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Looking to upgrade my ICE (Polo GTi)


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All,

I've been pondering whether or not it is worthwhile upgrading the ICE in my Polo. At the moment I have the standard setup, that is to say the GAMMA headunit and tweets behind the door mirrors in the A-pillar and 6.5" mids in the front doors and rear doorcards, therefore 6-speakers plus OE headunit.

I need to keep the boot space I have for work and general usage so a sub is probably out of the question, I have the seats down and carry large or bulky loads every now and again so don't want to use the parcel shelf. I understand however that some companies sell fitted subwoofer/amp enclosures that sit unobtrusively to the left or the right of the boot in an enclosure trimmed to match the boot fabric (ie grey carpet)?

To top it all off I want to keep the OE headunit and not change it for something else unless it is very much in the OEM style with blue and red lighting and a dark grey fascia as per the standard setup crazy.gif

So I was wondering, is it worth replacing the standard speakers with uprated components, keeping them behind the OE grilles, and would it be worth considering a smallish amp tucked away in the glovebox or somewhere else out of sight? Will I see much of a gain in quality from this?

Would buying just the amp on it's own make much of a difference when hooked up to the OE system...?

Your thoughts are appreciated 169144-ok.gif

Cheers

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Hi there, any upgrade of speakers and amp would be very beneficial. Check here for a custom designed sub box for the side of your boot Stealth Box Just enter your make / model. If you get a sub box, a Pioneer Head unit with MOSFET can drive the sub direct (despite what people at Halfords might say!! Not that you would buy it from them)whilst still running your components in the doors. The rear outputs are bridged to provide 50wRMS to the sub at four ohm. I has this setup in an SL I used to have and it was very good. Plus if you get a Pioneer you can add other bits later (IPOD controller etc)

Marc

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[ QUOTE ]

If you get a sub box, a Pioneer Head unit with MOSFET can drive the sub direct (despite what people at Halfords might say!! Not that you would buy it from them)whilst still running your components in the doors. The rear outputs are bridged to provide 50wRMS to the sub at four ohm.

Marc

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you suggesting that you run the sub directly of the head unit without an Amp? if so why would you want to do that?

just a matter of interest!

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Yes thats what I mean. Reason is not having to find a place for a separate amp and the pioneer MOSFET's have relatively low current draw (because rear output is bridged) so can run off your ISO connector with no mods or additions to wiring. Note if you use a high output Alpine HU, then a connection direct to the Battery will be needed (same as a separate amp) so extra hassle of getting a very fat cable through the firewall. Plus do you need hundreds of Watts??

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks coop.

I think I would prefer to stick to the OE headunit and keep the control of my CD changer that way! Talking of which the changer is located in the boot on the left-hand side, smack bang wallop in the way of a stealth sub box!

I understand that the OE Gamma headunit has got one pre-out built in, am I right to assume this is what I would need to hook up an amp? I'm a bit of a noob to all this smile.gif

Is it possible to get an amp that is small enough to fit in the glovebox but able to give the current speaker setup a bit of a boost? That would be ideal for what I want IMHO. 169144-ok.gif

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Si

There are a great deal of amps available. The physical size may limit your options for the glove box. If you have a set of RCA pre outs that will feed an amp fine, but only one set means you loose the HU fader. This can be overcome with a four channel amp which you can set up how youlike it but not adjust from the HU. Some amps will accept speaker level input direct from the back of your HU, but this is not a recommended route. Four channel amps are quite big and will need their own connection to the battery (as with all reasonable amps) This amp is a pretty standard 4 channel and is quite big! I personnaly think you would be better changing the speakers as well if you are going to the hassle of adding an amplifier of this type. Perhaps the best thing is to put your changer in the glove box so you can have the stealth sub and a 4 channel amp. Use 2 channels to drive upgraded components in the doors, bridge the other 2 channels for the sub and dont bother with the rear speakers as they are irrelevant to you and your passenger. A lot of suppiers provide custome fit component upgrades for most cars. Main hassle would then be locating the amp. I have most often seen them under a false floor in the boot, or perhaps behind one of the seats if you dont have too many people in the back?? Hope this helps

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