after market amp and speakers on symphony 2 ??

**scoobysteve0** · 08-02-2008 10:50 PM

I have an B6 A4, with a stock symphony 2 deck, and I would like to guy an alpine 5 channel amp and new speakers for my car and possibly a mono alpine amp for my stock sub, but I have NO idea A-if i can even do that with keeping the stock deck, and B-how to do it. can anyone tell me just If it is at all possible to run an aftermarket amp for speakers and keep the stock amp on my stock sub, or if i would have to upgrade the amp for the sub as well....and if possible if anyone could give me a brief (possibly a link or something) on how to do this? please help!! I do love my stock symphony set up and speakers, but I feel that there is way to much base in the speakers that I would like to channell to the sub only...as well as I just feel that the system can be better all together.

**scoobysteve0** · 08-02-2008 10:51 PM

sorry, also If it would be possible to just keep the stock speakers but amp them

**ALWAYS4UDI** · 08-03-2008 01:26 AM

if you wanna channel the bass towards a sub, instead of hammering the stock speakers, just know a few things...

the stock symphony setup is designed not to distort itself, granted that you don't have your bass all the way up. this being said, when you throw a sub in the trunk, you're going to want that bass there. those speakers do an outstanding job of being your midbass drivers, and the car has it's own exceptional highs. with the "midbass drivers" in the cabin, you'll get a fuller bass sound. the only thing you really need is the sub/amp setup in the trunk.

as far as the sub goes (i just did this is my car) you need a remote lead coming off the deck, power and ground like usual, and a signal converter to make a port for the RCAs. if you have a good stereo shop nearby, they can usually throw all of this in for like $140.
it saved me a ton of time when doing my install. the signal converter is tapped into the rear sub, so the box (with the female RCA ports) sits underneath the rear deck. quite handy.

i'm running a kicker sx1250.1 with the remote bass adjust. i highly recomend going with any amp that has remote bass adjust, since you can leave all the settings on your stock deck alone, then adjust the bass as needed.

and as far as wanting to send power to the cabin speakers. that's highly uneeded, unless of course you're getting into sound quality competitions. the stock setup is money as is.

hope this all helps!

**HOFFY11** · 08-03-2008 01:29 AM

Originally Posted by ALWAYS4UDI

if you wanna channel the bass towards a sub, instead of hammering the stock speakers, just know a few things...

the stock symphony setup is designed not to distort itself, granted that you don't have your bass all the way up. this being said, when you throw a sub in the trunk, you're going to want that bass there. those speakers do an outstanding job of being your midbass drivers, and the car has it's own exceptional highs. with the "midbass drivers" in the cabin, you'll get a fuller bass sound. the only thing you really need is the sub/amp setup in the trunk.

as far as the sub goes (i just did this is my car) you need a remote lead coming off the deck, power and ground like usual, and a signal converter to make a port for the RCAs. if you have a good stereo shop nearby, they can usually throw all of this in for like $140.
it saved me a ton of time when doing my install. the signal converter is tapped into the rear sub, so the box (with the female RCA ports) sits underneath the rear deck. quite handy.

i'm running a kicker sx1250.1 with the remote bass adjust. i highly recomend going with any amp that has remote bass adjust, since you can leave all the settings on your stock deck alone, then adjust the bass as needed.

and as far as wanting to send power to the cabin speakers. that's highly uneeded, unless of course you're getting into sound quality competitions. the stock setup is money as is.

hope this all helps!

id say you cant go wrong with a bose system...you will never match it

**scoobysteve0** · 08-03-2008 02:27 PM

thank you always4udi that helped me alot, I think I will just keep the stock set up, I just hate all the deepness that comes out of my speakers and wished it just came out of a sub that was ment for it.

also, I dont have the BOSE speakers (unless there the same.) I just have the symphony 2 set up.

