2016 Volkswagen Golf R Rebuild - Audiofrog, Brax, Helix, Illusion Audio

Here it is guys, my favorite (re) build to date, done in a 2016 VW Golf R. I say rebuild because the car came to me with an install done in it already. Problem is, it wasn't completely up to the owner, Mike, standards. Mike contacted me through DIYMA in the middle of last winter about doing the original install. Problem was, i had no time or space to do the install until the end of March. So, he took it to another shop who was able to do the install right away since he was sitting on gear. Mike is much like me. Perfection is everything, in all aspects. Sound, aesthetics, and integration. To most, the first install would have been more than enough. Not Mike though. Hes a whole different breed and wont settle. Hell, i'm sure he will even text me next week wanting to do more lol.

Equipment started off with an Audiofrog GB 3 way front stage, a Helix DSP Pro Mk2 with a Director, a Stereo Integrity BM mkiv sub, a pair of Alpine PDX F6 amps, and a JL Audio HD 750/1, with the OEM radio as a source. We kept a few things, and changed a few things. The final list is as follows.

. Fiio X5iii High-Res DAP coaxial out (sent right into the Helix) as source, with OEM radio as secondary source
. Helix DSP Pro Mk2 with a Director
. A pair of Brax MX4 amps
. Audiofrog GB10 tweeters
. Audiofrog GB25 midranges
. Audiofrog GB60 midbass
. A pair of Illusion Audio C10 subs

**NOTE**

All of the wiring, baffles, and other miscellaneous pieces that were previously done was re-used. Re-doing all of it just wasnt in the budget/time frame, and served almost no purpose.

***ANOTHER NOTE***

You guys are going to hate me, but ive been slacking really bad on getting photos. I guess when you get as busy as i have been the past 2 months, you kinda just forget. This is all i have.



https://i.imgur.com/mRUT2lc.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/x3gHNwC.jpg
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Here is the previous trunk install. Again, more than enough for the average person. Nothing crazy. Somewhat clean. Simple.

https://i.imgur.com/1HKFxKH.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/0zJTYbo.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/u90lFHn.jpg






When i removed the subwoofer enclosure/amp rack, i noticed that the airspace given to the sub was extremely small. It measured out to only .2 cubic feet... yeah, Less than a quarter of a cubic foot of airspace, It was pretty much a fiberglass cup around the sub plus an inch deep 18 x 15 slot around the sub. It was also only two layers of fiberglass mat. I was able to step on it and put a hole through it.

https://i.imgur.com/Gy0trxg.jpg






Here are the pillars when they came to me. They were very basic. Again, fine for most. But considering Mike is an Audiophile reaching for perfection, the placement, and build as a whole just wasnt going to cut it. They were fully off axis (the driver side mid was a full 90 degrees off axis and both were slightly pointing at the windshield). I feel they also missed a great placement opportunity, which i did and you will see below. They were wrapped in grill cloth, which was falling off when it came to me. Im not sure what they used for adhesive at the previous shop, but everything that was wrapped was coming loose.

https://i.imgur.com/84VWbia.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/cc7vvAw.jpg

Helix Director before with a reverse mount panel which was also wrapped (and peeling) in grill cloth placed in a cubby under the factory radio.

https://i.imgur.com/jWx29Vo.jpg







First things first was to clean up the director. I retained the reverse-mount panel, but i rewrapped it. Wrapping in grill cloth gets tricky. When you spray it with the usual DAP weldwood landau top contact adhesive, it soaks through and you can see it. What i did for this was i coated the panel in a black-dyed resin, and let it cure till it was tacky. I then wrapped it and pressed the grill cloth firmly into the tacky, yet not fully cured resin. It worked perfectly. For the rear, i dyed some DAP landau top adhesive black, and sprayed/wrapped it as i would any other panel. Unfortunately i forgot to get pics of it installed.

