I decided to treat myself for my birthday and ordered the speaker kit as well as the sub / amp combo, made use of a recent eBay 20% discount promo (and a seller who didn't jack up their prices during the offer) and got both for about £680 with hopefully another £30 odd in cash back to come as well.
Fitted just the speaker kit myself yesterday. I'm a reasonably competent DIY type, quite happy dismantling things plus back in the day just after I passed my test, I fitted one of the pull out Alpine head units and a couple of big speakers in the parcel shelf of my Fiesta. Ended up providing the same service to a lot of mates off the back of it, yesterday was a nice trip back in time
It took about 5 hours going pretty steadily, not rushing and testing each speaker at each stage as I went along. Also had a few neighbours stopping to chat and look at the van in general. Was quite straightforward using a combination of the video posted earlier in this thread and the printed instructions. Have got a set of trim tools which are definitely recommended, despite that managed to break one door clip and annoyingly crack the passenger side grab handle cover. A bit of superglue has sorted for now but will keep an eye on eBay for one as they seem to be about £30 atm.
I also had the same foam pad / wadding on the inside of both door cards, I removed it and fitted some Dodo Mat SQ deadening instead (link below).Was looking at using the basic plastic stage 1 stuff but noticed that someone above said they'd gone for stage 2 and spotted that Dodo product was a combo of both and handily came on a roll that I thought would be just about enough (it was, used about two thirds of it). I just put it on the inside of the door cards, didn't put any on the door itself or inside it. There didn't look to be much clearance between the outer door skin and the window when it's down, plus other than through the hole when you take the door speakers out, there's not much access unless you take the inner panel off. Thinking on, I could probably have got a small bit directly behind the speakers, maybe I will at a later date now I know how to get the door cards off quite easily. It is quite damp inside the door though, so maybe foam wouldn't be a great idea?
TBH there's not a lot of space for deadening on the door cards or inner panel, but I did manage to cover most of the door card with a continuous piece, trimming it to fit as a went. Getting the cards back on felt a little bit tighter, particularly on the drivers side as there's more wiring to get back into the gaps. I've got some pics I'll put up later if anyone wants an idea of what works. The doors shut with a much nicer clunk now and there's a few kg's more weight to each.
Sat and had a good listen to a few tracks I know well last night and the improvement is impressive. Generally the soundscape feels a lot wider and more detailed. I would agree that there's a lot more treble from the dash tweeters, but for me that adds clarity to the sound and I can actually hear individual drums and cymbals for example. Mid and bass wise, it again sounds less muddy than the VW speakers with more definition generally. They handle higher volumes without distortion and there's no buzz and rattle from the doors anymore - probably helped by the deadening though tbh.
I think I would have been happy with just the speaker kit, but knowing there's a matching sub kit as well, I was sat there thinking it would be nice to have a bit more bass, particularly without having to have the volume turned right up. I'm glad I bit the bullet and am looking forward to fitting it.
For reference, I've got the original factory fit VW Discover Media Pro with the larger touch screen. Van is a 2022 Ocean, about 18 months old.
Link to the deadening I used:
SQ Deadening Plus is composed of two layers for easy application and optimal performance, with acoustic foam & sound deadening. This SQ Deadening Plus sound deadening roll covers 1. sq.m which is enough to treat two doors in a typical car.
www.ebay.co.uk
