[waldo22]

I found this amazing thread a while ago, and I thought I could deal with the factory audio, but my disappointment finally got the better of me, so I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade my audio system.

It took me 3 days to get through this whole thread, but it was worth it!

I originally was going to buy the Flax series ( PS165FXE and PC165FE) as @pro suggested, but based on feedback from many folks including @p__x recent feedback on the amp making such a huge difference, I decided to go with the Focal Inside "plug-n-play" system instead, IS VW 165 and IC VW 165, and pair that with the Kicker KEY200.4 amp.

I just couldn't justify spending an extra $300 for the Flax series when the Inside series makes such a nice difference when paired with an amp.

I was able to get the IS an IC from Amazon.de, along with the Focal SPK-SIM adapter for $460 including shipping, tax, and currency conversion, which is pretty good.

I bought the Kicker Key200.4 amp from Crutchfield. They are always great, and it's worth paying a bit more there... but not twice as much for the Focals.

Based on everything I've read, and my own experience installing car audio, I've got some tips:

• Don't solder! Use butt splices instead. This is what VW recommends. It's much easier, and much more secure. Solder is brittle and can break, particularly lead-free solder.
  • Klein Tools 3005CR Ratcheting Insulated Terminal Crimper - $30 as of 11/10/23
  • --OR-- Off-brand ratcheting crimper, looks the same. Hilitchi tools, NOT Hitachi Tools, haha - $16.50 as of 11/10/23
  • --OR-- for tighter spaces, this looks just like the one I bought from RadioShack ~20 yrs. ago! Strips and crimps insulated and non-insulated - $20
  • Here's a nice box of 340 various heat shrink butt connectors for less than $23
  • ...or a cheaper box of 100 from a different brand for $10
  • Or you can buy individual bags of 210 connectors for $9 (currently $7 with $2 coupon) if you'll do a lot of other projects
  • Power and Ground are 14 AWG (gauge), and use the Blue 16-14AWG butt connectors
  • Speaker wire and remote wires are 18 AWG and use the Red 22-16AWG butt connectors
• As @mitigating suggested, don't waste your money on the ridiculous Focal ISO adapter. It's not made of gold. Several good options:
  • Search AliExpress for "MQB Extension" or "Quadlock / Quad Lock Extension". This 10 in. (23cm) one is $12.50 including shipping. This one is less than $16 shipped. I bought the $12.50 one, and it's great, with 18AWG speaker wire. Just have to cut speaker wires and splice it into the amp harness.
  • If you don't trust AliExpress, you can buy this Nulth "add an amplifier" adapter at Amazon for $31.50 after 10% coupon.
  • If you're itching to spend more than that, you can buy this PAC LPHVW02 amplifier harness at Abt for $59. Comes with harness already broken out with plugs to splice into your amp harness! The LPHVW01 is 40-pin for older VWs. Don't get that one.
  • MAKE SURE you get the 52-pin harness; I don't think the 40-pin is sufficient (missing the white connector).
• Instead of the expensive Focal Impulse amp harness, you can buy "Speed Wire", like this 18AWG Conext Link MSC918-10 10 Feet 9 Conductor wirefor less than $15.
  • 2 wires for each speaker (+/-) and 1 for the remote wire
  • you need enough length to go to the amp harness AND BACK to the speakers. 10 ft. should be sufficient, but I'll report back.
  • It also comes in 20 ft. length for $25.
  • Crutchfield sells their own brand of Speed Wire in 20ft. lengths for $25
• For a more "factory look", wrap your harness with friction tape (aka Tesa PET fabric tape). It keeps bundles together, deadens sound, and protects the wires.
• As others have said, order a bag of retractable door clips (3CN868243) and 2 or 3 A-pillar metal clips (5NA867276B) from your dealer
• I also bought this cheap rivet nut tool for $25 at the suggestion of @Jay_k. It comes with an M3, which shouldn't require drilling, just some M3 machine screws.

