Volume Range Adjustment Question - w/ Enfig HILO / NEX8000 / A4 B6 w/ Bose w/ sub

[ultrasport3.0]

Hi Christian,

Writing here in case anyone else has the same issue and wants to resolve.
2004 A4 B6 UltraSport w/ Symphony II w/ SAT and Bose Speakers
Replaced with Pioneer NEX8000 and used your full kit of connectors including the HILO -

Two Questions
1) Main volume on NEX goes to only about 1/4 of the full range to be fully maxed out on the speakers in the vehicle. There are minor adjustments you can make for volume inputs differing from one source to another but I cannot find any solution for main volume range. Should I be looking at turning DOWN the adjustments on the HILO adaptor to lower the output signal going to the factory Bose Amplifier? or should these not be tampered with? Maybe I am missing a setting on the NEX8000 that you know of?

2) I am adding an additional subwoofer enclosure to this system and would like to know if it is better to tap into the rear channel speakers off of the A) Bose Amplifier output B) NEX8000 output before the HILO adapter C) NEX8000 output after the HILO adapter D) Directly to the NEX8000 subwoofer RCA output. In a 'typical' situation I would always go for the designated RCA output for a Sub but as I am not using the NEX8000's RCAs for the rest of the system due to the factory Bose Amplifier I want to make sure the output value on speakers and sub will coincide with one another when volume goes up rather than on separate and unequal scales. Make sense?

[ultrasport3.0]

Anyone?
: / might have to start guessing to start trying random things.

[naiku]

1) I am not familiar with the equipment you have, but I would say you are on the right track to turn down the HILO adjustment going to the Bose amplifier. If I remember correctly from when I had an amp tapped into my Bose harness the pre-out voltage from the OEM head unit is fairly low. I would bet the Pioneer is putting out a higher voltage which is pushing the Bose amp to max volume much sooner than it would be with the OEM head unit.

2) If your Pioneer has a subwoofer RCA output I would just go with that, you will likely just have to play with the gain on the amplifier for your sub to get it to match.

Also, call Christian. He is VERY helpful over the phone, even more so than on the forums.

[ultrasport3.0]

1) I am not familiar with the equipment you have, but I would say you are on the right track to turn down the HILO adjustment going to the Bose amplifier. If I remember correctly from when I had an amp tapped into my Bose harness the pre-out voltage from the OEM head unit is fairly low. I would bet the Pioneer is putting out a higher voltage which is pushing the Bose amp to max volume much sooner than it would be with the OEM head unit.

2) If your Pioneer has a subwoofer RCA output I would just go with that, you will likely just have to play with the gain on the amplifier for your sub to get it to match.

Also, call Christian. He is VERY helpful over the phone, even more so than on the forums.

Thanks Naiku -
1) I actually thought it was the opposite (totally possible i am mis-remembering). That the OEM head unit preamp to the factory bose amp. has a higher voltage than the Aftermarket PreAmp outputs (the NEX8000 being 4v each) - hence the reason people would get the condition of lower rear speaker/subwoofer volume. The solution being that you would want to use the Enfig harness in combination with the HILO and what Christian calls the 'audi black box' and attached it to the speaker line-out (utilizing internal head units internal amp) and then would have a higher voltage out and just be lowering that to about what the factory head unit with Bose amplifier would be . . .

2) Agreed that i can just go RCA for the Sub - best to go RCA for all preamp situations if it wasn't for this factory bose amp setup. So - I just was thinking either I have All things on RCA preamps or all things on speaker level line-out so that I am keeping the volume of all things event with each other when i turn master volume up. Wouldn't want speakers to go up on once scale and then sub to go up on a total different volume curve - would make for inconsistencies at different volumes vs all things the same ...

Where is Christian!! .lol

[naiku]

I have read (not sure what your OEM head unit was) that the OEM, talking Symphony II here, typically puts out only around 1V into the Bose amp. So, if you Pioneer has 4V pre-out's then it will be much higher going into the Bose amp. Which is why I think you would want to lower what is going into the Bose amp.

