Speakers

[GEN XER]

What are the two speakers in my trunk suppose to be doing? Mine don't make a sound and they look like 4" speakers. I'm thinking of replacing all the speakers, but I never really noticed those in the trunk until now. Don't tell me these are suppose to mimic sub-woofers. If so this is really shameful in a car that cost 90k new.

This is nice. A 6.5 inch Sub.
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_13231_JL+Audio+6W3V3-8.html

[V8weight]

If you're talking about that plastic tote containing the two 4" subs in the right sided of the trunk behind the portable air compressor lid, then yes, it's quite an embarrassment. If these things didn't have such a nice exhaust note the stereo would be even more of a disappointment.

[V8weight]

On an unrelated note, are you still a distributor for the Acrylic Werks? It looks like spring has sprung, it's about time to put on a fresh layer.

[DHall1]

Oh you guys and your boxes and tail pipes. I got mine for what's under the hood.

Mop and glow baby. Look up the chemicals.


On an unrelated note, are you still a distributor for the Acrylic Werks? It looks like spring has sprung, it's about time to put on a fresh layer.

[vangelis]

That is a Bose subwoofer and it is really produce a good bass. There is a duct transfer this bass into your saloon. For me, it is really doing a good job although size is small. Bose always good even with small speakers/ subwoofers.

[GEN XER]

On an unrelated note, are you still a distributor for the Acrylic Werks? It looks like spring has sprung, it's about time to put on a fresh layer.

Yes I am still able to get AW. Well are the speakers suppose to work? I was checking and I heard nothing.

Dave
I'm not going for the competition sound for this car, but I would like a cleaner sound. Im looking to simply upgrade the speakers and maybe the amp. I don't use the CD changer, I dont even have any of my CD's. I use the SD card slots so the changer could house a nice upgraded amp. I have not decided on what speakers to go with.

[skribe]

That is a Bose subwoofer and it is really produce a good bass. There is a duct transfer this bass into your saloon. For me, it is really doing a good job although size is small. Bose always good even with small speakers/ subwoofers.

Bose is across-the-board junk, an audio scam. I'm not trolling, it's just not good gear. Better marketing than anything else, artificial EQ's to fool your ear, just doesn't hold up at volume. That little snorkel sub in your trunk is a rattly, gutless pile of shit, IMHO.

Will be replacing everything in my beast as soon as my garage is above 60 degrees at night. Stock audio is really really bad if you're into that kind of thing. Which I am.

If you're not into audio, troubleshoot your wiring back there and get your stock sub working again, it's fine if you're not an audio guy. Or get a decent, affordable, smaller amp and sub box from a local installer. But that baby sub you dropped the link to is probably worse that the Bose sub that's in there.

[skribe]

Yes I am still able to get AW. Well are the speakers suppose to work? I was checking and I heard nothing.

Dave
I'm not going for the competition sound for this car, but I would like a cleaner sound. Im looking to simply upgrade the speakers and maybe the amp. I don't use the CD changer, I dont even have any of my CD's. I use the SD card slots so the changer could house a nice upgraded amp. I have not decided on what speakers to go with.

Upgrading speakers alone is not at all worth it, a really common misconception. Amplification, signal processing and EQ has more to do with audio quality, feeding those same signals into better speakers won't do much for you. Your stock audio is EQ'ed specifically to those stock speakers. Better to remove factory EQ from the head unit signal with an external box, route that to a good 5 channel amp and then to new drivers and a smaller sub...

[GEN XER]

Upgrading speakers alone is not at all worth it, a really common misconception. Amplification, signal processing and EQ has more to do with audio quality, feeding those same signals into better speakers won't do much for you. Your stock audio is EQ'ed specifically to those stock speakers. Better to remove factory EQ from the head unit signal with an external box, route that to a good 5 channel amp and then to new drivers and a smaller sub...

You just said exactly what Matt, he works for Go-Ho Audio said. Then he went to far, with a 5K setup. Head unit, 5 Chan amp, fiberglass box, mids, highs, and lows. Im not even thinking of spending 5K ever again in car audio. I use spend that kind of money when I was in competition, but not now. I just want a nice clean set-up for those inside the car. What would you suggest for a simple upgrade in this car?

[ben916]

Yes I am still able to get AW. Well are the speakers suppose to work? I was checking and I heard nothing.

Dave
I'm not going for the competition sound for this car, but I would like a cleaner sound. Im looking to simply upgrade the speakers and maybe the amp. I don't use the CD changer, I dont even have any of my CD's. I use the SD card slots so the changer could house a nice upgraded amp. I have not decided on what speakers to go with.

um, sorry, but I have idea where this SD card slut is????

I have to agree with skribe, that "Bose" Bozo 4" x 2 sub is like dog vomit - you never wanna hear THAT sound!
Where I do like to hear the radio/sat/cd for either me or the kids, running the iPod in to a muddy sounding system stinks...