Finally, thanks to @Jay_k for the suggestion of the Kicker KEY200.4 amp. According to the docs, you aren't supposed to need the Focal Speaker Simulator (IHF06). You just press the "Radio Detect" button on the Kicker amp. However, according to @p__x, @fijshion and others, you still get a park sensor error. I'll try it both ways and see.

The docs say:

If you are using Hi-Level inputs, but your source unit cannot detect an audio system present or refuses to play audio out of one or more speakers, you may need to set Radio Detect to ON. This will activate a load resistor at the amplifier’s inputs and tell the source unit there are speakers present. Do NOT use Radio Detect if you are using a Low-Level input signal; doing so will greatly reduce the input signal.

The KEY200.4 also includes a "Fader" DIP switch, which allows us to just use the front L/R for input, driving all 4 speakers from that. That should help bypass that high treble drive that folks are reporting, but it breaks the factory fader.

Leave the fader switch to ON if you are running two sets of inputs (front and rear for example) to the amplifier. Set the fader switch OFF if you want to drive all channels from a single stereo input.

Hope this helps save folks some money. I'm planning on doing this at the same time I add the folding mirrors I got from Alibaba, and I'll also add some Dynamat while I'm at it. I'll try to take as many pics as I can!

 

[waldo22]

Kicker amp question... Where does the purple wire go?

The first switch needs to be down for the amp to power on. Also make sure to push in the radio detect button.

I know this is from April, but I don't believe this is correct. These 2 things are related. The "purple wire" that @p__x asked about should connect to the blue "Remote" wire on the Kicker harness, and when the first DIP switch is set up (to 12V) it turns on the radio when it gets 12V on the blue wire.

Can someone else verify this? I'm haven't looked at it yet, but I believe this is correct if memory serves.

 

[p__x]

I know this is from April, but I don't believe this is correct. These 2 things are related. The "purple wire" that @p__x asked about should connect to the blue "Remote" wire on the Kicker harness, and when the first DIP switch is set up (to 12V) it turns on the radio when it gets 12V on the blue wire.

Can someone else verify this? I'm haven't looked at it yet, but I believe this is correct if memory serves.

That would explain why radio detect didn't work for me.

 

[p__x]

I found this amazing thread a while ago, and I thought I could deal with the factory audio, but my disappointment finally got the better of me, so I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade my audio system.

It took me 3 days to get through this whole thread, but it was worth it!

I originally was going to buy the Flax series ( PS165FXE and PC165FE) as @pro suggested, but based on feedback from many folks including @p__x recent feedback on the amp making such a huge difference, I decided to go with the Focal Inside "plug-n-play" system instead, IS VW 165 and IC VW 165, and pair that with the Kicker KEY200.4 amp.

I just couldn't justify spending an extra $300 for the Flax series when the Inside series makes such a nice difference when paired with an amp.

I was able to get the IS an IC from Amazon.de, along with the Focal SPK-SIM adapter for $460 including shipping, tax, and currency conversion, which is pretty good.

Based on everything I've read, and my own experience installing car audio, I've got some tips:

• Don't solder! Use butt splices instead. This is what VW recommends. It's much easier, and much more secure. Solder is brittle and can break, particularly lead-free solder.
• As @mitigating suggested, don't waste your money on the ridiculous Focal ISO adapter. It's not made of gold. Several good options:
  • Search AliExpress for "MQB Extension" or "Quadlock / Quad Lock Extension". This 10 in. (23cm) one is $12.50 including shipping. This one is less than $16 shipped.
  • If you don't trust AliExpress, you can buy this Nulth "add an amplifier" adapter at Amazon for $31.50 after 10% coupon.
  • If you're itching to spend more than that, you can buy this PAC LPHVW01 amplifier harness at Crutchfield for $60 (I am unsure if this is 40-pin or 52-pin; you can't tell from the picture and it doesn't say! Buyer beware!)
  • MAKE SURE you get the 52-pin harness; I don't think the 40-pin is sufficient (missing the white connector).
• Instead of the expensive Focal Impulse harness, you can buy "Speed Wire", like this 18AWG Conext Link MSC918-10 10 Feet 9 Conductor wire. It also comes in 20 ft. for $25.
  • Crutchfield sells this in 20ft. length as well
• For a more "factory look", wrap your harness with friction tape. It keeps bundles together, deadens sound, and protects the wires.
• As others have said, order a bag of retractable door clips (3CN868243) and 2 or 3 A-pillar metal clips (5NA867276B) from your dealer
• I also bought this cheap rivet nut tool for $25 at the suggestion of @Jay_k. It comes with an M3, which shouldn't require drilling, just some M3 machine screws.