As for all being on RCA or speaker level line out, I don't think it matters as much as having to match the gain on your additional subwoofer amp to that of the Bose amp. I suspect to keep things fairly even you are going to have to keep the gains on your subwoofer amp pretty low for it to not simply overpower everything else. If I were you I would consider just ditching the Bose altogether, pick up a new set of component speakers for your front doors and a 4 channel amp. RCA out of your Pioneer to both the sub amp and the 4 channel amp and skip all the messing with HILO converters, Bose amp etc.

[Christian@enfig]

I have read (not sure what your OEM head unit was) that the OEM, talking Symphony II here, typically puts out only around 1V into the Bose amp. So, if you Pioneer has 4V pre-out's then it will be much higher going into the Bose amp. Which is why I think you would want to lower what is going into the Bose amp.

As for all being on RCA or speaker level line out, I don't think it matters as much as having to match the gain on your additional subwoofer amp to that of the Bose amp. I suspect to keep things fairly even you are going to have to keep the gains on your subwoofer amp pretty low for it to not simply overpower everything else. If I were you I would consider just ditching the Bose altogether, pick up a new set of component speakers for your front doors and a 4 channel amp. RCA out of your Pioneer to both the sub amp and the 4 channel amp and skip all the messing with HILO converters, Bose amp etc.

Sorry guys took Monday and Friday off so of course that means I'm just uber backed up.

The HILO box gives the factory amp a higher output than the RCA's of aftermarket radios. If you max out at 1/4 then you will want to lower the volume on the HILO box. Depending on the version of the HILO box you have, a few rase the volume counterclockwise so you may be raisong the output when you think you are lowering it. Also don't forget that if you don't have Bose then the front speakers are powered from the radio and you will probably max out early and there is nothing you can really do about that.

The idea is match the front to rear on non Bose. On Bose radios we usually recommend halfway. But since all radios are different that's also just a guide. An NEX-8000 is a $1300 radio so I'm sure the output is higher than a standard $200 radio most of my customers get.

Always run the SUB off the sub output.

As always Phone is the quickest and easiest way to reach us since it takes less time to talk than to type. And Since the phones are always ringing ( I have 3 calls on hold as I finish typing this) forums come third after emails.

[ultrasport3.0]

Thanks Christian,


My vehicle came with Factory Bose system and the Symphony II. The output from the factory head unit must have been fairly high for you to suggest me to get the HILO vs running off the NEX8000s preamps which are 4v to each channel. I had the HILO running off the NEX8000 speaker line out set to 1/2 which caused the speakers in the car to max out when the NEX8000 was turned to 1/4 volume. I am going to turn the HILO down to about 1/4 (counter clockwise is down on mine) and see where that gets me.

Im having another issue now where the power is fully cutting on and off with an audible click sound from somewhere in the harness. Trying to figure this out currently : / massive mess of wires ruling this full harness back there.

[ultrasport3.0]

Thanks Christian,


My vehicle came with Factory Bose system and the Symphony II. The output from the factory head unit must have been fairly high for you to suggest me to get the HILO vs running off the NEX8000s preamps which are 4v to each channel. I had the HILO running off the NEX8000 speaker line out set to 1/2 which caused the speakers in the car to max out when the NEX8000 was turned to 1/4 volume. I am going to turn the HILO down to about 1/4 (counter clockwise is down on mine) and see where that gets me.

Im having another issue now where the power is fully cutting on and off with an audible click sound from somewhere in the harness. Trying to figure this out currently : / massive mess of wires ruling this full harness back there.

Power issue resolved - it was a bad connector on the power wire in the harness. . . . I set the HILO to 1/4 and it still maxes out the speakers (this is a Bose system) at about 50% on the NEX8000 volume scale. Anyway - I ran the HILO into the glovebox so i can swap it out if needed - hopefully the plugs are interchangeable.