B7 non-Bose audio upgrade writeup. (BWW)

[TJHUB]

I was very disappointed with the non-Bose Symphony II audio system in my ’06 Audi A4. While most would say the audio system sounds “good”, it is highly inaccurate. I noticed that many artists’ voices sounded off and that there are several spots over the audio frequency response range that are attenuated and become almost inaudible. Basically I’m saying the music does not sound correct. Included in this inaccuracy is the believed “audio compression” issue that I will cover later.

The upgrades to my audio system include: (total cost was less than $1,000.00)

• Custom wiring harness from TeddyBGame on AudiWorld (modified Dice Electronics adapter harness)
  
• A/D/S 346cs 6.5” component speakers (front doors only)
  
• Alpine Type-X 10” subwoofer (dual 4 ohm voice coils) in a sealed .75 cF enclosure
  
• Alpine F450 4-channel amplifier (70 wrms x 4 @ 4 ohms) for front components only
  
• Alpine M650 1-channel amplifier (400 wrms X1 @ 4 ohms / 600 wrms x1 @ 2 ohms) for subwoofer

Custom Wiring Harness:

I wanted to retain the oem look, feel, and functionality of the stock audio system so I set out to figure out a way to upgrade the audio system utilizing the stock non-Bose head unit. After a lot of forum searching I was directed to TeddyBGame from AudiWorld. He makes custom wiring harnesses for almost any need. He makes the plug-and-play harnesses to adapt RNS-E Nav units to Bose and non-Bose Symphony II audio systems. (As a note, he can also adapt the new Symphony II+ MP3 head units from the ‘07’s as well.) He does great work and is equally great to deal with. He can be contacted at [email protected]

My custom harness from Ted started off as a standard Dice Electronics iPod integration adapter. While the Dice harness is not necessary, it was the logical choice to modify in my case. I want to be clear that a Dice harness is not needed. Ted can make a completely new adapter harness for almost any situation.

The stock Audi Symphony II head unit is exactly the same unit for both Bose and non-Bose audio systems. The main difference between the two systems is that the Bose utilizes the low-level pre-outs known to most as RCA connectors to feed an amplifier located in the right rear of the trunk for all speakers while the non-Bose uses the internal head unit amplifier for the front and center speakers and low-level outputs to feed an amplifier in the right rear of the trunk for the rear speakers and the 8” subwoofer located in the rear deck of the car. This means that with either the Bose or non-Bose head units, you can utilize low-level audio outputs to feed aftermarket amplifiers.

Here is a list of the features that the custom harness added to my specific setup:

• Added front and rear low-level standard RCA style connectors at the rear of the stock head unit.
  
• Retained the functionality of the head unit’s internal amplifier for the front and center channel speakers as well as the low-level outputs feeding the stock rear amplifier for the rear speakers and subwoofer. (Even with the custom harness plugged in, the audio system can be operated in completely stock form.)
  
• Adding the Dice Electronic iPod adapter disables the audio output of the oem XM satellite radio module. The custom adapter adds the ability to have both the iPod and the XM functional at the same time. This is only possible because the head unit actually powers down the XM module when any other source is selected other than SAT. This means that two analog audio devices can exist on the same input.
  
• Added a separate 12 volt trigger for aftermarket amplifiers linked to the head units power button.
  
• Added the ability to ground the Bose pin. (This is covered in the Bose pin section below.)

Audio compression and the Bose pin:

The information I’m about to give you is based mostly on testing supposedly done by a guy on AudiWorld audio forum that goes by the name avincar. His name is Ken and he runs a stereo shop. I take him to be very knowledgeable about Audi audio systems and is relatively intelligent. I trust he tested the head unit properly and his findings are true.

That said, Ken has stated that the Audi Symphony II head units can put out a very flat and clean audio signal. I say “can” because the head unit in non-Bose form has “a large bass bump with the tone controls flat which decreases as the volume increases”. This quote is from a post to me from Ken (avincar). I’m not going to waste any time speculating just what the engineers intended this function for, just know it’s there and has been tested.

