2013 Audi S6 - Audio Install

[subterFUSE]

My car is nearing completion of a major audio system install, and I thought I would share some photos and details:


I've always been a car audio enthusiast, so when I purchased my new S6 the plans to replace the Bose factory system were already in-mind.
That's why I did not pay for the Bang & Olufsen upgrade. No reason to spend an extra $6000 when I'm going to rip it all out anyway. [:D]


The Equipment:

I had an Audison/Hertz system in my BMW 545i prior to the S6. I kept the DSP processor and amplifier from that system, but sold the rest on eBay (speakers and sub).

For my S6, I decided on the following:


Audison BitOne processor
Audison Voce Av5.1k amplifier
Eric Stevens Audio Ultra horn-loaded compression drivers
Beyma 8G40 8" midbass
Dynaudio Esotar 1200 12" subwoofers

Bel STiR Plus radar detector
Blinder laser jammer
BlackVue dash cam


Here's a pic of most of the equipment. (Bel STiR not shown)
http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244039



The Audison BitOne has been connected to the speaker outputs from the Bose amplifier. This means that all of the MMI functions will remain intact and functional.
We mounted the BitOne below the Bose amp, where there was a nice space available. This kept the cable runs very short.
http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244208


To install the Beyma 8" midbass speakers in the front doors, we had to remove the Bose factory midbass enclosures, seen below:
http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244154


Removing the enclosures left a very large opening in the door, so we molded a plastic baffle to fill in the space.
http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244153

Here it is with the 8" driver installed.
http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244188

And then with the door panel back in place.
http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244184


All of the car doors have been sound dampened extensively, including the back doors even though they will have no speakers.
We also applied foam tiles behind the 8" midbass speakers to absorb the back-wave.

Sound dampening has also been applied to most of the car including the trunk, floor, tire well, trunk lid, rear deck shelf (top and bottom). See below. It's the stuff that looks like aluminum foil.
http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244209

http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244275

http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244276

http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244279

http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244280



We mounted the Audison amplifier to the underside of the rear shelf. A metal rack was attached to the shelf and the amp attaches to the rack. The shelf and rack were then covered in matching carpet.
http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244278

http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244277


The subwoofers are installed in a trunk baffle which fires into the car through the folding rear seats. The baffle is made from 1" baltic birch. To begin, we built a wood frame which attaches to the metal frame of the car.
http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244282

Here is the view of the baffle frame from inside the car with back seats folded down.
http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244281

And with the baffle board and subs, wrapped in carpet. You will notice the baffle has been bolted to the wood frame in the previous pictures. The baffle can be easily removed and replaced if I ever need to use the rear seat pass-thru.
http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244413

http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244414


And view from the trunk, with the carpet installed. One of the big advantages of trunk baffle installs is you keep most of the trunk space. No big box taking up room.
I can still get golf bags in there.
http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244412


The compression horns are mounted under the dash, as shown below:
http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244415

http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244416


We had to relocate the OBD port because it was originally located above the driver's dead pedal. We moved it next to the fuse box on the driver side of the dash.
http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244417



Monday I will spend the day tuning the system for the first time. It's all playing now, but I haven't had enough time to listen yet.
More updates to come....

[gleek48]

Looks great.

I am thinking of doing a similar upgrade to my S7. Do you know if 6.5/6.75 drivers will fit in the mid base section or do they have to be 8's?

[naiku]

Awesome!

Have you posted this over at DIYMA?

[maxhawk]

Your choices bring back memories of Richard Clark's Grand National. It made everyone's jaw drop back in the early 90's and when I had a listen, I too was impressed with the ability to build a sound stage with the drivers he was using. I don't think I had as good an ear back then, as I was barely over 20 years old, but I was already building my own active crossovers, home speakers, and amps, and managed to snag a 2nd place trophy at a car stereo competition. What I do remember about the Grand National was that it was probably one of the first uses of DSP in a car (as well as active feedback for the sub) and although it had a great sound stage, very tight mid-bass and bass, I recall it sounding kind of cold or clinical.

Digital audio has improved greatly in the last 20 years so I would think it would be fairly easy to surpass what Clark did back then. I've only heard a small handful of horn tweeters that I like, and hopefully the Steve Meade design doesn't have the bullhorn sound that so many horns suffer from. I do like your choice to use pro drivers for the midbass and highs as they'll provide dynamics that are hard to attain otherwise.

