Note:

I sold my Corrado after five years and 50,000 miles of nearly trouble-free service. I will not be updating this page anymore or answering email.  I leave this site as a legacy to a car that served me very well.  If you have any questions that are not answered on this site, contact the mailing list maintained by Corrado Club of America.  Thank you.

Intro:

This page is dedicated to all Volkswagens with the Aktiv stereo system. Most top line VWs from '89-92 have this system including Jetta GLI, GTI 16V, Passat, Cabriolet, and of course the Corrado. You can tell if your car has Aktiv if it has six factory speakers (two dash, two door, two rear deck) and if it has a Heidelberg head unit. My May 1990 production Corrado pictured above had the Aktiv system as do all Corrados from '90-92. To learn more about the Corrado, visit the Corrado Club of America .

While the Aktiv is not bad for a factory stereo, most VW owners I know want to upgrade. Unfortunately, the Aktiv is infamous for being nearly impossible to replace. It is the goal of my page to change that. Once you know about the system it is only a little more difficult than average :o)

The Hiedelberg head unit acts as a pre-amp output only, it sends no power directly to the speakers. It uses a special pre-amp signal that cannot be duplicated by another head unit. The signal is sent to two small amps located in the door panels. VW did it this way so that six speakers could be powered by the Heildelberg, which by itself only has four channels. The Heidelberg also has an antitheft code that must be re-entered whenever the unit is removed. For this procedure go to Jan's Archive Page. If you do not know your code, there is a way to find out your code using your MFA computer in your dash.  See my FAQ/Letters page.

Your door speaker is housed inside of the door amp. The amp powers this door speaker, and the dash and rear deck speaker as well. The factory speaker placement is very good, and VW actually put some decent speakers in the door and dash. They are made by Nokia, have rubber butyl surrounds and can handle quite a bit of power. They work fine with aftermarket head units also. All factory speakers are of the Euro-fit variety, which is discussed in my Speaker Recommendations section.


If you need any parts for your Volkswagen, performance or otherwise, New Dimensions is hard to beat for prices and customer service. This is not a paid endorsement, just my personal experience working with them.



 
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