In Bose form, you are of course a victim of the Bose equalizations that are built into the Bose oem amplifier itself. You can decide for yourself if that’s good or bad. I don’t have the Bose system so I can’t comment. However, the good news here is that when the head unit is in Bose mode, the signal sent out of the head unit is flat and unmolested. There is no bass bump like the non-Bose mode. This means that you can avoid the “audio compression” bass bump issue by putting the head unit in Bose mode.

So how do you get the head unit in Bose mode? By grounding the Bose pin. There is a secondary ground pin actually labeled “Bose” on the power connector for the head unit. You can verify this by looking at the connector pin layout on the top of the head unit itself.



I ran my new audio upgrades and tuned on the system for about week before grounding the Bose pin. I did a lot of adjusting and tuning and I was happy with the overall sound quality and didn’t really notice the bass bump or audio compression issue that much. After grounding the Bose pin things were definitely different. The main things I noticed was that the mid and bass adjustments on the head unit seemed to have less of an effect at each extreme (+/- 6) setting. This is not really an issue as for the most part everything in my car is set to 0 or no more the +/- 1. While I was satisfied with the Bose pin NOT grounded, I’m leaving it grounded if for nothing more than a piece of mind.

I also want to note it was thought that I would need to recode my non-Bose head unit to Bose mode to have all four low-level outputs functional. This was not the case for me. It didn’t matter what I had the head unit coded to, everything worked the same.

The Install:

I started with a grand plan and I’ll tell you now that I changed my mind about almost everything as I went through the install. This is just what I did and I’m happy. It’s not the best way; it’s not the worst way. You need to decide for yourself.

The first thing I did was to install the new front component speakers into the front doors. My new A/D/S speakers have HUGE crossovers that would be impossible to get into the doors themselves. I decided to trunk mount the crossovers so that they would fit somewhere and there are several tweaks that can be made on the crossovers themselves that easy access during tuning would be best.

Here is a picture of one of the speakers and it’s crossover:



First thing is to remove the door card and get a good look around:



You pull the trim piece off starting where the yellow arrow is pointing. Pull the leading edge straight away from the door card and (4) pins will pull free of the door card. The opposite end has a hook that a simple pull sideways will release from the door card.

Here is a pic of the hook on the trim piece:



The removal of the trim piece will reveal (4) screws. You can now remove these screws shown in the picture below with the yellow arrows pointing to each one. On the passenger’s side door, there is also one screw in the pull handle also with a yellow arrow. The yellow circle shows a couple of the little metal clips that popped out on me when I removed the trim piece. These will not break and can be easily returned to the slots they belong in.



The last thing to remove before pulling the door card off is a single screw in the center of the bottom of the door card.

This brings you to the worst part of removing the door card. There are (5) special clips that are holding the door car on. You will need to pry your fingers under the door card anywhere you can and begin pulling the door card off pulling directly toward you. This is where I broke (4) out of the (5) clips. Stupid Audi engineers!

Here is a picture of the only clip I didn’t break on the first door card:



I only broke (3) out of (5) on the driver’s door. I must have been getting better at it. Seriously, there really is no way of not breaking these things other than luck. It’s very common to break them. Also, my door card is currently on the car just fine with no clips and it’s nice and tight. I’m planning to replace them with the normal “christmas tree” style from a local auto parts store if I can find the correct size. Audi gets about $1.00 each for the oem ones.

Now that the door card is loose, you will now need to remove the cable from the door release lever, a connector for the door controls, and the tweeter connector as the tweeter is mounted to the door card itself.

Here are some general pictures of the area:









Now with the door card and woofer removed it was time figure out the best way to mount the new A/D/S woofer. This was where I was looking forward to showing my skills by fabricating a MDF/Masonite board adapter. Unfortunately, you’re just going to have to trust that I’m as good as I say because I ended up taking the advise of a couple of forum members and I modified the stock woofers to make them the adapters. It is not my style at all to cut components up for this type of project. I always try to make sure going back to stock is quick and easy. But this time I decided to call my dealership and ask for the cost on replacement woofers. Since I was quoted about $32.00 each, it was a very easy decision to start cutting. In the end, it is by far the best and easiest way to go. Another good reason to use the stock woofer as an adapter is that it has a nice rubber seal around the face of the woofer that fits tightly into the door card. This can only improve the sound…right?

