Looking for a non Bose speaker upgrade

[B6_A4_Kid]

Well the title says it all, I have searched around a ton and can't find a definite answer. I am wondering what you guys are doing for your speakers on the b6 platform. I know they are 6.5 inch front and rear and the free air sub on the back deck, just wondering what is a good speaker upgrade that is actually an upgrade that's worth it. I don't want to run any new wiring or anything like that, and I plan on keeping the OEM head unit. It's just the stock non Bose system is not cutting it, I am going to dynamat the whole car when I upgrade the speakers which well help. And my plan is to hack up the old speakers for the mount. Let's hear what you guys have done.

[maccalo]

Alpine Type R in front doors. Using aftermarket amp though. The speakers are still one of the best mod I ever did. They hit hard and play loud. I also have dynamat on my doors (pita to change window regulator btw).

[juxsa]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o06_s00

I used these for my front speakers.

[B6_A4_Kid]

I am not looking to run and external amp, would the alpine type r's still be a good choice?

[lyates1987]

I am not looking to run and external amp, would the alpine type r's still be a good choice?

Those speakers are good but I don't think you'll be able to hear a significant difference unless you did wire an amp to it. It's still going to be running off the stock headunit.

[Matt Devo]

your head unit (and it's built-in amplifier) is by far the weakest link in the system. Upgrading the speakers is unlikely to have a significant impact without first improving the source quality and amplification. Even a Symphony II+ is a significant improvement.

[Charles.waite]

The stock system sucks, as you know. To get better sound though, you're really going to want an aftermarket amp to properly drive a set of good aftermarket speakers. The stock headunit drives the fronts but the rears and sub are driven by a cheesy ass amp in the back that puts out a tiny amount of power. Between the two, you can't drive decent speakers properly, and the EQ is all shitty because the stock HU sucks.

You can replace the speakers if you want, and I did that a while back, but the sound won't really change much. I pulled my speakers back out and put the stock ones back in awaiting a new amp. I have the amp, but still haven't had time to reinstall everything because doing it properly means running wires back and forth in the interior and I'm too lazy to do it, haha.

[B6_A4_Kid]

Where can put the new amp?

[lyates1987]

Where can put the new amp?

A popular place (if it fits) is underneath one of the front seats or screwed against the back of the rear seat. If you do it this way it might be easier to wire to all the speakers by routing underneath the rear bench seat to the lower trim panels. Or if you want to try to rewire with the original harness you could try seeing if the bolts holes line up nice where the stock one inside the trunk lining. I've never seen any one attempt this though.

[Charles.waite]

It just put it where the factory amp is in the trunk. There's room back there.

[Fast4esT]

Isn't it easier to reuse the stock wiring from the radio to amp and amp to speakers than it is to rewire the whole thing?
I suppose with the door panels off, half the battle is over but still.

[Charles.waite]

Isn't it easier to reuse the stock wiring from the radio to amp and amp to speakers than it is to rewire the whole thing?
I suppose with the door panels off, half the battle is over but still.

Sorta. The problem is without Bose the front are driven off the hu and the rears are from the amp in the rear. So unless you run wires only the rears would benefit from the amp.

With Bose, both front and rear are driven off the rear amp so it's much much easier as the wires are already run and you can just reuse them.

[Fast4esT]

I should have specified that being Bose.
Thanks

[Charles.waite]

I should have specified that being Bose.
Thanks

Oh yea Bose makes it easy. Which can is ironic.

[maccalo]

I removed the "sub" and installed an amp in that location. I ran speaker cables in the center console and back to the passenger side behind the wheel. Up front I attached a standard ISO plug and plugged them right into the OEM harness, that way I didn't have to run new wires through the doors.

[B6_A4_Kid]

I am just not wanting to vary too far from stock, is there a way I can just plug in an upgraded amp in the rear and then put the symphony 2+ head unit it and put a better free air sub. I'm not an audio freak or anything, I just want new components because mine aren't in their prime

[Fast4esT]

Remove factory amp and either cut the needed wires or splice Into them and run them to and from new amp. There is a diagram on the factory amp for what the wires are

[maccalo]

Easy answer: no.

The stock amp is super tiny, and the gauge of the switched power will not allow to much wattage from an aftermarket amp.

