New Beetle Aftermarket Stereo room

I have a 2000 NB GLX, I am going to be putting a new stereo in, a Alpine head unit with the XM interface and tuner. Is there room up in the dash through the stereo hole to put the XM interface and tuner? Also it looks like the panel over the center of the dash will come off, does it, is it easy, looks like a nice place to put the XM antenna.

Jerry

Reply to
Daytona Power Sports
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I can't answer your question about space available, but you may have a signal problem with the XM antenna not in the open. I have a sirius receiver and I needed to put it out on the roof to get a consistant signal. Have you seen the new Kenwood receivers? I was shopping around for a new receiver a few months ago and came across the new design. The illumination on the display matches the VW interior lights very nicely.

Reply to
tomneary

Panel easily removed. Apply downward pressure while sliding toward front of car ( L-hooks).

Reply to
bmaty

Great thanks. I found out about the space in the stereo compartment, or should I say, lack of space, I bought a Alpine 9851, and it BARELY fits, you have to be creative with the wiring to get it to slide in until it clicks. I will put the XM stuff in later. Has anybody found a good route for wiring headed back to the hatch area for amps and woofers?

Jerry

Reply to
Daytona Power Sports

I will add my two cents (or more) here.

I initially was going to just add a CD changer and keep the Monsoon head unit. So I had to run a wire from behind the stereo (for FM modulator) and the remote control unit. The easiest that I found was to run it under the center console to the back seat. There is a small section of wire running on the hump between the console and the back seat. Once under the back seat I went to the drivers side in up into the trunk. I used a simple 12 volt cigarette adapter to get power in the trunk and plugged it into the lighter outlet there.

Well the sound was not as good as hoped. I had seen people replacing their head units so I did that. I used a Pioneer since that was the changer model too and compatibility is nice. There is definitely NOT MUCH room behind the head unit. I don't know where to put something like XMDirect. Perhaps on the firewall? At least with the XMDirect there are two separate pieces of a smallish size. I have it in my F250.

As far as antenna, I followed some other suggestions on my truck but the same could probably be done on the beetle. The signal will pass fine through plastic but not some coated windshields. I mounted my antenna under the plastic windshield wiper cowling between the windshield and the hood. Works great! That would be the ONLY option for me with my wife's convertible Beetle.

Hope this helps a bit.

Roger larock (at) mail (dot) com

Reply to
Roger Smith

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