aj0408

Hello All: Sorry for the delay in responding to some of the questions.
OK wires have been identified as under but some pre information first.

There are 5 speakers in Audi premium plus base model, and a subwoofer.
The speakers are
1. Driver side door - front left
2. Passenger side door - Front right
3,4. Rear passenger side doors - Rear Right and Left
5. A center speaker inside the front dashboard (right in the middle above the MMI screen)

Of course, subwoofer is on rear deck.

Procedure:
I did not want to cut any wires till I was sure of what goes where. There was a wiring diagram shared by one of the members here but was too confusing for my understanding (my IQ levels are on the lower side of the bell curve and outside it :-) ). So this is what I did.

1. Ensured the power leads are the one that I was assuming them to be using a multimeter (12V)
2. Ensured the remote turn on cable by measuring the voltage against the ground (12 V)
3. Measured resistance of each pair of wires till I got readings of 2 or 4 ohms. I did this to pair up the wires for all the speakers in the car. BTW, there are 3 speakers with 4 ohms and 2 speakers with 2 ohms. The driver side 2 speakers are 2 ohms (Make sure the amp that you are trying to install can handle 2 ohms). Subwoofer is 4 ohms.
4. I took 2 leed wires. I stuck them into the first pair of sockets representing the first speaker. I used a 3.7 volt battery and brushed the other end of the leads against battery to make the speaker make a slight popping sound. My son helped me in identifying the speakers as we repeated this procedure for all the pairs.

OK, now that I have told you what I did (you can do this too if you do not trust me. It is easy enough), let me document what I found out.

From earlier hand drawn diagram of the socket that goes into the factory amp,
41,42: Confirmed as the power/ground
13,9: Subwoofer
14,10: Center speaker in the dashboard
11: remote turn on with 12 volts when the car is on
1,5: Rear right
2,6: Front right
3,7: Front Left (driver side)
4,8: Rear right

Remember, all speakers are giving me 4 ohms except front left and front right which are 2 ohms. These 2 ohms speakers will draw more power from the amp and your amp should be able to support it. Amp channels are rated for impedance. You amp better be rated for 1.5 to 2 ohms per channel.

Next steps are:
1. Cut the following wires:
- 1,5: 4,8, use a speaker to RCA convertor, solder to the cut cables, and feed the rear input channel of the amp (i have a 6 channel amp, 2 channels for front speakers, 2 channels for rear speakers and 2 for subwoofer. my amp does accept SPEAKER level inputs. If yours does not you will have to buy a line input convertor like LC6i)
- 2,6 : 3,7, use another speaker to rca cable, solder to cut cables, and feed the front input channels of the amp
2. Tap into the subwoofer speaker level cables and feed the subwoofer channels on the amp.
3. Connect the wires going to the speakers (other part of the cut cable) to the amp output.
4. Turn on the setup
5. CROSS ALL YOU FINGERS :-)

I just figured out that I am missing some of the small things like the speaker to rca caables, solder, flux etc. Just ordered them should come by next weekend. Stay tuned for progress.

(Continued in the next post)

krazyhabu

By any chance do you know if this is the same amp that powers the Bose system? If so, i'll try out this project.

Update: I checked mine and there is an additional Bose amp located on top of the amp as shown in your pics. Looks more complicated, but i'm sure it's up gradable if you know what you're doing.

I wonder if there is anyone out there that upgraded their Bose amp.

aj0408

Hi There,
They may be using 2 amps as there may be more than 5 speakers in the bose system. You do not have to power all your speakers from the new amp that you will add, only the important ones like sub woofer, left and right front and rear. Let the others be driven by factory amp.

I am letting the front center channel being driven by the factory amp. Hope this helps.
BTW, use the technique defined above to find out which wires are going to which speaker in your setup.

Hope this helps.

aj0408

Hi
The info mgmt unit is connected to the most bus using the black 2 optical "pin" connector. The wires coming out of the back are speaker level ( amplified signal). Are you saying that is not what you saw when you opened all the speakers? My measurements seem to point me to the above conclusion. Please let me know if it is not correct

subterFUSE

There are 3 Audio Systems available in the A6.

Standard Sound System (9VD)

Bose Sound System (8RY)

Bang & Olufsen Sound System (8RF)



The Standard Sound System has 6 channels of output, and 10 speakers. The Outputs & Speakers are as follows:

Left Front Full Range ---> Left Front Tweeter & Midbass
Right Front Full Range ---> Right Front Tweeter & Midbass
Left Rear Full Range ---> Left Rear Tweeter & Mid
Right Rear Full Range ---> Right Rear Tweeter & Mid
Center Channel ---> Center
Subwoofer ---> Subwoofer

Each of the tweeter & Mid combos are using passive crossovers near the speaker locations. The Center channel and subwoofer outputs runs directly to those speakers.


