Polo 6r. Audio system on a budget. Where do you put sub and amp?

[Lieto]

Greetings people.

I was adviced to get something along these lines:
Prices are "local" — cant get any cheaper then that

RNS510 (for looks, no questions here)
Front — Helix H236 Precision $254
Amplifier — Helix B Four $280
Subwoofer — a bit on the cheap side, Helix B10E box $140
Back — leaving original vw speakers for now
Also doing full noise isolation, around $200
+ some $ for audio installation, wires etc (i am not doing it myself)

The budget was around $1000-$1200 not including RNS.

I put in RNS and front already and i can hear the different even though its still lacking bass.
Now the problem is — this amp wont fit under driver's seat.
We decided to make subwoofer removable in case i need to carry something big in my trunk, which isnt too convenient either. But removable amp would be awful since i will just loose all my audio when going for a trip.

How do you do it?
Maybe i need to look on a smaller amp?

[kaanage]

Don't bother touching the front drivers or installing a front amp until AFTER you install a sub + amp.
Get a smaller 10" sealed sub so you don't need to remove it so often - you can get away with spending less than $150 all up on the enclosure + sub + a smallish amp (100W RMS mono => 2 x 40W bridged) that will be ample for a Polo.

If you can filter out the bass going to the front and rear drivers so the sub delivers all the <100 Hz signals (a 400 uF cap in series with each of the front & rear drivers will do the job), you'd be surprised by how clean and loud the front and rear drivers will sound.

[Lieto]

Loud is not an objective at all — i just want better sound quality -)
Can you suggest something specific?

So it is 2x amps — 1 for front and one for sub? How will i fit a smaller sub — somewhere on the side of my trunk? I am afraid there is not much space at all if any. Anyone done it already? Thing is i have that "double floor" thingie so it need to either stand on the 2nd floor or completely fit on the side from what i understand.

p.s. sorry if my english isnt very clear btw -)

[kaanage]

The only reason to go bigger than 10" sealed in a car smaller than a falcon is for extra volume (same for porting). Also, removing the bass signal from the exiting fronts and rears will make them play noticably clearer (the clean part of the previous comment) as well as increasing the power handling.

I meant that you should only need a sub for the amp and 4 capacitors for the existing channels.

The sub, I would leave as removable with the amp mounted on it (so only cabling isleft when it is removed). Being a 10" will make it much smaller than a 12" so you should not need to remove it as often (only when all seats filled + luggage to completely fill the boot).

I would do this first (should cost < $300) and then have a good listen before contemplating anything else.

[Lieto]

But Helix B10E box IS 10 inch? So thats what i was going to use anyway =)
What amp and capacitors do you suggest? Anything, really — that will help me understand how it will work as well.

Also if i remove bass from front etc i will have to reset it every time when i remove the sub, right?

[kaanage]

Sorry, when I looked up that sub code on google, it took me to the 12" (B12E) version. The B10E looks like a good little sub for your needs. I would connect the voice coils in series to give a 4 ohm load and then use a small mono or bridged stereo amp to drive it.

The bass filtering is the big problem with the RNS510 - to bypass the capacitive filtering would need switches that shorted across them for when the sub is removed. The alternative is to use a 4 channel amp with hi-pass filtering for all the current channels, possibly under the passenger seat or up high in the passenger footwell. Then you could just switch the high pass filtering off whenever the sub is removed.

[Lieto]

i see. One question remain though — what small 4 channel amp to get? The one i was originally looking at doesnt quite fit in the passenger footwell and i dont think i want to put it in the trunk. Just want something small so it fits rock solid without reducing footwell too much.

[kaanage]

Would something like this amp fit?
What brands does your local supplier have? Remember that the 4 channel amp doesn't need to be overly powerful since the sub will be providing the bass most of the time.

[Lieto]

Well i can buy anything and just give it to those guys but they seem to have best discounts for helix.
This clarion looks nice. Thx for insight. We are talking about passive subwoofer like the one above, right?