Better sound - What to choose?

[PepsiMax]

Hi there,

I need some better sound in my Audi, and having a hard time choosing. What would you recommend? Just add a sub or?

[07AudiA42.0T]

Hi there,

I need some better sound in my Audi, and having a hard time choosing. What would you recommend? Just add a sub or?
I added 2 12" subs with an amp. You have a stock head unit or aftermarket?

[PepsiMax]

I added 2 12" subs with an amp. You have a stock head unit or aftermarket?

I actually don't know and I don't have the car the next 2-3 days due to undercoating. It's an 1,8T S-Line from '07.

[617 Bones]

I added 2 12" subs with an amp. You have a stock head unit or aftermarket?

Can you easily add a sub and amp using a stock Symphony II head unit with Bose? I'd love to add a tiny bit of thump without having to run additional power through the cabin

[naiku]

Can you easily add a sub and amp using a stock Symphony II head unit with Bose? I'd love to add a tiny bit of thump without having to run additional power through the cabin

You can easily add a sub and amp to the Symphony II, but you will absolutely want to run a power cable to the amp.

[617 Bones]

You can easily add a sub and amp to the Symphony II, but you will absolutely want to run a power cable to the amp.
I wonder if I can hide a 2-channel amp up behind the glove box? I have a custom 8" JL sub box made to fit the back area of the passenger foot area from my B6 (hopefully it's the same layout)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3140/2981186095_c82ac6432a.jpg

[07AudiA42.0T]

I wonder if I can hide a 2-channel amp up behind the glove box? I have a custom 8" JL sub box made to fit the back area of the passenger foot area from my B6 (hopefully it's the same layout)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3140/2981186095_c82ac6432a.jpg

Thats a bad ass setup! If i knew how to insert a picture of mine i would lol it wont allow me

[naiku]

I wonder if I can hide a 2-channel amp up behind the glove box? I have a custom 8" JL sub box made to fit the back area of the passenger foot area from my B6 (hopefully it's the same layout)

That is an awesome sub box. Depending on the size / how much heat it puts out I think you could get a small mono or 2 channel amp on top of there. The top is kind of flat and has a decent amount of space, I have my power supply for the Nexus mounted on top of mine. Obviously considerably smaller than an amp, but if you can find a small class-D amp you might get one there.

What is the volume of that subwoofer enclosure? Seeing that has me very tempted to try and relocate mine from the trunk to that location. I have a 10" sub though, but it fits in a 0.5cf enclosure.

[pparrett]

I put a single 10" in this enclosure from Amazon and it sounds great. The angle of the box is perfect to fit against the back taper of the seats. For the audio signal I just tapped into one of the speakers in the rear deck. For $40 I couldn't buy the MDF, carpet, and nails to build it:
http://www.amazon.com/Atrend-E10St-10-Inch-Single-Sealed-Enclosure/dp/B0013MYXD4/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1446129586&sr=8-5&keywords=sub+enclosure

[Charles.waite]

This guy is in Germany and they had a few different types of headunits we never got.

OP, best way to get better sound is to wire in a good amp and replace the Mids and tweeters in the door with a good component set. People seem to love Polk DB6501 component sets. Pair that with a quality 4-5 channel amp and you'll have much better sound. The install differs if you're Bose vs non-bose though. Shockingly Bose systems are easier to add an amp into. Non-Bose you need to run a bit of wiring.

I've got an Alpine PDX 5channel amp in my basement and some custom mid/woofers and tweeters with some custom built crossovers that my audiophile friend built for me. I had them installed briefly but was running them off the stock HU and amp and they sounded okay. I removed them a while back when I was thinking about selling my car, only to not sell my car and then never re-install them. One of these days I will. They sounded much better than stock (if not a little bright, my friend was going to adjust the crossover a little but we just haven't gotten around to it...)

The stock sub is garbage and I was jsut going to run the new speakers with the sub removed as it contributed nothing but boominess and made the SQ worse with the new speakers installed.

[aluthman]

I removed everything and replaced with pioneer, alpine, and jl audio stuff along with new wiring.

[617 Bones]

That is an awesome sub box. Depending on the size / how much heat it puts out I think you could get a small mono or 2 channel amp on top of there. The top is kind of flat and has a decent amount of space, I have my power supply for the Nexus mounted on top of mine. Obviously considerably smaller than an amp, but if you can find a small class-D amp you might get one there.

What is the volume of that subwoofer enclosure? Seeing that has me very tempted to try and relocate mine from the trunk to that location. I have a 10" sub though, but it fits in a 0.5cf enclosure.