I had no idea that you could still buy Dynaudio drivers separately. Personally I don't find the 1200 to be ideal for use in an infinite baffle because the low Qts will limit it's output as you get down towards resonance, and equalizing with the Bitone will be limited by the Xmax of the driver. On the other hand, I make these comments based on an infinite baffle home theater sub perspective where high SPL at subsonic frequencies are important, and with music (vs movie) content and low frequency cabin gain, perhaps it won't be an issue. Also I suspect you're not going for max SPL -- OK so maybe my rambling won't matter so much in your case :).

Good luck and I look forward to your review after you've tuned everything!

[subterFUSE]

Your choices bring back memories of Richard Clark's Grand National. It made everyone's jaw drop back in the early 90's and when I had a listen, I too was impressed with the ability to build a sound stage with the drivers he was using. I don't think I had as good an ear back then, as I was barely over 20 years old, but I was already building my own active crossovers, home speakers, and amps, and managed to snag a 2nd place trophy at a car stereo competition. What I do remember about the Grand National was that it was probably one of the first uses of DSP in a car (as well as active feedback for the sub) and although it had a great sound stage, very tight mid-bass and bass, I recall it sounding kind of cold or clinical.

Digital audio has improved greatly in the last 20 years so I would think it would be fairly easy to surpass what Clark did back then. I've only heard a small handful of horn tweeters that I like, and hopefully the Steve Meade design doesn't have the bullhorn sound that so many horns suffer from. I do like your choice to use pro drivers for the midbass and highs as they'll provide dynamics that are hard to attain otherwise.

I had no idea that you could still buy Dynaudio drivers separately. Personally I don't find the 1200 to be ideal for use in an infinite baffle because the low Qts will limit it's output as you get down towards resonance, and equalizing with the Bitone will be limited by the Xmax of the driver. On the other hand, I make these comments based on an infinite baffle home theater sub perspective where high SPL at subsonic frequencies are important, and with music (vs movie) content and low frequency cabin gain, perhaps it won't be an issue. Also I suspect you're not going for max SPL -- OK so maybe my rambling won't matter so much in your case :).

Good luck and I look forward to your review after you've tuned everything!


Home theater and car audio are definitely very different environments, especially for subs.
I went with the Dynaudios to start with because of their reputation for sound quality in the car market, their size and impedance load.
I have spoken with a number of people who have used the Dyns in infinite baffle, and they are reportedly very good in that setup.
However, if I find myself wanting more output then I can always remove the baffle board and cut bigger holes for a pair of 15" drivers.
I could sell the Dyns on eBay, and buy the new equipment and walk away with cash in my pocket.

I considered using JL Audio W7 subs in IB, but unfortunately they use odd impedance for those drivers, and my amp is only stable down to 2 ohms for the sub channel.
I could have run two 12W7 subs in series, for a 6 ohm load.... or a single 13W7 @ a 3 ohm load. I couldn't run two 13W7 drivers with my amp, and I really wanted to stick with a single amp for this system to keep things simple and efficient.

I had to choose a pro driver for the midbass because there aren't any car audio drivers that can begin to match the efficiency of the horns.
The horns are 111+ dB sensitivity. The Beyma 8G40 are 97 dB. Most car midbass are 85-87 dB.

And, like I said, I might need to swap the subs for pro drivers.... but I wanted to hear the Dyns first before making that decision.

[AudioS4]

Home theater and car audio are definitely very different environments, especially for subs.
I went with the Dynaudios to start with because of their reputation for sound quality in the car market, their size and impedance load.
I have spoken with a number of people who have used the Dyns in infinite baffle, and they are reportedly very good in that setup.
However, if I find myself wanting more output then I can always remove the baffle board and cut bigger holes for a pair of 15" drivers.
I could sell the Dyns on eBay, and buy the new equipment and walk away with cash in my pocket.

I considered using JL Audio W7 subs in IB, but unfortunately they use odd impedance for those drivers, and my amp is only stable down to 2 ohms for the sub channel.
I could have run two 12W7 subs in series, for a 6 ohm load.... or a single 13W7 @ a 3 ohm load. I couldn't run two 13W7 drivers with my amp, and I really wanted to stick with a single amp for this system to keep things simple and efficient.

