JL Audio has earned its reputation for excellence the old-fashioned way -- here, we will avoid the anticipated punch line in order to elaborate -- by following the principle of quality over marketing hype. Resisting that temptation is no easy feat. Hey, believe it or not there are people who think a good ad campaign is more important than good product. Let's face it, this industry is not totally immune to this kind of thinking; it's just the way of the world. Money, money, money. Capitalism, baby. But JL Audio has maintained its integrity; a living example of it (for we do believe a car, especially a car audio vehicle, is a breathing, singing, roaring machine) is the company's demo vehicle loaded with some of the finest gear around. For instance, take a look at the amp we recently reviewed, as well as the hot W7 subwoofer, which, by the way, we will be reviewing soon. So here's a preview of what's coming up over the horizon. And it's coming at you V-dub, GTI style.
For JL Audio, success is the result of goal setting. As regards their demo vehicle, the goal was to create a powerful audiophile system that highlights the capabilities of their latest product in a worthy vehicle. But a stock VW Golf GTI 1.8t does not quite have the attitude and refinement appropriate for such product. Fortunately, there are companies who feel the same way. The first stop for JL Audio's GTI was the wheel shop, of course, where the lug nuts, factory wheels and tires were traded in for TSW "pin-drive", 19-inch rollers wrapped in Toyo Proxes rubber. As wheels alone don't make the car, an Oettinger (we think it means in love with Volkswagen) kit, including front-dam, side skirts, rear skirt and hatch spoiler, was added to give it a bit of that Euro look so many of us flock toward.
Okay, so the looks are up to status, but where's the 'tude? That came via some well-known speed freaks known as Neuspeed. First order of business in the attitude department was ride control; this included replacing the factory stuff with Neuspeed anti-sway bars, front strut brace, springs and Bilstein coil over shocks, all to help with the estimated 400lbs. of audio equipment about to be added. But compensating for that extra four hundred pounds also meant a visit to Doctor HP. For this, Neuspeed's (K&N) P-Flo intake system, T-034 stainless cat back exhaust, and Stage 1 P-Chip were added to boost the little V-Dub's 1.8t to an estimated 220 horsepower.
All Stars
JL Audio is as serious about their installs as their products. At the helm of the system design are masterminds Manville Smith, VP of Marketing, and Don Vertrees, Plastic Products Development Manager. Together they came up with a system that is very straightforward and simple; a design that is tried and true.
Manville and Don will likely admit that designing the audio system was an easy task by comparison to the transformation that took place thereafter. Building the system proved to be one of skill, as all of the fiberglass parts were made using molds; no wood, body filler or cloth with resin were used, just solid fiberglass. In fact, the fabrication team at JL Audio love working with the fibrous stuff; on a normal day, these guys spend precious time designing and building molds for the highly custom Stealth Boxes. Talking to the team, Don Vertrees, Gary Martin, Kris Davidson, and Bill Hamze, it is obvious that building a demo vehicle is rather invigorating; not just because it is a break from the routine, but a chance for them to really let their creativity flow. If you'll excuse the vernacular, they really let it all hang out on this GTI.
Gearing Up
Since the trunk was going to be fitted with two JL Audio 13W7's, the fabrication team knew that good damping material would be an absolute must. As usual (we often find repetition in our own words amongst these stories, but for good reason), the entire interior, except for the dash, was yanked from the vehicle leaving only the exposed sheet metal. JL Audio's team then layered the sheet metal with Dynamat Extreme. It not only subdues rattles, it also isolates the interior from those intrusive noises (other audio systems) at car shows, so demos in the GTI are not altered and remain rather convincing.
While the interior of the GTI was out, the majority of the wire and cable was pre-routed throughout the vehicle. Scosche 14-gauge wire was run to the JL Audio XR650-Cspxo crossovers that divide-up the signal for the mids and highs. From the crossover to the component speakers receive a lesser 16-gauge wire. On the low frequency side, the subs are fed via much heftier 8-gauge wire. As Scosche wire was used throughout the system, it only makes sense to use their twisted pair RCA and interconnects for the delicate low-level signal.
