Golf mkIV sound system

[georgep]

hi everyone
i need some advice on what sound system i should install in my mk4 golf
thanks

[Silver dub]

Do you have a set budget in mind?

[georgep]

not really. money will come.

[Mrk_Mickey]

Well, what sort of stuff do you want? Ie do you want a normal headunit or a nice flashy screen?

Do you want to fill the sound with speaker noise or do you want just a few speakers that sound good?

Do you want a sub?

Do you want one or more amps, or none?


When we know what sort of system you'd like, we'll be able to give you some direction Welcome aboard by the way.

[georgep]

well i was thinking i would get one amp, a 15 inch sub and 2 6x9s. what do you think. i know how to connect it all but im having trouble on what gear to choose. thnaks heaps mate

[Swallowtail]

well i was thinking i would get one amp, a 15 inch sub and 2 6x9s. what do you think. i know how to connect it all but im having trouble on what gear to choose. thnaks heaps mate

6x9s should be a last resort... horrible design for a quality speaker. Lots of compromises... Get a decent set of 6.5" splits. Or 2 sets if you want to entertain your rear seat passengers with anything other than bass from a 15" sub...

[georgep]

so what do you think would be the best system

[Mrk_Mickey]

Personally, I'd get some nice splits to go in the front of the car (anything like Mb Quart, Boston Acoustic, Kicker, JL Audio, even Pioneer are alright now) and maybe some splits for the back as well, or if you don't really care just some 6x9's. I would stick to 12" subs (Kicker, Mb Quart, Rockford Fostgate, JL Audio, there's more) if you're in a golf, because they fill them plenty!

For an amp, I wouldn't go past the Jaycar amps. They're cheap, powerful and consistent. Their power ratings are better than many at the same price and they don't try to crap on to you about ''peak'' power.

[Swallowtail]

The "best" system would probably set you back many tens of thousands of $....

Your definition of best is unlikely to be the same as anyone else's. If cost is really no barrier then your best bet is to go and see a specialist installer and see what they recommend.

Realistically what is your budget - $1000? $5000 $10,000?

[woosh73]

stereo

unfortunately , you get what you pay for , personal choice is focal's for the splits and JL's for the sub .
I've had alpine direct drives ( not deep enough - sound wise ), mb quartz just expensive didn't really hear the difference.

focals were the last pair of splits i had in my prev car wrx00 for 6 years and they were clear deep and decent base.

Also you may want to look at good quality amp as well , if you get decent speakers their going to need some quality rms to power them ( most high end or reference speakers require some rms to perform )

Spend money on wiring as well - less resistant creates less heat , more efficient power and signal.

[georgep]

where would i put the 6x9s. on the rear console?

[georgep]

so what do you think the cheapest and best sounding system i can get. with quality?

[Swallowtail]

so what do you think the cheapest and best sounding system i can get. with quality?

LOL... you can pick cheap... or quality. Your choice. And what $ is "cheap" to you?

[team_v]

Why not go to your local jb hi-fi or car audi place and see what they have???

There is no use in us telling you what we think is the best if we don't know what you have access to and how much you want to spend per item for quality.

[DAS AUTO]

A very hard question to answer.
You can have cheap and you can have quality sound. It also seems that as you are talking 15inch subs you want loud, head turning from 100+ meters away. Again not cheap and quality…….well to have quality sound to match the bass output of a 15inch sub you are going to again need a heap of speakers\amps and cash.
If you want to have a decent system that is reasonably cheap then stick with a high powered head unit (Can’t go wrong with Alpine), upgraded front speakers (Jaycar have arguably best bang for buck splits) and a small (8 or 10 inch) sub and amp. Some sound deadening in the front doors helps too but is not essential as VWs are a lot more solid than other makes.
Keeping it small saves on amplification and needing to run massive power cables down the side of your car. It also keep the usable space of the boot high with little room anywhere else in the car for big amps. I used to go under the seat in other cars I had systems in but in a Golf that’s a no go.

Id’s search the classifieds and the car audio forums for some decent second hand gear as there are some good bargain out there. Especially for people upgrading amps and head units.

Here are a few pics of my system. The doof part anyway. (JL-Audio dual coil 10inch, MTX 400WRMS) It shows that you can have the bass without the loosing too much space that it still big enough for most people. The Golf being a hatch gets great bass loading and I can easily get the rearview mirror moving so I can’t see the people behind me.