Audio upgrade, an alternative to Dynaudio.

[davidscirocco]

must be the same price with a ferrari in your country mantzas

[vwfanatic]

58000£ for manual gearbox and 61000£ for a DSG, and thats without any extras

[mantzas]

61k? Not a ferrari but definitely a porsche!

[Shaun]

58000£ for manual gearbox and 61000£ for a DSG, and thats without any extras

WOW, whats the average wage though ?

[vwfanatic]

This thread has taken a unexpected turn

I guess an average wage is 2500£ a month - but then we also pay 1/3 - 1/2 of it in taxes.

[mantzas]

This thread has taken a unexpected turn

I guess you 're right! Well, waiting for the project to finish and see (better hear) the result!

[mo1315]

Thanks for posting this in such detail. I am finding it to be extremely helpful as I am planning to install some woofers under my front seat(s) and the guide to running the power cable and mounting under the seat etc. is very useful. Let me know how tricky it is running power to the amps under the carpets.

Great work btw. Keep it up

[dannys1]

This is great...

Ive not ordered or got my Rocco yet but ive been looking at various Audio options. A lot of the time is you are interested in car audio people assume your young and foolishly.

However Im a music producer/music lover/semi-hi fi buff (I say semi because I love great audio but I dont believe in the majority of Audiophile nonsense as an audio engineer I know the science doesn't add up)

I also love bass - which again makes people assume your a bass junkie, but i love deep, punchy bass - not boomy big bass that is generally associated with cars and cinemas...

If I could get a beautiful, clear, crisp, punchy, deep, wide and loud hi-fi system in my car id be very happy. So how does this system compare to the Dynaudio upgrade? I'll be honest ive never been impressed with "branded" car upgrades. They generally sound terrible and cost a fortune. Ive had Bose systems in Audis - they sound dreadful, but then every Bose product sounds terrible...really poor. Ditto with all the branded iPod docks like the Harmon Kardon and B&W Zepplin's - over priced and sound dreadful cashing on people who dont know their own ears. I generally put branded car audio systems into this bracket and im yet to find one that sounds half decent although a lot of people are not concerned with audio so much and if they've spent £1500 on it they will convince themselves it sounds good.

There are of course many expensive items which sound fantastic (My Sennhesier IE8 in ear headphones at £220 sound amazing for instance) I suppose its finding the brand whos sound you like. Being an audio engineer and producer I tend to favour the sound of flat revealing and full sounding studio monitors to real hi-fi equipment. There are a number of brands which sound great but nothing similar to hi-fi equipment and then of course car hifi is a different thing all together.

Now with that uninteresting rant no one will want to read out of the way im interested in knowing how this system ends up sounding. What speakers are you using, are these amps known for sounding good? What goes over the top of the sub or are you leaving it exposed?

[vwfanatic]

A lot of the time is you are interested in car audio people assume your young and foolishly.

However Im a music producer/music lover/semi-hi fi buff (I say semi because I love great audio but I dont believe in the majority of Audiophile nonsense as an audio engineer I know the science doesn't add up)

Now with that uninteresting rant no one will want to read out of the way im interested in knowing how this system ends up sounding. What speakers are you using, are these amps known for sounding good? What goes over the top of the sub or are you leaving it exposed?

Exactly, when i write about stuff like this in variuos forums, people tend to think that i'm a young techno dude

But i'm actually 42 years of age, and more into music than the soundsystem itself, but i like that my music as "detailed" as possible.

I'm using Hertz Hi energy speakers, mostly because some of the speakers is leftovers from a previously installation in my former Golf 5.
You can se the details in the start of the thread.

I will soon (hopefully) add some more pictures of the speakers, as i'm almost finished, the rear speakers are in place and all the preperation for the frontspeakers are done, so now there is only the mounting left.

As i mentioned earlier, i chose the amps only because of the size and pnp/hi-input capabilities.
As theres no pre-out on the RNS-510.
I'm sure you can get better amps than these ones.
For me it is equaly important that it looks very discrete.
The subwoofer is hidden under the floormat, and that works fine.
I have to use the boot on a dayli basis, so an exposed speaker is not an option for me.
Allthough i plan to make an exposed option also, but that will be for show of only

[dannys1]

Great!

So how does it affect the sub (do you know?) if you fill the boot up? I always tend to have stuff in the boot and Ive always had a 10" active sub box in there, it would be great to have it in the spare tyre well instead. Id rather that and spend the money on run flat tyres and the tyre pressure gauge/tyre repairer oh and roadside breakdown..all worth it to hide the sub!

Is it ok to put stuff on top if then? do you have a cage over the sub itself so you can use the boot as normal?

[mo1315]

As long as the speaker cone has enough room to travel at full whack there are no issues with covering it or filling your boot with luggage. The only thing I would say is that depending on what you put in your boot will depend on the sound from the sub, but this is only for extreme cases (i.e if you filled your boot with duvets and pillows they would dampen the sound)

[viperkestis]

[quote="vwfanatic"]The wiring is no problem, the PnP cable is actually PnP.

Would you believe me, if i told you that i paid 55000£ for my Rocco?

I believe you!
I paid over 43300 GBP for my 1.4 160 hk Scirocco.. It doesn't have full leather, Dynaudio, dsg or RNS 510..

[vwfanatic]

I have finally completed the installation, or nearly
As i think i have to make some minor adjustments and sound damping.

