Reccomend me a stereo, 1k limit

[McKeann]

Just about to buy a 2nd hand GTi from a mate, and after a recent journey in another mates A4 with Bose stereo I'd like one of my first mods to be a stereo upgrade

I'm not overly fussed about satnav as I have a Tom Tom for the odd occasion when its required. Likewise, I doubt I will sit and watch a movie in the car, I have a house for that. Finally, I don't want a boot filled with subs and amps. I intend to carry a mountain bike in it occasionally and don't want to have to remove 50kg of kit to fit it in.

So, I guess Head unit, upgraded speakers in the front, may be ipgraded speakers in the back?? And a small sub/amp unit for the boot.

Any reccomendations for what works well in the golf and who to get to fit it in central Scotland.


Cheers

Neil

[Squeeguk]

Best route for you would be to go Alpine IVE-W535BT up front, a good set of 3 ways in the front running off a good 4 channel amp mounted under the seat. To be honest, there is no need to really go for a sub. You would be amazed at how good the bass is from a good quality set of 3 ways up front is. Sounds a lot more balanced this way too. You can also upgrade the rears but not really necessary as they are only used for rear fill. All the above should come in within your budget.

Once it's a little warmer, I will be doing some stealth boxes for the Golf boot area to fit on the side, not impacting the boot area for those who want a sub.

[McKeann]

Thanks Squeegee.

Can you get head units without onboard amps, seems a waste to have an onboard amp and not use it. It's been about 12 years since I last cared about ICE so I'm totally lost with the choices available.

What speakers do you reccomend??  Is there already a 3 way setup in the golf doors, is I a simple case of swapping stuff over, or does it need rewired and custom pods built?? I want something that's invisible and reversible.

Cheers

Neil

[Bryan]

Check out Audio Advice in Glasgow. http://audioadvice.co.uk/
They done a full custom job on one of my previous cars.
Iain is a top guy and has endless knowlege in audio.

Bryan

[Squeeguk]

Thanks Squeegee.

Can you get head units without onboard amps, seems a waste to have an onboard amp and not use it. It's been about 12 years since I last cared about ICE so I'm totally lost with the choices available.

What speakers do you reccomend??  Is there already a 3 way setup in the golf doors, is I a simple case of swapping stuff over, or does it need rewired and custom pods built?? I want something that's invisible and reversible.

Cheers

Neil

No problem Neil.

The units without the onboard amps are quite dear. The unit I have recommended is probably best bang for the buck, no nav, but everything else including Bluetooth, touch screen, iPod / iPhone control and a really good sound setting service built in. It will also integrate with your audio controls and MFD/FIS display.

With regards the speakers, some cars came with a 10 speaker system, which means 3 ways in the front. For the front doors, you can buy the speaker adapters for the 6 1/2" woofers, but you would need some mdf adapters for the mids. Tweeters just get glued into place. I would personally run new speaker cable if you were putting an amp in rather than running with the stock speaker wiring. On another point, if you don't want to be cutting up the factory loom, I can supply you with a plug and play solution for your signal from the radio to the amp, which means when it comes time to sell the car, you just remove the after market stuff and plug the old radio back in.

I do like the Hertz speakers, great quality sound. I am running HSK 163's off a Hertz HDP4 amp in the front of my Jetta and they are awesome. For an amp, I would recommend one of the smaller Alpine amps which fit perfectly under your passenger seat which means less wiring been run all the way to the boot.

Hope this helps and if you need any further info, drop me a line.

[McKeann]

If I'm using an amp to power the hertz speakers, does it matter what HU I'm running?? Wondering if I'd e better just leaving the head unit alone and upgrading speakers and amp??

[dub singh]

As above... The Hertz are brilliant! Also consider the focal and Rainbow range... Brilliant sound quality.
You could theoretically leave the HU alone and just upgrade the speakers and amp by running a line converter.

The infinity kappa 4 amp is a brilliant 4channel amp! Small, class D and powerful. And at 4 x 125rms @4ohms you can't go wrong. You could use the front channels to run your components and use the rear two bridged to run a small sub.

[Squeeguk]

Personally I would update the HU first to an after market unit if you want amping. I don't like using line out converters. The best way to go from an OEM unit to an amp is through some sort of DSP unit like the Audison Bit Ten, but then you are talking more money. the problem with using a line out converter and the standard HU is that you are still dealing with the bad processing from the stock HU which is not great. There are a couple of folk on here who will tell you the same from their own personal experiences.

You want the cleanest signal to the amp that you can get. Having said that, I realise that people have their budgetary restrictions and as such as a final resort, you could use LOC's using the standard HU to an amp to power the speakers.

[McKeann]

No, I'll change the HU. I didn't know if there would be a difference in sound quality, so asks th question, but now i know there is, new HU is a go. Do any of the alpine ones have DAB without spending mega money?? I listen to alot of radio, so dab is probably a worthwhile addition.

[Squeeguk]

The only double din unit that Alpine do with built in DAB for now is the INE-W925R, which is approaching the £1000 mark. The best option if you don't want the Nav is to get the IVE-W535BT and then the Alpine EZi-Dab add on, but that will end up expensive again, even thought Alpine connect their DAB unit in the correct way by using the original HU antenna in. the problem with adding after market DAB add ons is that they use a FM frequency channel to broadcast to the radio or the axillary input. This does affect the quality of the DAB signal. If you do have to go with one of these, go with the aux in rather, it's the lesser of two evils.