The owner of this 2014 Volkswagen Jetta followed our installation manager to California Custom Sounds and Tint for an audio system upgrade. The client had worked with our manager before and trusts his judgment to design a system that will look good and sound great. In fact, the client had so much faith that he simply off dropped the car and told us to do our thing, so we set to work on this Jetta audio system build right away.
Focal Flax Speakers
We decided that all of the speakers in this Jetta audio project would be Focal’s Flax series. We chose a PS 165 F3 three-way set for the front doors and a PS 165 FX set for the rear doors. Our installation technician created a set of custom mounting adapters for the 6.5-inch woofers from each set. The factory speakers are incorporated into a large plastic spacer. We made a set of spacers to place the Focal speaker in the same relative position. This location allows the gasket on the door to seal nicely against the speaker mounting edge and direct all the output into the vehicle interior. We installed the 3-inch midrange drivers and the new tweeters in the factory speaker locations.
We treated the doors to a healthy layer of Blackhole Foil sound-deadening material to maximize the performance of the new speakers and reduce the background noise level in the interior.
Subwoofer Enclosure and Amp Rack
For this Jetta audio project, we created a subwoofer in the spare tire well of the wagon out of 3/4-inch MDF. The enclosure is home to a pair of 10-inch Focal P 20F subwoofers. Our team created a slot vent between the drivers to reinforce low-frequency output and reduce distortion.
We created an amp and signal distribution rack around the subwoofer enclosure. Four Mosconi D2 amplifiers line up across the top of the amp rack, and power and speaker wiring are along the rear half.
We used a Mosconi D2 80.6 DSP for the front stage, a D2 100.4 DSP for the rear speakers and a pair of D2 500.1 amps for the subwoofers. The DSP processor in the six-channel amp handles crossovers, signal delay and equalization for the front speakers. The DSP in the four-channel handles the rear speakers and the subwoofers. We used JL Audio ECS Blue interconnects to route signals through the system from the Pioneer AVIC-8100NEX head unit we installed.
We cut four windows into the top trim panel to expose the tops of the amplifiers. LED strips light each window, as well as the opening around the subwoofers, and shine through a 1/2-inch-thick piece of clear acrylic plastic. We finished the trim panel in carbon fiber textured vinyl.
Source Unit and Camera
The AVIC-8100NEX double-DIN multimedia receiver includes both the Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone interfaces, as well as Bluetooth and on-board navigation. The client can listen to music from his smartphone, and get navigation directions with real-time traffic information with a simple push of a button. We installed an Echomaster VM-201 mini-lip mount camera to make backing up and parking easier and safer.
Jetta Audio System Tuning
Once the system was up and playing, we set the crossover frequencies on both amps and dialed in the time alignment. We used our RTA microphone and analyzer to set the equalizers for each corner of the vehicle and the subwoofer. We made the final amplifier sensitivity adjustments using our oscilloscope. We always finish every tuning session by listening to several of our favorite tracks to ensure everything is dialed in and sounding perfect.
The client returned to California Custom Sounds and Tint to pick up his car on a Friday afternoon. He had a quick listen with one of our sales team members before he left. He returned to see us the following Monday and asked if we had charged him enough for the work! He was beyond thrilled with the way the systems looks and sounds.
If you are in the market for an audio system upgrade, then drop by our shop and talk to a member of our sales team. You can also reach us by phone at 408-378-0409 or via our online e-mail contact form.
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