Considering this is a demo vehicle, the system must be capable of playing music for hours at a time. This means some attention was needed in the electrical department as well. While still using the stock alternator, the front battery was traded for an Optima "yellow top" to match the two additional batteries buried in the rear quarter panels. Making the connection is Scosche 1/0 gauge power wire. Instead of using an isolator or solenoid, a marine battery switch was used, allowing each battery to be used individually or in parallel by rotating the switch dial. This completely isolates the front battery from the rears during demos. To charge those batteries at the shows, an ASMH connector located under the rear bumper of the car is connected to a power supply.
Power makes its way to the amplifiers via 4-guage wires. Making the break in the connection are four Scosche fuse holders. These are hidden, along with the marine battery switch, in one of two integrated compartments in an area that used to be the rear seat cushion.
Path of Logic
As mentioned earlier, the system was designed to be straightforward and simple. For the heart of the system, Manville chose a Sony CDX-C90 head unit simply because they are "clean and reliable." Since the CDX-C90 is only a single CD player, a Sony 10-disc changer, located in a hidden cubbyhole just behind the center console, was added to help sort the CD's. The CDX-C90 itself located in the dash on a custom dash bezel constructed of fiberglass that was painted silver to match. Located in the lower portion of the bezel is an Audio Control SPL150. JL Audio opted not to use the Audio Control in the signal path as designed, rather it gets good use as a reference to the SPL and voltage levels of the GTI. Signal from the sub output of the head unit goes directly into the two JL Audio 1000/1 amplifiers, without equalization, supplying the juice for the two 13W7's. The 1000/1 amplifiers use a remote level control that is mounted in the front portion of the console (more on that in a minute). For the front stage, signal from the CDX-C90 exits the front outputs and routes through two Zapco EQ30's equalizers. Once equalized, signal is then passed to the two JL Audio 300/2 amplifiers that are responsible for powering the entire front stage.
Intensification
Neatly arranged in the location of the discarded rear seat is the amp rack, which holds four JL Audio amplifiers (two 300/2's and two 1000/1's) that power the entire system. Wiring for both of the 300/2 amplifiers is rather untraditional. One amplifier drives the left channel and the other drives the right. This wiring style eliminates cross talk amongst stereo channels of an amplifier and makes for easy compensation with channel unbalance.
As stated, there are two 1000/1, 1000-watt amplifiers; each drives one of the 13W7 subwoofers. Manville chose to use the on-board 24dB/octave crossovers in the amplifiers rather than the one in the head unit to demonstrate the flexibility of their amps. The amplifier's bass EQ circuit is defeated unless the RCB-1 remote bass knob is used in the front of the GTI. Manville mentioned that the bass level adjustments are generally changed on the Sony head unit so that the tonal balance of the bass is not altered.
Behind the scenes, the amp rack was framed out of steel and bolted to the floor and front of the subwoofer enclosure for structural integrity. The amps sit on a two-tier shelf, with both 1000/1 amplifiers partially exposed at the bottom. Fiberglass was used extensively in the vehicle, just as the panels that were fabricated to cover the unsightly steel frame around the amplifiers. The side panels replace the rear interior quarter panels and flow into the amp-rack. Located on the panel between the 300/2 amplifiers is an acrylic plate that contains the JL insignia that is backlit with blue neon. Just below the amplifiers is a fiberglass tray that mounts to the floor. The tray has three hidden compartments. In these compartments, you will find access to the Zapco EQ30's, a Sony CD changer, fuses, and the marine battery switch.
