John Audi

I plan on redoing my none bose system in my 2000 a4.
I want to upgrade the amplification and, the speakers (all of them)
And I also want to add a pair of 8 or 10-inch subs in the back.
No I don’t want a bump machine, exactly the opposite. I’m going for a completely balanced package, which is not too bright. AND I WANT TO KEEP MY stock head unit.

This is what I plan to do…
-----Install an extant Amp, I dunno which one…
-----Take a Line out from the head unit and send it to the amp, to power the fronts, rear, and the two subs.
---- Upgrade the front speakers in the door; I want Boston’s or Polk. And do I get components in the front to go with the tweeters in the door handle or do I also replace the front tweeter,
-----Replace the two rears with Boston or Polk.
-----install two rear subs, I want small ones to complement the BASS. I dunno which ones, may be small Polk’s. 8 or 10-inchers. I want to place them in the rear panel adjacent to the stock rear speakers.


I need to know which extant amp I should use, I guess I need four channels. And I don’t need it too powerful.

Do I get a second amp that has two channels for the two subs or do I get a six channel xtant to power the two subs and the four speakers. Which xtant 6 channel or 4 and two channel combination do I get.

Do I get component speakers for the rear, since I don’t have the side speakers. Or do I just get full range or 2 way speakers for the rear.

So Is this possible? Im just adding an amp and sub, and replacing the four speakers, how much could this cost? Which speakers do I use, polk or boston, Im looking for the lower costing One. thanks<p>A41.8TSCT
Clear Corner mod
Fog Frnt/Rear Mod
Pes/Awe Turbo soon
35% tint

MNSteve

You are going down a similar path to what I did. I purchased a 5 Channel Alpine V12 amp. My original plan was 2-front, 2-rear, and the fifth for sub. In front, I installed 5 1/4 SoundStream separates that I had from my former Passat. Boston Acoustics makes some really nice 5 1/4s that would fit great. I installed the mid in the factory location, and installed the tweeters in the kick panel. (to determine placement, I taped them in several locations for a few days, and picked the best place.)

I put a JBL sub tube in the trunk. Using the amp connections on the head unit, I ran an RCA cable to the amp from the front outputs to run the new front speakers. And, I used the rear line levels to connect to the subwoofer. This way, I could fade front to rear, to control the level of the subwoofer. Some music needs more, some does not.

The tweets in the kick panels has worked perfectly. I found it to be a good solution, instead of making a new kick panel to install the whole speaker setup. And, surprisingly, it does not sound like the instruments are coming out of your feet. It has good sound stage, as is. And, I felt the quality of the sound was great this way, with no rear speakers. Even from the rear seat, the sound is very good, as long as the subwoofer is not cranked. Anyway, when you have passengers, it's unlikely that you will have the volume very high, or you cannot have a conversation. For ambient levels of volume, fronts only are fine. For staging, fronts only are preferred. When you listen to music at home, where are the speakers? In front, or behind you?

The last thing I did was take the car to the sound shop. He had a microphone and special CD to play in the car, to measure the sound. It showed a balanced sound overall, except a drop off on very high frequencies. So, I got a small JBL tweeter, and crossed it over at 16k (per the dealer's evaluation), and reduced the volume by 12 db. I mounted them on the dash, where they look just fine, barely noticeable. With this extremely high crossover point, they are barely there. But, they fill in the highs, and help raise the sound stage.

Now, I think it sounds great! Significantly better than stock, even the wife is impressed. And, I have the factory head unit, with mostly factory look. For someone who is not an Audi fanatic, they probably would not know by looking that it did not come from the factory this way.

Email me at my home addy, stephenlane@mindspring.com if you have questions or comments.
Steve.<p>Steve Crumley
'00 A4TQMS
Santorin
APR Tuned