B6 A4 Stereo Upgrade

[my1stturbo]

I have a b6 that I plan to do some upgrades to in a few weeks and was wondering if someone with some experience might be able to chime in. I already have my amp and speakers, so my questions are more for the actual install. I upgraded the radio to the ii+ so I needed to know which wires from the harness would be the front left and right so I can tap them for pre outs. I also was wondering if there is a good way from the battery into the interior without going through the ecm box. Only other questions are about the panels in the far. Do the trim panels along the floor just unsnap or are they screwed in? And is there a DIY for removing the rear deck? Hoping to get this done by 1st week in Sept so any help now to plan would be great.

[nath]

quite a few questions so ill try and answer them as best i can
id advise using something like the jl audio cleansweep or a similar product if you intend taking the pre outs off a factory standard deck (the reason being the factory decks have an altered frequency response which cuts out a lot of the music ....a cleansweep will give you good connectivity and also remove the altered frequency response

im not 100 per cent on a4,s but euro spec s4,s there is a grommet behind the back of the battery which will allow you too run the cable into the interior of the cabin
id advise you use good quality ofc cabling for the amplifier and also highly reccomend you fusing the cable within 18" of the battery itself ( if not and you get a direct short its possible to set the car on fire )

the panels interlock all the way along the car most are pull type but some occaisonally have a screw in them ..you will need to remove the upper panel on the b pillar to relase the lower halve , just pull on the bottom part of the trim gently to allow you to remove the bottom part of the b pillar trim do not remove the top part of the upper b pillar trim as it is difficult to re-locate

cant help with the rear deck im afraid as mine as an avant

[earthtodan]

There is a hole in the firewall on the driver's side of the battery, hidden under the ECU.

To remove the rear deck, first you have to remove the rear passenger oh-shit handles, then pop out the trim (though you can leave the very front of the D-pillar trim hanging from the A-pillar trim if you're careful), remove the filler panels from the sides of the rear seats, unhook the brake light wiring harness from the rear deck in the trunk, then pop it out. It's a big hassle. But if you're clever, you should be able to complete your install without removing it at all. Where are you going to put the amp?

[my1stturbo]

nath- Sorry for all the questions lumped together, typing on my phone and didnt see how it looked until after I posted. I plan to run the audio pre-outs through an Audio Control LC6i to clean up the signal a bit, then on to my amp. Definitely fusing the power lead; have in every car I've put a system in (which would be all of them, the A4 being the only 1 that has lasted this long on a factory setup).

Dan - Amp and LC6i going on a board mounted to rear deck. Pulling the rear deck so I can upgrade the sub and seal the deck. I was considering a sub in the corner but think I want to try an IB setup to see how it sounds if it's tuned properly.

At least that is the plan as of now. I should have all my components by the end of the week since the only outstanding items are LC6i and amp and should be picking them up Saturday.

[nath]

Make sure you mount the amp correctly , not upside down under the parcel shelf ( if the heatsink is upside down the amp could suffer thermal cut out problems or possibly even failure

[my1stturbo]

Yeah, that is my 1 concern with that alp location. I'm open to other possible locations if I can keep the amp out of site. The dealer I'm getting my amp says not to worry about it as he's never seen 1 fail even when driven really hard, but the manual does say that upside down could lead to the same problems you mentioned. I was considering a Kicker ix500.4, and kicker advised that upside down mounting wasn't a problem. Currently I'm looking at the Vibe Audio Litebox4.

[Charles.waite]

Where did you source the II+? Ebay? Forum classifieds? I've been looking for one for my B6 for a while and not much to be found anywhere...

[my1stturbo]

I found mine in the classifieds on here last year. Love it so far and no plans to upgrade to anything else at this point. I'd keep looking as they do turn up. I remember just seeing 1 the other day.

[nath]

I can tell you with some confidance that both the kicker and the give will both overheat...
The only way you could avoid such a problem is to also mount cooling fans

From the two go with the kicker amp , the give amps suffer from poor reliability , eBay in the UK is showered with broken examples of vibe amplfiers

[my1stturbo]

Thanks nath. I was also planning to install a small crossflow fan that I have along with the amp. Not a huge Kicker fan, but I think I may take your advice here. I've heard mixed reviews on the vibe products and not sure I want to tear it all apart a second time.

[nath]

there are many many other amps out there which will give you great performance
have a look online for things like genesis , jl audio , audison, audio systems , phase linear ... they have all made excellant amplifiers at one time or another

[my1stturbo]

Thanks nath. I was looking at a JL XD amp as well. My issue was trying to find an amp that fit in the space and could work upside down w/o overheating issues. I'll look into the others as well to see if I can find something that will work, fit the space, and meet the power needs of my components.

[my1stturbo]

For those with experience doing the upgrade to the sub, would you recommend against re-using the rear deck (assuming it's well sealed off) in favor of the sub in the corner of the trunk in a fiberglass box?

[nath]

If you want something musical that will play all types of music then stick with a sealed box

If you want something very loud which will play rap and r+b tracks well go for a ported or vented enclosure

If you cannot afford the space in the boot then instead of screwing the speaker to the deck lid try fixing a large piece of thick met wood to the underside of the shelf with a hole cut in it for the subwoofer and try and seal off as many holes leading into the main cabin as possible

[my1stturbo]

I want something musical for sure. I took another look at the underside of the rear deck yesterday and see that it will be an interesting piece to seal, but doable. Maybe I'll go w/ the first thought and install the corner sub, now I just have to decide between the subs I have at home as far as the best one for that configuration and build the box.

[kwik_shift]

sorry to thread jack but i feel like my front driver side speaker is on it's way out. Car is equipped with the Bose audio system. Can i replace the front speakers directly without any issues? Or do i have to replace them with another Bose speaker?

[BASARAB]

Buy Infinity reference 6.5, no need for bose

[kwik_shift]

Buy Infinity reference 6.5, no need for bose

Is that a direct replacement? For some reason I remember reading somewhere the Bose were low impedance and required additional work.

[BD Avant]

Is that a direct replacement? For some reason I remember reading somewhere the Bose were low impedance and required additional work.
The Bose system is 2 Ohm, and those are 2 Ohm.

[kwik_shift]

thanks for the help

[waldo1324]

i ran both rca, remote and power under the console (power on one side and RCA on the other). you have to remove the console, but its a good time to paint your console anyway, right>?