Replaced Headunit and Speakers

I replaced the head unit in my VW T4 today with a middle of the road Kenwood MP3 / CD player. It was very straightforward to fit as it uses a standard ISO connecter and plugs straight into the VW T4 loom. The only modifications I had to make was to connect the rear speaker cables to the Kenwood loom, I'd already run through the roof and down the right hand piller. I also changed the wiring on the headunit so it would work even when the ignition key is removed.


I then replaced the speakers in the dash with some two way Kenwood units. To be honest the standard speakers didn't sound to bad but there was a noticable improvement to the midrange and treble after adding the Kenwoods. You have to carefully prise the speaker grills off the dash and the original speakers pull out with a bit of effort. I did have to cut off the VW speaker connectors and solder on new speaker connectors for the Kenwood speakers as they were different.

My rear speakers are 3 way 6 x 9 Infinity units mounted in the bottom panel of the rear barn doors as this gives them a good size enclosure to work in. I'd previously sound deadened the door panels and added plywood inserts supported my Kingspan insulation and expanding foam. These made a very rigid mounting for the speakers to work from which is important if you want to get good sound quality.

Since the speakers were a little to deep for the rear doors I made some spacers out of 6mm thick perspex which was laser cut by my friend from a CAD drawing I made. I used 3 spacers per speaker to bring the speakers forward by just over half an inch. They match the shape of the speakers so well you'd think they are hard to see.

I wasn't sure how good it would sound using the headunits built in amplifier and was pleasantly suprised when I fired up the unit. There was plenty of bass and I put this down to the six by nines having a good size enclosure to work in. The sound was also very very clear and pleasing to the ear and because I'd reinforced the rear doors there were no rattles at all. When you cranked up the volume it was easily loud enough on half volume to completely remove any road or engine noise that the T4 could muster.

This is good as I can now avoid having separate amps to drive the component speakers and a subwoofer. This is good in this vehicle as it means I will save space, weight and power.

One addition I will probably make though in the future is to add pockets to the front doors and good quality component speakers but this can wait.