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This is such a great idea. I’m going to have to do it!

I think what I’ll do is actually replace the existing floor panel (removable floor piece..whatever you want to call it) with MDF so that it’s actually part of the subwoofer box. This will give me a little extra thickness to work with, because instead of the box having to fit under the floor, it will be part of the floor. I’ll just throw some black utility carpet on top of it.

So the top part of the box will be the floor, and then there will be a box on the underside of that, with the sub facing downwards.

To allow the sound to actually get out, I’ll cut some slots on each side of the floor piece. This will be under the carpet, so not visible.

It might be a while before I do this, because I need to wait for the US border to open, so I can buy the subwoofer without paying three times the price. I’ll post pics when done.
 
Just thought I would throw my hat into the ring here since this thread helped me a lot with the planning and design on this.

Because I have an alltrack with the spare tire I ended up going for two 8 inch 2x4ohm subwoofers wired to 2ohms each. they are rated at 250w RMS so I was a little worried about them being under-powered, but I had an extra amp and everything to install I decided it was worth the risk and if the stock amp couldn't keep up then I would install the amp for the subs and a dsp.

THANKFULLY! that was NOT needed and this set-up with the stock amp gets plenty loud and hits deep!

over all I think I spent $150-$160 in speakers, parts and materials. I little more than some were looking to spend but the extra oomf is worth it to me

box is ported to roughly 34hz and is about 1.7cft. I still have the design if anyone wants to copy it.

 
neither cheap or easy

Looking at most of these post, and they don't seem cheap or easy to me which is the heading of this tread. Just want to improve the bass in my 2016 Tiguan Fender system. Can't I just swap the speaker in the bassman to a better one? Or, perhap use a similar system from dynaudio or bose and change the wiring? I like most of the ideas here but also like the stock setup, just not the sound. So looking for a "cheap and easy way" to make some improvement, understand that cheap may mean no boom but want at least a little rattle.

Also my radio setup does not have a separate subowoofer control. Is there a flash to the radio to add this functionality to existing unit?
 
Looking at most of these post, and they don't seem cheap or easy to me which is the heading of this tread. Just want to improve the bass in my 2016 Tiguan Fender system. Can't I just swap the speaker in the bassman to a better one? Or, perhap use a similar system from dynaudio or bose and change the wiring? I like most of the ideas here but also like the stock setup, just not the sound. So looking for a "cheap and easy way" to make some improvement, understand that cheap may mean no boom but want at least a little rattle.

Also my radio setup does not have a separate subowoofer control. Is there a flash to the radio to add this functionality to existing unit?
I don't see what's not cheap or easy with most of the solutions here. It's basically, buy a (pretty inexpensive) sub and a box (or build your own), as well as the OEM connectors for maximum ease of installation. Put sub in box, plug into stock wiring. It requires no modification to the factory wiring, is completely returnable to stock, and requires no new amplifiers, wire runs, etc. Sure, it's not a pre-fab drop-in solution. But nothing like that exists for our car, so what do you want?
 
I have a Golf R with the Fender system and factory 6" sub.

My plan is to use the AK box and aftermarket sub, powered by by the factory amp and if that isn't sufficient to then run power and get a dedicated sub amp. With that plan in mind, what sub-woofer should I buy? Something that is well suited to the factory amp but is also ready to accept more power from an additional amp?

Also do I need to get a DSP or something similar in either case?
 
Ok so I bought the AK box and the first sub they recommended the Infinity Reference 1200s which only has two input connections and a switch to to select 2 or 4 ohms. How do I wire it?

Or did I buy the wrong sub??
 
Should you swap the stock 6" Fender driver for the Memphis PRX6D2?

I've heard that someone replaced the sub with this one...
Memphis 15-PRX6D2 6.5" 150W RMS Dual 2-Ohm Power Reference Series Suwboofer
It's a tight fit, I believe a spacer was needed and the rubber boots on the magnet needed to be removed for it to fit.
I would be interested to hear how it compared in the OEM enclosure, compared to the stock subwoofer.
Should you swap the stock 6" Fender driver for the Memphis PRX6D2?

Short answer? No. Edit: Well PwrUsr has gone and changed my mind. He tested it and found good results. See his post just after mine.

I would NOT use this Memphis sub IF you intend to keep the stock VW Fender Bassman plastic enclosure. Based on the Memphis PRX6D2 T/S parameters here, this Memphis sub needs 9.25cuft to achieve an F3 tuning of 63Hz in a sealed enclosure. Since we know the VW Fender Bassman plastic enclosure is less than 0.5cuft, that will drive the F3 well over 100hz for this Memphis sub which means you're going to have the subwoofer EQ at +9 in order to hear it well enough. Not only that, the Memphis sub, on the surface appears to have a heavier paper pulp cone and beefier rubber surround so its moving mass is higher thus the rather low sensitivity of 82dB (presumed 2.83v/1m). In other words it's going to need more power in order to achieve the same relative SPL in your car when compared to the stock 6" subwoofer driver. The stock subwoofer driver has a light pressed paper cone and lighter foam (foam-rubber?) surround which translates into lower moving mass thus higher sensitivity which would mean it needs less power to achieve the same in car SPL. (Since I don't have the T/S parameters for the stock driver, take what I say with a grain of salt). For these reasons I think it's a poor choice for a sub driver replacement in the stock Fender Bassman enclosure.

However...If someone decides to buy this Memphis sub here are some things to help you prepare for installation.

