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subwoofer upgrade Fender Audio

chid

Ready to race!
Location
Canada
I want to add a subwoofer, not happy with Fender subwoofer.
I'm looking for a way to connect it to Composite media (no NAV).

Fender sub has 4 wires at the connector, is there an amp inside the sub???
Would it keep the subwoofer control from media?

Is there any other subwoofer output that I could use? I would prefer this way so I'm not connecting to speaker's wire.

Thanks!

ps GTI 2015
 

Whackamac

Ready to race!
Location
Earth
I did the ghetto upgrade. The leads to the sub come from the amp wherever it is. The stock sub is a dual voice coil 6.5" (?) driver.

I hooked wires to the stock leads and into my 12" sub. It worked. And I have MUCH more low end. I could run an amp though as it is not getting enough power.
 

chid

Ready to race!
Location
Canada
thanks!
why does the connector for Fender sub has 4 wires?
which ones you used?
could you feed this signal from the connector to an amp? (it's not already amplified?)
 

DV52

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Australia
I just checked the wiring for VW's native "Digital Sound Package" for the mk 7 Golf (it's called the "J525" control module) It also has four wires for the sub woofer. But they are just a duplicate of the same twin pair- see below!

Edit: I've also added a copy of the wiring diagram for the sub-woofer part of the J525 module (showing the wire colours). VW's subwoofer is labelled "R211" in the diagram.

Please note that all the wiring/pin-out information that I have posted on this thread is taken from RoW model data. I suspect that there is a great similarity with NAR cars, but this is only an assumption!!
 
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Mike10821

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Northern NJ
I just checked the wiring for VW's native "Digital Sound Package" for the mk 7 Golf (it's called the "J525" control module) It also has four wires for the sub woofer. But they are just a duplicate of the same twin pair- see below!

Great info, thank you. This is definitely going to come in handy.
I am guessing that these pinouts are all amplified speaker outputs, and there are also pre-amp line-level inputs at this module as well. Would you happen to also have those? Would be great to tap in to them to integrate an aftermarket amp.
 

chid

Ready to race!
Location
Canada
Thanks!
I have to check to see if the J525 control module is under the driver seat, I have the drawer there....!?
I'm not sure at what level a new amp will be able to use this as "speaker level input" ?
 

DV52

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Australia
OK: The J525 module should be under the drawer in the floor-well as shown in the diagram. If you don't have the J525 control module the other alternative (I guess) is to access the rear of the Discover Media Unit in the Glove-box (VW call it the "J794" control module). You will need a "hook-tool" to remove this unit (check out YouTube video)

Here's the Pin-out for the J794 module plus I have added the wiring diagram for the Sub-woofer part of the J525 module in my previous post- for future reference
 
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DV52

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Australia
I am guessing that these pinouts are all amplified speaker outputs, and there are also pre-amp line-level inputs at this module as well. Would you happen to also have those? Would be great to tap in to them to integrate an aftermarket amp.

Mike: I don't think that there are pre-amp lines to these units (I could be wrong). I believe that it's all done by FOCs (can anyone confirm this?). Here's the wiring diagram for the "B" connector between the J525 and J794 modules
 
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chid

Ready to race!
Location
Canada
Here is the Fender sub connector.
brown/brown-yellow; white/white-yellow

could be that the sub has double coil and each pair is for one? (beginner question, just thinking out loud :D)

could these wires be used to feed a new amp?
 

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chid

Ready to race!
Location
Canada
I just looked under the driver seat. There is a J525 on my GTI 2015.
now my question is: can we use the 4 wires from the connector in the trunk to feed an amp? are these wires speaker-level that we can feed the amp just for subwoofer?
How can we know?
I guess the 4 wires are coming from the J525.

if not, where can we find a signal for subwoofer for a new amp? will this keep the subwoofer control from the media unit?
 

chid

Ready to race!
Location
Canada
would a LC2i work with this setup?
I don't think the Fender subwoofer has more than 400W per channel.
That would be the perfect solution, taking the signal directly from the Fender sub, then LC2i and a new amp... all this while keeping the control from the main unit over the subwoofer.
 

DV52

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Australia
I just looked under the driver seat. There is a J525 on my GTI 2015.
now my question is: can we use the 4 wires from the connector in the trunk to feed an amp? are these wires speaker-level that we can feed the amp just for subwoofer?
How can we know?
I guess the 4 wires are coming from the J525.

if not, where can we find a signal for subwoofer for a new amp? will this keep the subwoofer control from the media unit?

chid: Excellent- the J525 module is there, that's a good start!
As to you question, that's why I posted the wiring diagram between the J525 module and the native sub woofer (R211). Have a look at the colours of the wires on the connector. The wire colours on your picture of the fender connector is the same as those on my diagram, so at least they line-up with the VW information that I have provided - another good sign!

Can't tell you much about the R211, but from the wiring diagram it looks like a passive device without any smarts!

Do you own an oscilloscope? Looking at the signal trace on the connector wires could tell you a lot about the electrical characteristics.

And yes, I think that you could use LC2i to synthesise preamp level signals in this case
 
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Mike10821

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Northern NJ
Mike: I don't think that there are pre-amp lines to these units (I could be wrong). I believe that it's all done by FOCs (can anyone confirm this?).

I am glad to finally be talking to someone that knows what they are doing... have been digging for this sort of information for ages!

I read that on the MK6, if the car came with premium audio, the receiver was coded to output pre-amp signal through the "speaker wire" outputs... and if there was "base" audio, the radio was coded to output an amplified speaker level output. ie... If you had a base radio, and wanted to add an aftermarket amp, you could use VAGCOM/VCDS to re-code your radio to output pre-amp signal and wire the "speaker outputs" directly to your amp. I suppose I was hoping this J525 module would contain those pre-amp signals to tap directly. I didn't know any of these cars had FOC/TOSLink setups.
 

chid

Ready to race!
Location
Canada
Thank you DV52 for info!

I think I will go LC2i route, as I think it will keep the subwoofer control from the media unit, plus the control I can have from LC2i and amp.

I got this answer from Audio Control, the manufacturer of LC2i:

Thank you for contacting AudioControl. You should be able to take all four wires and connect them to the LC2i, which is a 2 channel converter. I am assuming the factory sub is dual voicecoil.
 

DV52

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Australia
chid/Mike,
I'm glad that I could be of assistance.

If you want to come down and use my workshop facilities, then please do so. It's not far really - just keep driving south and if you get to Tasmania, then you have travelled too far!
 
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