Remove Bose, full audio upgrade options

So I am strongly considering removing the Bose system in my 2014 S7 and upgrading everything. I have a few questions about which way I should go and how I should go about it.

I think I am set on the Audison Bit DMI, where to go from there? I know I will need a DSP, but how many channels will I need? Any recommendations on brand/model? I would like to keep all the speaker locations lit if possible. I already upgraded the sub.

As for speakers and amps I am all set on that. I am pretty knowledgeable in that area, I have done many installations in the past but it involved changing the head unit which makes everything so much easier. The part I really need help with is everything up until the amp.

One of my main concerns is the bluetooth streaming. I do not want to lose that functionality. This includes phone calls and DLNA streaming. I am aware that I will get better audio quality from other sources, I got it. But I really like the ease of being able to stream Spotify when I want. What will affect this? Is it an MMI thing or is it incorporated into the Bose amp? Thanks in advance.

The bit DMI allows you to keep all MMI functionality- bluetooth, phone, NAV, etc...

The number of channels depends on how many speakers you wish to 'actively' control with your DSP. I'd recommend at least 8 channels, so you can actively control your fronts and your sub (tweets 1-2), (midrange 3-4), (door woofers 5-6), and sub 7.
The Helix DSP with director is the most popular out there right now. I have the AudioControl Dm8-10 (10 channels). It's pretty good, but not quite as full featured as the Helix.
Hit me up sometime, and I can go over how I set up my system to be fully actively controlled when tuning it.
Do yourself a favor and get the Audiofrog microphone (audiofrog.com), and download room EQ wizard (free download online).
You can find different tuning tutorials online- audiofrog.com has a very easy to read tutorial. If you go on youtube, search for Kyle Ragsdale and his series on how to tune an SQ (sound quality) car. not great quality, but very easy to follow with excellent results. Let me know what questions you have.
Also, check out S4 Per's build thread regarding his sound system in his 2016 S6 for some additional ideas.

Since you have a 2014 model, your car is compatible with the mObridge DA1, which is also rebadged and sold as the Audison bit DMI.

The mObridge will take the digital audio signal from the MOST network and convert it to a standard optical toslink out, which you can then feed into a DSP of your choice.
From the DSP, you can add whatever amps and speakers you like.

The mObridge does not prevent use of any of the MMI functions. Your bluetooth will still work, as will your phone calls and navigation.
Also, depending on which DSP you get, there might be a Bluetooth audio streaming option on the DSP which is superior to the MMI.

The OEM volume control still works, too. You will never know from the MMI side of things that the stereo has been altered.

Best of all, the mObridge does not harm any of the factory equipment. If you sell the car, you simply plug the Bose amp back into the MOST cable and it's back to stock condition.




As for the factory speaker locations.... they are not very good and are not easy to use for aftermarket speakers.

The Bose midbass in the door comes in a plastic, ported enclosure that houses a small bass driver. It's like 4 inches. You will not find another speaker that can drop into that location.
I suggest you remove the Bose enclosure entirely and save it for when you sell the car. Have a custom audio shop fabricate a new baffle to close the hole in the door that is left when you remove the Bose enclosure, and then add a trim ring for your new midbass speaker.
The door is plenty deep enough to allow up to an 8" midbass speaker, although you might decide that a 6.5" is sufficient.

The Bose midrange is located in the center of the door, and it will be next to impossible to install an aftermarket speaker there unless you get out the hole cutter and cut out the metal of the door.
I do not suggest putting a midrange there.

The factory tweeter location is in the corners of the dash, and that is a good location and fairly easy to add new speakers there.



If you want to do a simple, 2-way front speaker setup (tweeter + midbass) then I would suggest doing the midbass in the door like I describe above, and the tweeter in the factory location.

If you want a 3-way front speaker set, then I think you will need to consider some custom fiberglass fabrication of the A pillars similar to what I have done in my car, picture below.

You will also notice in my picture that my midbass drivers are in the kick panels and not the doors. This is because my system is a competition system for sound quality, and those locations have sonic advantages over the doors.
But, obviously, the fabrication of such speaker pods is not cheap or easy. Your goals and budget will dictate a lot of what is possible for you.

Attachment 87474



I do not use rear speakers in my car at all, because it is a competition system. There are no rear speakers in 2 channel home audio, and we typically do not use rears in high-end car audio either.
A few guys dod play around with rear fill, but it's very limited in what they do. Proper rear fill just needs to be midrange, no midbass or tweeters needed. It also needs to be differentially mixed to cancel out the center-stage vocal sounds. Only the far left and right sides of the soundstage will be playing from the rears when this is done, which prevents the speakers from drawing attention to the rear. We want the soundstage to be realistic, which means in front of the listener.

