Hi all, Just wanted to share with you my fix to the well talked about superb lack of bass from the stock speakers, I hope this helps some folk.

 

I didn't want anything massive to take up boot space and I also didn't want a big banging sub that will rattle teeth, but it can if you do it right!

All I was after was something that tucked away nicely and didn't hinder the use of my car but gave a bit more bass to the lacking stock speakers, I also didn't want to spend loads of money, so I opted for this set up, it looks nice and tidy and it sounds amazing, not boy racer bass but you can have it like that if you want to play with the settings and fit a bigger amp and woofer, but this is fine for me, more than enough to be honest!

 

I used a Juice 900 watt amplifier with a Juice 1200 watt subwoofer, both bought from Car audio centre for just over £100, the amp was bridgeable as I only want to fit one speaker, this way it gets the sound from the left and right audio supply.

 

I had to remove both rear seat airbags (bolsters) and all the trim in the boot, both sides as I wanted to tap in to the rear speaker wires before they entered the door, all the trim and luggage rails had to come out and I managed to find a 'engine running' live from the caravan electrics, but I will be upgrading that to it's own ignition live when I get chance and a better gauge wire! The earth I picked up on the offside of the boot, as pictured, seems to be OK, but again I will be upgrading that to the better gauge wire as I get it.

 

I tapped into both sides speaker wires and soldered good joints with heat shrink, as I only want to do this once. I then had to fit an LOC (Line Out Converter) because the Columbus unit does have a line out but it's a bit of a faff to get sound from that to the boot, so I opted for the easier route, the LOC gives the same effect anyway.

 

I have located the custom made subwoofer box from a company called 'Basser' who are based in Poland, they sell these on Ebay UK too at a cost of £97, in the left hand side of the boot, I have lost the small compartment that this takes up, but I never use it anyway, the amp an LOC are located in the right hand side compartment, again not used for much, but it's all nice and tucked out of the way.

 

Finally, I installed the sub with some sound damping material and put a cover over it to protect it from whatever I have in the boot from damaging it.

 

There were a lot more steps to this fit, but I have kept it short, but if you want more information just ask.

 

I hope this helps someone as I have read lots of other posts on here and no-one has really come up with the solution that I was after, and I am sure I am not the only one who wants nice sound but without losing the useable space in the boot!

 

It sounds amazing, the difference is noticable even at low levels, I listen to all sorts of music, from Rock, Punk etc. to Reggae and Ska, the 80's and Country, and some wierd stuff for the nipper, and it all sounds... well..... Superb!!!

 

More information can be provided to those who want it, including model numbers for the equipment I bought and the colours of wires they are looking for when searching for sound in the vehicle and other wiring!

Thanks for reading folks!

Edited 5 August, 20205 yr by wig

Nice write up and lovely fit without taking away space from the car. Are there any other places you can tap into the speaker wires you are aware of near the front of the car?

Cheers bud, (local lad I note!!) took a while but well worth it!

 

As for picking up a signal from the speakers at the front, it depends on where you want your feeds to go, you could tap in behind the radio itself, right off the back, or you could always tap in to the left and right at the door shuts, haven't stripped that bit out myself, but there will be wires going into the doors, so you could possibly tap in behind the kick panels, at a guess? If you wanted to know the wire colours I could look them up for you, I have a copy of the genuine VAG manual for most Skoda's with complete wiring diagrams, what they use at the main stealers, I found it to be perfectly accurate so I didn't have to mess around testing all the wires for the correct ones.

 

What set up are you looking at?

On 07/08/2020 at 22:05, WIG said:

Cheers bud, (local lad I note!!) took a while but well worth it!

 

As for picking up a signal from the speakers at the front, it depends on where you want your feeds to go, you could tap in behind the radio itself, right off the back, or you could always tap in to the left and right at the door shuts, haven't stripped that bit out myself, but there will be wires going into the doors, so you could possibly tap in behind the kick panels, at a guess? If you wanted to know the wire colours I could look them up for you, I have a copy of the genuine VAG manual for most Skoda's with complete wiring diagrams, what they use at the main stealers, I found it to be perfectly accurate so I didn't have to mess around testing all the wires for the correct ones.

