Base model stealth audio upgrade

Finally sharing this, finished it back in March. I have been disappointed in the OEM audio in my GTI since the first time I turned up the volume on a good song. Fender upgrade was not going to cut it, so planned on an upgrade one day. Car audio was my passion 20 years ago, and just as I did then, I like the sound clear and loud, and the install clean and simple.

I have kept the original head unit, though will likely upgrade to a later model to gain the larger, higher resolution display and features. Since the base audio does not appear to have any filters or programmed equalization, I have ran the speaker level inputs direct to the daisy chained amplifiers. I went somewhat old school, with a JL Audio 300/4V2 running the highs, and a 500/1 on my sub. I would have preferred to run some PPI Power Class amps from the late 90’s or early 90’s Hifonics ZED Audio gear, but I had used a 300/4 back in the day, and I stumbled across this one at a yard sale which started this whole project ?. Running only a front stage comprised of Focal K2 Power 165KR in the factory locations, I’m utilizing the active crossovers in the amplifier. I wanted to keep all the equipment hidden, so the subwoofer was limited to a design that could fit within the cargo floor in the upper position, including the amps and any future sound processing. I went with an Image Dynamics IDQ10D4 10” sub, in a sealed 1.0 cubic foot box. The carpet did not initially match, so I spray dyed it and it is now much closer. The sound quality is a huge improvement, and the volume is now not a problem of if it will clip and distort, but rather how long do I want my ears to ring once I get home. I’ve never ran my tweeters on the A-pillar, I always ran them with the mids in the kick panels or coaxially mounted, crossfiring in door pods, so it is rather bright and poor sound stage. I’ll likely move the tweeters or add a processor. Thanks to all the members who shared pics and diagrams in the forum, it saved me a lot of time.

Can you send me your design drawings for the sub box? I have a golf r though.....not sure our hatchback floors are the same. Your box is awesome.

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Sorry, floor is different in the R.

What speaker ring adapters did you use in the doors?

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Is that a shallow mount ID sub or a normal depth ID? Curious if a full size fits or how the shallow mount ID sounds.

Well done, really nice work. Congratulations!

I can appreciate the amount of work this entails. I had the Fender System which I thought was quite good for a OEM system. I also used stock head system, Audison Bit 10, Alpine 5 channel Amp, to Focal 165AS speakers, and made my subwoofer (based on “cheap and easy subwoofer thread https://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39460). Sound treated doors and from rear bench back. Probably 200 hours of works…. glad its behind me.

Thanks for the compliments, and you’re totally right. Many more hours than I estimated for a simple system. I made the speaker adapter plates out of 3/4” MDF, and then plasti-dipped for waterproofing. They are fastened with counter sunk stainless buttonhead screws in the original rivet locations, and the mids mount only to the ring with a brass threaded insert CA glued into the plate with shorter SS hardware. The sub is a standard depth model. It is flush mounted, also with the brass threaded inserts to provide over an inch of clearance to the cover. To maximize the usable depth of the spare tire well without cutting the anchor point, I used a 2” holesaw to clearance the anchor, and then reinstalled the plug with wood glue and sawdust. First time using Image Dynamics, I’ve ran several other brands, and lots of JL, it is of incredible quality and U.S. made.

Nice job! I managed to squeeze a tiny box of 0.55 cubic feet in mine. I wanted to retain the spare tire, so I made some sacrifices.

I used Image Dynamics speakers in my Saab years ago. The woofers crapped out and this happened to many others (we needed a 2 ohm 6.5 non-2way woofer only, which weren't easy to come by 15 years ago). Hope they got quality control down better now. They weren't cheap either.....

StealthGTI said:

Nice job! I managed to squeeze a tiny box of 0.55 cubic feet in mine. I wanted to retain the spare tire, so I made some sacrifices.

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Your build was one I referenced heavily, as well as C3156's thread, so thanks for your info!

Nice build. I have the same sub in a fiberglass box in my spare tire. It's a good sound quality sub imo. Any tips on getting the sunglass holder to stop vibrating?

Adurm said:

Nice build. I have the same sub in a fiberglass box in my spare tire. It's a good sound quality sub imo. Any tips on getting the sunglass holder to stop vibrating?

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Turn sub level knob counter clockwise until vibration stops.

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I love this thread. I was hard core into car audio in the late 90’s and this brought back many good memories.

In the meantime, I’ll stick with my mediocre stock system


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Awesome install, I need one of you guys as a mentor to show me how to build sub boxes like that. Wood working has never been one of my strong points.

joegyver said:

Sorry, floor is different in the R.

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Shouldn't be hard to compensate. The floor is about an inch higher.