One thing I’d like to note here is that the stock woofers and its adapter to mount on the door are one molded piece. It is my understanding that the Bose speakers are actually 2 pieces. The adapter to the door is separate and the speaker is of a more traditional design.

Here are some pictures of the removed woofers:







Now the modifications to the stock woofers to adapt the new A/D/S woofers to them. Please verify that your new speakers will fit properly before you start modifying. The A/D/S’s looked like they were a perfect candidate.

The first thing I did was to cut the stock foam surround of the woofer from the plastic molded frame:





The next step is to cut the plastic spider from the back of the speaker (I used a Dremel tool to do the cutting):



I clipped the wires and broke the metal pieces off so that they would not interfere with the new A/D/S woofer:



Here is the speaker separated from it’s housing:



I then used my Dremel tool to sand down the rest of the plastic left over from cutting out the speaker’s spider:



For reference, I snapped the back side of the speaker adapter housing back on to show the available depth for any aftermarket speaker; approximately 2-1/4” with approximately an additional 1" before you would contact the window frame inside the door:



Since my new A/D/S woofers are slightly over 2-1/2” inches deep, I had to modify the rear of the speaker adapter as well (back to Dremeling):



I then screwed the new A/D/S woofer into the housing and snapped the back of the housing on. Here is the finished product:





I drilled a small hole in the bottom of the housing and brought my new larger gauge speaker wire to the new A/D/S woofer. I didn’t want to try to use the stock wire connectors. Just my personal preference.

I then went to work on mounting the new A/D/S tweeters:

Here are a few pictures of the back side of the door card and the mounting of the stock tweeter:







The new A/D/S tweeters are about 1/16” of an inch larger in diameter than the stock tweeters. There was no way the new tweeters were going to mount in the stock location without modifying something. Once again I was forced to decide what would get hacked up, the new tweeters or the stock tweeter housing. I again called my dealership and they quoted replacement tweeter housings at about $12.00 each; another easy decision. Thanks Audi for the cheap prices.

Here is the stock tweeter housing removed from the door card and with the stock tweeter removed:



I decided that I could modify the stock tweeter housing by Dremeling the tweeter surround to form (3) flexible tabs. I was lucky enough to see that the new tweeter would also be gripped well by the (3) tabs (I hope the following picture is good enough for you to see what I’m talking about).



The yellow arrows are pointing to the (3) tabs I made. The red lines show where I cut to both form the tabs and allow them to be flexible enough to spread apart and grip the new tweeters. It worked out very well and the new tweeters are held in securely. I also believe that the stock tweeters could be reinstalled without issue if desired.

Since what I thought was the most difficult part of the install was now completed, I moved on to wiring the car. I’m going to keep this simple since there is no genius about how to wire a car. I’ll just describe what I did.

I knew running new wires to the doors for the woofers and tweeters was going to be the most difficult, so I started there. Saying it was the most difficult is a huge understatement. It was 100 times worse than I could have expected. The only real issue I ran into was getting the new speaker wires through the door grommets. First, they are the smallest I’ve run across, and second they are not simple pass-through for the wires.

On the door side the grommet just meets up to a simple hole as expected. On the car’s door jamb side there are wire connectors that fit snuggly into a specially formed cutout in the metal. Basically wires run into and out of this connector that completely fills the cutout it’s mounted into. Now what to do?

I decided that since I in this deep now, my only choice would be to widen the cutout on the door jamb with my Dremel tool. Now I’m really not happy. It goes against everything I believe in to go grinding on my new Audi with 4,000 miles on it. But I did it anyway…

I widened the cutout in the center just enough to allow for my two new wires to sneak past the side of the plastic connector. This of course was not very fun because the wires are not long enough on either end to really get the connector out of the way and I couldn’t figure out how to separate the connector halves.

Here is a picture of the finished product (black cars are impossible to take pictures of for these circumstances, sorry for the bad picture):



Just as a note, you slide the pink lever on the top of the connector to the side slightly to release the connector from the cutout.

In general I ran the (4) new speaker wire pair for the front components down the drivers’ side of the car under the trim molding. I ran the new RCA cables for the front and rear low-level outputs down the middle of the car under the center console and carpeting.