I had to choose a pro driver for the midbass because there aren't any car audio drivers that can begin to match the efficiency of the horns.
The horns are 111+ dB sensitivity. The Beyma 8G40 are 97 dB. Most car midbass are 85-87 dB.

And, like I said, I might need to swap the subs for pro drivers.... but I wanted to hear the Dyns first before making that decision.

Very nice! If you're not a boomer, and want very musical bass that doesn't draw attention to itself, then I think you'll love the Dyn's once they stretch out. I used a single Esotar2 1200 for a project (http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/552623-Finally-found-a-great-car-audio-installer-in-the-Pacific-NW)in an A6, and it turned out awesome. You may have to play around with some different crossover points and slopes, especially for the subsonic, until it is fully broken in. Have you had a chance to dial everything in? If so, how do you like the system so far?

[AudioS4]

Looks great.

I am thinking of doing a similar upgrade to my S7. Do you know if 6.5/6.75 drivers will fit in the mid base section or do they have to be 8's?

You should be able to fit almost anything you want once you build a new baffle. I wouldn't even consider re-using those crappy bose pods.

[subterFUSE]

Very nice! If you're not a boomer, and want very musical bass that doesn't draw attention to itself, then I think you'll love the Dyn's once they stretch out. I used a single Esotar2 1200 for a project (http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/552623-Finally-found-a-great-car-audio-installer-in-the-Pacific-NW)in an A6, and it turned out awesome. You may have to play around with some different crossover points and slopes, especially for the subsonic, until it is fully broken in. Have you had a chance to dial everything in? If so, how do you like the system so far?

Yesterday was my first time listening to the car, and I spent about an hour with it working on the initial tuning. But we still have a lot of work to do getting it adjusted.
I was very happy with the subwoofers so far. They are very subtle, yet detailed. We have not cranked them up very high yet, so I'm not sure what they are fully capable of in the SPL department.... but very pleased so far.

I am aware of MQ's install in his A6. I emailed him quite a few times during the research stage, and we took a few ideas from his car. The midbass baffles, in particular. He is also the reason why I went with 8" midbass in the doors. If I had not seen his install, I probably would have ordered 6.5" drivers thinking that 8" might not fit. ;)

[subterFUSE]

Looks great.

I am thinking of doing a similar upgrade to my S7. Do you know if 6.5/6.75 drivers will fit in the mid base section or do they have to be 8's?

6.5" speakers will fit just fine, but you will have to build a baffle and trim ring to support whatever you decide to install there. When the Bose midbass enclosure is removed, it leaves a large opening in the door that needs to be closed. I considered a 6.5" midbass from 18Sound, but went with the Beyma 8" driver because of seeing a member of this forum post his install with some Dynaudio 3-way components that fit. Since I was using compression horns instead of midrange & tweeters, I decided an 8" midbass would be preferrable. But if an 8" couldn't have fit, I was prepared to go with a 6.5".

[HotRod]

Very nice install. I agree that you selected some great components for your car. Currently I have the Audison/Hertz setup in mine and it is very impressive as well. I would like to see how your laser and DRC (if you have one) are installed as well.

[gleek48]

6.5" speakers will fit just fine, but you will have to build a baffle and trim ring to support whatever you decide to install there. When the Bose midbass enclosure is removed, it leaves a large opening in the door that needs to be closed. I considered a 6.5" midbass from 18Sound, but went with the Beyma 8" driver because of seeing a member of this forum post his install with some Dynaudio 3-way components that fit. Since I was using compression horns instead of midrange & tweeters, I decided an 8" midbass would be preferrable. But if an 8" couldn't have fit, I was prepared to go with a 6.5".

Thanks. This is very helpful!

[subterFUSE]

I would like to see how your laser and DRC (if you have one) are installed as well.

We put the controls in the ashtray compartment. My installer used a piece of plastic and flush-mounted everything.
The sliding door can be closed to hide all the controls, for a stealth installation.

http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244472

http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244466



And the display for the Bel STiR Plus radar detector is inside the rearview mirror.
http://forums.audiworld.com/picture.php?albumid=170147&pictureid=244480

[FuchsB]

Great looking install and done right! Nice work


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