I know a lot of aftermarket brands can supply a power stage that you can mount up front somewhere, to feed amplified power to your front speakers without the need of rewiring the car. You can get + from behind the fuse panel, and there's some decent ground spots aswell. Then you just need to have the phono adapter and remote cable from your head unit and tap into the front speaker wires (which are present behind your HU).

In my opinion just leave the sub and rear speakers as is if you don't intend to install an amp in the rear to power a proper sub. My Alpine Type R's produce more bass than that poor thing :D

[Charles.waite]

I am just not wanting to vary too far from stock, is there a way I can just plug in an upgraded amp in the rear and then put the symphony 2+ head unit it and put a better free air sub. I'm not an audio freak or anything, I just want new components because mine aren't in their prime

I feel like we already covered this question. The answer is mostly no.

[B6_A4_Kid]

I feel like we already covered this question. The answer is mostly no.

Like I said, sure this has been posted before and I've read them all. No definitive answer

[Charles.waite]

Because there are a few ways to do this. None of which are 100% plug and play.

The best way is to spend a few dollars on wiring and run the wires. The worst way is simply pop in new speakers. Non-bose people kind of get screwed in this regard because you need to run wires for the best results. Adding an amp for just the rears is sort of pointless as you're still driving the fronts from the shitty HU speaker-level output. AKA the worst output is the closest to your ears.

There really isn't an easy way around it unfortunately.

[Bumpo411]

I have Bose in my car and what I'm getting from this thread is that the stock wiring should be able to handle a bigger amp and I should be able to get a better quality with stock speakers?

[Matt Devo]

I have Bose in my car and what I'm getting from this thread is that the stock wiring should be able to handle a bigger amp and I should be able to get a better quality with stock speakers?

mostly yes. I replaced a Bose amp in A4orce84's B6 with an Alpine PDX-5 and it made a significant difference, but he has a RNS-E head unit; with the stock Symphony II, it likely would have been less pronounced since the source would be of a lower quality to start. While I reused the factory wiring from the amp to the speakers, I ran RCAs from the HU to the amp, since we were chasing down an intermittent cut-out issue and wanted to eliminate that as a potential source. While you could reuse the stock wiring from the HU to the amp, it's not that much effort to run RCAs IMO. Also, for any aftermarket amp, you'll want to run new power and ground wires - don't even try reusing the tiny factory ones, they won't cut it.

[Charles.waite]

The prblem with Bose is that the stock speakers are 2 Ohm so they'll be really overdriven by a new Amp (I think, someone correct me if I'm wrong).

Honestly the stock speakers are paper cone crap. If you're going through the effort of replacing the amp you really should replace the speakers as well.

[Matt Devo]

The prblem with Bose is that the stock speakers are 2 Ohm so they'll be really overdriven by a new Amp (I think, someone correct me if I'm wrong).

Honestly the stock speakers are paper cone crap. If you're going through the effort of replacing the amp you really should replace the speakers as well.

you're wrong =P Most (decent) current class-D amps have no problems driving a 2-ohm load. In fact, they often make the same amount of power driving a 2/4/8-ohm load.

[diagnosticator]

I installed Infinity Kappa @ 2 Ohms impedance speakers w/tweets in the front doors. Along with the Sym II+ HU, non Bose, with a superior and higher power digital internal amp the audio quality is a lot better and is good enough for me. I cut up the OEM speakers for mounts for the Kappas. I also eliminated the center channel speaker in the dash by cutting the wire. Without the crummy center speaker, channel separation is a lot better as well.

[WB650]

Replaced headunit with a Pioneer DEH-80PRS (has built in 16 band EQ), wired it up with the Enfig kit and it sounds awesome for what it is

Thought about doing a component speaker setup in front door powered from amp but heard replacing the front door speakers is a PITA and some tweeters won't fit

[Charles.waite]

Replaced headunit with a Pioneer DEH-80PRS (has built in 16 band EQ), wired it up with the Enfig kit and it sounds awesome for what it is

Thought about doing a component speaker setup in front door powered from amp but heard replacing the front door speakers is a PITA and some tweeters won't fit

The door speakers are pretty easy to be honest. Not sure about the tweeters, I made my own using the stock housings.

