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What else do I need after buying uber-stealth?

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corz123

Ready to race!
So considering an audio upgrade and hearing good things about uber stealth. Do I need anything other than a sub such as an amplifier? How much did you guys pay to get everything installed? Thanks!
 
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gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
You need an amp, and a wiring kit at least. The wiring kit needs to have power and ground wire (8awg is usually fine for a lower powered amp, but the amp you choose will dictate the size of wire you need), it needs signal wire (either RCA's, or speaker wire to send the audio signal to the amp), a remote turn on wire (some new amps have auto sensing, so it may not be necessary), speaker wire to send the signal from the amp to the sub, you need a fuse holder and fuse, and the appropriate terminals to connect the amp to the battery and ground.

Personally, I think the sub is the least important part of the overall system (I'm not saying skip the sub, I'm just saying there are things that you can change that would make a much bigger difference). The sub usually only plays 2 octaves worth of music, and for most recordings it's closer to 1 octave. It's nice to reproduce those frequencies well, but the other 9 octaves are much more important. The OEM head unit is a huge bottleneck, replacing that will help a ton. Replacing the front speakers will also make a big difference, especially if done along side a head unit upgrade.

A simple sub and amp install is pretty easy to do yourself, if you are willing to spend a few hours pulling trim pieces to run the wires correctly.
 
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corz123

Ready to race!
Wow. That's quite a surprise to me. I had read previous posts that the stock audio really comes out when the low end is offloaded to the sub. Are you part of a minority that feels this way?
 
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gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
corz123 said:
Wow. That's quite a surprise to me. I had read previous posts that the stock audio really comes out when the low end is offloaded to the sub. Are you part of a minority that feels this way?
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that acoustics is something I'm far more interested in than GTI specific audio. I have been building home, and car audio systems for more than a decade, so my opinion is an experienced one, but a picky one, most people are satisfied with less than I am when it comes to their car audio system.

Having said that, the OEM speakers aren't bad (for OEM), the real weakness is the head unit. I know most people don't want to lose the look, and integration, so they leave it OEM, but it is the biggest bottleneck in the system, and replacing it open up a world of options to fine tune the sound.

When the front stage of the system is dialed in well (decent EQ, decent speakers, etc.) a sub rounds out the low octaves and really helps with the final sound, but throwing a sub in to an OEM system won't change the limitations of the other equipment, you'll still have mediocre sound, just a lot more bass. For some people, that's good enough, but adding a sub doesn't magically improve the original sound.

So, you can add a sub, and it will round out the bottom octaves, and add a nice bit to the music, but I still firmly believe that it's far more satisfying to focus efforts on the other 8-9 octaves that contain most of the musical information.

I'm still in the planning, and building stages of the stereo in my GTI, and the sub will be the last piece, if I add one at all. A good pair of midbass drivers, and well deadened doors go a long way for improving bass response.
 
C

corz123

Ready to race!
That was a fascinating read-up thanks. I'm not a bass junkie by any means but I do enjoy having decent quality audio. Got tired of the audio in my living area so I have a full sonos 5.1 so now whenever I leave the house and get into the GTI feels like audio is so lacking. Would replacing the head unit or the stuff up front be invasive and labor intensive? I want a noticeable increase in quality but considering my car is 5 years old and only worth like 12k I don't want to spend a lot on the audio and would like to keep it under $500 w/ labor.

I"m also a bit concerned that alot of the aftermarket head units are ugly as sin.....
 
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gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
corz123 said:
That was a fascinating read-up thanks. I'm not a bass junkie by any means but I do enjoy having decent quality audio. Got tired of the audio in my living area so I have a full sonos 5.1 so now whenever I leave the house and get into the GTI feels like audio is so lacking. Would replacing the head unit or the stuff up front be invasive and labor intensive? I want a noticeable increase in quality but considering my car is 5 years old and only worth like 12k I don't want to spend a lot on the audio and would like to keep it under $500 w/ labor.

I"m also a bit concerned that alot of the aftermarket head units are ugly as sin.....
Click to expand...

Replacing the head unit comes at a cost, you're right, most of them just don't look as good as the OEM units. It's not that they look bad, but they usually don't look like they belong. Replacing the head unit is certainly something you can do on your own if you're handy. Getting the wiring done is the only tough part, the rest is simply removing trim and a couple of screws. Replacing the front speakers could be a bit more involved. The OEM speakers are attached with rivets that need to be drilled out. You may need a spacer to pull the aftermarket speaker out a bit, so you don't run into depth issues. For someone who's done a few installs, this GTI is not any worse than any other car, but if you don't have any experience, or the proper tools, it could be a chore.

You could get a new head unit and any accessories that you need to keep steering wheel controls, within your $500 budget, but if you aren't interested in doing the work yourself, you may want to just put the money towards a sub and amp like you originally planned. The $500 could get you a much nicer head unit, with some good tuning features to make the most of the OEM speakers, but it won't get you a new head unit, amp, and sub.
 