 

What set up are you looking at?

Yes we are neighbours it seems. 

Also Octavia and S2 owners also 

I have one of those round sub enclosures self powered can fit under the front pax seat. There is loads of room under them seats. 

 

So taping into the front left side is maybe the way for me so Colours would be nice if you have them. Also where do you get the blue cable sub on type signal from. Used to be called electric aerial signal  back in the day. 

Here is the wiring diagram as promised for the front louspeakers. It depends where you are going to pick up the feed from as to what colours the wires are as they change from when they come out the radio to when they enter the door. If you go from the 28 pin connector at the A pillar (T28a) before it goes into the door you will be looking for Negative wire of Brown and Black and a positive of Blue and Black, after T28a (inside the door) they will be Blue and Brown and Blue respectively, hope that makes sense. Sorry if you already know how to read current flow charts like this, I don't know how advanced you are, but best explain it for others who might not anyway.

 

As I said previously, the wiring colour co-ordination was spot on for my car for both rear speakers before they disappeared into the rear doors, hopefully it will be just as perfect for your motor, before making any final joints it will be worth just connecting it up roughly first to make sure they are the correct wires!!

 

As for the blue remote wire, I haven't used one, yet, as I got my electrical feed from an engine running voltage control module for the caravan electrics, so it switches off when I stop the engine and powers up again on start up of the engine. I might have to change this in the future as I have a small issue of it going into protect mode at higher levels, but I will try installing heavier gauge power and earth cables first.

 

There is a remote wire on the back of the radio, so I am lead to believe from googleing RNS510 wiring and looking at some pictures on there. Am I right in thinking that you have a columbus fitted to your S2? If so, I'll try and find out from my current flow charts where you might be able to pick it up without having to remove the HU. 👍

 

 

Edited 9 August, 20205 yr by WIG

https://pinoutguide.com/Car-Stereo-Volkswagen-Porsche/Seat_RNS510_Quadlock_Car__pinout.shtml no sign of a remote wire, but it would be interesting to see if Connector block B Pin 10 (CD changer switched positive) could be used as a remote wire? A CD changer will have it's own 12v feed, surely? 

On 05/08/2020 at 23:54, WIG said:

superb lack of bass from the stock speakers

I assume you are referring to the superb without the sound system?

I had to turn the bass down on mine with the sound system.

12 hours ago, superbdreams said:

I assume you are referring to the superb without the sound system?

I had to turn the bass down on mine with the sound system.

Yes, for some reason the sound system was not a standard fitment in the elegence range it seems. I had been looking for my superb for years but couldn't find one with everything I wanted, also had to be the 170 and 4x4 estate and ofcourse the right price and mileage, so I had to compromise a bit, like the auto dimming rear view mirror that was standard in my octi elegence's, little things like that, but the speakers in the S2 without the sound system are good all rounders, plenty of high and mid range sound, but the bass was lacking a bit too much for me, again compared to the octi's, saying that - upgrading the octi's stream head unit with the bolero's was a great idea as the overall sound, and bass, was much better yet they aren't equipped with a sound system either, so the potential could be there in the standard speakers in the S2, maybe they just need a better setup behind them? For most people it will probably be enough and just fine as they are, but we are all different.

Nice write up. Where did you get your power supply from? 

Heard loads of horror stories of trying to get through from the battery. 

Im just looking to tap into the back of the head unit using a loc run a simple amp and sub in boot setup

Hi bud, I have a towbar fitted to mine with an switched live for the battery charging on the 'van, so I tapped into that as it is only live when the engine is running as I don't have a remote lead from the HU. When I get round to it I will be going direct from the battery with a digital voltage switch and dedicated heavy gauge wire as the amp don't like it at higher volumes and cuts out - looks like the power supply isn't as good as I thought, to be fair it is only to provide a trickle charge to a leisure battery, but for what I use it for it's ok for the time being.

 

I would always recommend going straight from the battery with a good fuse and appropriate gauge cable for your amp.

 

Hope that answers your question mate!

Can i get the wiring colours please if i tap in the same place you did