Sound Upgrade in 02 Golf

02DslPwr

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Joined
Dec 20, 2004
Location
Leander Texas
TDI
2002 Jetta Wagon, TDI
I was more joking than anything. The Symmetry is a beast to tune and install nicely. Hence why its been in my closet for years. :) Used it in two cars and gave up after that.

I find it interesting that you are using the head until for the front stage. That's arguably the most detail-oriented part of the stereo. I would want the most(& cleanest) power going there, rather than to mid-bass drivers. (I am fully aware that bass frequencies require more power for a similar spl) In my system, I have more power on the front stage than on my subs. Clarity at any volume level is outstanding. I'm sure at moderate levels your setup will sound great. Its just a little backwards from what I consider car-audio dogma.

Best of luck!
 

caseyfriday

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Jun 1, 2011
Location
everywhere
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02 Golf GLS TDI
I wonder if you'd think differently if you heard the system. :) I did quite a bit of research before deciding on that specific head unit, and the general consensus is that the 9835 is not only the last "V-Drive" 26W-RMS-per-channel unit that Alpine made, but that it is also the last of the audiophile-quality units they made.

The signal going to the front stage is incredibly detailed and clear, and with a total of 52W RMS to each of the component channels, I'm just really impressed by it. My guess is that the signal coming from the 9835 is at least a tiny bit cleaner than that coming from the Blaupunkt amp.

Anyhow, you're not too far from SA, so perhaps we'll meet up in Austin some time and you can hear it for yourself!
 

02DslPwr

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Dec 20, 2004
Location
Leander Texas
TDI
2002 Jetta Wagon, TDI
And as others have encouraged, please put some sound deadening on our doors(trunk and floor too). Its not snake-oil, it really does work. Your system WILL sound better if everything is properly dampened. Now that all your doors have come off, you'll start hearing rattles. It WILL happen.

Dynamat is insanely expensive. I use B-Quiet Extreme. A 1'x50' roll (50sq/ft) of B-Quiet Extreme is about $100 shipped. 72sq/ft of Dynamat is $660 off their website. I'll let you do the math. :)

Even if you don't hear rattles, sound deadening will reduce your "noise floor" (level of ambient background noise) and effectively add power to you amps.
 

caseyfriday

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everywhere
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02 Golf GLS TDI
Okay, to be honest, the cost of sound deadening was one of the big things keeping me from doing it. Here's my question - I tried to ask this before, but I wasn't clear enough.

I don't want to have to remove the interior metal door skin OR have to remove the speaker itself again, since I soldered the wires onto the speakers and didn't leave much slack (for window clearance reasons). So could I do a sound deadening job like this picture - JUST on the metal skin next to the speaker (NOT behind the speaker) - and it still be worth it?

 

02DslPwr

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Joined
Dec 20, 2004
Location
Leander Texas
TDI
2002 Jetta Wagon, TDI
Well, I have no doubts that you've put together a good sounding system. We're due for a central TX gtg anyhow. I'd love to hear it then.

At this point, we are splitting hairs. Your deck uses an IC amp, whereas my JL 450/4(150wx2 & 75wx2) is Class A/B. Its common knowledge that Class A/B amps sound the best, but, they are huge, hot, and very power hungry. IC amps, especially the ones inside a head until, have a ton working against them. Heat, lack of raw power(amps), dynamic headroom, S/N ratio, etc, are all sacrificed with IC amps.

Last I read, it was nearly impossible to get more than ~20watts RMS out of a head unit.

All this aside, I KNOW you can make a great sounding system off of a head unit. Dividing up the frequencies like you have is rather ingenious and I commend you for figuring it out.
 

02DslPwr

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Joined
Dec 20, 2004
Location
Leander Texas
TDI
2002 Jetta Wagon, TDI
Okay, to be honest, the cost of sound deadening was one of the big things keeping me from doing it. Here's my question - I tried to ask this before, but I wasn't clear enough.

I don't want to have to remove the interior metal door skin OR have to remove the speaker itself again, since I soldered the wires onto the speakers and didn't leave much slack (for window clearance reasons). So could I do a sound deadening job like this picture - JUST on the metal skin next to the speaker (NOT behind the speaker) - and it still be worth it?
Yes, doing it like that is fine. Look into B-Quiet Extreme. $100 for all the sound deadener you'll need. I covered my door, similar to your pic, but much fewer pieces. I don't know why people use all those tiny pieces... Its easier to just use a few big strips. I also covered the inside of my door panel as completely as I could. I started to take the door skin off, but it seemed like a ton of work I didn't really want to do, so I didn't. :)
 

caseyfriday

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Jun 1, 2011
Location
everywhere
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02 Golf GLS TDI
Well, I finally finished this install job! I know, it took forever for me to get around to finishing the trunk area, but I finally did it. I have to say, of all the cars I've done audio upgrades to, the Golf is very much the easiest to take apart and route things, and to top it all off, everything snaps nicely back in place making for no rattles or buzzes when driving.

Here's the head unit (and my retroMod mini hooked up to it), since I never showed this completed image before.



Here's the hatch area with the amp nice and snug in its new home:







So here's the story - I cut that piece of plywood to fit perfectly in the rack above the mount (I think it's meant to hold the CD player). However, my amp ended up being about 3mm too long (each way), so I couldn't close the cubby door without bending it a bit, and I wanted to make sure the heat was able to dissipate properly.

I ended up screwing the amp into the piece of plywood with spacers of about 6mm each, so it's raised off of the wood a bit. The way it's settled in there now, the actual amp isn't touching any surface, and it stays like that even with a lot of force applied, so I don't expect it will be moving around when I'm driving - even when cornering hard.

You can see I grounded the amp on the factory ground location that was already there. Made it quite easy for me. I also changed the amp's settings a bit, and it's hitting quite hard now. It almost sounds like I have a single 10" sub in the back, but I have all the cargo room of a stock car!

Here are my amp's settings:



The main things to notice are that I have the "Level" set to just below half, which is about 4 (the level of my pre-outs, 4V), and I have the bass boost all the way up at 12dB. I like having the amp set to its max potential, so I can tune from the head unit. It works like a charm.

I've been tweaking my crossover / EQ settings ever since I installed the system, and I've pretty much found the sweet spot. I can turn the radio up to volume 16 (the max I can listen to comfortably), and I've tuned all frequencies so that nothing sounds harsh, and it's all very balanced.



I couldn't be happier with this system, especially now that I have all my cargo space back, and I'm ready to start using the car as a utilitarian beast again.

Thanks for watching!
 

SilverSAWagon

Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2010
Location
San Antonio
TDI
2003 Jetta Wagon ALH 5spd, 03 Golf ALH 5spd, 04 R32T all reflex silver :)
Good write up!! I have heard this system first hand and I can say Casey did a killer job creating awesome sound on a budget. I was amazed at how the car achieved such clean mid-range with the high clarity along with some clean powerful low end fill. I am saving my pennies to duplicate this set up as we speak.
 
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