Speakers in mark 1 cabby - guide to original sizes

looking to install speakers into mark 1 cabby–standard ones are there at present.  went to a high street car stereo place and obvioyusly I don't want to start cutting door trim etc. any good suggestions which have worked for you guys–particularly rear speakers? thanks 

What year is your car and what sort of front door pockets do you have as they changed size on later car?

thanks mark--its an 88 e reg --

Got these in my front door pockets, straight fit with no mod needed (may need different spade connectors?)

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/speakers/alpine-sxe-4625s

Rear - I'll have to check what size as my pictures are on photobucket and I can't get to them, I guess you have the holes and speaker behind the rear side cards, near the seatbelts?

I do find that there is little base with the speakers so I did fit a sub and amp in the boot which helps alot.

that's great advice mark–wasn't sure the sub was needed cos the guy was selling me one–but rear speakers are as you describe. my golf aint gonna get cut!
appreciate your reply
mike

You could try with out a sub but the design of the car and where they put the speakers is not great, there is not a lot of room behind the rear speakers as the window has to go down behind them. It did make a word of difference with a sub, I'm no Bass Junky but there is a lack of bass with the standard VW set up.

I'm no car audio expert and I did not want to spend silly money to get a top of the range audio as the car is my daily so I still need a fairly good sound and the less attention to the radio etc the better so my car thief/ car audio thief does not cut a nice hole in my roof or smashes the window the better.
I've not even fixed my radio in, I would much rather they took the radio than damage my dash!

I still like a good sound and into my home Hifi, I work in a music department so I do know what sound rubbish and what is good.  

People doing this sort of sub is just silly and damaging for your hearing….. What was that you just said… pardon…..Pardon…..    


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Yes  you can go overboard on sound. Like the sound of a good sub.  Does impact boot space and as I have the windbreak it's more of a fag to use the back seat but I'm sure I'll cope

I've seen people use those thin subs you fit underneath your front seat, not sure how good they are or I could fit one underneath my seat as I do like it low so I can just about see the bonnet.

There is some smaller subs you can fit in the boot?

Do you have the windbreak which also covers the back seat… like this?

http://www.classic-vw.co.uk/mk1-golf-cabriolet-windesa-wind-deflector-xl-7857-p.asp


 I've got one which goes straight down behind the front seats so I can still pop my shopping on the back seats or if I have the kids seats in the back they car stay upright in there. When the roof is up it rolls up and is stored near the base of the rear seat.

Like this.
https://www.windesa.com/shop/en/windesa-comfortdrive/cabrio-wind-deflectors/volkswagen/golf-mk1-convertible/205/bodi-m-wind-deflector-golf-mk1-convertible

Yes I have the sl version you highlighted. I tend to use Golfus just at weekends and I'm paranoid where I park it supermarket  spaces anyway so losing the boot is no real hardship.
I'd guess your windbreak is just as effective as mine but as you say more accessible.

My golf with winbreak

Original Speaker Sizes for a mk1 golf.

With smaller pockets (ie earlier cars) 6x4 inch front

With larger pockets 13cm or 5.5 inch

Rear on later cabbies are 6x4" (can be replaced with circular 5" with minor mods.

To get a 'richer' sound ad some Dynamat or Silent Coat in behind the speakers on the door skin. This will help to stop the door rattling a bit and produce a better sound.

Alpine, Pioneer and JBL all produce speakers to fit.

If you want to add some bass but keep the install small to enable full use of the boot I'd recommend a Kicker 'Hideaway Sub'. It's self powered so no extra amp is needed.

Ian

Good advice thanks. The hifi fitters were not happy fitting speakers in the rear because of the mods they would need to make. Is the set up in the rear very different in the later cabs do you know? Mike

The cabby's speakers were a few different sizes.
There was the original Rabbit Vert, that had the front speakers in the dash IIRC they were like 3.5" or I can remember getting 3.5's to fit.

The rears on the Tin-top has a 4X6 mounting points on the rear parcel shelf under sides.

The later 83s to 91.5 had map pockets added to the doors, that had 4X6" fitted in to the covers, and 3.5's behind the rear quarter panel's

from 91.5 to 93, they increased the fronts from 4X6 to
5 1/4, and 4X6 in the rears with rear speaker grilles that covered them.

www.cabby-info.com has them listed… Don't forget that they had a few different radio setups including Aktive  radios that included a separate amp on each speaker that included a "bass" booster.

After 4 years of sitting under a Turbine Helicopter engine, and listening to HF scratch and pop noise of
radios for long range comms, I can't hear the difference between a 5000 pound radio and a 70 pound unit.  I do think it is funny that some folks will put more monies into their radios, than getting the car road worthy first…

I just installed 2 of these in my Cabbies…it has an external MIcrophone that is mounted to the right of your steering wheel on mine it is the left, and I onlt had to file the face plate of the headlight switch, and he facia mount for the faceplate at the upper mounting so it looks normal.  The best thing about seeing the channels, is that it 1/4 the size and 1/3 the weight….



As I couldn't read the face plate on my premium oem (blackened display) and the other one had an "Aktiv" unit that the POS removed to put in a CD player in the front and Butchered the OEM harness….

I suppose I mention that because the new units "Blew" out the older speakers.. and I just had to replace 4 speakers on both of my cabbies…..

Thanks for that. Good point about balancing expenses on "goodies" and getting the Cabs roadworthy.
I'm a classical music nutter-sad I know-but I'm aware of the danger of shelling out a lot of money on a system which may not fully appreciate the range I want it to deal with.

Definitely get her on the road first. You can play later  

I've found that with the cabrio's the roof noise is worse than my tin top. But I did spend a lot of time and money lining it with sound deadening and foam to cut out noise.

I also find that the deeper notes do disappear worse in a cabrio.

Might be worth just sticking with the standard size and chucking a cheap 8" sub in the boot. You'll lose boot space but the difference for value is amazing tbh.

Ian

Think there's a lot of sense in what you say. My hifi retailers are only prepared to say sound with a sub will be a lot better than now but will be compromised in comparison with one of them tiin top thingies eh.

Because the only place for a sub is in the boot, and with the top down you won't hear it too plainly, sure you will feel it…. Top up folks place it on the or under the parcel shelf, but then again top down you won't hear it but more likely you will feel it.  Top up, and well I have seen speaker installed on the rear parcel shelf, and if the shelf is old and weakened, pull it into the trunk…

So be pre-paired that you may have to re-make your parcel shelf.

But wait there is more……  I have a how to remake your parcel shelf for cabriolets in the how-to section of the archive section here…

Remaking your Cabriolet Parcel Shelf | Volkswagen Owners Club Forum    

You ve really done your research there. Thanks for sharing

my 10p worth…

when i had a previous cabby back in the mid 90's on a D plate… got a bit boy racer if you like (ICE was huge) changed the head unit, remote CD Alpine, amp'd it all up with a 4x90 crossover Alpine so it could run 8 speakers, MDF for the shelf with 6x9's, Alpine 6x4's in the doors, tweeters on the dash & a ported box with a 12" JL Audio sub booming out - scaled it down & seriously took up most of my boot. Didn't really bother me, the difference in sound with the hood down or up… noticeably different as the shelf was covered with the hood down, felt more bass i suppose… Good fun though some people spend loads, i mean loads getting the boot looking pukka, all boxed up, glass, lit up etc…

The cabby now has the standard stereo…the original speakers were fuzzy etc, so had to change them, got MAC Audio (closest i could get to original size - about 95mm diameter fitting - awkward as, typical VW ).. not spectacular or glass breaking but do the job… when changing them, the rears were dried up & bit broken of the cone sponge.