This brings me to the battery power wire. I ran a 4 gauge wire from the battery with a fuse through the firewall and down the passenger’s side of the car under the trim. I also ran the amp trigger wire with the power wire.

Here is a picture of the grommet I used for the power wire to get through the firewall:



This hole is up high in the dash in the middle of the passenger’s foot well. I had removed my glove box to work on my head unit anyway, but I wouldn’t want to try to fish the power wire through with the glove box in place.

This is where I’m going to be very general. I simply ran all of my new speaker wires, RCA interconnects, and power wires to the rear seat. I removed the rear seat and terminated all of the wires there. For simplicity I mounted the two Alpine amplifiers and the two A/D/S component speaker crossovers to the backs of the rear seats. I know it’s not sexy, but it’s simple and it gives easy access to the amplifiers and crossovers. I mounted everything this way in my B5 and never had an issue or regretted it, so I did it again. I may fabricate an amp rack mounted to the underside of the rear deck, but I’m not sure. For now I’m happy.

I also removed the stock subwoofer from the rear deck to use the hole for a pass-through for my new subwoofer. It’s not a good idea to have a trunk mounted subwoofer distorting the stock subwoofer in the rear deck.

Since my stock rear amplifier is still functional, I chose to leave the stock rear speakers hooked up to it and use them for rear fill if needed. I would only use them for fill when there are passengers in the back seat. For the most part I’ll have them faded out completely. It works out very well.

Also since my rear stock amplifier is still functional, I have nothing connected to the rear low-level RCA outputs from the head unit. My Alpine amplifiers both have low-level pre-outs. This allows me to connect my 4-channel amplifier to the front RCA outputs from the head unit and I can connect the low-level pre-out of the 4-channel amplifier to the input of the subwoofer amplifier. It’s just an option that the Alpine amplifiers have so I thought I’d try this setup for while.

However, as an option I could have connected the rear low-level RCA connectors to my subwoofer amplifier and used the fader control as a subwoofer level control. But in order to do this, I’d have to disconnect the stock rear amplifier and thus my rear speakers wouldn’t work.

I’ll finalize my install very soon and provide some pictures of the finished product. Overall, I couldn’t be happier with the upgrades. The A/D/S component speaker are nothing short of spectacular and the Alpine Type-X sub is the most musical subwoofer I’ve ever had in a car. It’s performance has been far beyond my expectations.

I hope this helps some of you. I spent a lot of time figuring all of this stuff out and sorting through all of the bad information on the internet.

[mrponline]

Well done, great write up cant wait to see some pics of the finished product.

[LAS]

wow!

if or when i decide to upgrade mine, i definitely know where to look.

thanks for your efforts.

[slingblade]

Great writeup! I hope to at least get the Bose pin grounded and the RCA run for the sub tomorrow.

If I can get the center channel speaker wires out of the harness, I will certainly do so. Next year when the lease is up I will make a decisionon components/amp for the front and will remove the stock sub all together (its disconnected now anyway)

[4-tified]

Audio compression and the Bose pin:


That said, Ken has stated that the Audi Symphony II head units can put out a very flat and clean audio signal. I say “can” because the head unit in non-Bose form has “a large bass bump with the tone controls flat which decreases as the volume increases”. This quote is from a post to me from Ken (avincar). I’m not going to waste any time speculating just what the engineers intended this function for, just know it’s there and has been tested.

If bass decreases as volume increases, then the system is "active", or actively, adjusting the low end frequencies to adjust for the low volume phenomenon of low bass.
These types of bass 'boost' circuits are typically known as "loudness" controls.
Low bass requires a good bit of power. However, when playing music at low volume levels the power is decreased and the bass drivers can not push or develop enough SPL to match the bass to the mids and highs. Thus, bass boost is used to compensate for that phenomenon. In older tech the user would push the "loudness" button himself at low volumes, and you would then need to turn it off at higher volume once the power was up to proper levels where bass was plenty.
If you didn't turn it off then you had a noticeable bump in the bass ranges that could get quite "muddy" sounding.

Newer systems became "active" in that an internal processor could turn the "loudness" on and off and in some fancier systems it was variable depending on the volume level selected by the user.