Thanks. I'll take some time to test fit and see if it's doable. I'll also need to look up how to tie into the factory Bose wiring.
Unfortunately, I don't know the volume of the enclosure

[67Twisty]

Thanks. I'll take some time to test fit and see if it's doable. I'll also need to look up how to tie into the factory Bose wiring.
Unfortunately, I don't know the volume of the enclosure

I took out my Bose sub and wired in a Class D amp below the Bose amp on the passenger side cargo access panel (avant). Ran 8 awg power wire through the grommet in the firewall to the left of the battery. Came in under the glovebox and tucked it all under the side sills. Built a custom MDF enclosure on the opposite wheel well and installed an 8" sub. It's all linked to a Symphony II+ and really changed the dynamic sound of the whole set-up. Some day I'll re-wire so I'm not we'd to 2 Ohm speakers and use a modern head unit, but it was a decent low budget solution to get me by for now.

[617 Bones]

I took out my Bose sub and wired in a Class D amp below the Bose amp on the passenger side cargo access panel (avant). Ran 8 awg power wire through the grommet in the firewall to the left of the battery. Came in under the glovebox and tucked it all under the side sills. Built a custom MDF enclosure on the opposite wheel well and installed an 8" sub. It's all linked to a Symphony II+ and really changed the dynamic sound of the whole set-up. Some day I'll re-wire so I'm not we'd to 2 Ohm speakers and use a modern head unit, but it was a decent low budget solution to get me by for now.

Andy, that sounds pretty awesome! Do you have details on how you wired in the Class D amp?
I found a posting at A4MODS that might work for my Symphony II with Bose, http://www.a4mods.com/index.php?page=webcontent/pages/stereo.html

[67Twisty]

Andy, that sounds pretty awesome! Do you have details on how you wired in the Class D amp?
I found a posting at A4MODS that might work for my Symphony II with Bose, http://www.a4mods.com/index.php?page=webcontent/pages/stereo.html

I saw that post too when I did mine. My pins were different so I ended up splicing in a pig tail to tap the subwoofer signal. Since Audi uses a common ground, I tapped the ground wire at the rear power outlet because it was easier to access vs. tearing apart the Bose harness. I can try to PM you with some of the details so I don't clutter the OPs thread.

[617 Bones]

I saw that post too when I did mine. My pins were different so I ended up splicing in a pig tail to tap the subwoofer signal. Since Audi uses a common ground, I tapped the ground wire at the rear power outlet because it was easier to access vs. tearing apart the Bose harness. I can try to PM you with some of the details so I don't clutter the OPs thread.

Sounds good. Please send any info that you have available. Would be greatly appreciated!

[Charles.waite]

I took out my Bose sub and wired in a Class D amp below the Bose amp on the passenger side cargo access panel (avant). Ran 8 awg power wire through the grommet in the firewall to the left of the battery. Came in under the glovebox and tucked it all under the side sills. Built a custom MDF enclosure on the opposite wheel well and installed an 8" sub. It's all linked to a Symphony II+ and really changed the dynamic sound of the whole set-up. Some day I'll re-wire so I'm not we'd to 2 Ohm speakers and use a modern head unit, but it was a decent low budget solution to get me by for now.

I wouldn't even bother rewiring. Just replace the speakers. The Bose cars (at least the b6 and b7s) already have line level outputs running from the headunit back to the amp, then speaker level outputs from the amp to the speakers. Just tap into those from the rear amp space and you're good to go. The existing wire can more than handle any aftermarket speakers that will fit in the doors.

[FlexedS4]

Just purchased and received the pioneer avh-x5700bhs with the metra kit and wore harness for my b5 s4; I was wondering if anyone else had this setup? If so, any tips cause this is confusing AF! Lol would the enfig wire adapter kit be better for me? Just wondering is anyone had any advice or opinions, thanks guys

[Luis_Heineken]

Hi there,

I need some better sound in my Audi, and having a hard time choosing. What would you recommend? Just add a sub or?

Maybe you can write to Enfig.com. they have a lot of plug & play stucff for us. I heve a Kenwood Excelon DD receiver, JL Audio speakers on the doors, Kenwood 5 channel amp and 2 Polk Audio 10 in a sealed box (for sale if interested)

[617 Bones]

I wouldn't even bother rewiring. Just replace the speakers. The Bose cars (at least the b6 and b7s) already have line level outputs running from the headunit back to the amp, then speaker level outputs from the amp to the speakers. Just tap into those from the rear amp space and you're good to go. The existing wire can more than handle any aftermarket speakers that will fit in the doors.

Does the factory amp power all the speakers in the car or just the factory sub?

[Charles.waite]

With Bose the amp powers everything. With a standard stereo the headunit powers the fronts and the amp powers the rear speakers and sub.

[617 Bones]

With Bose the amp powers everything. With a standard stereo the headunit powers the fronts and the amp powers the rear speakers and sub.
Got it! Thanks for the quick reply!

[B7OrangeA4]

I have 12 inch alpine type r with rns-e and it bumps pretty good