[drphoto]

Ok, as some of you know I have a '12 VW Sportwagen. Love the car, hate the audio. Problem is, the front door speakers require a special very thin woofer and only ones that work are Focal and Morel and they are crazy expensive. Plus when you upgrade door speakers, you sort of have to do Dynamat, which isn't cheap either, so I figure between the speakers, new head unit and power amp (plus install parts) I'm looking at a lot of money.

But hey, back in college when I had my hot rod VW Bug, I put a pair of ADS 6"1/2 2 ways in the back (rear seat removed). With a 150 w/ch discrete component Mosfet amp....it sounded pretty great. Granted the sound stage was behind, but I could live with that. Problem was.....the weather extremes took it's toll and killed the speakers.

So I started to think, could I do the same idea in the wagon, but use an outdoor all weather speaker? I plan to buy a welded aluminum body brace that fits behind the rear seat. It ties the back of the car together to make the chassis more rigid. (plan to autocross race) I figure I could rig up some brackets to mount a pair of monitors to the brace. I can mount a power amp in the infloor storage space that is just behind the rear seat. I figure with a 6 1/2" or even larger woof, no need for sub in smallish car.

Ok so it will have the problem of sound coming from behind, but if it rocks, who cares? And should  be a lot less money. Not sure which speaker, there's JBL, Klipsch, PSB, and QSC so far to consider.

Any thoughts?

Oh....the brace is removable, in case I need to haul longer objects, I could leave slack in the speaker cables and lay on top of load...or rig up some sort of quick disconnect & remove all.

PS: link to brace if you can't visualize what I'm talking about....https://www.ecstuning.com/b-unibrace-parts/xb-rear-brace-black/xb.blk~uni/

[mcgsxr]

You could certainly put some 6x9's in boxes back there.

It would provide sound.  You may think it is OK, but I doubt it will be great. 

Will you still use the stock setup and add what you are considering, or is it replacing in total?

If I were going down this path, I for sure would add a sealed 8 woofer box to the full range boxes.  Might as well, and it will pay big dividends in bass.

[ArthurDent]

Given the plan to autocross anything is probably best made quick disconnect & removable. Or have some lockdown arrangement. You don't want hard, pointy objects flying around during competitions. 

[mcgsxr]

Right.  I was assuming the boxes were being firmly bolted to the cross member in the rear of the car.

I had a subwoofer box in my old BMW hatchback in the late 90's.

It would slide around during spirited driving.  I ended up with a piece of wood with industrial velcro on the bottom.  That held the box firmly in place.

For autocrossing you may want to make the audio removable, or really bolt it down.  I have never done it, so I don't know what the tech rules around that stuff are.

[Phil A]

In an old '95 2-door GMC Jimmy, I didn't want to spend a ton so I added a 70W amp and bandpass sub (which sat behind) the back seat and was easily removable.  Worked well for what the price was (I just left the stock cassette radio).  I seldom mess with car audio these days.

[coke]

What's your budget?  Something like this would be my suggestion.
https://www.qlogicenclosures.com/collections/q-logic-enclosures/volkswagen+jetta

[drphoto]

coke, thanks for the suggestion, that looks like a great solution, but they don't offer anything for the MK6 Golf. (my wagon, while called a Jetta in the States is actually a Golf, nothing in common with Jetta other than drive train)

In fact, they stop at the MK4, for both Golf and Jettas

I'd give it a try if they offered it.

Oh, budget......Prolly $1K total, head (head, amp, speakers) I could maybe adjust that up a bit, but I don't want to sink $2K or more in this, I'm not in the car that much. I'd rather spend car funds on go fast bits.