mpbspb

Is it posiible to enhance the performance of the standard sound system in the a4 with an amp without ruining the factory speakers?

QuattroRocket

not likely to make a big difference with just a new amp!

siberian

you will improve the performance of any speaker with a good amp. However, the rears on an A4 are self amplified so unless you bypass that amp built in, you won't be able to do much with them. However the fronts can really sound a lot better if you amp them. I did it in my car before I installed my new speakers... I ran the fronts off an outboard amp, disconnected the rears, and threw a 10" sub in the back and it just that alone SMOKED the stock system...

Contrary to popular belief, underpowering a speaker is almost worse than overpowering it. When not enough clean power is delivered, the speaker distorts... that's what causes it to blow... in addition.. OEM stereo designers STILL don't get the concept of filtering out low frequencies to small speakers... so these little 4-inch jobbies are being fed sub-bass frequencies. That's like feeding an elephant to a hamster and expecting the hamster to eat it.

If you install an outboard amp, first of all you will have more power, thus cleaner signal, thus less distortion at moderate to high volume, thus better sounding speakers. In addition, if you get a decent amp with a built-in hi-pass filter cut off at about 80hz, you can filter out the lows to those little speakers and allow them to play cleaner witout trying to reproduce frequencies they have no business playing in the first place.