If the Audi head has a low volume bass boost that increases and decreases wilth volume that is not a bad thing at all as it helps to compensate for lower bass level at lower volumes. As long as the system turns this boost down properly.
Perhaps that problem is that with the new components the HU isn't decreasing bass boost enough for the given power you've given it.

"Flat" output is good as it is a good reference point. But, still you need to have tone control so that you can adjust frequencies for the car environment.
Parametric eq is a sweet way to go. A bit pricey but it can make the system sound tasty. Still, a great system can be done without a dedicated eq, but at least the HU can give some tone shaping.
I really need to hear this system.

I'll probably tackle this this spring. I just can't stand this stock audio system
Also, I'm wondering if anyone has had a direct head to head comparison of the new stock HU compared to the '05.5 and '06 HU?
I like the way the new head unit looks.
If it fits I may seek out a junked A4 HU.

Thanks again for posting your experiences with the sound system.
Great job!

[lnferno]

Very nice write-up! Thanks for posting! Looking forward to seeing the finished product!

[parks853]

Thanks for posting! I will add it to the FAQ's at the top of the forum.

[TJHUB]

Thanks for the compliments guys. It's really appreciated.

I just got back from my business trip just now. I wrote the whole thing in my hotel room Wednesday and Thursday night. I didn't really proof it well, but I'll read through it and fix anything I find.

I'm planning to do some tweaking on the system tomorrow if I think it needs it. I haven't listened to it since Tuesday, so I'm thinking fresh ears will be good. I'll detail a couple of things and shoot some pictures of what it all looks like. Just be warned that it's simple and nothing to show off. I don't know, maybe that's better...

[parks853]

Thanks for the compliments guys. It's really appreciated.

I just got back from my business trip just now. I wrote the whole thing in my hotel room Wednesday and Thursday night. I didn't really proof it well, but I'll read through it and fix anything I find.

I'm planning to do some tweaking on the system tomorrow if I think it needs it. I haven't listened to it since Tuesday, so I'm thinking fresh ears will be good. I'll detail a couple of things and shoot some pictures of what it all looks like. Just be warned that it's simple and nothing to show off. I don't know, maybe that's better...

The more important thing is if you like the way it sounds. That is why one upgrades a system, no?

[AlisoA4]

VERY VERY nice writeup

Darn...... now I have sound-system-envy

[TJHUB]

I spent most of my time allotted to the car on washing it and tuning the stereo this weekend. This means I did not detail the install or take pictures. But my "fresh ears" after almost a week away from the car proved very interesting.

I spent some time this morning just listening to my home stereo (which is sonic perfection even if I do say so myself) just to train my ears a bit. A few hours later I listened to the car stereo. I did not like the overall tonal quality at all. Even trying to adjust the bass, mid, and treb adjustments just made things different and not better. Since I was very happy with the sound before grounding the Bose pin, I thought I'd UNground it just to hear how things change. WOW, what an improvement!

I'd say I've done about the best test there is for grounding or not grounding the Bose pin. I installed the stereo and tuned it to my liking. Then after about 4 days of listening and tuning, I grounded the Bose pin and retuned the stereo. Once dissatisfied with the sound, I ungrounded the Bose pin and finally determined that grounding the Bose pin sucks.

List of the differences with the Bose pin grounded:

• The tone controls, bass, mid, and treb all made less of a difference when adjusted.
  
• Midbass sounded a little thin.
  
• Midrange sounded heavy.
  
• Trebble was slightly muted.
  
• Bass from low volume to high volume seemed balanced.

List of the differences with the Bose pin NOT grounded:

• The tone controls, bass, mid, and treb all seemed to adjust as expected.
  
• Midbass sounds full and accurate.
  
• Midrange sounded balanced.
  
• Trebble was clear and balanced.
  
• Bass from low volume to high volume changes. Low volume gets a little bloated if the bass is set at high volume and if the bass is set at low volume it gets a little thin at high volume. It's not drastic, but it is there.

I would also say that the bass, mid, and treb adjustment frequency points also change with the Bose pin grounded. With the Bose pin grounded, the bass adjustment frequency is higher, the midrange is higher, and the treb is lower. None of the frequency points work very well at all for my setup. Ungrounding the Bose pin helped this tremendously. Also, the adjustments now make a big difference when adjusted. And unlike when I had the Bose pin grounded, I do not what to adjust the bass, mid, or treb off zero unless the recording I'm playing is engineered or mixed with heavy or light bass.

