PILL PUSHER

What size were they and what brand and watt did you replace them with.

I know the deal about having to replace the whole system for a head unit but what about just for upgrading the speakers?

TIA

fun2fly

The MB Quart speakers that are current production to the ones mentioned in the article are PCE 213's (about $225 a pair on eBay). I think the PCS 216's would have worked too, but I bought stuff before opening up the doors of the AR. The a/d/s Amp unit is out of production too. I used the PH30.2 (75 x 6 channels) About $560 on eBay when they can be found. And the a/d/s sub worked real well. I used a R10S and ran 2 channels to it, as it's a dual coil unit. Very tight squeeze so let some speaker grill show into the cabin! I also wimped out and mounted the amp on the back of the rear seat rather than do all the work to conceal it in the quarter panel space. And the guy that wrote the article will still answer at the listed email address if you have any questions.<ul><li><a href="http://www.redshift-consulting.com/audiaudio/plan.html">http://www.redshift-consulting.com/audiaudio/plan.html</a</li></ul>

paulroad

He did some crazy stuff.. but you get what you pay for..<ul><li><a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/allroad/msgs/84464.phtml">sound...</a></li></ul>

manomanyaudis

Replacing speakers only doesn't work well due to the Bose amp being a piece of crap.

I finally decided I couldn't take the muddy Bose sound and went in search of an affordable upgrade. I also went in search of what I thought to be a non-existent subwoofer.

This might not be right for anyone else, but it might give you some ideas. (Long post warning)

I also wanted to retain the head unit. It looks good, not ricey like most aftermarket upgraded units on the market today.

I tried upgrading door speakers first, just to see if they'd work with the stock amp. (Don't believe every single web site you visit, the door speakers are 6.5, not 5.25.) I purchased 4 Alpine 171A 6.5 components that come with a passive crossover and one inch tweeters. My prices can probably be beat via online dealers, but I wanted to buy everything local, it's just something I do unless on-line is a huge difference in cost.

Two sets cost $225 at Circuit City, as they were close-outs - Alpine pulled their line from CC.

The speakers fit with no modifications, but I decided to mill some plastic from that back side of the door panels to mount the crossovers. The rear door panels are a snug fit going back on due to the increased depth of the speaker magnet. A deeper magnet might have required some modification of the door framing. Needless to say, the Bose amp isn't powerful enough to drive a quality speaker, and the muddy distortion remained.

Next step, new amp(s) and while I'm at it I might as well see what's wrong with the subwoofer. Getting the side panel off of an allroad with a child seat is muy difficulte, the seat frame has to come out, so of course all of the flooring as well. Once the subwoofer is found, You'll see why it doesn't work. It's a five inch paper cone that fires directly at the wheel well an inch and a half away. So, subwoofer replacement is on the list.

I wanted to have an invisible installation, and decided I could work a ten inch sub into the passenger side rear where the Bose bass tube was.

I didn't want to compromise the usefulness of the kid seat, so mounting amps above the spare doesn't work. I decided that by buying the right size amps I could fit one below the cd changer (doing some cutting and fabrication) and one in the lower rear quarter below the new sub.

I found the Alpine T-240 4-channel and Alpine T-220 2-channel (150W bridged) would fit in those spaces. $280 for both, on sale at Car Toys. While I was there, I one of the subs I'd considered, the Alpine SWR-1041D was being closed out for $100. Total cost so far, a little over $650 including tax.

The 220 fits nicely in the passenger quarter, and I found that the 240 would fit nicely in the spare tire well, mounted vertically under the aluminum trim.

Against the dire warnings of every car stereo installer, I ran power to the amps using the Audi wiring. The 220 from the original bose amp power feed, and the 240 from the rear lighter/power socket. Works great.

I tried the Gavin method of using pin connectors to use the stock speaker wiring, but decided that the metal connection interface was just too tiny, so I hard wired into the stock wiring for the door speakers. Works great.

I built a very nice looking aluminum mount for the sub, but found that no matter how well damped and rubber insulated, a sub in a quarter panel rattles so much stuff that it would be more irritating than fun. I bought a good sub box, again on sale, for $60. Works great.

Is it perfect home quality? Just my opinion, home quality sound in a car is a silly quest.

It sounds great, for a relatively small cash outlay, and is an easy installation.

PWDRSKR

How did you get the door panels back on with the 6.5 in speakers on. I tried this and the back of the speakers is blocked by a metal bracket extending across the door...