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Speaker upgrade with stock head unit

Korydogg

Ready to race!
What speakers did you buy to upgrade the stock system?

I have a '14 drivers edition....not exactly sure on which head unit I have. Its 2am and I'm a little drunk so its all just something I'm thinking about.

I like the stock speakers up until about 15...then they start to distort and sound like poop. I just want better sounding speakers when I turn the volume up.

For the record I think sound quality is subjective....but I'm willing to spend some money if it means I get clear audio at higher volume levels. I'd just prefer to keep the stock head unit and replace the speakers themselves.
 

gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
Which model head unit do you have? The problem is probably not the speakers, it's the stock head unit. Even with new speakers you'll still hear all of that distortion, the OEM signal is awful. Replacing the head unit will make a much bigger difference. I've tried a few combinations in my car so far, and the aftermarket head unit with the stock speakers sounded better than aftermarket speakers on the stock head unit (aftermarket speakers and aftermarket speakers is ideal, but my experiments showed that the OEM head unit is far worse than the OEM speakers). A lot of people don't want the hassle of replacing the head unit either for looks, or functions, but doing so will help more than new speakers, if you can only do one or the other.
 

SJC

Ready to race!
What speakers did you buy to upgrade the stock system?

I have a '14 drivers edition....not exactly sure on which head unit I have. Its 2am and I'm a little drunk so its all just something I'm thinking about.

I like the stock speakers up until about 15...then they start to distort and sound like poop. I just want better sounding speakers when I turn the volume up.

For the record I think sound quality is subjective....but I'm willing to spend some money if it means I get clear audio at higher volume levels. I'd just prefer to keep the stock head unit and replace the speakers themselves.

I have Focal Integration speakers specifically for the Mk6 GTI.
They sound great with the stock stereo and a JL Audio sub, LC2 and JVC mono amp.
 

riceburner

Autocross Champion
kind of in the same dillemma, but i did just pick up an eanon unit - so cheap and so much functionality. i havent had a chance to test it though and am NOT expecting it to have the best sound quality. So somewhere down the line i'm debating a crossover, amp and maybe better speakers, and small sub if it all seems warranted.
 

Korydogg

Ready to race!
Which model head unit do you have? The problem is probably not the speakers, it's the stock head unit. Even with new speakers you'll still hear all of that distortion, the OEM signal is awful. Replacing the head unit will make a much bigger difference. I've tried a few combinations in my car so far, and the aftermarket head unit with the stock speakers sounded better than aftermarket speakers on the stock head unit (aftermarket speakers and aftermarket speakers is ideal, but my experiments showed that the OEM head unit is far worse than the OEM speakers). A lot of people don't want the hassle of replacing the head unit either for looks, or functions, but doing so will help more than new speakers, if you can only do one or the other.

Thank you for the input. I have no idea which one I have. Hoe do I tell?

I really like the stock head unit. I mean, I am sure there are others out there with more functions and all sorts of stuff...but the stock one works just fine for me. However, if replacing it will get me better sound quality than replacing the speakers Ill prolly go this route.

What kind of head unit do you have?
 

Korydogg

Ready to race!
I have Focal Integration speakers specifically for the Mk6 GTI.
They sound great with the stock stereo and a JL Audio sub, LC2 and JVC mono amp.

Where did you find the ones tailored specifically to the GTI?
 

gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
Thank you for the input. I have no idea which one I have. Hoe do I tell?

I really like the stock head unit. I mean, I am sure there are others out there with more functions and all sorts of stuff...but the stock one works just fine for me. However, if replacing it will get me better sound quality than replacing the speakers Ill prolly go this route.

What kind of head unit do you have?

I tried the Pioneer 6201NEX and Kenwood 64S, both sounded much, much better than the OEM unit, but neither satisfied me, they both lagged occassionally, had screen glare problems, and periodic issues connecting to my iphone/ipods. I have the OEM unit in now until I find a replacement that I'm satisfied with. Sonically, just about anything will be better than the OEM head unit. I'm being picky and taking my time, both the Pioneer and Kenwood were much better than the OEM head unit, but for the money they weren't something I wanted to live with long term.

Keep in mind, I come from a long background of mobile audio, I've been building active systems for about 12 years, so I'm very particular. Most people would have been very happy with either the Pioneer or Kenwood, but I'm going to keep trying until I find the right replacement. If I'm going to have a stereo that I'm unhappy with, I might as well have the free OEM one, instead of the $500 one.

