My Audio Upgrade - 2012 MK6

[Kiaorana]

Hi guys,

I just wanted to share my recent audio upgrade with you.

I went to Gold Coast Car Sound and spoke with Paul, who also owns a MK6. Great guy who seems to know what he is talking about.

We looked at what I was after in terms of result and after I told him I didn't want a boom box ( I'm too old for that ) but rather some depth and high quality we decided to go with the following setup.

* HU: I kept my RNS 510

* AMP: Soundstream Reference Micro 5 channels. For those of you wondering, it's the same as the US model "Picasso Nano" but doesn't look anywhere as good.
Picasso Nano - Amplifiers - Car Audio


* Front Speakers: 2 way split Focal PS 165 FX.
PS165FX 6.5″ FLAX 2-WAY $549 | Focal Car Audio Australia


The guys from GC Car sound did a great job with the install, it's clean, well calibrated and was done in half a day. Kudos to them. Marty, their installer, has done a few MK6 and knew his way around the car inside out.

The result is just mind blowing. The sound is deep, crisp and clear and stays like that no matter how loud you push the volume knob.

Compared to my original setup (Stock audio without dynaudio), it's day and night.

My only concern is related to the amp and is only aesthetic. I'm in my 30's and I wanted something to look classy and as close as possible to something you would find on a stock car.

That amp is metal blue with a big golden tarantula on it (Soundstream logo) and despite being hidden under the seat still bothers me a little, it looks too aftermarket and "tuning" like for me.

As an after thought I would have liked better something like an Alpine MRVF300 which is compact, powerfull but also looks great.

The speakers however are just incredible. You have to hear it to believe it. I read everywhere that they are close to if not better than the K2R and I have to say, I now believe it!

They are expensive, but if you can afford them, it's a no brainer in my opinion.

I'm not a sound engineer, far from it, but I do enjoy listening to music and I can tell you, I have had the biggest smile on my face since driving away from GC Car Sound yesterday.

If you live in the Brisbane or Gold Coast area and are thinking about upgrading your system, pm me and i'll let you check out my car.

Cheers,

KiaOrana

[Ricka]

Sounds good (sorry for pun). So you only replaced the front (door?) speakers I take it? But used the new amp to power all speakers including the stock ones that remain?

Thanks,

Rick

[Kiaorana]

Actually they bridged the amp to only power the front speakers. The rear ones, which are still the stock ones, are only powered by the RNS 510 and used as fillers.

[Mk6_GTi]

Hi there,
Do you know how the connected the amp in to the wiring loom? I'm new to VW cars and don't really know how to go about upgrading the audio when keeping the stock head unit. Any hints? I've got an amp and speakers from my old car, just need to know how to connect it up.
Many thanks.

[enzo15637]

Hi there,
Do you know how the connected the amp in to the wiring loom? I'm new to VW cars and don't really know how to go about upgrading the audio when keeping the stock head unit. Any hints? I've got an amp and speakers from my old car, just need to know how to connect it up.
Many thanks.

Depending on whether your amp has speaker level inputs, I just upgraded my scirocco using a pair of alpine ddl-170s speakers and an alpine KTP45u amp, the amp I connected to the speaker loom out of the head unit, but the ktp45u accepts speaker level inputs.

hope that helps
Chris

[kamold]

Note that both the RCD510 and RNS510 can be switched over to line level balanced output via VCDS settings changes when connected to an amp. No need for line out converters or amps that accept speaker level unbalanced input.

[Kiaorana]

I think my nstaller thought it'd be better to use a line converter instead of using vag com to switch the RNS510 natively so I can still use the speaker signal on my rear speakers.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[whiskywallah]

Note that both the RCD510 and RNS510 can be switched over to line level balanced output via VCDS settings changes when connected to an amp. No need for line out converters or amps that accept speaker level unbalanced input.

Can anybody point me at the coding required?
I've searched and searched and I can't find it on this site or any other including RossTech.
For what must be in the top 10 things things to do, it's the most elusive piece of info

Thanks in advance.

[kamold]

Amplifier | my-gti.com

[whiskywallah]

Amplifier | my-gti.com

Thank you