[loggamatt]

Hi there! Just wanted to say thanks so much for encouraging people to pull their cars apart. I've been absolutely at my wits end with how bad the audio was (I'm a professional musician, came from e-Golf with Dynaudio upgraded sound).

Will be showing this info to my local car audio guy in a few days and asking for a quote to fit some new front and rear speakers. Looking at JL Audio C3's on all doors for now.

Will report back when I've spoken with him, and look at feasibility for using the 2-ch amp. He quoted me approx £800 inc labour for the JL C3 setup.

No worries! Good to know I’m not the only one who thinks it is a bit sub-par! Though I don’t deserve much credit, all I’ve done is whine about it. Others on this thread like Tooks and No_Petrol_Now did the hard work of pulling bits of the car apart to figure out what needs to be done. Though, that said, my whining has been top notch!

Yeah, I’m resigned to spending a grand or so on it I think. If you’re someone who just listens to the radio as background music, or podcasts or something then it’s fine. But if you’re the sort of person who really likes music, has audiophile headphones/home audio system/etc then I think upgrades are necessary!

 

[6652]

Though, that said, my whining has been top notch!

You’re not wrong, if Carlsberg did whining mate... 😉😂👍

 

[jeffUK]

All this talk is making me wonder about getting the speakers in my Tour upgraded once it arrives.

Presumably, with the right size speaker and if I was happy without a sub, it wouldn’t be too difficult / costly for a car audio specialist?

Would it need a separate amp?

Are there any details around on the front and rear speaker sizes?

 

[Woodulike]

After loggamatt's comments I think I need to start on about the efficiency again, might get someone out of the woodwork to look into it for me

 

[ElliotViola]

All this talk is making me wonder about getting the speakers in my Tour upgraded once it arrives.

Presumably, with the right size speaker and if I was happy without a sub, it wouldn’t be too difficult / costly for a car audio specialist?

Would it need a separate amp?

Are there any details around on the front and rear speaker sizes?

Hello! From what my audio guy said it should theoretically be as simple as just swapping the speaker unit and making sure the impedances match if your wiring is already there!

 

[loggamatt]

After loggamatt's comments I think I need to start on about the efficiency again, might get someone out of the woodwork to look into it for me

But what is the cold weather, short journey, audio quality like? I feel a mega-thread for us to join forces coming!

Though, for the record, I really am mainly past the 'whining' stage on all this... I'm 90-something% sure that when my local audio place opens up, I'm going to get them to fit this plus rear speakers from the existing front speaker output. Just, if the topic comes up and I'm bored enough to feel like replying to a forum thread on it, I'm going to state my opinion which is that VW should make upgrades a bit easier by releasing their own retrofit kit. Maybe they will one day, but they haven't announced it yet which is why it is should a 'they should' kinda thing.

 

[5erge]

@loggamatt - Mate.. just get that sub added at the same time. We don't want another eight page thread about lack of bass once you get the speakers sorted

When the bass kicks in on Gorrilaz -Feel Good Inc you will appreciate the extra kick!!

 

[Woodulike]

But what is the cold weather, short journey, audio quality like? I feel a mega-thread for us to join forces coming!

Is the same as when the sun is shining, pretty average. Matches the efficiency quite nicely
I'm currently considering getting an ipace or etron for the weekend just to see how bad the efficiency can be. Might make me feel better about the ID3 as the difference between the ID and Golf is still quite significant.

Though, for the record, I really am mainly past the 'whining' stage on all this... .

Like me with the efficiency? I'm not saying much but only because I'm tired of posting about the same thing all the time and getting the same responses, basically shut up going on about it the rest of us don't mind as long as the car works for our needs.
At least you can improve the sound if you want to.

 

[6652]

Like me with the efficiency? I'm not saying much but only because I'm tired of posting about the same thing all the time and getting the same responses, basically shut up going on about it the rest of us don't mind as long as the car works for our needs.

Well, to be fair, if more people aren’t jumping on your efficiency bandwagon it could be that it doesn’t matter to most people? 🤷

 

[jeffUK]

Well now you've got me started @loggamatt and @ElliotViola!

Gave a local company a call today, they pointed to the Morel range as having excellent quality for the price paid - which in their range stretches from below £100 to over £5000! They suggested bringing the ID3 along when I'd got it, they'd have a listen, talk about the sort of music I'd tend to have on and then make a recommendation.

They thought about £200 to replace the existing front and rear speakers, I suspect part of that is (outer) London prices!

 

[stu-EVs]

At the risk of dragging up the idea of a VW retrofit once again, my curiosity got the better of me, and I have spoken to my friendly VW contact! He's done some digging and here is the summary:

• No 'kit' available as such to retrofit just yet (but wouldn't expect one this soon - as even standard parts are not all fully available as the vehicle is so new.....i.e. the assumption is a full range of spare parts isn't required until a good volume are actually on the road)
• The positive news however; rear speakers ARE now showing on the VW parts system for the ID.3 (i.e. they can be purchased separately). The not so good news - there are none in the UK yet - so no confirmed UK prices....but an evolving picture.
• The wiring loom(s) for the rear doors are also now showing as available as separate parts - so should be easy loom replacement in each rear door then a straight run of speaker cable with VW 'repair wire' ends applied at the head unit & B-pillar for a near factory finish. The catch with the looms at the moment is the system requires a chassis number entering before pricing/order - and my contact didn't have one - would need a Max/Tour/Tech chassis number to proceed. So once we can get one of those we can find out a bit more - it may be that there are subtle differences with the looms for each variant that would just need checking out first.

