[asusc]

I ordered these a couple weeks ago and finally had a chance to install them.

They are getting installed on my 2015 S 2 door GTI, which is not a Fender system.

TL;DR review = these things are awesome. I'm super happy with the purchase. They installed quickly and easily and are a major upgrade over the stock speakers. Granted, I'm a 31 year old male, so probably I care more about sound quality than deep, door rattling bass like sound younger kids might. I'm still not sure if I'll end up adding a sub or not, but for now, these will keep me happy for a while. Two thumbs up and would recommend.

Full review: I PM'd Soumatrix on VWvortex to setup an order and they got back to me fast. I decided to go with the Xtase as I figured if I was going to take the time to do it, I might as well go all out. They retail for $796 shipped from Soumatrix's website. I placed the order and in a few days had my stuff.

Lets start with what arrived:

Looks like each set comes with some sound deadening material, which I was not expecting, so that's a nice bonus.

Set of Xtase speakers.

Couple of extra panel clips (because you know you're going to break some) and rivets for the reinstall.

Now lets compare the Xtase to the OEM stock speakers.

The stock speaker is decent, but it clearly has a weak cone. The label indicates its 20W.

The Xtase is a big jump in quality. Much nicer cone and of course the added tweeter. The solidness of the speaker compared to stock is apparent as well.

Quality seals around the edges.

The magnet feels heavier (I should have weighed them for verification) and the label indicates 40W.

--

Install

Tools needed:

Trim removal tools
Hex ratchet set
Rivet gun
Flashlight
Drill and small drill bit
Pliers
Strong hands

Difficulty:

Easy to moderate, depending on experience

Time needed:

Two hours

--

Start with the front doors.

First remove the door pull covers by sliding in a trim tool and working your way down.

Remove the bolt here behind the door pull cover.

At the base of the door pull, there is another bolt that needs to be removed.

On the bottom of the door pull is this bolt. It does not need to be removed, just twisted 90 degrees so the door card can be removed.

Once the bolts are removed, start working your trim tool all the way around the door card and freeing the clips. Don't be scared to use a little force here. Once its loose, start pulling away with your hands.

After you've pulled the door card out, you'll need to disengage the tabs that supply power to the door locks and all the lights up front. I did not remove all of them, just enough for me to set the door card aside.

Now we've got access to the speaker.

Start drilling out the rivets. Once they've been drilled, remove them (be sure to remove any bits that have fallen into the door so they don't rattle. A magnet helps here. Pull out the OEM speaker.

Use the supplied padding, remove the sticker side, a place it behind where the speaker will be installed.

Take your rivet gun and use the supplied rivets to install the new Xtase speaker.

Cut the sound deadening material down to size.

I covered up any holes in the door. I'm sure pros could find better uses for this stuff, but I had absolutely no rattles after I buttoned everything up, so I'm happy with my placement.

Before you reinstall the door cards, double check and make sure the speakers work. Even with just two speakers installed, its a HUGE difference over stock. Carley Rae Jepson sounds fantastic. :laugh:

 

[asusc]

Onto the rears....

I'd assume on the 4 door Golf/GTI, the rears are exactly the same (or very similar) to the fronts. On the 2 door version, its pretty different, but still just as easy.

First you have to remove the rear seat. Take off the clips that I've pointed out with the red arrows. You'll then need to kinda pull up and push back slightly as the seat is held in with two more hooks in the front where the blue arrows are. Then tilt it back and pull forward and it will come right out.

Once the seat is out, start pulling at the door sill area until you've got that free. Be mindful not to tug, as it is connected by a VERY flimsy cable to illuminate the red LED strip. You'll be able to remove this connection clip later.

Then remove the plastic nut holding in the cupholder and pull it free.

Slide it around the seatbelt and remove it from the car.

This step might be unnecessary, but I went ahead and removed the seatbelt bolt to get it out of the way and give me some more room to work with.

Reach in, and you'll find the LED clip.

Now start to pull the door area free with your hands.

Once that is loose, the whole card can be removed with your hands easily.

The exposed speaker. Seems like its in it's own little plastic housing. Remove the foam insert.

Just like the fronts, drill out the rivets. There is already some padding behind this speaker, but I went ahead and added the Soumatrix padding as well. I didn't really see any holes to cover up with the deadening material, so I just added inside the box around the speaker.

Rivet in the new speaker and reinstall the door cards and you're good to go.


--


Ordering experience - I asked a few questions and got a response within a few hours. Placed my order the same day and it was shipped that afternoon. Doesn't get much better than that.

Packaging - Everything was packed really well, no chance of anything getting damaged in transit.

Install - I don't have a ton of experience with this kinda stuff, but I found it to be rather easy. It only took about 2 hours total, and that's with me stopping to document the process. I only broke one clip, which was no big deal because Soumatrix anticipated this and included several replacement OEM clips with my order.

Sound upgrade - I was happy with the stock speakers, but I knew there was a ton of room for improvement. The Xtase speakers have exceeded my expectations and now it sounds much better. Mid-range is where everything really shines. It's much louder without any distortion. The bass is deeper and crisp, without any rattles. I'm still not sure if the loss of the tweeters in the stock location makes any difference (as the tweeters are now in the door cards) but I'm not an audiophile. I'd guess that most people would be pretty happy with the upgrade over stock. The improvement is instant and very apparent.

