MAsmith

i'm planning on upgrading my system and have been reading the forums for a while to help with my decision. i also haven't decided on one particular solution to my upgrade ... i figured between this forum and a good shop i could get exactly what i need.

what i have: 2000 A4 1.8t non-bose
what i want: anything that sounds better

i am not an audiophile by any means, but i do know that the system right now is not doing my music justice. i listen to mostly dance music (electronica, trance, D&B) and alternative rock. i don't want ghetto bass and i don't want to disturb the neighbors, but would still like to feel the music when the windows are down cruising at 80mph. with that being said i am not married to any particular brand names, but i don't want to have to take out a loan for the upgrade.

yesterday i went to three shops around the houston area and got them to spec out a solution they thought would best fit (here's where you guys come in). prices have been rounded:

shop 1:
amp - phoenix gold xs6600
fronts - mb quarts 6.5 seperates (this concerned me - do 6.5 even fit the front without custom work?)
rears - mb quarts 6.5
sub - jl audio 10w3 single built into a custom box opposite the toolbox (mentioned needing dampening materials)
other - rca adaptor, 4 guage wires, labor, tax

total - $1,856
* the phoenix is on special for $499, and he also had an alpine v12 5ch for $459.

shop 2:
amp - sony xplode 5ch
fronts - bostons (not pros) 5.5 seperates
rears - bostons (not pros) 6.5
sub - 10" rockford sub in a sealed box
other - line outs, rca adaptors, amp kit (8 guage wires), instal, tax

total - $1,381
* he also had boston 10 and 12 subs for $269 and $299 respectively, he picked the rockford sub to keep the price down

shop 3:
amp - xtant 403a
fronts - ba pro seperates
rears - leave stock and amp the fronts and sub
sub - two 10" jl audio 10w3 in a sealed box
other - adaptors as needed and monstor cable (he didn't mention a guage), instal, tax

total - $1,899
* he also has an alpine mruf353 amp that could be used in place of the xtant - and with it on special the total would drop to $1,401.

all shops acted like they knew what they were talking about, and were pretty open to writing up a spec sheet with prices. however the last guy (shop 3) was the only guy who didn't ask me upfront what price range i was looking at, asked me if i had my own music to play, and talked with me at length about my upgrade. personal preferance - i liked dealing with him the most, BUT i would still like to get some unbiased (and biased) opinions on my upgrade from you guys.

i would love to hear comments, suggestions, recommendations, concerns etc ... thanks.<p>mark s

Foo

the 6.5's wont fit without serious work, therefore IMHO, shop 1 is out of the running for ignorance.
Shop 2 kit is decent, good equipment all around.... and is a good bargain.
I however would choose shop 3... why? the reasons u listed. price wise with the alpine its in the ballpark of 2, but if thats where you felt the most comfortable, then thats where you should go.
By the way, im in houston, care to share what the three stores were? (i already have an idea actually... but humor me)


Darren

`00 A4 install in progress

QYKSLVR

Here is what I did in my 98 1.8T non bose. I had MB Quart 5.25" reference series separates in front, using the MB Quart A4 adapters. I put 2 MBQuart 6.50" Co-axials in the rear deck. I powered these with a Soundstream (404 I think) amp mounted on the back of the passenger side backseat. I think the amp was 50x4. I had the option of swapping amps for a 5 channel soundstream with full credit for mine and getting a Sub in a small box. Including the install and everything it cost me about $1400. I kept the Stock headunit. I was pretty happy with the sound. Unless I was playing Bass heavy music, like Prodigy, or Chemical Brothers, the bass was acceptable. The only times I wished for more was when I would crank up the volume and it was lacking the BASS I wanted. I am currently deciding what I want in my TT. If I were to do an install again in the A4 I would probably add a Jl audio "Power wedge" of 2 8's in the back so I could remove it whenever I needed to. I also purchased a big roll of Dynamat at Best Buy, and pulled up the trunk liner and applied wherever there was no Damping materials. You would be suprised at how much damping materials Audi uses compared to alot of other cars.
Bobby Hopp
'01 225TTq coupe

MAsmith

shop 1 - american audio concepts (west) - wanted to go to an enthusiast shop (audio, performance, exhaust, security)
shop 2 - mobile one (southwest) - a friend of mine bought there and liked the service
shop 3 - home entertainment (southwest) - close to the house and i've purchased home equipment there

foo, since you are from here, do you recommend a reliable shop ??<p>mark s

siberian

.... but one thing I'd raise an eyebrow to is the first shop that wants to put 6.5's in the front doors.... especially at that price. Yes it can be done, but it involves extensive custom work. You'd need to fabricate custom door pods. I doesn't sound like they took that into consideration when they gave you their price... otherwise it would be a lot higher! A good shop that knows what they're doing would probably charge $500 bucks or more per door to do that kind of work. You can put 5-1/4" in there with minimul work however.