Overall the system sounds night and day better without the Bose pin grounded. I can't believe I thought is was ok when I first grounded it. I'm going to live with the sound this week and I'll update my writeup. If anything changes, I'll report back.

[slingblade]

^^ Good to know, I will at least check it out

Side note - I went and got the HU out with just the two keys by pushing on the back (thanks!) unplugged the 'top' harness and put the one I got in. It just plugged into the Line out (right side looking down at it from the front) and it worked great! BUT I did lose the steering wheel controls... I know this is because of the CAN wires in the middle section. There are only two so I can just plug in and tap into the stock harness.

I guess my question would be: Is that all thats needed? Do I need to run anything from the CD side to the stock harness?

I did run the RCA while everything was there so its just a matter of minutes when I actually get the CAN figured out


This is the harness I have except mine has two extra speaker level connectors
http://www.continentalimports.com/f00e500014.html

[Postman]

Not to hijack, but how the hell did you get past the insulation on the firewall when you ran the power wire? I'm working on mine right now and have spent 45 minutes trying to make a hole in that stuff. Seems to be some HVAC equipment blocking it from the inside, and can't get enough leverage from the firewall side to push it through.

Any advice?

[TJHUB]

I pulled the insulation down and out from behind the HVAC stuff. It's not that bad. I just let the power wire run behind the insulation and ran it out by the passenger kick panel. Working on cars this well built is a real PITA, heh?

[Postman]

I pulled the insulation down and out from behind the HVAC stuff. It's not that bad. I just let the power wire run behind the insulation and ran it out by the passenger kick panel. Working on cars this well built is a real PITA, heh?

Yup....why I drove my B6 A4 for two years of torture listening to Bose. After I did my B5.5 Passat I said no more. I swore I would get the B7 done though. I'm so pissed right now I might go get a new 335i just for the rear mounted battery.

Thanks again for the info, I'll go give it a shot!

[Postman]

I pulled the insulation down and out from behind the HVAC stuff

That did it . I have the wire inside the car, but I don't think 4 gauge is going to make it down the sides. Guess I'll have to pull the console. Anyone know of a good write up on that? I couldn't find one and would like to learn from others mistakes.

[TJHUB]

That did it . I have the wire inside the car, but I don't think 4 gauge is going to make it down the sides. Guess I'll have to pull the console. Anyone know of a good write up on that? I couldn't find one and would like to learn from others mistakes.

Don't pull the center console, trust me on this. It doesn't come out any easier than any other part of the car. I ran my amp trigger and 4 gauge wire down the passenger's side of the car without issue. It will fit just fine. Just don't think you're going to get anything else in there!

[TJHUB]

^^ Good to know, I will at least check it out

Side note - I went and got the HU out with just the two keys by pushing on the back (thanks!) unplugged the 'top' harness and put the one I got in. It just plugged into the Line out (right side looking down at it from the front) and it worked great! BUT I did lose the steering wheel controls... I know this is because of the CAN wires in the middle section. There are only two so I can just plug in and tap into the stock harness.

I guess my question would be: Is that all thats needed? Do I need to run anything from the CD side to the stock harness?

I did run the RCA while everything was there so its just a matter of minutes when I actually get the CAN figured out


This is the harness I have except mine has two extra speaker level connectors
http://www.continentalimports.com/f00e500014.html

If I were you, I'd try to get my hands on the tool necessary to swap the wires in and out of those connectors. I think the tool is expensive, but it's the best way to get your stereo hooked up properly. You could even sell me the tool for $20.00 when you're done. I think it's only around $90.00 or so new.

[Postman]

Don't pull the center console, trust me on this. It doesn't come out any easier than any other part of the car. I ran my amp trigger and 4 gauge wire down the passenger's side of the car without issue. It will fit just fine. Just don't think you're going to get anything else in there!

I'll trust you on that then. I'll give it a go in the AM....too damn cold now. Normally I would of had an entire install done instead of just 20 feet of 4 gauge coiled up in the passenger footwell.