Fender sub measured the cutout = 5-11/16" diameter
Fender sub measured depth = 2-7/8"

Using the Memphis sub would require trimming the interior support ribs by about 0.20-0.23" and removing the two plastic alignment pins. The Memphis sub will drop right into the hole as it's mounting diameter is a bit smaller than stock. Hopefully the 4 mounting holes are close enough to use but that might need work too. The stock plastic shroud cover may not fit over the Memphis sub. See images below for additional reference. Good luck and I'd love to hear someone's feedback if they do go this route.

Audio equipment Loudspeaker Car subwoofer Metal Carbon
Finger Office ruler Nail Ruler Thumb
Machine Metal Engineering Steel Household appliance accessory
Blade Tool Metal Kitchen utensil Steel
Plumbing fixture Sink Carnivore Tap Metal
60778

(If you're wondering -- the stock VW Fender Bassman enclosure does NOT come with any polyfill -- I had a pillow which needed disemboweling.)
 
FWIW, I'm currently running that memphis sub in my fender enclosure. Bass quantity is similar to the stock sub... However, the quality of the bass has noticably improved.

This to me was the perfect upgrade from the stock sub. I have a R with a shallower floor under the false floor since I didn't want to give up the spare tire and spare tool kit I at this time only had the option to put the flat box above taking up often used cargo space, or go back to the stock sub.

Long term goal is to get a fiberglass custom enclosure to get fitted with a shallow sub in the driver's side rear cavity. Thinking a 8" maybe 10" shallow sub would be the best bet.

Also would like to upgrade the speakers in the car to the Dynaudio speakers/tweeters from a European golf. Then code the stereo system to use the speakers. This would be the best OEM+ option to get the best sound out of the speaker system 😎👍
 
I have a 4 ohm DVC sub. Could I run the sub parallel to 2 ohms and then connect only one of the outputs from the Fender amp?
I've been trying to research this, but I can't find anything for when the amp has two outputs. I read that you shouldn't connect two channels to the DVC because they will be competing with each other, is this accurate? Also, is it possible to hook up both channels from the amp to a single parallel connection on the sub?
 
FWIW, I'm currently running that memphis sub in my fender enclosure. Bass quantity is similar to the stock sub... However, the quality of the bass has noticeably improved.
This to me was the perfect upgrade from the stock sub... 😎👍
I'm glad someone tested the Memphis sub even though I advised against it. ;) Experimentation is KING! Now the Vdub community has another viable option. (y)

I didn't have the spare tire in my Mk7R - just the Fender sub. Ultimately I went with the shallow box from AK-Audio and the 12" Rockford Fosgate DVC 2ohm sub. Now I need to learn how to change the Subwoofer EQ curve that reduces sub output as volume increases.

The Dynaudio upgrade is something I didn't know about and apparently is gonna be my next rabbit hole to jump into!! :ROFLMAO: (here comes a couple hours googling and researching)

When you do the custom fiberglass subwoofer definitely drop a post here with pictures!
 
I have a 4 ohm DVC sub. Could I run the sub parallel to 2 ohms and then connect only one of the outputs from the Fender amp?
I've been trying to research this, but I can't find anything for when the amp has two outputs. I read that you shouldn't connect two channels to the DVC because they will be competing with each other, is this accurate? Also, is it possible to hook up both channels from the amp to a single parallel connection on the sub?
Tentatively I'd say yes.

With a dual voice coil setup it's hard to say exactly how the stock system is wired. (maybe someone has a schematic they can post here)

My first hunch is the stock dual 2ohm voice coils are wired in series for a single 4ohm load on the sub amp. Another possibility is they are run in parallel for a 1ohm load (this scenario seems less likely for a stock system). The last option is that the stock system has two power amp channels, each powering one of the dual 2ohm voice coils. If the last scenario is correct, your idea would work but you'll have half the power available to your subwoofer from the stock system. This would mean the sub will be down in output by 3dB.
 
Update : If anyone is interested
I tried installing my 4 ohm DVC sub with one channel connected to the sub (wired in parallel at 2 ohms) and then with both channels connected (sub wired in parallel at 2 ohms). It seems like there was little to no difference.

The sub is wired in parallel inside the box and I didn't feel like rewiring it to test one channel to each coil. It is definitely an upgrade over the Fender sub. If I find some time I'll try one channel to each coil.
 
Long term goal is to get a fiberglass custom enclosure to get fitted with a shallow sub in the driver's side rear cavity. Thinking a 8" maybe 10" shallow sub would be the best bet.

Also would like to upgrade the speakers in the car to the Dynaudio speakers/tweeters from a European golf. Then code the stereo system to use the speakers. This would be the best OEM+ option to get the best sound out of the speaker system 😎👍
In my mind, this is pretty close to what I would ultimately like to do as well - remove the stock Fender sub and build a fiberglass enclosure to fit a ~10-12" sub in it's place, (using the OEM amp so it's easily removable/swappable to OEM). My reality is that with kids and everyday life to contend with, I will probably never actually get around to doing this. :LOL::cautious:
 
I just used a Line Output Converter to take the factory sub wires into speaker level inputs and convert them to low level into an amp and sub that I have had laying around forever. Super simple and it auto turns on when it senses audio signal and also outputs a remote turn on signal to turn the amp on so I only had to run a single power feed back to the trunk. A 200A anderson plug allows quick removal if I need cargo capacity.
 
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