**cruzin210** · 08-03-2008 08:04 PM

LOL have you seen the stock speakers? Even the bose speakers suck ass. Paper cones, aweful. Get a harness and amp some aftermarket components and that will sound way better. If you are deadset on using the stockers, get the aftermarket amp, that way you can set the lowpass filter on the components to something 100hz+. GL

**koolade9** · 08-04-2008 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by scoobysteve0

I have an B6 A4, with a stock symphony 2 deck, and I would like to guy an alpine 5 channel amp and new speakers for my car and possibly a mono alpine amp for my stock sub, but I have NO idea A-if i can even do that with keeping the stock deck, and B-how to do it. can anyone tell me just If it is at all possible to run an aftermarket amp for speakers and keep the stock amp on my stock sub, or if i would have to upgrade the amp for the sub as well....and if possible if anyone could give me a brief (possibly a link or something) on how to do this? please help!! I do love my stock symphony set up and speakers, but I feel that there is way to much base in the speakers that I would like to channell to the sub only...as well as I just feel that the system can be better all together.

To answer your question, yes, you can do it. However, I would advise against upgrading the amp and keeping the stock speakers... You'll most likely cook them rather promply, due to simply overpowering them. It will sound a bit better since you can roll off the low freq. with the HP filter on the amp...But if you're going to do the work, upgrade the speakers/wiring/amp/sub altogether. You can retain the factory headunit using the low-level outputs.

If you're happy with everything but want to remove some of the lower bass from your f/r speakers, the cheapest/easiest way to do it is simply to put a couple passive high-pass filters on your door speakers (80hz @12db or 100hz @6db should suffice). Once the door panels are off, the wiring is very easy to get to.

I may be stating the obvious, but have you tried simply playing with your high/mid/low adjustments to dial out a bit of the bass output...?

**scoobysteve0** · 08-04-2008 01:32 PM

thank you that was extreamly helpful, im thinkin I may just upgrade the speakers and put a 5 chan amp in there for them all, Idk what il do with the amp though, I though it was a 10in but just found out its a 6in (yes i am a noob to audi's) I dont want a sub box in my trunk.
I just ordered a cheap EBAY vag-com so I may try to mess with the internal equalizer with that, also yes I have tryed messing with the low/mid/high adjustments, but it felt like to me If i lowered the lows, and mids I also lost quality of the bass rather than just loudness.

**koolade9** · 08-04-2008 02:35 PM

The sub is an 8, but the size is pretty negligible, considering it's a pretty proprietary setup, not exactly a "drop-in" situation. The mounting hole looks to support a 10, and maybe bigger with a little massaging...but I haven't played with it so I won't speak to what it takes. A few people on here are trying it though...

I'm assuming you don't want a sub-box in order to retain all of your trunk space, which was my goal as well. There's plenty of space behind both rear trunk panels for sub enclosures. I believe there's a fella on the forum (forgive me but I don't recall his name) who was selling fiberglass enclosures to fit in the driver's side rear compartment. And replace the plastic storage unit there. Do a search and you should be able to find him.

**scoobysteve0** · 08-04-2008 08:26 PM

i may look at the stock holes or a thin box, now i just have to look into how to acually hook up the after market amp and sub. my friend who knows about audi said he could do it, but Im figureing that audi didnt make it an easy task to hook up

**koolade9** · 08-05-2008 10:53 AM

Originally Posted by scoobysteve0

i may look at the stock holes or a thin box, now i just have to look into how to acually hook up the after market amp and sub. my friend who knows about audi said he could do it, but Im figureing that audi didnt make it an easy task to hook up

It's simple actually... Your factory headunit already has low-level outputs and a remote switched lead. When you pull out the headunit, you'll see the pin-out label. Cut and solder your own RCA pigtail from there...

**quietriot447** · 08-09-2008 04:50 PM

i am thinking about doing the same thing that you are except i want to keep majority stock. but my rear amp is blown so if you are going to upgrade your setup can i buy your rear amp off of you?