Any words of advice for the wire run on the side, or will it make sense once I start yanking plastic?

[TJHUB]

I'll trust you on that then. I'll give it a go in the AM....too damn cold now. Normally I would of had an entire install done instead of just 20 feet of 4 gauge coiled up in the passenger footwell.

Any words of advice for the wire run on the side, or will it make sense once I start yanking plastic?

The only part you need to pull off is the one along the front door. Just pull straight up. The metal clips pull out, but they go back into the trim piece unharmed. The B-pillar would have been far too much work to remove, so I just tucked it under and it fits ok. If you were to lie on the floor you'd most likely be able to see the cable, but since no one ever really does that I felt it was ok. When I got to the rear door trim I veered under the carpet to the rear seat. I removed the lower rear seat cushion and run the wire under it.

Good luck!

[slingblade]

I just ran power by tucking it under the passenger side trim, and same with the RCA up the drivers side. Wasn't too bad at all

If I were you, I'd try to get my hands on the tool necessary to swap the wires in and out of those connectors. I think the tool is expensive, but it's the best way to get your stereo hooked up properly. You could even sell me the tool for $20.00 when you're done. I think it's only around $90.00 or so new.

haha - I think I will spend the time making a custom harness out of the blue/green connectors I found

[Postman]

Hey Terry - Thanks man, got the power cable down the side like you said.

Now do you have any advice on removing the stock sub? I can't seem to get the rear shelf off. Some of the simplest things on these cars are a huge PIA.

[TJHUB]

Hey Terry - Thanks man, got the power cable down the side like you said.

Now do you have any advice on removing the stock sub? I can't seem to get the rear shelf off. Some of the simplest things on these cars are a huge PIA.

Glad I can help.

I should have mentioned that I too discovered it was far too much work to actually remove the rear deck. The rear deck in my B5 was a piece of cake, but it appear that to remove the rear deck in the B7, you need to pull the C-pillar trim as well.

The good news is that you do not have to remove the rear deck to pull the stock sub. All I did was lower the rear seat backs, pull the speaker grill out of the rear deck, remove the (4) screws from the top side that hold the sub in, remove the one screw from the bottom, and disconnect the speaker wire connector. Now you'll have a completely loose sub. I then popped the connectors (I think there are 4 or 5) that hold the leading edge of the rear deck where it wraps down behind the rear seat backs. Use a flat head screw driver near each connector as they are glued to the rear deck and appear as though you could tear them off easily. This allows you to lift up on the rear deck itself. This is where I was when I learned I'd have to take half the car apart to remove the deck itself, so I just lifted up the deck enough to pull the subwoofer out from underneath. It worked for me and nothing got damaged.

Good luck!

[kstrike155]

Does anybody know if the pinout diagram in the picture matches the headunit in the 2007 A4s? It is the non-Bose, non-navigation unit.

Also, if it does match, how can you convert the pre-amp outputs to RCA jacks? All I see are 4 pins in the diagram, RF, RR, LF, LR, but where are the other four pins (i.e. LF should have LF+ and LF-). Is it a single ground connection for RCA cables?

Thanks,
Brian

[Quattro]

very nice write up: stupid question I thought the front/rear are 6.5" so why do you need the umm brackets?

-randy

[TJHUB]

Does anybody know if the pinout diagram in the picture matches the headunit in the 2007 A4s? It is the non-Bose, non-navigation unit.

Also, if it does match, how can you convert the pre-amp outputs to RCA jacks? All I see are 4 pins in the diagram, RF, RR, LF, LR, but where are the other four pins (i.e. LF should have LF+ and LF-). Is it a single ground connection for RCA cables?

Thanks,
Brian

The diagram is from an '06 Symphony II head unit and does not match the '07 Symphony II+. The Symphony II+ also uses a different style of connectors as well.

I know you can convert to RCA's on the pre-amp. You should contact [email protected] for anything you need. He'll surely be able to help you.

[TJHUB]

very nice write up: stupid question I thought the front/rear are 6.5" so why do you need the umm brackets?

-randy

Thanks. I try...