[B6_A4_Kid]

This thread bummed me out, I was looking for an easy upgrade not having to run new wires and basically change the whole thing.

[Matt Devo]

This thread bummed me out, I was looking for an easy upgrade not having to run new wires and basically change the whole thing.

the easy upgrade is to replace your head unit with a Symphony II+ (eg)

[diagnosticator]

This thread bummed me out, I was looking for an easy upgrade not having to run new wires and basically change the whole thing.

Did you read my post? My set up is exactly what you want. Maybe you misunderstood my description. The results of the upgrade I added, are a very significant improvement of the audio quality, is easy to do and relatively inexpensive.

[SJorge3442]

I installed Infinity Kappa @ 2 Ohms impedance speakers w/tweets in the front doors. Along with the Sym II+ HU, non Bose, with a superior and higher power digital internal amp the audio quality is a lot better and is good enough for me. I cut up the OEM speakers for mounts for the Kappas. I also eliminated the center channel speaker in the dash by cutting the wire. Without the crummy center speaker, channel separation is a lot better as well.

Where does the center channel speaker live? I didn't know we had one, or is this a non-bose only thing?

[Charles.waite]

I installed Infinity Kappa @ 2 Ohms impedance speakers w/tweets in the front doors. Along with the Sym II+ HU, non Bose, with a superior and higher power digital internal amp the audio quality is a lot better and is good enough for me. I cut up the OEM speakers for mounts for the Kappas. I also eliminated the center channel speaker in the dash by cutting the wire. Without the crummy center speaker, channel separation is a lot better as well.

Where is the wire you cut for that center channel? I want to do that wen I upgrade my stereo.

I also used the stock speaker mounts and just cut out the speakers to mount my 6.5" drivers to it.

And used rtv to "glue" the tweeters into the stock tweeter housings.

[Charles.waite]

Where does the center channel speaker live? I didn't know we had one, or is this a non-bose only thing?

It's under that grille in the center where the light sensor is.

[SJorge3442]

It's under that grille in the center where the light sensor is.

Well damn. I guess I never thought about what's under there. Thanks.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[diagnosticator]

Where is the wire you cut for that center channel? I want to do that wen I upgrade my stereo.

I also used the stock speaker mounts and just cut out the speakers to mount my 6.5" drivers to it.

And used rtv to "glue" the tweeters into the stock tweeter housings.

That speaker wire runs from the center channel speaker to the head unit. I simply clipped one of the two wires at the HU. IIRC, one of the pair is black/green, but confirm that before cutting anything.

[B6_A4_Kid]

Did you read my post? My set up is exactly what you want. Maybe you misunderstood my description. The results of the upgrade I added, are a very significant improvement of the audio quality, is easy to do and relatively inexpensive.

I thought when you said that the symphony ll+ with a better amp you meant that you put an external amp, now I realized that you meant it has a better internal amp. That was my bad sorry

This is the setup I would like to do, is there an aux port cable that I can run through the ash tray?

[diagnosticator]

Where does the center channel speaker live? I didn't know we had one, or is this a non-bose only thing?

I don't know off hand if Bose set ups have the center channel speaker in the dash or not.

[Charles.waite]

That speaker wire runs from the center channel speaker to the head unit. I simply clipped one of the two wires at the HU. IIRC, one of the pair is black/green, but confirm that before cutting anything.

Sweet. Thanks.

ANd I'm fairly certain my b6 (with bose) had the center channel speaker, but I'm not sure I ever looked for it. I know it had the grille there though.

Fun fact, on the b6 that grille was metal, but on the b7 they changed it to plastic. My Nav antenna puck is magnetic and stuck to the b6's grille, but doesn't stick to my b7's grille. Its super annoying.

[diagnosticator]

I thought when you said that the symphony ll+ with a better amp you meant that you put an external amp, now I realized that you meant it has a better internal amp. That was my bad sorry

This is the setup I would like to do, is there an aux port cable that I can run through the ash tray?

You will need to fabricate whatever type of Aux input interface cable you need for your Aux audio source/s, and route it where you want. The Aux input cable is connected to a couple of terminals in the quadlock connector on the back of the Sym II+. Speakers are your choice, but the overall layout works really well.