Staged
Looking at the door panels can be deceiving; that is, there is more here than meets the eye. These highly complex works of art are not factory, and they are not available over the counter at your local stereo shop. Rather, the entire door panel was removed, reengineered, shaped and then formed out of fiberglass. This was done to assure that the integrity of the install lives up to the abuse a demo vehicle will undergo over the course of a few years. Each of the front doors is occupied by a pair of JL Audio XR650-CW, 6.5-inch component woofers mounted side-by-side with an XR100-CT tweeter mounted just above and between them. This satellite system is a derivation of an array technique JL Audio has used in most of its show cars over the past few years. A second XR100-CT tweeter for each channel is mounted on a custom aluminum "tweeter bridge bar" located on the top of the dash. The fabricators managed to keep the path length of the dash tweeter and door tweeter identical for the listener on that side of the car. A third XR100-CT tweeter for each channel is mounted in the factory tweeter location in the outside mirror triangle of each door. This tweeter is crossed over above 15KHz and does not contribute heavily to the overall sound... it is said to simply add a bit of width and "air" to the soundstage.
Subwoofers
Just as the rear seats are gone, so is the thought of luggage space. Residing in the rear of the GTI are two JL Audio 13W7 subwoofers, each enclosed in their own sealed chamber. The enclosure is relatively small, roughly 1.9 cu.ft. (Net volume per woofer), with the subs loaded towards the rear hatch to improve the bass response. Made entirely of MDF, with the exception of the 1-inch thick acrylic top, the box uses 1" thick wood to resist resonance incurred by the pressure inside the enclosure while the subs are under extreme power. The acrylic top acts as a window that provides on-lookers with a glimpse of the magnificent baskets and motor structures on the 13W7's.
As you may have already guessed, structural integrity is very important to JL Audio. In the case of the subwoofer box, a steel cage was framed around the enclosure and bolted directly to the floor. A good idea as the enclosure weighs in close to 150lbs.
The area surrounding the enclosure is flanked with silver painted fiberglass and polished aluminum. No wood or body filler here either! Directly around and below the subwoofers is a silver painted fiberglass piece that scoops at the rear as to direct the bass upward. Mounted between the subs is a structural member made of aluminum. This may look like a decorative piece with the W7 plaque at the top center; however, it is actually a structural component that mounts directly to the enclosure and the steel cage. Above the enclosure sits another perfectly crafted fiberglass panel. The rear of this panel overhangs the enclosure. This overhang contains 180 super-bright blue LED's that illuminate the subs and hatch area. These were chosen for reliability and vibration resistance. The rest of the blue lighting in the car is custom made neon.
Details
If you happen to be checking out the Volkswagen at a show, one of the items that may catch your eye immediately are the Accelevision 1.5-inch video monitors mounted in the rear side windows. These monitors mirror the head unit display. Next to each monitor is mounted an infrared remote receiver allowing the Sony wireless remote commander to control the system from outside the car at shows.
To maintain continuity in the interior, the center console trim was rebuilt out of fiberglass and painted silver to match. The front of the center console contains six aluminum switches mounted in a half circle array. In the center and around the edge, each of these switches illuminates via blue LED's. Every one of these controls a different function: strobe lights, neon lighting, system power cut-off, gas cap door release, rear hatch release, and RCB-1 bass equalizer. Amazingly, these switches were machined and assembled in house!
However, the switches are not the only bits and pieces that were machined in house. In fact, nearly all of the metal parts were. This includes the "tweeter bridge rod", the rear brace between the woofers, the back of the hatch, and the steel framing around the amp-rack and enclosure. Simply amazing!
Reward
JL Audio's fabrication team has built one amazing showstopper. The GTI is one of the few demo vehicles that can transition from sound quality to 150-plus decibels in the blink of an eye without losing its sound integrity. A truly amazing feat when you consider the simplicity of the system.
As I mentioned at the beginning, success is a product of goal setting. JL Audio set out to achieve this goal: to create a powerful, audiophile system that highlights the capabilities of their audio products in a real world car. Without question, they succeeded.