Finally, thanks to @Jay_k for the suggestion of the Kicker KEY200.4 amp. According to the docs, you aren't supposed to need the Focal Speaker Simulator (IHF06). You just press the "Radio Detect" button on the Kicker amp. However, according to @p__x, @fijshion and others, you still get a park sensor error. I'll try it both ways and see.

The docs say:


The KEY200.4 also includes a "Fader" DIP switch, which allows us to just use the front L/R for input, driving all 4 speakers from that. That should help bypass that high treble drive that folks are reporting, but it breaks the factory fader.


Hope this helps save folks some money. I'm planning on doing this at the same time I add the folding mirrors I got from Alibaba, and I'll also add some Dynamat while I'm at it. I'll try to take as many pics as I can!

There's also been some debate around disconnecting the center speaker improving sound stage. @alfadude1 is the most recent who did it and felt it improved sound.

The Fader option is a good question, BTW. I thought the car's sound system was quadrophonicm etc, but it seems like in reality it's just simple stereo, so I might play around with Fader too as the rear speakers' tuning is very dull with the kicker.

Dynamat is probably a good idea, I get rattles from my driver side door all the time.

 

[waldo22]

That would explain why radio detect didn't work for me.

Maybe; I don't know exactly how that works, but the Kicker manual makes it sound like just pressing the "Radio Detect" button would add the resistive load, so it's hard to say.

Maybe Kicker just doesn't simulate speakers in the way that VW is expecting?

I went ahead and ordered the Focal Speaker SIM from German Amazon.de because it would have been a lot more expensive to order it later due to shipping. I was careful to order the SIM and both sets of speakers from the same seller even though it cost me $15 extra for the speakers, because the combined shipping for all 3 items ended up being "only" $75. The cost of the adapter at $65 is still ridiculous, but I don't know what's required to construct one of those. If it's just some resistors, that's pretty irritating.

I was hoping with the Kicker we wouldn't need the speaker SIM, but I didn't want to mess around with it.

There's also been some debate around disconnecting the center speaker improving sound stage. @alfadude1 is the most recent who did it and felt it improved sound.

I saw that post. I'm planning on disconnecting the center speaker too, so we'll see how that goes.

 

[p__x]

Maybe; I don't know exactly how that works, but the Kicker manual makes it sound like just pressing the "Radio Detect" button would add the resistive load, so it's hard to say.

Maybe Kicker just doesn't simulate speakers in the way that VW is expecting?

I tried with radio sim on/off had the same error, and so did 2-3 other forum members. So if you de everything like others, you'll get the same issue for sure.

I still haven't gotten my focals installed because I'm not sure how long I'm keeping the car (usually when I have hesitancy like this it will end up being 3-4 years...so I could just go ahead...)

 

[waldo22]

I tried with radio sim on/off had the same error, and so did 2-3 other forum members. So if you do everything like others, you'll get the same issue for sure.

Sorry I wasn't more clear; I saw where you and the others tried that, that's why I went ahead and bought the SPK-SIM cable, but I'm going to try it with the Remote wire hooked up and the DIP switch in the up position. I don't expect it to work any better than it did for you or @fijshion but I can still have hope!

 

[edrex]

@waldo22, when are you planning to install? I’m gonna tackle this project soon too, might wait til after you’ve done it and posted more pics!

 

[p__x]

Sorry I wasn't more clear; I saw where you and the others tried that, that's why I went ahead and bought the SPK-SIM cable, but I'm going to try it with the Remote wire hooked up and the DIP switch in the up position. I don't expect it to work any better than it did for you or @fijshion but I can still have hope!