Yes the lovely and silky notes under the hood are intoxicating at the same time... need more turbo whine...

[gareth60]

Hi guys,

I have been upgrading my oem Bose system with rns-d.

I have replaced the amp with a 6 channel jbl unit, changed all 4 door speakers with Infinity reference and fitted an active sub box (I forget the make right now).

Last week I fitted a kenwood dnx5240bt hu, very impressed!

Im not very happy with the sub, it sounds good, but takes up a lot of space in my saloon. I'm thinking of removing the Bose sub and try to upgrade the sub units with either 4' or 5' cones.

I also have ignition whine which I need to resolve. I've used the existing wiring, but, tbh, it's quite good quality. Just need some time to diagnose.

[skribe]

Hi guys,

I have been upgrading my oem Bose system with rns-d.

I have replaced the amp with a 6 channel jbl unit, changed all 4 door speakers with Infinity reference and fitted an active sub box (I forget the make right now).

Last week I fitted a kenwood dnx5240bt hu, very impressed!

Im not very happy with the sub, it sounds good, but takes up a lot of space in my saloon. I'm thinking of removing the Bose sub and try to upgrade the sub units with either 4' or 5' cones.

I also have ignition whine which I need to resolve. I've used the existing wiring, but, tbh, it's quite good quality. Just need some time to diagnose.

Pretty good choices! Re the sub, that little Bose enclosure just doesn't have the cubic volume to drive good bass... I would look into building a spare tire well sub (though you would have to cut off and weld shut the central column) if you REALLY need the boot space. Or, probably easier, in my VW I wired all connections to the sub box to a modular plug (swiped from the IT parts bin) so I can unhook the sub box in 2 seconds.

Regarding the ignition whine, you have a classic ground loop there. This happens when you don't use a common grounding point for the amp and head unit. Run a ground wire up to the dash and ground it at the same point as your head unit. Or, you could try to wire in a ground loop isolator on your amp ground wire, easier but not guaranteed to solve the problem.

[gareth60]

Thanks, great idea re. testing for the amp whine. I can run a ground lead and maybe even a power from the HU, through the cabin to the amp just to test to see what happens. It's funny though, as I have spliced the existing bose wiring loom and solderd the relevent connectors on, so I guessed it would be ok.

I cannot use the spare wheel area as my battery is in there. If I had the time, i deffo build a sub enclosure, but I don't, so unless I can buy one, then I wll need to stick to a stand unit. I'm probably going to remove the bose amp and sub unit anyway, so I might just have a play, but I agree, it is a bit on the tiny side.

[s42ski]

The stereo is OK on the beast - not great - my wife has a Lexus with the Mark Levinson system in it and now you can buy an Audi with a great sounding B&O system. Bose systems are tricky to upgrade since they do a lot of EQ on the sound in both the head unit and the amplification. I would strongly disagree with the comments about amplification being most important. Speakers are by far the largest impact in sound reproduction. All you need is non distorted power from an amp.

For the "record" I used to work in a recording studio :music:

[gareth60]

I would agree about the speakers. I found the Bose units very muddled around the mid ranges and flat at the top. Cannot comment on the amp as the reason I changed it was because my speaker are 4 ohm and I didn't think the Bose amp would be able to cope.

[GEN XER]

Hi guys,

I have been upgrading my oem Bose system with rns-d.

I have replaced the amp with a 6 channel jbl unit, changed all 4 door speakers with Infinity reference and fitted an active sub box (I forget the make right now).

Last week I fitted a kenwood dnx5240bt hu, very impressed!

Im not very happy with the sub, it sounds good, but takes up a lot of space in my saloon. I'm thinking of removing the Bose sub and try to upgrade the sub units with either 4' or 5' cones.

I also have ignition whine which I need to resolve. I've used the existing wiring, but, tbh, it's quite good quality. Just need some time to diagnose.

You might need to look into these, if you want to save space.
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/jlaudio_pages.php?page_id=213

[ben916]

You might need to look into these, if you want to save space.
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/jlaudio_pages.php?page_id=213

So where would you put these? rear deck? doors?

[skribe]

The stereo is OK on the beast - not great - my wife has a Lexus with the Mark Levinson system in it and now you can buy an Audi with a great sounding B&O system. Bose systems are tricky to upgrade since they do a lot of EQ on the sound in both the head unit and the amplification. I would strongly disagree with the comments about amplification being most important. Speakers are by far the largest impact in sound reproduction. All you need is non distorted power from an amp.

For the "record" I used to work in a recording studio :music:

I was speaking in context of the existing BOSE system -- the BOSE drivers themselves aren't TOO horrible. No, they're not GOOD, but replacing them alone won't help much because what your're hearing (or not hearing) in that car with the factory system has more to do with amp and EQ than the speakers, just saying replacing speakers alone is a waste.

