myroad

OK I priced out an audio upgrade for my BOSE premium (which to my ears is barely adequate) Would involve replacing front door speakers(lower) with MB Quart speakers amplified separately and putting in a subwoofer somewhere in the cargo area. Does anyone know whether the floor panel directly behind the rear seat is covering empty space? Is it a spot for the third row seat? (which I don't have) I would prefer to have something "built in" flush rather than a big hairy subwoofer that velcros down to be removed when using the cargo space. Also the audio guy said there are some questions regarding the "channel switching" coming from the stock radio that can be problematic with A6 line Bose setups. Any experience in this department?

Ex-PzKW Cdr

There is a subwoofer in the access panel in the right quarter panel. Most Audio pros in my area will not touch Bose. However there have been some people who have done it themselves and had good results. Peruse the S4 and audio forums.

jredman

I replaced the HU and bypassed all of the Bose stuff, and am running separate amps for the door speakers and my sub. I used MB Quart speakers as well.

However - I did with the sub what you don't want to do... can't answer your question about the third row seat space.

myroad

right quarter panel -- is that in the passenger side rear door? or under the rear seat. I'm confused! Thanks

veloAR

If you replace the door speakers with high quality separates and a good amp driving them, you probably do not need to replace the sub. The rear door speakers and sub do an adequate job for rear fill if you've chosen well for the front doors. Most audio shops have access to converters for the Bose to aftermarket set-up.

TheLex

The Bose system is powered by and equalized amplifier. Most Bose systems have the amps at the speakers. Not this one. We actually have a 5 channel amp. This is good. That means the head unit is NOT equalized and you can retain the stock unit.

So far I've gotten recommendations to replace the door speakers with high quality aftermarket ones. Focal and MB Quarts are good. There are a lot of good quality speakers out there. It was suggested that I could place an ADS Powerplate multichannel amp in drivers side storage compartment in the cargo area.

Then on the passenger side cargo area, there is a factory sub with something like a 6 or 8" subwoofer in a custom enclosure. This thing is crap. You can try to replace the stocker with an 8" JL audio sub, but the stock enclosure is not designed for the JL so I don't know how well that will sound. The alternative is to have a good stereo shop make a custom enclosure out of fiberglass for you. This enclosure can be custom tuned for the JL sub. I think if you want good bass, this is the best way to go.

I'm going to be getting bids for this exact setup very soon. I'll post the results.

jredman

Below is a link to a website that details the conversion to a non-bose system in a 2001 ar. I followed these instructions pretty closely, with a few minor mods. 2002 seemed to be pretty much the same as this 2001 write-up.<ul><li><a href="http://www.redshift-consulting.com/audiaudio/plan.html">http://www.redshift-consulting.com/audiaudio/plan.html</a</li></ul>

myroad

I found your site last night and was blown away. 1st on the detail, second on the fact that you would/could do that yourself. What I think I'll do is print it up and share it with my audio guy. By the way do you think the subwoofer housing above rear right wheel will accomodate and 8 inch sub?

myroad

excellent...I don't quite get the five channels -- unless one is for the rear sub and the others are for the 4 speakers? I think I'm going to upgrade the from door speakers, independently amped, and see what I can squeeze into the rear sub housing. Thanks all!

jredman

Not me, I just found the link, followed instructions