2000 VW Cabrio

Gear questions, specifically aimed at Dominic or anyone working in an installation shop:
So my wife and I scraped our pennies together to buy a Mk II, having been quite pleased with our Mk I. The Mk I was installed in my 94 Golf by me, and is working quite well. However, my wife's 2000 Cabrio GLX is another matter. Between the leather, air bag, and premium sound system, I'm planning on having a pro do the installation.
Here are my questions:
The owner's manual makes reference to a subwoofer. I can't really tell if there is one hidden someplace or not. If it's there, it obviously needs more power, or is too small for it's job. Can anyone speak authoritatively about what the 2000 Cabrio has in it, and what my best options for an amp and a sub are? Obviously space is a bit cramped in the Cabrio, but it has the potential for very nice sound, if my Golf is any indication.
Thanks!
sheetzam

I have a 2000 Jetta, if they have similar systems I can help you. The Jetta has a stock deck, amp in trunk, cd changer in trunk, with monsoon sound.

Thanks
CT

I believe it is the same system. I'm suprised there is an amp in the trunk, I'll look for it. Any more details you could provide would be helpful.

I think Jetta is called Bora in europe

Ok, go figure. No amp in trunk, and I don't have the spiffy little tool to pull the head unit out and see what it's got on the back of it. I believe that the 2000 Cabrio still uses the 1999 sound system, so if anyone has details on that...

In reply to:

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I believe that the 2000 Cabrio still uses the 1999 sound system

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Well, I have a 1999 Golf Cabriolet 2.0 Sunshine edition, leather, quad airbags and six speaker setup. The factory stereo was a Blaupunkt Biarritz RDM 169 (I think, it's in the neighbour's car at the moment, so I can't check).

The rear speakers are meant to be extra bassy, but they're pretty piss poor. Now that I've got decent kit installed I can really tell the difference.

Any questions, just ask. The battery for the digital camera is in the charger and I'll be taking pictures this afternoon. I'll post the URL here when I've done it.

Nick.


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18Gb blue - s/n 080000299 (original queue position 8724)

http://www.debau.ch/empeg/

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18Gb blue - s/n 080000299 (original queue position 8724)

Neat pictures. I love what's playing on the Empeg in the close-up shot.

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Tony Fabris

http://www.debau.ch/empeg/

Thank you for the very nifty empeg remote primer. Maybe now I'll be able to get up the courage to try mine out!

tanstaafl.



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

Thanks for the pics. So I guess you just replaced the original system completely? For budget reasons I was hoping to avoid this, but so it goes. Nice place for the amp, I will probably use that myself.

I just finished my install in my 2000 Jetta / Bora. with the factory Monsoon system. Here is what I found out:

The ISO connector works great with the empeg. However the ignition sense and the memory wire are reversed in the VW harness. I fixed this by reversing the wires in the empeg harness. A small pair of needle nose from the back of the plug worked great. best all no wire cutting anywhere.

The system has an amp in the trunk, which takes speaker level inputs, which means I could not use the stock amp. So I ran 2 pairs of RCA's up the passanger side, as well as speaker wire to the front doors from the trunk on each side. I also ran a power wire down the drivers side up thru a small gromett in the firewall right by the brake booster. (again no drilling or cutting)

The stock amp uses connecters that I've never seen. I made a pin out diagram. I'll post it if anyone needs it. Basically all 8 speakers come back to the amp. I doubt there are crossovers in the doors. It would make sense that they are in the amp. All speakers tested between 3.5 and 5.4 ohms.

I used some 24awg speaker wire with soldered ends flattened with a hammer (to make mini spade connectors) to tap into the end of the connector. I also added a 10uF capacitor to the tweeters. ( to act as a 6dB / octave xover) The tweeter and midrage from each door are wired together and run into the new amp.

Result, the thing sounds great. and I didn't have to drop any more money on door speakers. (but I did run the wire up to the front doors planning on it) and I didn't have to cut any wires, which means I'll be able to drop the OEM system back into place.

If you have anyquestions, drop me a note.. I'll take some pictures when I get a chance.

paul

I've got a question , a very intriguing one:
When I looked at your cabrio, I realized it had those new headlights from the Golf IV. So, i assumed it was a fourth generation Cabrio, too. But when I looked at your dashboard... that's a Golf III's dashboard, for sure!
I am very confused, I know Cabrios are different in many ways from normal Golfs, and I don't have any experience with Golf cabrios, so would anyone tell me if new cabrios retain last generation's dashboards? Or is there any other explanation to this?
Love Golfs, any generation - but Golf IV is the best hatchback ever built.

I am still waiting for your explanation, Debauch... I like going to details... and when somEthing Golf-related leaves me confused, I get very excited and it doesn't decay until I understand it. So please please an explanation!!

Personally, now owning a Golf III and a 2000 Cabrio, it appears the Cab is a bastardization of the III and the IV. It definitely has the IIIs interior, sound system, mechanicals, suspension, et al., but has the IVs front sheet metal, lights, instrument lighting scheme, and trunk mechanism. That is, the license plate is in the bumper, and there is a handle in the hatch to open the trunk. However, the handle doesn't appear to do anything other than act as a lifting mechanism. That is, pulling up on the handle doesn't unlatch it, you have to do that elsewhere.
Anyway, the point is, the 2000 Cabrio, at least in the states, uses the Golf/Jetta III interior, and more to the point, that models stereo equipement. So, it looks like (when the tuner finally arrives) I will be replacing the head unit, cd changer, and installing a new amp. There is no amp currently beyond what the head unit supplies. However, apparently (reading the propoganda) the head unit has a sub-out which I do not believe is being used.
And you are right, the stok system sounds pretty bad, considering it's the top of the line as far as the Cabrio goes. I yearn for the day I can finally install our Mk2.

You're right. It was already said that the Golf 2000 Convertible isn't a real Golf IV. The technique, interior etc is all from the Golf III. It was also said that there will come a real Golf IV Convertible but I don't really know when and this was in the very beginning of the Golf IV so I'm not too sure that they still plan a new Golf IV Conv.. As they have an upgraded Passat and Audi A3 and the new Audi A2 now it'll take another while (maybe 1/2 a year or a year) till they come up with a new designed model...

TeeMcBee
Got my Mk2! # 080000143

I'll have to make a couple of corrections to your thinking, I took apart the monsoon amplifier, it has only 4 power transitors, meening only 4 channels of output, no electronic crossover. and there are no large cap/coils necessary for crossovers. as far as I can tell with my xtant attached, there _ARE_ crossovers in the door panels.. I havn't taken them apart to confirm that tho. :(

I did have to cut one wire on the ISO connector, that was the pin next to the ignition wire.. the jetta provides 2 ignition lines, the 2nd pin is supposed to be remote amp activator.. since the monsoon is ignition activated, there is no amp line. :(

but i agree with you on the fact that it was really nice to not have to do a lot of drilling (had to drill mounts for my huge amp, but that was it) the jetta was fairly well designed.. cept for getting the deck in/out.. but that makes it more theft proof :)

12gig green mk2 -- 080000125