https://i.imgur.com/tg1Dm58.jpg






After removing the pillars and taking the grill cloth off of the pillars, i found it was worse than i though. The pillars were made with the old "fleece stretching over the baffle" trick. Except they didn't use thick fleece (which for some cases is fine). They used a single layer of grill cloth and soaked it in resin. Thats it. I was able to poke through it with my fingers. This may explain the resonance Mike was complaining about that was coming from the pillars. After this i literally peeled them apart with my hands.

https://i.imgur.com/m24R8PN.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/fnleYz7.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/MuVjKi3.jpg






So first things first.. i took the previous pvc baffles that were topped with the Audiofrog steel baffle. As you can see in the "Before" pic of the pillars, they were huge and bulky. I grinded them down until the baffle was flush with the chrome trim ring.

https://i.imgur.com/8riAFpG.jpg






Remember, not a lot of photos :/..

After ripping apart the pillars, i was left with the giant holes the previous installer(s) cut. Instead of making Mike order new pillars, i just made it work. I taped off the dash and windshield, put down plastic sheeting, and got to glassing the mold. pictured here is my original idea on mounting locations for the tweeters. You will see that this changed. But, behind the mids sunken into the small triangle window (which was tinted with 5%), was a .8 Liter enclosure. This is where i think the ball was previously dropped. I was able to install the mids partially sunken into this "hole", while having them almost fully on axis but also hardly protruding taking up any real estate from the windshield. All while having their own sealed enclosure.

https://i.imgur.com/s8qCCeg.jpg






A sneak peak into how i achieved the curves. (Featuring new tweeter mounting location)

https://i.imgur.com/jKFICmk.jpg






Glass, more glass, more glass, more glass, milled glass fibers, grind, shave, fill, sand, fill, sand, fill, sand, fill, sand, fill, sand sand sand.... Wrap

You can kinda see the enclosures here.

https://i.imgur.com/Cw2ZGz7.jpg

All wires in this build were labeled for quick and easy identification.

https://i.imgur.com/K88V0O3.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ZXlfvs2.jpg






Heres the start of the sub enclosure/amp rack. Once i built up the mold, i tried something new. I laid down some nylon rope and soaked it with resin. It worked very well for stiffening up the enclosure in the flat spots. In the end the enclosure came to about 1.4 cubic feet plus stuffing.

https://i.imgur.com/hVbCWjX.jpg






I copied a template that i made out of quarter inch MDF, and made two copies also out of quarter inch MDF, and one copy out of quarter inch acrylic. I then did a 45 degree chamfer with my new bit from 12vtools. I realized a big 45 chamfer bit is definitely a must have in any fabricators arsenal.

https://i.imgur.com/mKn4kP1.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/uYyB4ae.jpg






I then cut the top layer to a rectangle with some curves along the bottom. Then the cut out for the subs, which also got a chamfered edge. The bottom of this panel also got rabbeted edges to fit the vinyl

https://i.imgur.com/F9Tcket.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/BmQvHfP.jpg






The bottom pieces that are a copy of, and placed under the acrylic layers were painted, then wrapped in black grill cloth. Sorry, no pictures of the grill cloth wrapping.

https://i.imgur.com/VZiqiJK.jpg

Final product.. Edge lit acrylic, translucent logos, etc etc.

https://i.imgur.com/XhznPky.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/rfOFAja.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/mTdGUlN.jpg






Here you can see the grill cloth's purpose under the acrylic. the sub enclosure was also wrapped in suede. Another great feature of this build, the stock floor cover was able to be retained and used without any issue. Unfortunately these the only pictures i got of it in daylight.

https://i.imgur.com/dTBiiFq.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/LqZ4Bi4.jpg






Final product of the pillars. wrapped in matching black vinyl. Excuse the dusty dash. This was before the car was detailed.

https://i.imgur.com/VeJXZFI.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/M0y0KoB.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/LeoDAmH.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/mQru6DF.jpg






Thanks for looking! When it was all said and done, the car sounded phenomenal.

Those pillars are beautiful!

I presume the owner is quite happy now?

Great work. Thanks especially for the pillar shots. I have some new ones to build and got some great ideas.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Wow...outstanding work, Nick! I'm curious what process you use for etching the plexi with logos, etc?