OK. This build is for one of my customers. He drives a 2012 Touareg TDi (AdBlue Diesel).
He's out of town for about a week and a half.
Here's the list of equipment:
Factory 8" touchscreen HU
Mosconi 6to8 w/ Bluetooth dongle
Alpine PDX-V9 (mainly because it fits where I have room for it) w/ RUX-KNOB
Focal 165V30's for the front
Arc Audio Black 10
Stock rear speakers for fill (for now...may upgrade later)
The equipment hasn't all arrived yet, so mainly I've just been taking things apart and getting a feel for the stock system.
My impression of the factory system was that it had no real bass impact, but seemed to have quite alot of "bass." The sound was muddy, lacking highs and the image seems to be on the dash anchored toward the left about even with the steering wheel. Obviously, this won't do.
So, then I pulled out my mic, mobile pre and laptop and got some frequency response graphs...
As you can see, the bass drops of at about 45 Hz, with a slight bump at 20Hz, and the highs drop off sharply above 10k.
The customer has a home system consisting of Macintosh, Rotel, and B&W.
He told me he prefers to be able to listen to it with the EQ "flat." He would rather add/change/subtract speakers to get a flat frequency response.
He typically tunes to flat with corrections for Fletcher Munson curves.
We recommended the 6to8 to adjust for the bad voodoo a car interior do. lol.
We are going to try to use the factory locations, but if moving the speakers makes a huge difference, we can cut holes.
The front speakers, are low and forward in the door, with tweeters up high, near the door handles on the door.
I left my camera (and phone) at home yesterday so I don't have any pictures to post yet. Well, nothing significant.
I got the back end apart. Started running powerwire from the battery under the front seat and a switched wire from the left side fusebox.
Getting ready to go to the movies, so I'll see what I have to post when I get back.
He's aiming to use the factory locations if possible.
Here's some pics I took before I got started.
Factory HU:
Brain in right rear quarter, in front of tail light.
Plastic trays above fender:
I plan to relocate the factory brain to the top spot, and hopefully will be able to put the Mosconi 6to8 in below it.
Can't use the space under the spare tire because of the AdBlue tank.
I plan to try to put the bass knob on one side of the center of this spot.
This HU has a drop down DVD player in the glovebox, with 2 SD car slots. It also has a proprietary iPod cable hookup in the glovebox...it does not have USB or 1/8" aux in. There is a blank knockout in the center console, so I'm wondering I we can order the aux jack and cabling from the dealer.
Here's the front door. There's a 7" in there now, with plenty of room above it. We could easily run a 3way setup in these doors.
Sub will be going here:
PDX-V9 will be going in the factory HU brain location in front of the tail light.
I started yesterday by Techflexing an 18ga wire with ATC fuse tab to run for switched power to the rear. I also threw some red Techflex on the 4ga powerwire and attached it to the battery (under the seat). There is a duct under the seat, with a bunch of room under it. I plan to mount the fuse holder under it so it is semi-easily accessible.
i would love to see a detailed description with lots of photos when you build the sub box
cause im going to put a 12" in the same spot. (one of the slim ones from dynaudio)
in my car even though i had the basic 2 way setup the car wad annyway the mounting bracets for a extra mid tone. so i cant see why they would suddenly change the doorcards
(09 golf stv)
Are you saying that even though you had the basic system, it still had the midbass location at the back of the door, and the grill was still on the door?
yes, it was still no sweat to put in the midtone in my car even though it came with the 2 way system. i guess they have the same doorcard build for all models just in case the customer wants an upgraded audio pacage, if you want i can pull out the photos i have on the camera and update my build thread, im kinda lazy and the 8 month baby takes alot of time : ) btw i had to make an adapter cause the hertz midtone was smaller than what the original would be.
forgot what they used in those cars though for the upgraded equipment
I drilled out the driver's side molex plug and ran 2 runs of Dayton OFC 12ga speakerwire into the door.
I built the speaker mounts for both doors...they need bedliner.
I built some small plates to fill in the factory (unused) 3" location...also need bedliner.
I relocated the brain for the factory HU into the plastic tray above it's original location.
I removed the factory speaker out plug from the harness assembly and replaced it with a Metra pigtail. This way I didn't have to cut any factory wiring.
The PDX-V9 arrived today, as well as the Focal speakers. The 6to8, Black 10 and RUX-KNOB will (hopefully) be here Thursday.
Got the powerwire connections finalized at the battery. Ran the power wire to the rear of the truck.
I'd post pics, but I took them on my Olympus camera. And when I got home I couldn't find my transfer cable. I think future pics I'll either stick with my phone, or use my GF's Sony. I'll post 'em up if I get them off the camera.
nice work!!! I am in the process of building a similar system on the Cayenne. Looking forward to your photos and detailed installation procedures on the subwoofer enclosure.
Very Cool Jay... I would love to have a TDI Touareg. Sweet Ride! I will watching this install for sure.
" Does that make him a moderate or is he a liberal commie long haired bastard? Do you have to be hard core, hate all them damned hippies, staunchy stan to be in the totally moral and good club of the righteous? " - AWC
I'm using this to run switched to the rear of the vehicle, in case we need it. The Mosconi 6to8 is supposed to do signal sensing and then have a turn-on output, so it may not be necessary....but better safe than sorry.
2012 VW Touareg audio build
I will check it before I seal it up. My best estimate is around .65 or so.
Linear Mode