The Bose System has 12 Outputs, and 14 Speakers:

Left Front Tweeter ---> Left Front Tweeter
Right Front Tweeter ---> Right Front Tweeter
Left Front Midrange ---> Left Front Midrange
Right Front Midrange ---> Right Front Midrange
Left Front Bass ---> Left Front Bass
Right Front Bass ---> Right Front Bass
Center Front ---> Center Front
Left Rear Full ---> Left Rear Tweeter & Midrange
Right Rear Full ---> Right Rear Tweeter & Midrange
Left Rear Effects ---> Left Rear Effects
Right Rear Effects ---> Right Rear Effects
Subwoofer ---> Subwoofer

The speakers in the rear doors use passive crossovers. The rest are active from the Bose amplifier.


The Bang & Olufsen System has 2 Amplifiers, with 15 Outputs & 15 Speakers:

All speaker designations are same as Bose above, but there are no passive crossovers and there is a second center channel speaker.




All 3 sound systems use the MOST Bus fiber optic connections.




In order to integrate aftermarket audio while retaining the MMI as the source, there are 2 general options:

1. The MoBridge preamp.

2. A Line Output Converter.




The MoBridge preamp is a device which plugs into the MOST fiber optic network and extracts the digital audio signal before it arrives at the OEM amplifier. The MoBridge then outputs a single digital output which can be used to feed an external processor or external amplifier. The advantage to the MoBridge is sound quality, since it operates in the digital domain. It takes the digital signal from the car and outputs a digital signal to the aftermarket equipment.
The disadvantage to the MoBridge is that it bypasses the OEM amplifier, which means some of the voice control/Bluetooth functions will be lost. This is true because there are microphones inside the front dome light which connect directly to the OEM amplifier.


A line Output Converter is connected to the speaker wires AFTER they leave the OEM amplifier. It converts the high level audio signal into a low level signal that can be processed or send to an external amplifier. The advantage is that full functionality of the voice control/bluetooth is retained, since the audio signal is intercepted AFTER it leaves the OEM amplifier.
The disadvantage is that the sound quality, while still very good, will be less than the MoBridge option above.
Another disadvantage is that the Bose and Bang&Olufsen systems have more outputs than most Line Output Converters have inputs. This means that some of the amplified outputs cannot be connected and therefore those channels of audio will be lost.



There are many brands of Line Output Converter, and varying degrees of functionality. Some of the more popular devices are:

Audison BitOne
Audison BitTen & BitTen D
Audison Prima (new, just released at CES show)
Arc Audio PS8
JBL MS8
AudioControl LC6i



Personally, I own the Audison BitOne. It will be installed in my S6 with Bose audio beginning on Monday. I will certainly report in with more info as we progress over the coming weeks.

Here is my proposed connection diagram which I have put together from information obtained in some Audi service docs. The left side shows the speaker wires that exit the Bose amp and where I plan to connect them to the Audison BitOne. The right side shows how I plan to direct the signal via my Audison amplifier. The right side should be ignored because it is only relevant to my specific stereo system layout.

The Link below will download a PDF file:

Bose Wiring to Audison BitOne

aj0408

Wow, such useful information and so well organized. The wiring layout diagram is especially useful and clean.

Please keep us posted and all the best on the install. Are you doing it yourself?

subterFUSE

Thank you. I spent quite a bit of time getting the info posted into Excel. I wanted to be sure that the installers understood exactly how I wanted it hooked up.

I could probably do the installation myself but I don't really have all of the proper tools or woodworking skills. So I'm having a very good custom auto shop do the work for me.

in2dwww

@subterFUSE: Thanks for the detailed run-down.

Does this mean it's easy to upgrade a Bose system by replacing the amp with the B&O amps? Or is it not that easy because of the ohms and impedance and passive crossovers in the rear Bose speakers?

subterFUSE

I do not have a definitive answer to your question, but I will ask if my installers can test the impedance on the Bose speakers they remove from my car.

Traditionally, Bose has been known to use speakers with lower than normal impedance. Low impedance speakers would require an amplifier that can handle the load. With some more information on the Bose speakers and B&O amplifier, we might be able to answer this question correctly.

gatorguy7

I would think there would be better/cheaper aftermarket amps which would handle the duty.

After reading your detailed post on our systems, would there be any benefit with leaving the entire Bose system in place, use a LOC to grab as many outputs as you can, send them to a new amp, one of the outputs go to a new sub to add improved low end, the rest distributed front/rear, left/right equally.


I know this would depend on the amp and the impedance of the speakers which we don't know but theoretically would it provide a benefit to the Bose speakers, or is it better just to stick to just adding a sub?