Your question is not stupid, but it does have a simple answer. The reason you NEED some sort of adapter is that the stock speaker sits about 2" off the face of the metal door frame so that the speaker seals into the door panel. Without this 2" you would both not seal into the door panel and only have just over an inch of mounting depth for you speakers. Cutting up the oem woofer was the easiest and most professional way to make brackets for my new speakers. If you look closer at my pics, you'll see what I'm talking about.

[Curt941]

I don't know if this would work or not, but when I ran the system in my Trailblazer, I came across the same issue you did with the plugs in the doors.

What I did was remove the stock speaker wires and use a drill bit to open up the holes their pins were in on both the male and female plugs. This allowed me to run the speaker wires through the plug with no issues.

Just a thought, and like I said, it might not work depending on the layout of the plugs.

[wtrsxn]

One of the best write up I've ever seen.

[Curt941]

Any pictures of the harness?

[TJHUB]

One of the best write up I've ever seen.

Thank you.

Any pictures of the harness?

Out of respect for the guy the builds them, I'm sorry but I cannot.

[Curt941]

So did you only need the harness for ipod capabilities?

Because my understanding is that the stock harness has RCA outputs for FL,FR,RL, and RR allready, but bose uses all 4 and non-bose only uses rear...grounding the bose pin sends a signal out all 4 that can then be sent to an aftermarket amplifier, correct?

[TJHUB]

So did you only need the harness for ipod capabilities?

Because my understanding is that the stock harness has RCA outputs for FL,FR,RL, and RR allready, but bose uses all 4 and non-bose only uses rear...grounding the bose pin sends a signal out all 4 that can then be sent to an aftermarket amplifier, correct?

Nope. You have this all wrong.

I had my Dice Electronics harness modified for the upgrade so that I could use and iPod, but it's not necessary.

There are no actual RCA connectors behind the head units (Bose or non-Bose - same HU). However, the wiring is there for the RCA connectors, you just need to wire them in. The only difference between Bose and non-Bose setups is that the Bose uses front and rear RCA wiring to a Bose amp, while the non-Bose only uses the rear RCA wiring to a non-Bose amp and the front is powered off the HU's internal amp.

The ONLY thing the Bose pin does is turn off the HU's internal EQ system so that the HU outputs a flat signal to the Bose amp where the "Bose sound" comes from. It doesn't have anything to do with whether or not the RCA wiring is active or not. As a matter of fact, you can use all four RCA connections AND the HU's internal amp all at the same time if it floats your boat (Bose pin grounded or not).

[Curt941]

Ahhh...now I get it. The stock head unit doesn't actually use RCA connectors, but they can be wired in.

Gotcha.

[TJHUB]

Ahhh...now I get it. The stock head unit doesn't actually use RCA connectors, but they can be wired in.

Gotcha.

Yeah. I don't think there's any required genius, so if you're a capable person you really should be able to add them yourself. Or you can take the lazy route like me and contact Ted.

[Curt941]

Yeah, i sent him a PM on navplus.us about a custom harness with RCA connectors for SymphonyII -> RNS-E since I just ordered the kit from Proxus.

[Jmaak]

Brining this one back from the dead... Could any of you guys elaborate on how to route that power wire through the firewall?

I removed the nipples, and poked through the insulation but am having a hell of a time getting that coat hanger down and into the footwell. I saw that you guys removed some of the foam insulation behind the HVAC stuff, how did you guys manage to do that? When you say "pull" is that literal or figuratively?

The only way that I can see is to cut some of that crap off. Also when you routed that power wire underneath the side trim, "veered off into the carpet" where and how did you manage to get it under the carpet and into the trunk?

Ive looked extensively at this thread and the one on a4 mods but after 6 hours am completely stumped. Thanks in advance.

Edit: my buddy helped my out, if anyone else has a qeustion pm and ill try and help as best as i can

[slingblade]

One of the grommets comes right out and I snipped the nipple so I could get the power wire through. Put the wire through, and got the grommet back in

No pics, sorry

[tomasmdiego]

good writeup!

[A4B7GA]

Thanks for the great write up...as I am a bit new to the audio game when it relate to componet speakers....I have a really noob question...if the car came with separates, would it be possible to just replace the woofer and not the tweeter and not use the crossover? The reason I ask is that I think mine is blown or something is just really loose.