in the front doors and a set of 4″ coaxials in the rear doors. We’re talking rugged. Not even separate tweeters in front! If you happen to have the optional subwoofer, you’re 1 step above a vintage Defender 90 audio system. In the sense that the Grenadier is unmatched in its off road capability, our client wanted an audio system with equally unmatched quality. The only way to achieve that was with top shelf equipment.
Ingredients:
- Morel Elate Carbon Pro 62A components in front
- Morel Hybrid Integra 42 point source in rear
- Helix V Eight DSP Ultimate
- PP ISO 5 harness to tie into existing audio system without modifying the original stereo harness
- Conductor (to utilize direct USB C hi-res audio input)
- Helix P One MK2
- Two Morel Ultimo PowerSlim 12″ Subwoofers
- Expert installation and DSP tuning
Tweeter placement
Where is the best place to add tweeters in this vehicle? That is a personal preference. We’ve seen shops flush mount them in the doors (not my favorite). This looks clean, but for sound stage purposes, it’s not ideal. We really want the tweeters coming at you. Think of when you attend a concert. It always sounds better when you’re facing the stage near the center rather than being seated off to one of the sides.
I’ve also seen shops flush mount them in the A-pillars flush. Also not ideal as this ends aiming the tweeters away from you reflecting off the glass (ouch – bright – my least favorite option). That’s why we used adjustable stand alone pods for the massive Morel Elate Carbon Pro 62A Alto tweeters.
These machined aluminum tweeter mounts are from Valicar Stuttgart in Germany. They manufacture a variety of tweeter housings available in two different style mounts. We prefer the Elongated Hole option (Langloch) as it provides the ability to adjust and dial in the angle. These housings could also be surface mounted on the dash in the corners if preferred.
Visually speaking, we understand these pods are not for everyone. But if sound quality is your ultimate goal, this positioning trumps the other tweeter mounting options. Surprisingly John did not have to fabricate speaker mounting adapters for any of the door speakers. The Morel speakers fit perfectly under the original door panels and grilles.
Amplifier Location
Despite the large interior cabin space, there was no great way of hiding the Helix V Eight DSP Ultimate and P One MK2 amplifiers. In vehicles equipped with just the single battery aftermarket DSP amps can be mounted under the rear seat.
This client equipped his Grenadier with a Buzz Overland rack system which maximized his vertical rear cargo space. Focusing more on sound quality vs functionality with a space saving design, our client gave us the freedom to utilize the space under the rack system.
John took full advantage of this and created a dedicated platform for the custom built Morel Ultimo PowerSlim 12″ subwoofer enclosure and amplifiers.
The subwoofer enclosure was secured to the platform behind the rear seats. Both the amp rack and enclosure were fabricated out of MDF and covered in automotive grade carpet and vinyl. Using our 3D printer, John fabricated an INEOS badge for a special added touch. We positioned the subwoofer enclosure on the larger side of the split folding rear seats so he could still fold down the smaller section for longer objects.
The Helix V Eight DSP Ultimate does an amazing job cleaning up the signal coming this factory stereo. For most clients, this is all they will ever need. For the purist, it’s still not as clean as a direct input. One of the great features of this amp is the direct hi-res USB C input.
Direct Hi-Res USB C input
With this configuration our client can connect his iPhone or a high quality portable player like an Astell & Kern directly into the DSP amp. This connection provides audiophiles with the cleanest source signal and highest fidelity possible.
How do you control this secondary input? Using the Helix Conductor control knob. This is a multi-functional knob. When the client is using CarPlay through the factory stereo, he can tap the knob and quickly adjust subwoofer level. Tap again to adjust the level of rear fill (fader control). Each function is color coded. When he connects his device to the hi-res direct USB C input the Helix amp automatically detects this and switches the input. At that point the client can use the Conductor knob as his master volume controller. Pretty neat, right?
Extras
In addition to the sound dampening and audio upgrade, we also installed a Wolfbox mirror. The Wolfbox functions as both a dash camera and adds a higher resolution reverse camera display. This gets mounted in place of the existing rear view mirror. We also installed the client’s Sentinel 7’’ High Performance LED lights and a pair of high powered auxiliary reverse lights. The Grenadier is equipped with a variety of AUX switches so we might as well put them to good use!
With this complete upgrade, our client has optimized his INEOS Grenadier driving experience. Whether he is traversing challenging off-road terrain or cranking Taylor Swift tunes for his girls, all occupants of this Grenadier will enjoy an elevated driving experience. To learn more about how we can enhance your INEOS Grenadier, contact our shop, Sounds Incredible Mobile in Brookfield, CT.