For the record record, I've spent thousands of hours evaluating sound in recording studios, and I still do on a regular basis.

[vangelis]

I think I had two of those woofers under the front seats of my ex-Alpina B7. It had a Logic7 sound system with 2 woofers under the front seats. was a WOOW sound system. Almost close to small Cinema.


You might need to look into these, if you want to save space.
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/jlaudio_pages.php?page_id=213

[s42ski]

Skribe, ( to put it on the record:lovl: we agree) - replacing the speakers in a bose system would create a mish mash because of the EQ the amps provide - I used to do installs of custom home audio in Beverly Hills and the sales folks at high end audio stores would be pushing the exotic cables and ultra high end amplification with so-so speakers. That is what got me started in responding. A good amp with great speakers and a clean input is the way to go.

[skribe]

I used to do installs of custom home audio in Beverly Hills...

I remember you. Muddy boots on my cashmere garage carpet.:hahahehe:

Yeah, I think we agree. Replace it all if you care about that kind of thing.

Re: monster cable, don't get me started on The Great Cable Scam

Years ago I had a breakfast meeting at Buck's in Woodside, the place in Silicon Valley where business gets done. I come out to see a red Porsche Carrera GT... the thing had only hit the street a few months ago. Out comes the CEO of Monster Cable, who still looked about 18 years old, he gets in it and drives away. Scams do pay.

[AUDI5000CSTQ]

The car has a stereo?

[V8weight]

The car has a stereo?
:hahahehe: hehe, soundtrack courtesy of Eisenmann exhaust.

[s42ski]

Skribe - if you had planted some grass in the driveway rather than the dirt maybe my boots would not have been muddy :lovl:

The great cable scam - I love it - my story on that - I was at CES about 15 years ago and I was talking with the maker of some snake oil cables that cost 10k for a 2 meter set. I asked him if it would be cheaper to buy a couple of Krell amps and WELD them to the back of my speakers. He asked me to leave the room....

[GEN XER]

So where would you put these? rear deck? doors?

I would love to put them in the rear deck, but there is no way I'm cutting into the rear deck. I would consider building an enclosure mounted beneath the rear deck.

[vangelis]

No need to cut, you already have a small window behind the ski-page in the center console at the rear seat. You can fix the woofer right behind that facing the interior of your saloon :)


I would love to put them in the rear deck, but there is no way I'm cutting into the rear deck. I would consider building an enclosure mounted beneath the rear deck.

[AudiRS4ever]

Well, I decided that while I know it's complete overkill, I'm going with a custom box built into the side of the trunk so it doesn't intrude. I got the first part this weekend and my technician (he's done a lot of stereo installs in his life. Plus I don't want the wiring hacked up) plans to start next week. Said it will take about 3 - 4 weeks since he is doing it when he has time. While the car is at the dealership I am having the front bumper pulled and repainted. And I'm also going to do the clear corner mod with the headlights.

Here's the overkill part. I'm excited.

http://i805.photobucket.com/albums/yy335/Chrisfast44/RS4%20Wheels%20and%20Tires/JLW6.png

[ben916]

No need to cut, you already have a small window behind the ski-page in the center console at the rear seat. You can fix the woofer right behind that facing the interior of your saloon :)

If you are talking the rear deck, this wouldn't work with owners that have the warm weather package (the collapsible sun screen), it would be blocked.
Wasn't there a thread about someone taking out the spare and using that area as a sub/amp area???

[GEN XER]

If you are talking the rear deck, this wouldn't work with owners that have the warm weather package (the collapsible sun screen), it would be blocked.
Wasn't there a thread about someone taking out the spare and using that area as a sub/amp area???

Yeah a fiberglass box in the spare tire hold would be a good spot. I am going to have to really consider which way I want to go on the RS6. The GTI was easy a Pioneer Deck, a DEI amp and two 12" MTX speakers in a box and Infiniti Ref mids. I am going to change some parts of this system starting today by changing the deck to a Kenwood KDC x994, a JL Amp and 2 x 8" JL W3v3's.

The deck
http://www.kenwoodusa.com/Car_Entertainment/2008_Car_Entertainment/KDC-X994

The subs
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_subs.php?series_id=27

The amp
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_amps.php?amp_id=483 or something like it.

[skribe]

Contemplating an aftermarket head as well. Just can't seem to source the right RNS-E and while I really prefer the stock look, the aftermarket stuff just crushes RNS-E in features...

Trying to figure out if any of the good full-screen nav head units have a hackable interface -- if I could get at the XML in there I could photoshop a full RS6/Audi factory-looking interface. That would make me really happy. But I can't figure it out right now. grrr. I hate it when something is ungoogleable.

Anybody?