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nikbrewer

Go Kart Champion
Now, Having sold over 1500 Uber-Stealth boxes, as I some experience with this issue. I do have some customers who are doing a full blown system, including head unit, amps, speaker and sub. In my 2008 GTI i did everything. I changed the head unit, swapped door speaker with aftermarket 3 ways made just for the mk5 (don't remember the brand, fully gutted the car and did sound deadening under carpet, removed door skins and covered them, you name it.

Now, there are 2 things that made the most difference

1. Head unit - actually ran a single DIN pioneer for awhile in a OEM single din dash kit. I really liked it ad the added power really did make the stock speakers sound better. However, single din interface sucks. I also hated losing all the factory integration. I tried one of the chinese knock off RNS-510, but it sucked.

I eventually settled on a RCD-510 out of a mk6. This seemed to offer the best sound and usability, but this was years ago, so something with android auto may be just as good.

2. Adding a small sub. Now i personally used a 8" in my car, as i am not huge in bass. I did find my having a sub, i could adjust the EQ ( easier with an aftermarket head unit, but doable with stock) to take the bass duties off the door speakers, and they sounded much better.

Key is to tap the front speakers for the sub signal. Rear speaker signal seems to have some of the bass cut out of the signal, and makes it not ideal as an input to the sub amp.

Again, not an expert on everything car audio, but when it comes to mk5 / mk6, i have some experience
 
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gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
nikbrewer said:
Now, Having sold over 1500 Uber-Stealth boxes, as I some experience with this issue. I do have some customers who are doing a full blown system, including head unit, amps, speaker and sub. In my 2008 GTI i did everything. I changed the head unit, swapped door speaker with aftermarket 3 ways made just for the mk5 (don't remember the brand, fully gutted the car and did sound deadening under carpet, removed door skins and covered them, you name it.

Now, there are 2 things that made the most difference

1. Head unit - actually ran a single DIN pioneer for awhile in a OEM single din dash kit. I really liked it ad the added power really did make the stock speakers sound better. However, single din interface sucks. I also hated losing all the factory integration. I tried one of the chinese knock off RNS-510, but it sucked.

I eventually settled on a RCD-510 out of a mk6. This seemed to offer the best sound and usability, but this was years ago, so something with android auto may be just as good.

2. Adding a small sub. Now i personally used a 8" in my car, as i am not huge in bass. I did find my having a sub, i could adjust the EQ ( easier with an aftermarket head unit, but doable with stock) to take the bass duties off the door speakers, and they sounded much better.

Key is to tap the front speakers for the sub signal. Rear speaker signal seems to have some of the bass cut out of the signal, and makes it not ideal as an input to the sub amp.

Again, not an expert on everything car audio, but when it comes to mk5 / mk6, i have some experience
Click to expand...

The front outputs on my RCD310 have a HPF at 80hz, I haven't tested the rear outputs yet. OP, which head unit do you have? Apparently you can code the RCD510 for a full-range, unprocessed signal, but I haven't found anything saying that can be done with the 310 (even if it's possible on the 310, it's still a pretty crappy head unit).
 
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nikbrewer

Go Kart Champion
I no longer have a VW. The last head unit i had was the RCD510. If it has a 80 HPZ, it must be a slow roll off, as i never had an issue running a sub off of it.

I did find a head unit did help alot, however, since this is not something everyone is willing to do, a small sub does help a lot. Now, if someone wanted to get serious, something like a rockford fosgate 360.2 ( old) or 360.3 (new) could be used with the stock head unit to provide a huge improvement in sound quality. However, the mk6 head unit is not so hard to replace that i see many people taking this option
 
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J. Brown

New member
I have the Dynaudio system with the RNS-315 headunit. I was considering upgrading to the RCD-330 unit but I think there are still some sound quality issues with that. What would be the best way to replace all the front speakers and add the uber-stealth setup while still maintaining stock functionality (I have an OEM rear-view camera)? Is there a way to just get a signal out from the VW headunit and run it to a separate amp that powers the cabin speakers?
 
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nikbrewer

Go Kart Champion
if you have an external amp ( not sure on my setup, or if its like the fender) you can recode it and then use the speaker outputs as input signal to an amp or signal processor
 
C

corz123

Ready to race!
gijoewoz said:
The front outputs on my RCD310 have a HPF at 80hz, I haven't tested the rear outputs yet. OP, which head unit do you have? Apparently you can code the RCD510 for a full-range, unprocessed signal, but I haven't found anything saying that can be done with the 310 (even if it's possible on the 310, it's still a pretty crappy head unit).
Click to expand...

I got the mk6 w/ no nav. The bigger one not sure model.
 
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