My number just came up and I purchased a 12GB Green MK2.

I am planning to install it into my 1997 VW Jetta. I would like to make it as stock as possible, no new speakers, minimal amp etc..

Any suggestions for amps? 4 or 6 channel (for stock speaker set up)

Wiring suggestions/comments/previous installs?

I will post detailed pics of the installation when I go through it!!

thanks

I would like to make it as stock as possible, no new speakers, minimal amp etc..

here



tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

How very true!

I myself have a very nice Home theatre system with a powered 12" sub that really makes the system worth it.

And while I do plan to purchase a Bazooka tube one day, I felt that my money was better spent first on the MK2.

John

Well after an agonizing week of work interrupted plans to install my MKII it is finally installed in my Jetta.

First impressions WOW this was worth the expense and wait.

As stated earlier I did a minimal installation, just the MKII and a power amp. The factory speakers were in good shape. Amp went under the rear seat (yes yes yes there's not a lot of ventilation, but this is a very low power amp, and after two hours of heavy bass at high levels with the seat down the amp was cold to the touch) Of course I don't officially endorse this installation if you do it and it melts your rear seat

Here are my install details:

Materials

MKII (of course)
Kenwood KAC-648S Power amp 35 Watts x 4
Monster Cable BA-P100 Basic 100 Watt Power kit
Monster Cable 5 Meter Interlink MicroXLN 4ch line feed
Radio Shack Tap-In Squeeze Connectors 64-3053
Radio Shack 18 gauge Squeeze barrel connectors
Radio Shack 18 gauge spade connectors
8 ft high quality speaker cable (yup only 8 feet total!)

The Hack (ahh.. installation I mean)

We routed the red power cable through the hood release cable grommet. This was accessed by removing the fuse panel cover, and following the stiff release cable up to the firewall.
Once the grommet is pulled off from the hood side you can feed the short end through to the battery. This was not easy as the grommet had some sealant in it. Once fit back into place the rest of the power cable was routed through to the rear seat via the passenger side door kicks/cable troughs. You can pry them up with a minimal amount of effort and some sweat. Once opened up there is a TON of room to route the cable. It was pulled to the middle of the flipped up rear seat.

Pull the head unit and route the interconnect and remote power on cable up to the head unit DIN space from under the dash. You can fit your hand into the space up to the back of the head unit (very tight squeeze) I also ran an RCA to headphone cable to run an aux. CD player or whatever, easier to do it now then later.

Then run the interconnect cable and the remote power on cable through the drivers side cable trough to the rear seat.

Then with the factory head unit pulled I used the squeeze connectors to jump the front speaker runs through to the rear speaker runs at the factory connector. No need to remove the factory plug!

At the rear seat find the cable run going to the trunk and locate the rear speaker runs. It's a black thick shiny cable. If your not sure you can see what the cable looks like at the rear speakers.

Snip the cable in half under the rear seat and strip back enough casing to allow you to splice in the speaker cable to reach the amp. This allows you to use the rear speaker runs to power the front speakers.

Drill a hole to mount the grounding strap and attach spade connectors to the power,remotes,ground and speaker wires.

The amp is then mounted with sheet metal screws in the center of the pan with the gain controls facing the passenger side.

Back to the head unit. Using a sowing needle release the constant power spade (memory wire) from the factory plug (insert the needle down the left side front of the spade and it will pull right out) do the same for the ignition sense and swap them as discussed HERE

Pull a connector pin out of the EMPEG provided connector and butt splice the remote power on cable to the lead of this pin. Then insert the pin in to the VW connector in the correct spot.

Now you just need to CAREFULLY hook up the back of the sled and carefully feed all of this back into the TIGHT din space. Making sure to pull the connectors under the built in VW sled. Especially if you want to install the tuner module without pulling the whole thing out again.

Then hook up your battery cable and hope you got it all right!

I'll post pics when I get a chance. If any one wants.

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That was a fantastic post, thanks! Lots of great information for anyone installing into a Jetta. Good to see that you took care of the power wire swapping ahead of time instead of discovering it the hard way.

And I liked your stunt with using the rear speaker wires to do the run to the fronts.

I did something similar in my Honda. In the dash, at the factory connector, using the crutchfield wiring adapter, I jumpered the rear speaker wires to the front speaker wires. Then in the trunk, I connected my amp's front speaker outputs to the rear speaker connectors. Then ran the amp's rear speaker outputs directly to the speakers with my own cable. This saved one set of wire runs through the already cramped tunnel between the front and back.

___________
Tony Fabris

All i have to say is "TUBES ARE BAD"
BAD BAD BAD.. here's why..
look at a pipe organ.. how does it work? resonating frequencies.. and that's the problem with tubes, they resonate, so you get these nasty high spots.. they're just bad..
personaly, I have a JL 12W6 with an Xtant amp (175w @ 3ohm)
in a nice thick 1.25 cu/ft box, it's a standard prisim shape, and has aprox 2 pounds of fill. it sounds great, no resonating. I think i would prefer a boston competitor, with a pasive radiator, but i don't have the money right now :(

on the jetta.. I love my 2000, and it was very easy to install on.. the speaker layout is much more sensable in the 2000, (i'm still trying to figure out what's up with the 2 different angles on the dash tweeter mounts on the v3 jettas)

12gig green mk2 -- 080000125

Wow, wish I had been able to read this before I installed my Mk 1 way back when. Would have saved me one run of wiring, with the front-rear speaker trick. Ah well. Personally I have a 94 Golf, and the only other trick I might mention is this:
On the 94 model the glove box is where the air bag is on later models. I don't know how hard the air bag is to remove, but the glove box is a piece of cake. Removing it makes accessing everything required behind the dash much much easier. If you can, try it.

Removing the airbag isn't a great idea; it is explosive, after all. On my A3 GTI, access to the DIN slot is considerably easier if you remove the rest of the front panel controls.

1. Remove the ashtray
2. Pop off the fascia around the climate controls using a flat blade screwdriver
3. Remove six philips screws securing the electronic AC controls, lighter, and frame around the climate controls. Pull that part forward a little and let it hang down in front of the dash.
4. Push the three climate control knobs back a touch and then down into the space vacated by the ashtray and lighter.

This gives you access to the bottom of the DIN slot. From there, it's relatively simple to thread supply wires down to either footwell, and from there to the kick panels and the rear of the car.

I was trying to work out a way to hang the empeg under the knee bolster in the passenger side, because I need to keep AM capability in my headend for road closure information (shout out to Grass Valley and highway 49.) That doesn't look too likely at this point; the enclosure I'm using just doesn't work without unduly cramping the passenger's toe room. So it goes. Guess I'll just have to wait for the AM/FM tuner module, and then grit my teeth and install heavier amplification and subwoofers. Oh, the trial.

(shout out to Grass Valley and highway 49.)

Back at ya.

Where are you, anyway?

___________
Tony Fabris

Palo Alto or Truckee, depending on the temperature and time of year. Pirelli Winter 210A's are my friend.

Ah, a 'boarder, I take it.

It's kind of a shame, here I am in Grass Valley, only about an hour away from some great slopes, and I haven't been skiing since I was in high school. I gotta do something about that.

___________
Tony Fabris