I had a couple people at the shop come take a listen before and after install and every single one of them noted the improvement. I wasn't the only one that noticed an improvement even after just installing the two fronts.

Value - The upgrade is a little pricey at almost $800. I'm sure a traditional setup with better specs could be pieced together for similar or less money. But to me, the added premium was totally worth it so that I didn't have to run a ton of wires throughout the car and add aftermarket amps and power setups. On my old car, aftermarket stereo stuff took much too much space didn't look clean in my trunk. These Xtase speakers are full plug and play and any idiot could install them. This makes it a great setup for me, as it truly is an OEM+ upgrade, but I can see how some people will scoff at the price and would prefer something cheaper with more power like a traditional stereo upgrade. So really, thats going to have to be a personal decision for most on this upgrade.

 

[Carbon Grey Owner]

Thanks very informative and detailed good job I could really use your DIY :thumbup::thumbup:
To bad their offer for discount has expired. I will just wait for the next one. Hopefully soon.

 

[bbattle]

Thanks for the nice review. I've never seen rivets used to hold speakers before.

Amazon has these speakers in a set of four for $259

 

[Mike1082]

Great write-up OP, thanks!
Did you happen to take any pictures directly into the door speaker opening with the window down?
I know it does not interfere with these speakers, just wondering if the glass needs to be considered for clearance on these cars with any other speakers.

 

[EXxt]

Good review. At first I was like why are you taking the seats out then I saw you have a 2 door. So I can confirm that with the 4 door you don't need to remove the back seats.

 

[barbados11]

OP, looks like you got the 4 speaker Xtase which is $398 on Soumatrix's website. the 8 speaker kit lists for $796. Here's the link to the 4 speaker Xtase:

http://www.soumatrix.com/products/volkswagen-golf-speaker-upgrade-kits?variant=1234385707

Very nice review.

 

[asusc]

Amazon has these speakers in a set of four for $259

Good price, just keep in mind, you'll need to purchase 2 of those. Soumatrix considers each speaker as two speakers, as the tweeter is inside the woofer.

Great write-up OP, thanks!
Did you happen to take any pictures directly into the door speaker opening with the window down?
I know it does not interfere with these speakers, just wondering if the glass needs to be considered for clearance on these cars with any other speakers.

No, sorry. There is still considerable amount of room with the window down, but the glass does come down pretty deep.

OP, looks like you got the 4 speaker Xtase which is $398 on Soumatrix's website. the 8 speaker kit lists for $796. Here's the link to the 4 speaker Xtase:

http://www.soumatrix.com/products/volkswagen-golf-speaker-upgrade-kits?variant=1234385707

I actually got the 8 speaker kit. With the Soumatrix speakers, you don't get additional separate tweeters. It could be explained a little bit better on their website, but that's how it works:

"8 speakers (4 coaxial units), total 2 front & 2 rear units"

 

[barbados11]

Thanks OP. Now I get it.

 

[ortanc]

I'll install these in a 4 door in a couple of weeks, I'll provide the back photos

In related news...the handle covers look amazing!!. I saw the pictures in the original thread, but this ones look much better. Congratz. Count me in if by any chance you decide to go nuts and start taking orders.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[ortanc]

Changed a these w/this, lapsus


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[asusc]

In related news...the handle covers look amazing!!. I saw the pictures in the original thread, but this ones look much better. Congratz. Count me in if by any chance you decide to go nuts and start taking orders.

Thanks. I don't believe I'll be selling them. These particular ones were shipped off to a friend of mine and I'm going to make slightly different ones for myself, along with matching steering wheel trim and ebrake cover.

 

[ortanc]

Well...count me in if. Cheers!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Gensystem55]

Did you disconnect the tweeters in the A pillars? If so, do you have suggestions for getting at them. The Soumatrix install manual isn't nearly as clear and well illustrated as yours. Thanks for the posts.

 

[B_Dubasauras_Rex]

Great write up man! Can't beat plug n' play. And the door pulls look rad. :thumbup:

 

[asusc]

Did you disconnect the tweeters in the A pillars? If so, do you have suggestions for getting at them. The Soumatrix install manual isn't nearly as clear and well illustrated as yours. Thanks for the posts.

I did not, but I don't have any problems with how it sounds with them.

Very easy to unplug the A pillar tweeters as the A pillar just pulls right off with a trim tool. Takes about 5 minutes.

 

[Gensystem55]

Thanks for the information. I'm going to do it. Besides, its too wet to do much outdoors.

 

[matt_337]

Bookmarked. Thanks for the step by step. With the 30% sale going on right now and your step by step, I just purchased the xtase kit along with a tool kit. It came out to $585.xx shipped. I, too, am not looking for bass thumping but wanted something better than the plain system in my S model. :thumbup:

Got the 30% coupon code from this thread

 

[Gensystem55]

Matt, Can you give us updates on your install experience?

 

[asusc]

Matt, Can you give us updates on your install experience?

What exactly would you like updated? I pretty much covered everything in the original post and don't have anything to add.