Subwoofers will be relatively easy since you have an A7. Hatchbacks are very subwoofer-friendly. You can pretty much stick a sealed box in the back and it's going to sound good. If you are concerned about keeping trunk space, then you might consider a custom fiberglass enclosure in the corner of the trunk, or possibly in the tire well. One thing to keep in mind is that the further toward the back of the car you put the subwoofer, the louder and smoother the response is going to be.


For DSP, I personally use the Helix DSP Pro MK2, and that is the only car audio DSP I will own right now. The JL Audio TWK is also very good if you want a simpler and more affordable option. I wouldn't get anything else but those two, however.

DSPs are fantastic, but they are only as good as the person tuning them. You must find a shop that can install AND tune the DSP for you, or it's going to be a waste. Better yet, learn how to tune yourself... although that is an entire hobby in itself.
It takes a lot of time to learn how to tune well, but it's so worth it once you can.


Anyway, I know the Bose system inside and out so if you need any info just let me know. I'll be happy to chat by phone about it, which is a lot easier than typing everything.

Subter, out of curiosity, why 2 different sources and 2 different DSPs? To keep 2 dedicated audio sources yo switch between?


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Has anyone figured out how to tap into the existing wiring harness for the speakers ??

I did all the research I could to replace the Audio in my RS7 but stopped when I realized I had to tap into every single +/- wire on the original harness to send signal from the trunk to the various speakers.

Cut into a rear speaker +/- for to use for the line out converter for my sub and called it a day.

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Originally Posted by OlyS6

Subter, out of curiosity, why 2 different sources and 2 different DSPs? To keep 2 dedicated audio sources yo switch between?


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The MMI is not good for sound quality at the competition level. I am running an Audison Bit Play HD which is an outboard Media PLayer with SSD drive and will play FLAC files up to 24/96. The Audison outputs an optical toslink which goes directly to my DSPs, bypassing the inferior Audi electronics completely. I have the mObridge only for convenience, but in competition I use the Bit Play.


The APL1 is actually just a really advanced 2 channel equalizer that does FIR filters with 4096 taps. Think of it like a regular EQ, but instead of 30 bands of EQ this thing has 4096 bands of EQ.

The Helix Pro handles the crossovers, delays and splits the signal up since I run all of my speakers actively. I do some minor EQ with the Helix first, but the APL1 does the real precision EQ work.

This might help .. This guy swapped speakers all around plus add subwoofer. He have 3-4 videos of making. It is all in german language but its worth of watching..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuNQC5veqz4

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Originally Posted by mavpsire

Has anyone figured out how to tap into the existing wiring harness for the speakers ??

I did all the research I could to replace the Audio in my RS7 but stopped when I realized I had to tap into every single +/- wire on the original harness to send signal from the trunk to the various speakers.

Cut into a rear speaker +/- for to use for the line out converter for my sub and called it a day.

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If you want to have something other than the OEM amp drive your speakers, then yes, you will need to splice into each of the wires. You can get wiring diagrams for your car at Audi Erwin online. Get a one day $35 subscription, and then download all the .pdf files related to your VIN. One of them will be the wiring diagrams, which will have all of the color coded wires for your sound system. Alternatively, you can buy higher quality wire for your sound system, and run new cables to new speakers. I chose to splice into mine. You can cheat by looking at the connections at the speakers and noting which color wires go into each terminal, and then find those same color wires as they come out of your OEM amplifier and splice into them that way.

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Originally Posted by subterFUSE

The MMI is not good for sound quality at the competition level. I am running an Audison Bit Play HD which is an outboard Media PLayer with SSD drive and will play FLAC files up to 24/96. The Audison outputs an optical toslink which goes directly to my DSPs, bypassing the inferior Audi electronics completely. I have the mObridge only for convenience, but in competition I use the Bit Play.


The APL1 is actually just a really advanced 2 channel equalizer that does FIR filters with 4096 taps. Think of it like a regular EQ, but instead of 30 bands of EQ this thing has 4096 bands of EQ.

The Helix Pro handles the crossovers, delays and splits the signal up since I run all of my speakers actively. I do some minor EQ with the Helix first, but the APL1 does the real precision EQ work.

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Are you able to run the bitplay and the Mobridge simultaneously, or do you simply unplug the Mobridge for sound competitions?

I'm having some trouble visualizing how you would have the APL1 do the heavy lifting for your EQ if it only does 2 channels. Do you have it pass the signal on to the helix pro, where it then splits it into 6 or 7 channels? I'm interested in learning how to take my car to the next level- I've currently got all of my aftermarket speakers in stock locations, but considering having a good fabricator build out my A pillars and kick panels.

Have you considered using a center channel as well? I've heard the new Helix mini allows for using a center channel such as in 5.1 or 7.1 setups.