So.....I do think this will be possible as 'plug and play' in the not too distant future - will just depend on cost of parts and the point they become available. Plus the £50 standard VW cost for applying the coding to the infotainment unit to inform it that rear speakers are now fitted.

I'll stay in touch with my contact as the VW systems get updated and report back as/when I find out more....

 

[ElliotViola]

Just a quick update from me, I've spoken with my VW dealer and their electrician is looking into the option to just enable the rear audio channel on my 1st Edition via the infotainment system after my 2.1 update in a week's time.

Will let you know if it's possible!

 

[Woodulike]

Well, to be fair, if more people aren’t jumping on your efficiency bandwagon it could be that it doesn’t matter to most people?

Probably not, but it's rather more noticable when driving both the Golf and the ID3.

 

[loggamatt]

Well this all sounds interesting! I was already planning to try to talk my dealer into doing a bit more investigative work for me on this subject when I take mine in for 2.1 next week, and it sounds like from the latest posts on this thread that there may be some hope on that front.

Even if the specific VW speakers and wiring looms aren't available for whatever reason, if dealers could at least just turn on the rear speaker output on the head unit (and fader control) it would make even third party upgrades much cheaper/easier. Keeping my fingers crossed on that now! My car goes in on Tuesday, so will talk to them then and report back.

 

[stu-EVs]

Sooo.....

Clearly it was a slow day at the dealership today - my friendly contact got back in touch before finishing up for the day to say he’s got further! He’s now secured the UK price for the rear speakers.......DRUM ROLL PLEASE....

£26.06 each!

So....allowing for what I expect the looms to cost + the coding time - that’s certainly going to be a sub-£200 install

It will still need someone to work out the specific coding required by VW. Normally in the retrofit kits it’s a simple numerical code for ODIS to apply as required - will be a bit more involved perhaps without that....but sounds like that info may get added to this thread soon too!

If you’re not bothered about replacing the looms with original rear speaker looms then you could actually wire the rear speakers in using generic speaker cable and VW repair wires at each connection point - would make it a £100-£150 project!

 

[loggamatt]

Sooo.....

Clearly it was a slow day at the dealership today - my friendly contact got back in touch before finishing up for the day to say he’s got further! He’s now secured the UK price for the rear speakers.......DRUM ROLL PLEASE....

£26.06 each!

So....allowing for what I expect the looms to cost + the coding time - that’s certainly going to be a sub-£200 install

It will still need someone to work out the specific coding required by VW. Normally in the retrofit kits it’s a simple numerical code for ODIS to apply as required - will be a bit more involved perhaps without that....but sounds like that info may get added to this thread soon too!

If you’re not bothered about replacing the looms with original rear speaker looms then you could actually wire the rear speakers in using generic speaker cable and VW repair wires at each connection point - would make it a £100-£150 project!

Jolly good news my friend, jolly good news indeed!

So all we’re missing now is for a VW dealership somewhere to confirm that they can definitely do the ODIS coding (because, by them doing it, your warranty should survive). I will certainly be whining at my dealer about this on Tuesday, and you all know how good I am at that!

Also... haha... £26.06... this is some high quality audiophile equipment being used here

 

[6652]

Also... haha... £26.06... this is some high quality audiophile equipment being used here

The 6p is where the difference is, I think if you spent £29.34p, the law of diminishing returns would kick in.

 

[Kansalis]

[quote from another thread]

Also asked my dealer about the possibility for rear speaker upgrades. Ended up speaking to the service manager, parts manager, and a technician... all of them were extremely pessimistic about it being possible, and said that any 3rd party upgrade I tried to do would void my warranty.

Honestly this is the only thing stopping me adding at least a sub to the boot & upgrading the front speakers. I think rear speakers are less of an issue than some may think, as some who have them have said the benefits of having them are minimal. The benefits are just not worth the cost & inconvenience of running all the cables IMO.

Breaking warranty is a big no-no for me on a brand new car. Some issues could be expensive to fix & as I've mentioned before (I think in this thread somewhere), garages will go out of their way to avoid warranty claims if they can. By removing trim and adding wiring all the way to the back to the car you are basically voiding any warranty to do with electrical systems for most of the car.

 

[jeffUK]

Think they'd have the same attitude if the existing speakers were swapped out, without touching the wiring?

 

[Kansalis]

Think they'd have the same attitude if the existing speakers were swapped out, without touching the wiring?

Well, if they found that it had been done who knows, but in all likelihood no-one is going to be checking behind the door trims to look at speakers unless it's a speaker fault. I'd say this would be the "safest" upgrade, albeit a small difference. I don't find the speakers too bad to be honest but if I were hypothetically going to the trouble of installing an audio upgrade I'd swap them out.

What I haven't seen anyone discussing is the possibility of replacing the center speaker on the dash with a sub... I wonder how much space is under there. If I turn my music up very loud, that's the first speaker that struggles with bass I think.