UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

At the moment by audio setup is fairly standard. In my Polo Mk4 (6N) I've got a Sony MP-40 in place of the factory standard radio and have factory speakers. I'm looking into options for which to plug up some more speakers in my car without degrading the value. I therefore have a few questions.

The factory fitted driver and passenger door speakers. What size are these? Are they easy to replace without damaging the existing ones / the door? In the sense that when I go to sell the car on I can replace the new speakers with the old ones..

The dashboard speakers? These are specific to the Polo I'm assuming and not really replacable without widescale hassle..

I'm also looking to get some kind of speaker setup in the back. I think the output of some 6x9's on a stealth shelf would be pretty funky. I aint a handy man and don't claim to be so I'll end up buying a shelf more often or not. Only place I've found selling em is http://www.autoacoustics.com for about £100 with holes cut etc. Not too fussed at that but are there any other shops which sell these? In fact, what are the best sites in general for speakers?

Cheers!

Right then.

You can pop the mesh grilles off the dashboard and door cards using an old credit card or something.

The tweeters in the dash kind of twist out and the woofers in the doors have 4 philips screws holding each one in.

all you have to do is cut off the plugs for the tweeters and woofers, put bullets on them so they can be used again, then put bullets on some speaker cable and wire up your speakers.

You'll need 16.5cm speakers for the doors and some matching tweeters with in-line crossovers for the dash.

Shouldn't take more than a couple of hours to do yourself.

Please don't get 6x9s

For the price of a pair of 6x9's and a stealth shelf, you could probably buy a powered sub.

A set of decent stereo speakers up front and a sub in the boot is all you need to make your car sound a load better.

Speakers in the back are unnessesary imho (unless you always carry passengers round - TAXI!! )

Hope this helps

Aye it does help. Bear in mind your speaking to a complete n00b here in terms of ICE. In-Line crossovers? Bullets? /me pulls out the dictionary! Is it easy to wire?

Subs are a completely different ball-game for me. I havent a clue about them so haven't looked in to them. I mean I'm pretty clueless with the wiring situation if I was to get 6x9's in the back, the idea of a sub boggles

Sorry to be a burden!

OK:

ICE 101!

In line crossovers are the cheap and easy way to stop bass sounds getting to the little tweeters

Tweeters are the little speakers that play high frequency sounds, unlike Woofers

Woofers are the speakers that play mid bass, unlike Subs...

Subs play sub bass, which is very low bass. These are usually pretty large speakers, in a box.

Bullets are little male and female bullet shaped connectors that you can crimp onto wires to make a connection.

In your case, you will need to chop the plugs off the existing wires.

If you want to be able to re-use the plugs, you'll need to leave enough wire attached to the plug to enable you to crimp on a couple of bullets.

Have a look for powered subs as these are very n00b friendly as you don't need a seperate amp.

Failing that, find a reputable car audio place nearby, go in, give them your money and let them do it all for you. Would probably be safer to do it like that if you are unsure with electrics.

BUT, remember, front speakers + sub = happy enc!

By the way, the sub doesn't have to be huge if you're not into mad bassy music... Just a little one will give pop and rock much more punch (bass gets easilly drowned out when you're driving, so you need some bass reinforcement... or a sub in other words!)

Now, if you're into bassy dance music (garage, jungle) or hip-hop, then you'll need a bigger sub!

12" in a slot ported box with a decent amp will have you rocking hehehe

Ok. Thanks for your patience My music preference is hard house so erm, sub would be nice

How do you go about powering a sub / amp then (from your boot I assume). I don't really wanna go to a vendor cos its extortion. When I didn't know what I was doing with a the car headset they fitted it for me for £30 Later on I had to unplug and check wiring cos the thing kept messing up, so realised that it was just plugging connectors into each other

This is starting to look pricey!

you need to run a power cable from you battery terminal, through the bulkhead, under the trim and then into the boot.

Eek! Any guides out there to stuff like this that people know of? Guess theres just a learning curve to this stuff and then you're away

Where are you based?

I'm sure there'll be someone nearby who can help!

this post has really helped me to, not going to get 6x9's anymore, just going to change out my front speakers...

anyone know any good ICE websites?

letsbuycaraudio.com

mcs-direct.co.uk

caraudiodirect.com

These places are all pretty cheap and reputable

I'm from Peterborough. Midlands.

Ideally I don't want to have external tweeters sticking up on the dash, anyway I can replace whats there already?

You won't see the tweeters, as they replace the original items, under the grilles on top of the dash... Pure Stealth mate!

Completely agree with the advice, also try www.alphacaraudio.co.uk (who did mess me around as they didn't have something in stock - but the stuff arrived v quickly and it's a good price) and www.empiredirect.co.uk.

A sub and top notch components will kick ass, then eventually you could concentrate on other speakers (to be honest mid ranges in the shelf will probably add more punch - tweeters up front should give you more than enough treble...).

Have fun deciding what to choose.....

I pulled off the grills to get at the dash tweeters earlier but didn't go any further than that. (Just twist out you say?). I also did the same with door speakers, just to have a peak. Too bluddy dark and ticky to fit the bluddy thing back on now though!

I'm not so keen on shoving stuff in my boot to be honest for the fact of the hassle and difficulty (?) or wiring it all up through the car. I was thinking if I get a top set of components then it will be more than good enough. Was looking at something like http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/product ... 67c4f5f71b . Opinions?

A friend has also just said the following to me:

im just thinkin, u better find out what output ur speakers are cod theres no point on splashin out on speakers that are the same. if u get speakers that can handle the same amount of sound then they will distort or what ever as much us the ones u have

Anyone have any information or comment on that? Thanks.

They should be very nice.

I wouldn't listen too much to your friend in terms of speaker output - it's a very odd world of specifications out there, and usually it's only a guide. The top end speaker manufacturers always claim more realistic values than the lower end.

For instance - I had some pioneer coaxials which were rating at 220W, my alpines are about 200W and they d*ck all over the pioneers. Stereos at comet etc are all the same too. Amps also vary. Rockford fosgate usually seem to be lower outputs, but in actual fact it depends on the manufacturer.

The standard components in the mkiv are amazingly good to be honest, but a set of 150 quid + components should show them up no end.

Do the sub - it's worth it. I can take some photos at the weekend and show you how easy it is to wire it up. It should take an hour or two, no more