Full sound system-How easy

Have a cabby and as i'm going to be replacing all the carpets etc. i thought it would be a good time to do the sound system. What i'd want is new head unit, speakers front and rear plus tweeters and amp. How easy would this be for a novice. I remember getting this done quite a few years ago and it cost a small fortune for the parts and fitting. If poss i'd like to try it myself, any info or good sites to look at would be much appreciated

Not difficult mate, I just fitted new speakers front and back a sub and amp.

Go for it, plenty of help on here and the rest of the tinternet.

T

Depends what you call a 'full sound system'. I'd say its always going to be a compomise unless you have:

- 4 component speakers, at least 13cm but preforably 16cm, driven from head unit
- additional 2 component speakers driven by a 300W amp
- 10" or 12" sub driven by 500W amp

Of course, fitting all this into a cabby is tricky, the car is not really set up for speakers at the front so the best way around this is fitting power windows and a custom door build.

I've run 4x50W speakers and sub bass and it wasn't loud enough (using 6x4, 5.25" component and 12" sub bass, the former speakers in their stock locations). So based on experience, anything less is a compromise.


Good luck huh.

When i say full i meant new Hu, front door speakers, rear speakers, tweeters and amp. Not really bothered about a sub unless i can get one that dosnet take up much room, so gonna need good speakers.

Fronts: What model year is your car, and do you have electric windows? The easiest way is to simply upgrade the existing 13cm and tweeter, if so fitted. Otherwise you'll have to compromise with a 6x4", or use later cabby door cards (and power windows), mount speakers into the door card itself (on a Mk1 Golf they'll end up too far back) or make your own custom door build.

Rears: Ideally you need to cut away a little metal, so you can mount a larger speaker here. You can cut a little away and get a 13cm in, or cut more and fit 16cm speakers.

Tweeters: obviously if you go component at the front, and you have later door cards, the place for the tweeter is already there. If you don't though, then the door card is probably the best place for them. I'd not fancy above the windscreen on a cabby, and the dash is too much hassle to mount speakers onto/into.

When you fit the speakers, make sure that polarity is preserved (ie + connects to + on all the speakers) otherwise you will have out of phase effects which basically mean the system won't produce sound in the correct way and will be inexplicably quiet/tinny.

Head unit: With any luck the previous owner already has an ISO compatible stereo so there will be an ISO connector(s) in there. You'll probably have to lay rear speaker cables though. You can use a terminal block to connect them up, or solder/wrap if you wish. If there is no ISO connector, then when you connect one up, use a power feed from the cigarette lighter (should be enough amps fused already) and lay a thickish earth to the earth block next to the fusebox. On a Mk1 Golf the cigarette lighter is permanently live so you can take both stereo power inputs from here. If there's a dash dim feature on the stereo, can take it from the illumination lamp on the cig lighter too. You'd have to lay your own power aerial lead if required.

Any more questions? Let us know and we'll see what can do. I used a sub in my cabby when I had one and it kinda comically cut the bootspace down by about half, so I can see why you're reluctant to install one! Its a nice handy location though because its somewhat hidden already. I had to install a 12" bass box thru the passenger area, it was too big to get thru the boot aperture. 10" will probably be okay. If you do, you'll probably get a rattle from some of the fittings on the boot lid so worth tightening these up, etc.

PS If you're going to use an amp, I'd run 6 speakers instead of 4, otherwise you're losing out on available amp power off the head unit. Double up the speaker install in the rear side cards, I think you should be able to get 2 speakers in here to fit.

My set-up isn't too complex but I've replace the fronts with some decent two-way speakers and taken the back ones out too and replaced them with some 6inch three way jobs. I only had to cut a little metal, not too bad. These are run from the head unit but I've got myself an 8inch sub in the boot run off a 200W amp. I've minimised the intrusion by building a custom enclosure on the right-hand side. It's not ideal but I need some boot space and can't stand these coffins people have that take up the whole boot and look terrible.

Like I say, nothing too special but with the inclusion of some sound deadening and careful tightening and strapping I don't get any rattle or vibration at all.

I still need to finish off trimming the boot and mounting the amp a bit better but here's a pic of it so far.



T

Its a 1990 with leccy windows. I'm going to be getting all new front and rear cards anyway. I was thinking of putting in seperate tweeters, although if i get decent speakers will i need them.

