ChristopherII

No luck in the B5 Forum- so I thought I'd repost here. I have an '00 B5 with the stock (non-bose) stereo - which is now long past its best days in terms of speakers. I recently replaced the head unit with a replacement OEM unit which is apparently default coded to Bose. I am not a serious audio enthusiast or anything, but I'm looking for good audio upgrade as I now have a reasonably long commute.

I've read the forums and I know the infinitis seem quite popular, as well as MB Quarts. However, Amazon currently is having a good sale on various Rockford Fosgate equipment. For speakers, I was contemplating 5 1/4 replacements in the front and 6 1/2 in the back:

http://www.amazon.com/Rockford-Fosga...lickdeals&ses=

http://www.amazon.com/Rockford-Fosga...lickdeals&ses=

Question(s)/Concerns:

1) Would this work with the stock Symphony head unit?
2) Would I just need to get the Head Unit coded to non-bose?
3) Would it be possible to buy an amp (also good prices at the moment)and power the back speakers without recoding the Head Unit?
4) Another option?

Again - I'm not knowledgeable when it comes to car audio- so your insights are appreciated.

Chris '00 A4 1.8TQMS

VP Electricity

I've posted in the past (another handle) that the VAG COM coding to Bose only consists of making the power-on Bose screen pop up. I've tested Symphony HUs, and the OUTPUT of the HU (Bose non-processed preamp or non-Bose processed preamp with deck power to the fronts) is dictated by the Bose pin being grounded or not (it is the VSS wire in the DIN connector spec IRC, and since VSS is on the CAN, it was re-assigned). Non-Bose cars usually have this pin empty, and inserting a grounded pin into it is what forces Bose preamp output mode.

However, the non-Bose systems have a lot of active high-pass filtering - the bass disappears at higher volumes - and so that limits how good any speakers can sound.

The flip side is that I don't think the HU with the Bose pin un-grounded can sound very good with an aftermarket amp. The signal is too boosted in the bass at lower volumes, and is too lacking in the bass at higher volumes. It's heinous volume-dependent processing.

All the Bose preamp mode does is turn OFF all internal HU fixed processing - which is good, you don't want it! All our amp upgrades involve grounding the Bose pin in that car.

Another option? I have to tell yo, there's a lot of crap out there. There's a difference between screwing a new speaker into a B5 door panel and making it sound good.

Use a 2x2 handiPanl from HD of 1/4" MDF and a jigsaw.

I would do this for a budget system:

- Bose pin to force Bose output mode
- Blau RCA plug
- Good 4 ch amp - the JL Xd is trendy, the Arc Mini 4 or XXD 4080, etc. (Main concern is preventing RPM whine)

- I'd put these in the doors:

https://www.madisound.com/store/prod...aa4d744ee54ff3

https://www.madisound.com/store/prod...oducts_id=1466

These in series on the tweeters;

https://www.madisound.com/store/prod...roducts_id=163

And these in the rear deck (I think they fit, check the depth):

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=264-832

Run that on a low-power 4-channel, with an active crossover set at 200 and up on the front and 100-150 and down on the rear, with any bass boost turned off, and that will blow away any RF or Infinity off the shelf gear.