Mk 4 upgrade

[Brookstar]

Got my 1st Golf 2 weeks ago, 3dr 1.8 T
Love the car...needs a few things...r-tech remap,better audio !!

Took out the standard ice and installed a new kenwood cd tuner with the built in bluetooth kit
Sounds 'ok' but want a better quality
Dont particularly want to go cutting my parcel shelf or changing the original speakers - but if i have to i have to !
As i am now the ripe old age of 39 ,and had company cars for ever ,i have lost touch with all this so any help / advice would be greatly received !
Many many years ago,22 in fact,i did it this way.....an mdf parecl shelf ( what is a 'stealth shelf ?) ,6x9 's and a pair of tweeters running from an amp .....but i suppose that was the old fashioned way !

Looking for a crisp punchy sound,not wanting to break the windows or the bank,but i do like loud music  !!

Cheers

[S11EPS]

Step 1 - Add a sub and an amp. Not only will this allow you to reach new lows (and therefore add some depth to your music) but it will allow you to filter off the real lows from your factory speakers, thus allowing you to drive them harder before they croak. This will give you a x10 improvement and you'll probably find you wont want to go any further. Do not think that subs are only for barry boys interested in rattling windows - all music (including classical) will feature notes which your current speakers aren't capable of recreating - a subwoofer will transform your current system.

If you need more, step 2 - change out the front end components with something better, although, as per the law of diminishing returns, if you've followed step one first (and done it properly) you'll have to spend quite a chunk of money (circa £300) to get any tangible benefits.

You'll pay anything from £150 upwards for a decent sub and amp package - less if you go second hand.
Avoid the purple, non-branded sh!te that promise 1,000,000m watts - stick to RMS figures. Try and match a sub with a manufacturers box for that model. I still have an old Alpine V12 amplifier and JL 10" sub (in a JL box) that I used in my mk4 and it was superb.

[Brookstar]

Step 1 - Add a sub and an amp. Not only will this allow you to reach new lows (and therefore add some depth to your music) but it will allow you to filter off the real lows from your factory speakers, thus allowing you to drive them harder before they croak. This will give you a x10 improvement and you'll probably find you wont want to go any further. Do not think that subs are only for barry boys interested in rattling windows - all music (including classical) will feature notes which your current speakers aren't capable of recreating - a subwoofer will transform your current system.

If you need more, step 2 - change out the front end components with something better, although, as per the law of diminishing returns, if you've followed step one first (and done it properly) you'll have to spend quite a chunk of money (circa £300) to get any tangible benefits.

You'll pay anything from £150 upwards for a decent sub and amp package - less if you go second hand.
Avoid the purple, non-branded sh!te that promise 1,000,000m watts - stick to RMS figures. Try and match a sub with a manufacturers box for that model. I still have an old Alpine V12 amplifier and JL 10" sub (in a JL box) that I used in my mk4 and it was superb.

Cheers mate,
Do you mean an amp for the sub and the 'factory' speakers ? as i didnt think that the factory ones would take an amp
My local audio store will do me a 10" kenwood sub,amp and box for 140....but it wont drive all the speakers !

Cheers

[S11EPS]

No, don't amp the standard speakers - leave them driven off of the headunit - the amplifier is for the sub only.

Depending on your headunit, somewhere within the menus it will offer "high pass" settings - what you're aiming for is to filter out anything from about 100Hz downwards from your factory speakers - this will stop your standard speakers trying to produce anything too low, which will mean you'll get more out of them before they start to complain (because they're working over a narrower frequency range).

If your headunit doesn't have this facility, don't worry - your local stereo place will be able to sell you filters which do the same job which you fit inline between the headunit and speaker.

Make sure you leave some 'overlap' with your sub in terms of sound - I would suggest you set your sub to run with a low pass of circa 150Hz - else you risk having a 'hole' in your sound.

I had a Kenwood sub, box and amp in my wife's last car (haven't installed it in her current one yet) and it sounded fantastic - good choice.