As for subs, one 10" actually sounds pretty good if the enclosure is built right. I prefer two, but I realize budgets come into play... and you could always add a 2nd one later on. With the type of music you listen to, bass is a BIG part of it. I know because I listen to a lot of that stuff too. For that reason, I'd consider two things when chosing your components...

1. If you decide to go with just one sub, at least try to chose an amp that will handle a 2nd one if you so decide to add it down the road. That way you won't be painted into a corner.

2. Also, when you get the install done, you might want to ask the installer to run the power wires in such a way that it would be easy to tap in a capacitor later on should you find you need one. You may not need it, and you CAN add one later on for about $100 bucks. But it's nice to know you could do it easily if the wires are located in the right place. If you're not sure what a cap does... it's basically a backup power source for power surges. In bass heavy music your sub amp is drawing a lot of juice off the alternator. The alternator can only handle so much... after all, it still needs to send juice to the rest of the electrical system... head lights, air conditioner.. etc. Ever notice at night when you're behind a guy at a stop light who's got bass pounding in his car?.... every time the bass hits, his lights dim. Well, that's because the amp powering the subs needed extra juice to make those subs hit hard, and so the amp stole that juice from some other part of the car's electrical system.... in this case, the lights. A capacitor stores extra juice for the amp so when it needs a quick boost, it takes that juice from the capacitor instead of the alternator.... thus sparing us the light show! Again, you might not need one depending on which amp and how many subs you use. If you go with Phoenix Gold though... chances are higher that you will need one.. as PG uses unregulated power supplies for their amps, and they tend to draw a lot of current.

Overall, the best advice I can give you is to try to consider what you might want to upgrade or add down the road, and chose your components and amp location accordingly. I know that this takes a little bit of clairvoyency, (did I butcher that spelling or what!?!?) but just keep it in the back of your mind as you plan your install. As for the brands of components you mentioned, they are all very good reputable brands. Quality wise you wouldn't go wrong with any of them.

Finally, if you can squeeze a few extra bucks out of it, make sure you get good shielded/twisted pair RCA cables. They will help reject noise. Especially since you appear to be running off the stock head unit which doesn't have a strong line out voltage. (the higher the line out voltage, the better it resists electrical noise)

And speaking of noise, MAKE SURE YOU DISCUSS THE INSTALLER'S POLICY ON NOISE BEFORE YOU LET THEM TOUCH YOUR CAR!!!!! I can't stress this enough. I've made this mistake twice. I had a shop install a system in my car and it sounded great.... that is, until I started up the engine and drove away... I had all this annoying alternator noise. When I went back and said, "Hey, what the f*ck?!?!?" they said, "sorry pal, we make no guarantee against noise problems... but we'll be happy to try and fix it..... by the way, that's $60 bucks an hour for labor". Burn me once, shame on me. Burn me twice... double shame on me! So after that, I learned how to do it myself and I did my last install with absolute ZERO noise resulting.

So I can't stress enough that you should talk that over with the guy and ask what they do if you get noise. If he steers around the subject, then take your business elsewhere.

Good luck and have fun. That's what it's all about after all.

Foo

i figured home E was number three, which one was it?
Home E on 1960 is good (known those guys a while) but for seriously good guys, expressive audio in Humble, its a drive yes, but Will (the owner) is a serious enthusiast.

Darren

siberian

Foo, I used to travel to Houston on business... how do you stand the humidity year round??? I couldn't take it.... and I live in Chicago where it gets like a friggin steam bath here in the summer!

Call me a whimp.

MoBrazen

<p>"I'm that Blue Menace in your rear view!!!"

<a href="http://registry.audiworld.com/audi/registry/details.asp?car=4667">'Blue Menace</a>

siberian

yep... I used to spend lots of time there too. Great place.

RKA

I would personally lean toward #3. Go with the Alpine if $ is a motivating factor.

#1 was suggested by an idiot, so I agree with Foo. Letting that one work on your car could result in mayhem.

#2 is okay, however I think spending $ on the rear speakers and sacrificing on the amp and front speakers is a mistake. Unsure about the sony amp also.

I recently had new front speakers/amp, and a single 10W3 installed. I find that the JL sub seems to lean toward boominess in a way that my old trio of 8W6's never did. It's certainly not the most boomy sub I have ever heard, but it's not something I am remotely interested in. I would prefer no bass to something mildly boomy.

After the holidays I'm going to try a Boston C110 (prefab box with 10" Comp series sub + 10" passive radiator). It's received good reviews, and maybe I'll have better luck with that. Feel free to e-mail me in two weeks for thoughts.