jetinder

It's just the rear parcel shelf speaker unfortunately. It's not particularly brilliant.

I know it's a lot of hassle, but a bespoke system will always put a bigger smile on your face than spending 6k on something that is not much better than Bose (heard the b&o in an A7 a couple of weeks ago). The challenge is, getting the best quality without loosing boot/trunk space I find. The B&O sub's are again just parcel shelf jobbies, with enclosures built around them, so you have to lose some space.

I'm not sure in the A6, but in our A8, the battery is now underneath the spare wheel, so putting a couple of 12 inch subs in an enclosure there becomes a bigger challenge. I'll take a look when the wife gets home.

C7fan

"Subwoofer" is just a name, right? If you want more bass, just click into and adjust up the tone control. The radio will manage which speakers to adjust for you.

C7fan

you get different components for the $5k extra in the 6/8 level cars. It's not just the tweeters. On the S8, all the speakers are in enclosures which minimizes the chance the audio system will cause buzzing in the doors or parcel tray. Plus some of the speakers are different, and the amplifier is different. I'm not telling you it's worth $5k more, just that you aren't comparing apples to apples. One is a pink grapefruit.

C7fan

I've heard lots of high end aftermarket systems in the last 5 years, and for the most part they
(1) compromise the fantastic job of mechanical integration Audi does.
(2) Void your warranty and decrease the reliability of the system
(3) eat up storage space
(4) often have greatly exaggerated highs and lows so they sound impressive, but nothing I'd call accurate or realistic.
(5) If you spend $10k for something, are you going to tell everyone it isn't better?

Aftermarket is a choice that's right for some and wrong for others. I've yet to hear one that is as well balanced as the B&O system, and which doesn't compromise the car in a number of ways. Likely sure a rapper would never be happy with B&O but someone who appreciates accurate, realistic sound would prefer it over the long haul.

Mickelin

I have turned it all the way up and can just barely hear the bass. The sound is crisp and clear, but I'd really like to hear the bass guitar. Will look at adding an after market sub.

DGS4

If you only listen to iPod or other blue tooth, you may not get the full effect of such an awesome sound system. I have several DVD audio discs that only play in the front player (not in disc changer) that sound so good it is tough to explain. A common DVD audio people have Is pink Floyd dark side of the moon. I am not a huge Floyd fan, but the sound comes from all around. I find the best setting is "front". Crisp, clean, and balanced from front and sides, plus the sub kicks in pretty good. On xm radio and iPod music is good, but files are compressed. You dont know what you are missing until you play it on cd. If you load a disc that has the same song as the iPod, and switch the media source back and forth, you can clearly hear the difference. Yea, 6k is a lot to pay to hear good sounding music better. Just depends on what you are into. I can tell you that, this is the best system I have had in a car, and i am into high quality music. I would not have bought the car without it. If you like clear sound coming at you from all around, and want what has to be one of the bestt from factory sound systems available outside of a bentely or other ultra high end car, then get it. I'm going to go listen to mine again right now

snagitseven

I agree with your analysis of the B&O providing the best sound possible on an uncompressed source. I would add that you can get pretty close to a CD with lossless uncompressed music files on an iPod. I have the B&O in my B8 A4 and it's incredibly clean and balanced. I would imagine the A6 B&O can't be anything but better than that, especially for the price difference between the two.

Since you have the B&O, do you know if it takes up any additional space in the trunk over the Bose?

The G Man

Here is an article about the B&O system being out rank by much cheaper systems:

http://www.edmunds.com/car-technolog...sound-off.html

gb4.2

I read the article and the only reference to a B&O system is the vehicle-specific system in the Aston Martin DBS Volante---not an Audi A6 or A8/A8L. I'm not really sure how valuable this article's comparison is since the buyer of an Aston Martin is not likely to be the same buyer of an Acura TL. It's a general grading of several very different vehicles' premium sound system and doesn't answer the question "Is it worth it?" to upgrade from the standard sound system to the premium version offered for that vehicle.

The Bang & Olufsen systems are designed and tuned to the acoustics of each specific vehicle (in the Aston Martin's case, a convertible with very targeted goals) and the price points for those vehicles. The comparison that really needs to take place is to simply drive an A6 with the Bose system and also one with the B&O system, preferably the same day and with the same music sources. Give it your own fair assessment with various music sources and on different roads at varying speeds and then make the decision considering not only how it sounds but also considering how much time you'll really spend in the car enjoying its sound system as well as considering your usual music sources. The amount Audi wants for this upgrade is simply too much to check it off as an option without listening to it first (unless money is no object).

The G Man

gb4.2, how about this article:

http://www.autospies.com/news/The-Ul...urround-20229/