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Originally Posted by OlyS6

Are you able to run the bitplay and the Mobridge simultaneously, or do you simply unplug the Mobridge for sound competitions?

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The APL1 has multiple inputs but they are all active all the time, so you can technically only have 1 source into it.

I only use the Bit Play during competition, so I simply swap the optical input on it. Another option would be to get an optical source switch selector.

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I'm having some trouble visualizing how you would have the APL1 do the heavy lifting for your EQ if it only does 2 channels. Do you have it pass the signal on to the helix pro, where it then splits it into 6 or 7 channels?

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Yes, the APL1 is a 2 channel EQ and it then passes signal to the Helix which splits up the 2 channels into 7 channels for my system. I still do EQ work per channel in the Helix, but it's only to correct for speaker issues. The APL1 acts as the overall system EQ because it has so much power.
Like I said, it's 4096 bands of EQ vs. 30 bands in the Helix. It uses FIR filters which are very common in advanced home theater processors like Anthem, with Room Correction. It's really next-level technology, but almost no one in car audio offers it yet.

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Have you considered using a center channel as well? I've heard the new Helix mini allows for using a center channel such as in 5.1 or 7.1 setups.

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The new Helix does a center channel upmixer. It's not anything like 5.1 or 7.1 audio. 5.1/7.1 audio are discrete recordings with multichannel signals from the source.
What the Helix DSP Mini does is take a 2 channel stereo signal and it derives a center channel from the 2 channel signal. It's more like the old Dolby Pro Logic receivers from 1990s home theater gear.

I might give the new Helix DSP mini a try, but for now I have only 1 week left to be ready for Finals so I can't do much about it at the moment. ;)

Plus, I would have add another amp for a center channel since all my channels are used up.

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Originally Posted by OlyS6

If you want to have something other than the OEM amp drive your speakers, then yes, you will need to splice into each of the wires. You can get wiring diagrams for your car at Audi Erwin online. Get a one day $35 subscription, and then download all the .pdf files related to your VIN. One of them will be the wiring diagrams, which will have all of the color coded wires for your sound system. Alternatively, you can buy higher quality wire for your sound system, and run new cables to new speakers. I chose to splice into mine. You can cheat by looking at the connections at the speakers and noting which color wires go into each terminal, and then find those same color wires as they come out of your OEM amplifier and splice into them that way.

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I guess what I'm trying to get at is... is there a way to avoid splicing? Like finding a male connector thats on the amp to connect with the female connector on the main harness and then using pin outs from there?

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Originally Posted by mavpsire

I guess what I'm trying to get at is... is there a way to avoid splicing? Like finding a male connector thats on the amp to connect with the female connector on the main harness and then using pin outs from there?

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No splicing with mobridge. But you must replace all the speakers and amps with the mobridge. It’s not suitable if wanting to keep any part of the OEM audio working.


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Originally Posted by subterFUSE

No splicing with mobridge. But you must replace all the speakers and amps with the mobridge. It’s not suitable if wanting to keep any part of the OEM audio working.


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I believe there's only no splicing if you decide to use your own wiring for your aftermarket speakers rather than the OEM wiring. I believe if you want to use the OEM wiring, you'd still need to splice where they come out of the OEM amp. To get to mavspire's question, I suppose you could have someone build a female connector with the correct pinouts, or use a pin tool to pop the wires out of the OEM male adapter rather than splicing.

I know the audiophile method would be to lay your own high-end speaker wires. I chose to splice into my OEM wiring, as I didn't feel like trying to get new wires into the doors.
I suppose if I go the custom-location route in the pillars and kick panels, I'll wind up laying new high-end speaker wire.

Yeah, I always run my own wires for everything. It’s higher quality, plus it leaves the factory audio intact in case I sell the car.


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Originally Posted by subterFUSE

Yeah, I always run my own wires for everything. It’s higher quality, plus it leaves the factory audio intact in case I sell the car.


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Which wires have you found to be the best? I'll likely take the time to run all new cables if I re-position my speakers.

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Originally Posted by OlyS6

Which wires have you found to be the best? I'll likely take the time to run all new cables if I re-position my speakers.

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I use Straight Wire for power and speaker cables.

I previously used Straight Wire RCA cables but they are very expensive.

Recently I switched to using Ghent cables for my interconnects. They are inexpensive and high quality.

Blue Jeans cable are also outstanding.


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So this whole setup looks to be a bit more complicated than I think I really want to go. My main reason for looking into this is because my center speaker sounds like either it is blown or came loose because certain frequencies sound terrible, kinda like something is loose and rubbing together. Does anyone know what size speaker is used for the center? I already bought the pop up tweeters (haven't had time for the install) and maybe while I'm getting that done I could just replace the center speaker and then see whether I want to spend the money on something like a Bit One and a few amps with better speakers. And yes I would definitely replace the mids in the doors.