To do it right you need to remove the back seats and put some 18in subs with 2MW amps really...

That would be nice but either the wife or the kid will have to walk :mrgreen:

jay09 said

Its a 1990 with leccy windows. I'm going to be getting all new front and rear cards anyway. I was thinking of putting in seperate tweeters, although if i get decent speakers will i need them.

I got door cards from Newton Commercial, if I can find my thread I'll do you a link. As for the tweeters, I ditched my factory ones, they were rubbish anyway and the door looks much better for a cleaner look.

Arnold

Tian said

jay09 said

Its a 1990 with leccy windows. I'm going to be getting all new front and rear cards anyway. I was thinking of putting in seperate tweeters, although if i get decent speakers will i need them.

I got door cards from Newton Commercial, if I can find my thread I'll do you a link. As for the tweeters, I ditched my factory ones, they were rubbish anyway and the door looks much better for a cleaner look.

Arnold

Found it.

http://www.vwgolfmk1.org.uk/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=46418&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=interior&start=0

Arnold

jay09 said

That would be nice but either the wife or the kid will have to walk :mrgreen:

I never thought of that, there's an added bonus for you then

Seriously though your main problem is getting sound into the car and not the free space above it.

You need to probably think of where you want the sound to be, do you want it all round, i.e for all the passengers, or just in the front, or do you want to blast the entire street (probably not recommended) also for a cab I'd advise a stealthy install, look into acoustic cloth and that sort of thing.

But give me a rough budget and i'll suggest what you can get.

Madferret said

jay09 said

That would be nice but either the wife or the kid will have to walk :mrgreen:

I never thought of that, there's an added bonus for you then

Seriously though your main problem is getting sound into the car and not the free space above it.

You need to probably think of where you want the sound to be, do you want it all round, i.e for all the passengers, or just in the front, or do you want to blast the entire street (probably not recommended) also for a cab I'd advise a stealthy install, look into acoustic cloth and that sort of thing.

But give me a rough budget and i'll suggest what you can get.

Ummmm disagree.

The principles are well established. You want the sound spread as evently as possible, ie those people who put the treble at the front (indirectly, by only fitting small speakers in the dash and large ones in the rear) are doing it wrong. You want the bass at the FRONT as well as the REAR! Treble isn't so important at the rear because it tends to be directional, whereas bass/sub-bass isn't really directional. Hence, you want the tweeters as far apart, and as high up, and as directly pointing at your ears as possible.

However, the Mk1 Golf is rubbish for speaker locations so you need to make the best use of what you got.

Tian said

Tian said

jay09 said

Its a 1990 with leccy windows. I'm going to be getting all new front and rear cards anyway. I was thinking of putting in seperate tweeters, although if i get decent speakers will i need them.

I got door cards from Newton Commercial, if I can find my thread I'll do you a link. As for the tweeters, I ditched my factory ones, they were rubbish anyway and the door looks much better for a cleaner look.

Arnold

Found it.

http://www.vwgolfmk1.org.uk/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=46418&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=interior&start=0

Arnold

Gonna get get mine from Newton, door cards and carpet. Not sure what colour yet, at the moment its grey inside but want to get away from that if i can, just need to a black knee bar etc. Will have to stick with the grey seats for now don't think the wife will let me stump up that much for them re-doing.

Newton do a very good service and members get a discount too. Paul is right about the speaker locations, we all know th best way but let's not forget it's going in a MK1 Golf which isn't known for the the best sound dynamics in the world. :roll:

It boils down to practicality, budget and common sense mate. Apply plenty of the last and you can't go wrong.

Get some pics up when too, be nice to see how it turns out.

Arnold

Like everyone says they are not the best motors for sound so i might just stick to four speakers, four tweeters(will i need an amp for additional speakers)and a nice HU. If i can get the best ones within my budget prob be ok. Anyway its got to be better than whats in there now

Sorry paul disagree with what?

Bass is omnidirectional you don't so much hear it as feel it. You can see this effect as high frequencies will bounce off flat surfaces, but bass will not (or rather not as much)

As I say it depends on what you want and what budget, most people don't realise that the sound output of most speaker is shaped and you need to get the shape in the car right, you can't have everything as there will be sweet spots and dead spots in any setup.

Oh and acoustically the MK1 golf is highly regarded in the field, probably due to the almost 45degree front and back windows, the cabby however only has the the former