Nah, all clear and reasonable. Keep us posted. I might pull the mid speaker and turn off fader this weekend as well.

 

[waldo22]

@edrex hopefully in the next week or 2, I'm waiting for parts to get here. I'm also adding folding mirrors to my doors, but I forgot to tell them I have the Cosmic interior, so they sent a black window switch. I don't want to pull the door panel off twice, so I need that before I start. Hopefully next weekend, weather permitting.

 

[waldo22]

Nah, all clear and reasonable. Keep us posted. I might pull the mid speaker and turn off fader this weekend as well.

Cool! Let us know how it sounds. I considered splicing the mid speaker in before the speaker sim and amp if I could find where the wires go, but if phone/nav/alerts work with it disconnected, that sounds easier and cleaner.

 

[ipca204]

also waiting on all the parts for my install as well. Same setup as waldo22 but i bought the overpriced harnesses...lol

 

[waldo22]

also waiting on all the parts for my install as well. Same setup as waldo22 but i bought the overpriced harnesses...lol

Well at least those don't require splicing, except at the Kicker end if you're using the Kicker amp.

 

[WolfpackBill]

Let me know how the install goes! I may have to make a trip to the triangle for you to help me out if I decide to upgrade.

 

[waldo22]

Let me know how the install goes! I may have to make a trip to the triangle for you to help me out if I decide to upgrade.

Sure! These kinds of projects are fun to do together. No NCSU gear, though.

 

[ipca204]

Well at least those don't require splicing, except at the Kicker end if you're using the Kicker amp.

yeah, kicker amp ordered as well..a little bit of splicing is within my skill set!

ordered the pillar clips from my local dealer for .29 each no shipping and the following door clips from amazon.

Amazon.com: OAUTOO 15pcs Door Trim Panel Retainer Clip 3CN-868-243 for VW Golf R, GTI, ID.4, Taos 2021-On : Automotive

Buy OAUTOO 15pcs Door Trim Panel Retainer Clip 3CN-868-243 for VW Golf R, GTI, ID.4, Taos 2021-On: Clips - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

[waldo22]

Someone posted (@p__x ??) that you get better sound quality by disabling Wifi and Bluetooth on the infotainment system.

I have Wifi disabled, but I can't find anywhere to disable bluetooth. Did you mean disabling it on your phone?

If not, where can I find it?

Also, it's not going to be this weekend, or next weekend either. My kit isn't arriving for another 2 weeks!

 

[p__x]

Someone posted (@p__x ??) that you get better sound quality by disabling Wifi and Bluetooth on the infotainment system.

I have Wifi disabled, but I can't find anywhere to disable bluetooth. Did you mean disabling it on your phone?

If not, where can I find it?

Also, it's not going to be this weekend, or next weekend either. My kit isn't arriving for another 2 weeks!

It’s under the bluetooth /phone menu. Away for the next days so can’t look it up. But yeah, forcing wired carplay really improved sound quality. The alternative is to use the USB/iPOd mode, but I didn’t like that interface much.

 

[waldo22]

It’s under the bluetooth /phone menu.

Found it, thanks! It's under Settings -> Mobile Devices, but the "gear" button is at the top-right instead of bottom-left like all the other menus. Going there allows you to turn off bluetooth.

 

[edrex]

View attachment 23809

It is much easier to get at the center dash speaker speaker than I first thought. Just use a plastic pry tool to pop off the dash piece outlined in red above, and then the speaker comes out with three torx screws. After removal there are no alerts that pop up and everything seems to function fine. I checked navigation and it still gives audible directions and phone function works fine as well. While I am still tuning my speakers with the helix dsp, the sound is so much better having removed the dash speaker. I dont have to fight the dash speaker any more when trying to get the tuning dialed in.

I disconnected the center dash speaker and I have a yellow SOS light on my steering wheel screen plus the light by the SOS button is red now. Went for a drive and that didn’t clear the error. Gonna have to reconnect it I guess.