I'm running Illusion Audio components, and a small Kenwood amp, but they are dramatically bottlenecked by the OEM head unit. I'm temped to buy another one of Pioneer's active capable single din units, I've used all of the last few they've done, and the tuning features are very powerful.
 

zrickety

The Fixer
Almost anything will be better than the oem setup...the head unit is weak power-wise. I'm running a Kenwood with 22x4 RMS, the sound is good for me. PO replaced the door speakers, I'm not sure what's in there. If you're picky, you probably want to get an amplifier and new speakers rated to work with it.
 

Korydogg

Ready to race!
I tried the Pioneer 6201NEX and Kenwood 64S, both sounded much, much better than the OEM unit, but neither satisfied me, they both lagged occassionally, had screen glare problems, and periodic issues connecting to my iphone/ipods. I have the OEM unit in now until I find a replacement that I'm satisfied with. Sonically, just about anything will be better than the OEM head unit. I'm being picky and taking my time, both the Pioneer and Kenwood were much better than the OEM head unit, but for the money they weren't something I wanted to live with long term.

Keep in mind, I come from a long background of mobile audio, I've been building active systems for about 12 years, so I'm very particular. Most people would have been very happy with either the Pioneer or Kenwood, but I'm going to keep trying until I find the right replacement. If I'm going to have a stereo that I'm unhappy with, I might as well have the free OEM one, instead of the $500 one.

I'm running Illusion Audio components, and a small Kenwood amp, but they are dramatically bottlenecked by the OEM head unit. I'm temped to buy another one of Pioneer's active capable single din units, I've used all of the last few they've done, and the tuning features are very powerful.

Thank you! For me, if it sounds better that's great but I still want the user friendliness of the stock unit. I wouldn't replace it unless the new head unit was as reliable and as easy to use. If the ones you mentioned didn't work as well then it doesn't matter how well they sound. I would be frustrated if they didn't work as good.

Almost anything will be better than the oem setup...the head unit is weak power-wise. I'm running a Kenwood with 22x4 RMS, the sound is good for me. PO replaced the door speakers, I'm not sure what's in there. If you're picky, you probably want to get an amplifier and new speakers rated to work with it.

Frankly, I just want the stock unit to sound better. I am picky with how things work. So I don't want to over complicate something that already works well for me. I just want it to sound better.
 

gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
Thank you! For me, if it sounds better that's great but I still want the user friendliness of the stock unit. I wouldn't replace it unless the new head unit was as reliable and as easy to use. If the ones you mentioned didn't work as well then it doesn't matter how well they sound. I would be frustrated if they didn't work as good.



Frankly, I just want the stock unit to sound better. I am picky with how things work. So I don't want to over complicate something that already works well for me. I just want it to sound better.

That's why I am currently using the OEM head unit again. Both of the aftermarket head units sounded much better, no doubt about that, but they both had some bugs, and little quirks that made them less than ideal. I'm confident that I'll find a solution, and I need to quickly because the OEM head unit really is that bad (I've got the RCD310, I've heard the 510 is much better). The OEM unit doesn't have nearly the control needed to sound good, and it clips way too early.

At this point I have some great component speakers, and a good amp. I also have plenty of sound deadening done throughout the car. I spent some time this weekend in the car seeing if I could improve the sound a bit with the basic features that are built into the head unit, and that proved to be pretty pointless, no matter what it's just not a good piece of equipment, and is certainly the bottleneck in my system. People love the RCD330 and the 510 is supposed to be an upgrade as well, but if I'm going to swap it out I'm going to do it with some that has better DACs, a decent EQ, and some DSP.
 

nikbrewer

Go Kart Champion
Adding a sub helps a lot. If you can get the door speakers to need to produce less bass, they sound a lot better. I have has several hundred customers just add a sub and they say it make the system sound a lot better
 

gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
If you don't need plug and play, there are much better options than the Focals, but if simplicity is important then they will provide an improvement. Did you every figure out what head unit you have? If you have the RCD 310, then I don't really recommend replacing the speakers until you've replaced the head unit. The RCD 310 won't send a good enough signal to the speakers to make it worthwhile. If you have the 510, then I think you can vagcom the radio for either a processed, or unprocessed signal, which will help a lot.
 

Korydogg

Ready to race!
If you don't need plug and play, there are much better options than the Focals, but if simplicity is important then they will provide an improvement. Did you every figure out what head unit you have? If you have the RCD 310, then I don't really recommend replacing the speakers until you've replaced the head unit. The RCD 310 won't send a good enough signal to the speakers to make it worthwhile. If you have the 510, then I think you can vagcom the radio for either a processed, or unprocessed signal, which will help a lot.

I still haven't figured out which one I have. To be honest, stereo stuff is kind of low on my list. I just installed dampers/springs and im getting those dialed in and then I also have a few parts on the shelf waiting to get installed. I also am getting parts together for more power so I have a lot going on with the build. What is an easy way to find out?
 
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