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Headunit amplification is fine for low - medium volume, but gets distorted real quick at higher volumes. One rear speaker has a small amp that looks to power both rear speakers. Again, the clarity issue comes up because of the type of amplification. <p>The four speaks in the sedan are ALL different...some Nokia, some blaupunkt. Some paper, some fabric. And I do mean in the same car. My 98.5 Concert came out & just shocked me when I saw that the speaks were all different. Dunno how anybody expected great sound with four mismatched speaks...<p>steve

I just posted about installing an Alpine CD player in the dash. it made an amazing difference! I kept the original speakers, and used the Alpine internal amp for all of them. It sounds just as good if not better than my parents' 98 Mercedes C280(with CD player), and their old car an Infiniti J30 which had the Bose setup! I highly recommend this route if you don't want to upgrade the speakers. Keep in mind that the CD changer will still utilize the factory amplification. Just my 2cents.

nt<br>

With the addition of a subwoofer, it sounds really good. A much better option than wasting your money on the Bose system. For the $1000 the Bose w/CD changer costs, you can get an 8 CD changer, two amps, a subwoofer, and 4 new speakers.<p>About the speaker mismatch, that may be due to one of the speakers having an extra voice coil for the integrated cell phone.<br>

do you need the Alpine CD changer for it to work?<p>I'm still trying to figure out what to do about improving the sound. From what it sounds, either a HU change or a speaker change is needed to bring it up to decent sound quality.<p>Thanks.

nt<p>

the rear speakers are made by different manufacturers (at least on my car). Presumably since the left rear speaker has the amp attached they contracted one supplier for that, and the right rear doesn't have the amp so they contracted a different supplier for that one. They sound completely different. (The left one actualy sounds pretty smooth, believe it or not. The right one is pretty poor.)<p>Jim Meyer<br>'98.5 2.8QMS

Very poor speakers and low power. Easily remedied. I put a 4 x 30 watt amplifier under the rear deck and ran Monster Cable speaker/line converters from the head unit to the amp. Installed MB Quart speakers--6-1/2 in the rear, 4" + tweeter in the front.<p>Maintaining the head unit preserves the stock appearance and control for the Panasonic CD changer. Not a particularly difficult job.<p>Far, far superior sound to the Bose.

Concert phone allows for either left or right selection for phone injection on these speakers. Concert is actually pretty good in the Avant since it includes a sub, and is not as "bass-y/muddy/boomy" as the Bose upgrade - no offense Bose owners. Hope this helps...<p>98.5 A4QMS2.8 avant

You shouldn't even need line level convertors for the concert deck. It has both front and rear pre-outs, the rear set being hooked to the little amp that runs the rear speakers, and the front set unwired. Just splice some RCAs into one of those sets and you're good to go.