Speaker01.jpg

Speaker02.jpg

Speaker03.jpg

The rear speakers first.
It's a time consuming job to remove the panels, as i had to start in the trunk.
First remove the plenum asm in the roof, then the inside panels in the trunk,then the C-pillar panels, and then finally the panels in the cabin.
To fit the tweeter, first remove the factory tweeter, easily done, simply done by cutting the melted points.
I this case i had to remove the outer housing of the HT 25. It's a bit tricky because the tweeter is glued into the housing.
Be careful!
I have used genuine VW parts for connections
The tweeters is mounted simply by glueing with a hot glue gun.

Speaker04.jpg

The crossovers can easily be placed on the black inner panel.
I first tried with double sided adhesive, but after a couple of days one of them dropped, so i decided to drill a couple of holes, and then mount them with screews.

Speaker05.jpg

[vwfanatic]

Speaker06.jpg

Here's the complete rear installation, allthough the wiring isn't completed yet.
The midwoofer is mounted on a the Blaupunkt 30 mm spacer. which fits right on where the factory speaker was mounted.
The factory speakers both front and rear is mounted with rivets, so they obviously have to be drilled out.

Speaker07.jpg

To make place for a 3-way system i drilled out the fake holes in the low corner of the grill.

Speaker08.jpg

Speaker09.jpg

Speaker10.jpg

[vwfanatic]

Speaker11.jpg

To mount the midrange speakers, i made some mounting brackets.
Simply cut out from some MDF, sanded down and painted black.
The bracket is glued on to the Blaupunkt spacer with hot glue.
It took som trying out to find the right place of the bracket.
Be carefull to make room for the "open trunk lid"contact.

Speaker12.jpg

Speaker13.jpg

Speaker14.jpg

[vwfanatic]

The crossover in the front doors, mounted in the same way as the rear ones.

Speaker15.jpg

Speaker16.jpg

The midwoofer/midrange speaker mounted in the door and wired to crossover.

Speaker17.jpg

Done! Only the final assembly of the doorpanel is missing.
To isolate the front side from the rearside i made a gasket of sound damping foam.
I'm not sure that this is the the way to go, i experimented with making som speaker housing molded in fiber glass, but i wasn't satisfied with the outcome, and the project ended in the trashbin.
So this has to do, for now.

Speaker18.jpg

The result:
I'am satisfied with the sound quality, it sounds really good.
Theres a nice deep bass, and a powefull midrange, which gives a very detailed sound

Though i think have to do some tuning of the system, just to be sure that i have found the right sound.
At this point i'm pretty close to perfect

But as i listen to different kind of music i'll make som small adjustements.
Theres enough things to adjust:
Hi/low pass crossover frequencies on the amps.
Output level on the sub.
Settings on the crossovers -2/0/+2 dB for midrange and tweeter.
On the RNS510 there is different equalizing settings for different cars, but i think i'm going for linear.
The settings can only be set with the diagnose tool, such as VAG-COM (VCDS).
I've tried different codeing of the RNS-510.
The best setting in my setup is:
Volkswagen sound system.
Active speakers.
No speaker diagnose.
Linear equalization.

PS! I also have to do som damping in the door panels, as they tend to play along at high volume.

This completes my upgrade, and i hope it's an inspiration for the DIY people.
Of course you can use other components than the ones i have used, theres a lot of fine amps and speakers out there.

Cheers!

[Scott_mac]

Fantastic system which i've read over numerous times whilst I consider what I may do to my car.... could you possibly answer a few questions for me? My biggest issue is my car is a leased one and as such my options for modifying are somewhat limited....

I am not particularly bothered by rear speakers as I never have rear passengers, also this way I can get by with a single 4 Channel amp and bridge the rear outputs for the sub - cost saving number 1! As such are the parts you mentioned for the mounting kits from VW the same for the UK do you know and could you advise which ones I would need for just the 4 channel amp? Also, I note you didn't use the power cables and connected directly to the battery - the tech specs of the amp seem to suggest this isn't necessary (though i know that you technically should connect direct to the battery can you get away without doing so?)

With regard to the sub enclosure does anyone know if the UK Scirocco comes with a spare wheel, or is it a space saver or tyre foam? The enclosure mounted as above would be perfect as there would be no space taken up and tyre foam is fine as a substitute for me.

Thanks

Scott

[zid]

hi guys, im installing the same systems just like him, 3 ways at the front and 2 ways at the rear, also i found a better location for the mid (as i know the mid must install same height with the ears of passager and near the tweet), will post my system for you guys when i complete it.
my system are: rns510 + forcal krx3(front) + krx2( rear) + 2 alpine pdx 4 + rockforstage sub incl. amp + alpine h800 processor. im struggleing with the setting on h800, and i wonder how can i setup audio with the vcds to make it work perfectly? coz i dont know anything about coding the vcds.
sorry for my bad english

[goatboy]

With regard to the sub enclosure does anyone know if the UK Scirocco comes with a spare wheel, or is it a space saver or tyre foam? The enclosure mounted as above would be perfect as there would be no space taken up and tyre foam is fine as a substitute for me.

Scott

UK cars come with a spacesaver and the continental self sealing tyres. (well my 60 reg did anyway)

[Scott_mac]

With regard to the sub enclosure does anyone know if the UK Scirocco comes with a spare wheel, or is it a space saver or tyre foam? The enclosure mounted as above would be perfect as there would be no space taken up and tyre foam is fine as a substitute for me.

Scott

UK cars come with a spacesaver and the continental self sealing tyres. (well my 60 reg did anyway)

My '11 did too!