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Down to one working speaker, need advice.

gtimk6spd

gtimk6spd

Ready to race!
Since I bought the car a little over a year ago the speakers have died out. I now have my rear left speaker working and that is it. Looking around I see that a spacer is needed if putting in aftermarket speakers (at least for the front doors, rear I don't know). I also see a ton of speakers (crutchfield, sonicelectronix) available but they're the midrange/tweeter combos. I don't want to have tweeters in my door and pillar if it's going to mess with the sound.

Anyone have recommendations for speakers that will work? I am not looking to put in an amp and don't need anything crazy. Just something equivalent to stock that won't die out so quickly.
 
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gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
Components will almost always be better than coax speakers. You don't want to double up on the tweeters, that will really hurt the sound. You will need adapters to fit new speakers since the OEM speakers are sort of built into their own spacer. They are held in by rivets and need to be drilled out, but it's not a big task. Are you planning on doing the work yourself, or taking it to a shop? If you don't want to add an amp, look at the sensitivity rating of the components you're shopping for, the higher the better. Do you have a budget in mind?
 
zrickety

zrickety

The Fixer
Crutchfield is a great source to figure out what works. Even if you don't buy from them, they can tell you what fits. Previous owner replaced the speakers in my GTI, stock locations and no issues.
 
gtimk6spd

gtimk6spd

Ready to race!
Sorry I didn't see the replies! I have looked at components on Crutchfield but it seems there are less options than coax, especially for the price. I have also looked at the Focal ones meant for our car, but that's more than I'd like to spend just to have sound up front. If I wanted better quality and was adding an amp I'd more likely consider them. So my budget is ideally less than $150-200.

I'm thinking of either buying some coax and cutting the tweeters in those, or disabling the door tweeters. This way I can save some money and just get ones that bring sound back to my car.

I will look at ones with a higher sensitivity rating, find some spacers that work, and post back when I have them installed. It may be a while, though.

Thanks for the help!
 
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gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
MKVInnie said:
http://www.golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44355
Click to expand...

It's interesting that the OP wants an inexpensive, simple, basic solution and you linked a build of a very complex active build with horns and DSP, pretty much the opposite. Is there anything in particular you were trying to share, some of the pictures will be handy for sure, but all you did was post a link without any explanation, so I'm not sure what you're hoping the OP will get from it.

OP are your tweeters still working (tweeters are speakers, so when you say you're down to one speaker, that means your tweeters are dead too)? If the tweeters are good, and you just need to swap the mids, that will change what I recommend.
 
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Rickybobbi

Ready to race!
just go on amazon and grab some speakers 30 bucks and your good.

6.5 inch for all doors.

I have installed all "boss" speakers from amazon, does the job.
 
gtimk6spd

gtimk6spd

Ready to race!
gijoewoz said:
It's interesting that the OP wants an inexpensive, simple, basic solution and you linked a build of a very complex active build with horns and DSP, pretty much the opposite. Is there anything in particular you were trying to share, some of the pictures will be handy for sure, but all you did was post a link without any explanation, so I'm not sure what you're hoping the OP will get from it.

OP are your tweeters still working (tweeters are speakers, so when you say you're down to one speaker, that means your tweeters are dead too)? If the tweeters are good, and you just need to swap the mids, that will change what I recommend.
Click to expand...

That's a good point, and I should have clarified better. It seems like my front tweeters still work. When I put the fader to the front only I do hear treble and, of course, a ton of "farting" from the woofers down in the door. They really overpower everything with how scratchy and empty they sound. The tweeters seem to work, but aren't very loud. I assume that is normal, though.

I'll look for cheaper mids if that's all the door speakers are. When I looked on Crutchfield it seemed like everything was as a set with tweeters (either coax or a component combo) and the mids they had were quite expensive. Maybe I'll just browse eBay for some cheap 6.5" mids and then find some spacers.

Also that thread the other guy posted that you mentioned is much more than I am looking to do, you are right. I'll look over it again, but it's not quite what I'm looking to do.

Rickybobbi said:
just go on amazon and grab some speakers 30 bucks and your good.

6.5 inch for all doors.

I have installed all "boss" speakers from amazon, does the job.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll try to find some in that price range that don't have tweeters. Or if they do I won't feel bad about cutting the tweeter leads so I can retain my stock ones (and not have 2x tweeters in each location).
 
G

gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
gtimk6spd said:
That's a good point, and I should have clarified better. It seems like my front tweeters still work. When I put the fader to the front only I do hear treble and, of course, a ton of "farting" from the woofers down in the door. They really overpower everything with how scratchy and empty they sound. The tweeters seem to work, but aren't very loud. I assume that is normal, though.

I'll look for cheaper mids if that's all the door speakers are. When I looked on Crutchfield it seemed like everything was as a set with tweeters (either coax or a component combo) and the mids they had were quite expensive. Maybe I'll just browse eBay for some cheap 6.5" mids and then find some spacers.

Also that thread the other guy posted that you mentioned is much more than I am looking to do, you are right. I'll look over it again, but it's not quite what I'm looking to do.



