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Helix Soundbox VW sound upgrade HELP!

Buster_Bluth

Buster_Bluth

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Wisconsin
Hey guys. Quick question for anyone who's installed the Helix sub. How much of the cable loom did you have exposed feeding into the trunk when you were done. I followed the directions and YouTube videos, and fed all excess cable into the trunk. However, this left me with a portion of the cable bundle exposed where it clears the rear seat.



I'm concerned that the unprotected part of the cable loom will get damaged and frayed as I put the seats up and down frequently, and the rear seat rubs against it when I put it down. Should I:

A) Just try and wrap electrical tape around the exposed cables.

or

B) Remove the back seat and trim panels again and feed less of the cable into the trunk, leaving more behind the glove box, so that the wrapped part of the cable is crossing under the seat?

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I don't want to pop the trim again, as it was a royal pain in the ass to get it all back together cleanly, but I'm guessing that's probably the way to go. Also, did anyone else find it difficult to get the head unit back in with all the extra cables behind it? Mine just popped in with a click but the left side seems to be sticking out a little compared to the right side of the stereo.
 
C

Cuzoe

Autocross Champion
Location
Los Angeles
The head unit was tricky to get back in clean. I probably test fit the thing 10 times until I had the cables in a position where the unit was going without resistance.

As for the length in the trunk, I needed all the excess length back there because the Helix DSP is mounted to my amp rack but it looked the same as yours does coming through that area. I added some spiral wrap for protection. And I'm with you, never pulling that trim off again if I can help it.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk
 
Buster_Bluth

Buster_Bluth

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Wisconsin
Cuzoe said:
The head unit was tricky to get back in clean. I probably test fit the thing 10 times until I had the cables in a position where the unit was going without resistance.

As for the length in the trunk, I needed all the excess length back there because the Helix DSP is mounted to my amp rack but it looked the same as yours does coming through that area. I added some spiral wrap for protection. And I'm with you, never pulling that trim off again if I can help it.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I hear ya. Really kicking myself for not noticing that before I zip-tied the cables and re-installed the trim panels. I'll probably just do what you did and get some spiral wrap and/or electrical tape. But I'd have to remove the back seat again to do that anyway so... I dunno. Torn on what to do. Pulling the trim again would maybe give me some peace of mind, but it was tricky to get them back in nicely. Especially the panel that leads up to the glove box. The metal clip came off in the body, and I had to remove it and reinsert it into the trim panel. Not sure if I ever actually got it to "pop" in place. Kicked it a few times and hoped for the best.

Follow up:

Over the weekend I programmed my amp with the dongle. I had decided to pull the trim again and re-route the cable. However, I noticed I was breaking a clip near the seat belt. I opted to just feed the cable back behind the lower C pillar trim that runs next to the back seat. I was able to tuck enough of it up in there that the exposed wires are no longer under the back seat when it goes down. Hope it stays put. Thing for the most part sounds better after being tuned, though I somewhat miss the separated separation between bass and treble of the un-programmed amp. That said having more bass in the door speakers helps the crossover sound less noticeable. It's definitely a more accurate soundstage once programmed, though it is a bit light on the treble. May have to bump that up a bit. Overall really happy with the sub.
 
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polo8043

New member
Location
新北市
vw fat16 tool ?

flea22 said:
Thanks for the info, went to the geek shop got sd reader for my pc and a new sd card. Put the original sd card in and had a look at the files and they were strange files didn't look like any thing readable, one was compressed and 7 zip couldn't even open it.

So I put in the new sd card, formatted the card using vw fat16 tool, called the drive VWSOUNDSYS, used the code installer from vw site. Looked at the files once installed, there is one file for each car type with the code number next to it. Plugged it into the helix and now she WORKS!

I have a feeling this dongle was not new, closer look at the box and I can see old tape marks. It was listed as new and never opened. So I am mad about that.

Anyway there is a clear positive effect to the sound once coded, mid seems more present. But it does not resolve distortion.

One thing I find strange is when i put in the sd card with out the right data on it, the dongle still quickly showed a 57. This 57 info must of came from the helix. It is almost like it has the 57 preset installed but it is not activated, very strange, to me anyway.
Click to expand...


vw fat16 tool ?
 
M

mfennell

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
New Jersey
I have a '19 SportWagen S with the basest of base stereo. No external unit in the glovebox. I've been searching everywhere (went through this whole thread) to see if the Helix will work with my stereo. At best, I think the wires may be too short. At worst, it doesn't work at all.

Does anyone have experience with the poverty-spec radio?

Thanks!
 
jaypoto

jaypoto

Go Kart Champion
Location
NJ
Car(s)
2017 Alltrack S DSG
mfennell said:
I have a '19 SportWagen S with the basest of base stereo. No external unit in the glovebox. I've been searching everywhere (went through this whole thread) to see if the Helix will work with my stereo. At best, I think the wires may be too short. At worst, it doesn't work at all.

Does anyone have experience with the poverty-spec radio?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Yes it will work. The difference with yours is that the brains and wire harness are located behind your screen in your dash instead of inside the glovebox. You will need to look up how to remove the trim around the screen and remove the screen with radio keys, it's pretty straight forward but adds a few steps to the whole install. You should be able to route the wires behind the glove box and into the back of it, there is plenty of length to do it.
 
M

mfennell

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
New Jersey
jaypoto said:
Yes it will work. The difference with yours is that the brains and wire harness are located behind your screen in your dash instead of inside the glovebox. You will need to look up how to remove the trim around the screen and remove the screen with radio keys, it's pretty straight forward but adds a few steps to the whole install. You should be able to route the wires behind the glove box and into the back of it, there is plenty of length to do it.
Click to expand...
Thank you! I'm planning to do an 8" screen so I need to get in there anyway.
 
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