Thanks, I'll try to find some in that price range that don't have tweeters. Or if they do I won't feel bad about cutting the tweeter leads so I can retain my stock ones (and not have 2x tweeters in each location).
Click to expand...

Ok, good to know. I would recommend that you push the fader and balance back and forth and listed to each individual speaker to find which ones are working, and which aren't, just to know for certain.

If in fact you only need mids, I would recommend Parts Express or Madisound. Most of what you'll find in car audio brands will be coax, so they'll have a tweeter, which paired with the working sail panel tweeters will likely sound terrible. Parts Express and Madisound sell "raw" drivers used in speaker building by some of the best and most expensive speaker companies in the world. You will easily be able to find a pair of mids, within your budget, that will be far superior to the OEM speakers (the limitations of the rest of the OEM system may prevent you from fully hearing the superiority, but they will be better none the less).

I need some time, but I'll do some looking for something that I think will work well, keep you in your budget, and be straight forward to install. Do me a favor and take a couple of minutes to verify which speakers are working/broken, and I'll send you some ideas tonight, or tomorrow.
 
gtimk6spd

gtimk6spd

Ready to race!
gijoewoz said:
Ok, good to know. I would recommend that you push the fader and balance back and forth and listed to each individual speaker to find which ones are working, and which aren't, just to know for certain.

If in fact you only need mids, I would recommend Parts Express or Madisound. Most of what you'll find in car audio brands will be coax, so they'll have a tweeter, which paired with the working sail panel tweeters will likely sound terrible. Parts Express and Madisound sell "raw" drivers used in speaker building by some of the best and most expensive speaker companies in the world. You will easily be able to find a pair of mids, within your budget, that will be far superior to the OEM speakers (the limitations of the rest of the OEM system may prevent you from fully hearing the superiority, but they will be better none the less).

I need some time, but I'll do some looking for something that I think will work well, keep you in your budget, and be straight forward to install. Do me a favor and take a couple of minutes to verify which speakers are working/broken, and I'll send you some ideas tonight, or tomorrow.
Click to expand...

The tweeters do seem fine all around which is some good news. As far as the mid range go, only the rear left works properly. The rear right isn't as awful as the front two in the doors, but it is far from being on par with the one good working mid range.

Thanks for the offer on the help! I'd greatly appreciate that. I am willing to go up to $150-200 like I said, but will be fine with going cheaper if they will do at least as well as the stock woofers. With no amp and no desire to create a great sounding system in the car I don't know if I need $30 speakers or $200 speakers. All of my "high-end" listening happens at home with a dedicated set of headphones. Even those aren't the best, Sennheiser HD598s, but I thoroughly enjoy their comfort and soundstage. That and they don't seem to favor any particular part of the frequency range. The car is mostly so I can jam out going to work at moderate volumes. I took my sub out, but can easily put it back in if I feel the need to fill out the low end again.
 
Coogie

Coogie

Ready to race!
Have you considered getting OEM from a part-out? It would be cheaper then new OEM and you still retain VW parts.
 
gtimk6spd

gtimk6spd

Ready to race!
Coogie said:
Have you considered getting OEM from a part-out? It would be cheaper then new OEM and you still retain VW parts.
Click to expand...

I had not considered that, but that's a pretty smart idea. However I would worry that it'll happen again. I'm not sure why it even happened in the first place to be honest. I never go to max volume and my bass is lowered in the EQ (less than whatever the 0 point is). But I can keep an eye out for a deal. I'd like to see what gijoewoz comes up with too before buying anything. Could be a great option.
 
G

gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
gtimk6spd said:
I had not considered that, but that's a pretty smart idea. However I would worry that it'll happen again. I'm not sure why it even happened in the first place to be honest. I never go to max volume and my bass is lowered in the EQ (less than whatever the 0 point is). But I can keep an eye out for a deal. I'd like to see what gijoewoz comes up with too before buying anything. Could be a great option.
Click to expand...

I haven't had much of a chance to help you out yet, but I'm suspecting that this would work well. I need to check to see if it would fit, you'll need spacers, but even if you pay for spacers to be made, you'll still be in under budget, and these are much better speakers than the OEM ones.

https://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-rs150p-4a-6-reference-paper-woofer-4-ohm--295-563

Since you have to drill out rivets to remove the OEM speakers, you may as well throw a better speaker in, since putting another OEM speaker in won't be a simple plug and play. You'll either need rivets, or some hardware with a blind nut type of fastener. I'll report back, but maybe this will give you an idea of your options. Browse the site for other speakers that size so you can see how many options there are.
 
M

MKVInnie

Passed Driver's Ed
gijoewoz said:
It's interesting that the OP wants an inexpensive, simple, basic solution and you linked a build of a very complex active build with horns and DSP, pretty much the opposite. Is there anything in particular you were trying to share, some of the pictures will be handy for sure, but all you did was post a link without any explanation, so I'm not sure what you're hoping the OP will get from it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Its called kidding, I figured that it was so over the top that it would have made the point, but oh well.

OP, if you're looking to do this yourself this video of the Focal Speaker install could be helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9ZV4oKqQog

Also, if you go this route and have room in your budget I would highly recommend putting in some sound dampening foam to increase the quality of the sound without getting expensive speakers.
 
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