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I'll create this thread for people to contribute to upgrading the speakers in a Sportback. I don't believe it's been documented, especially the rear surrounds.
I've attached the wiring diagram to get started. Audi B9 B&O audio wiring diagram
Last edited by bruce_miranda; 05-16-2020 at 11:46 AM.
When you consider the fact that I am legally blind and deaf, you might really be baffled :-)
I used to love driving, and tinkering. Now that I can no longer drive, I'm just left with the tinkering. My wife does all the driving.
I do this because I love doing it. And if along the way, if it helps people then, well, brilliant.
Thanks for getting this thread up and running. I'm sure many Forum members will be using this information exchange to make their B9 Sportback's factory B&O Sound System sound 'Even Better'!
1. B&O DSP or your own NAV-TV Zen-V.
2. B&O Amp or your own amps.
3. Upgrade all speakers or only the speakers needed for proper Stereo.
4. The subwoofer is covered to death, and I think this is the one thing that is no brainer. Just do it with an after market sub amp. The choice is upgrade the driver in the OEM enclosure. Or get the Basser box with a 10 inch driver.
Subwoofer : The Basser Box is 15L, so the driver I chose was the JL Audio 10W1V3-4 which has the closest sealed enclosure requirements. You don't need to spend more money to get the shallow mount because you have the space.
As for the other speakers, you can only start making those decisions once you have answered the questions above.
I will start with my game plan for my 2019 RS5 Sportback B&O Sound System.
I plan on keeping the factory B&O amp to drive all 19 B&O speaker locations.
The list of components that I have purchased to replace the factory speakers at the following locations are as follows:
I have Peerless by Tymphany GBS-115N25AL01-04 to replace the factory 4" speaker locations that it will fit into. We can confirm that it will fit into both the front door mid and the dashboard center mid locations, with good success. I will try to place them into the dash outboard locations and the rear LT & RT surround locations if they are able to fit into the locations.
I also have a backup for the mids, I have the slightly smaller FaitalPRO 4FE32 4" Neodymium Professional Full-Range Woofer 4 Ohm to fit into the factory 4" locations also (just in case the FaitalPRO fits into more locations than the Peerless speakers) that have been verified to fit. I have the Dayton Audio RS75-4 3" Reference Full-Range Driver 4 Ohm for the dashboard end locations that have been verified to fit.
I have the Aurum Cantus AC165/50C2C 6-1/2" Midwoofer for the front door woofer location that has been verified to fit.
I have the Parts-Express 6-1/2" Poly Cone Midbass Woofer 4 Ohm for the rear door woofer location that has been verified to fit.
I have the Kicker KEY 500.1 mono amp to drive the stock subwoofer location sub.
I have both the SKAR Audio EVL-65 D4 and Empire Bold6 subwoofer that have been verified to fit into the stock subwoofer enclosure. I will see which sub plays the best with the Kicker amp driving it to see how it sounds with the other speakers to decide if I want to keep the stock location sub, remove the stock sub feed altogether or if I want to keep the stock location, driven by the stock B&O amp and also add a 10" subwoofer driven by the Kicker KEY 500.1 amp, because I already have a Basser 10" side aux storage compartment enclosure for the right side storage area.
I need to research the A pillar tweeter locations to see what mods are needed and what both fits and sounds appropriate in the A pillars
I also have the Kicker amp installation kit with the fuses, wiring and the sub remote controller. I also have Sonic Barrier MX-4 Max Aluminum Foil Butyl Foam Rubber Sound Damping Sheets 31.5" x 18.12" 4 pcs., Sonic Barrier UT-25 Ultra Sound Vibration Damping Sheet Silver Foil 25 sq. ft. Roll and Sonic Barrier BDS-15 Butyl Rubber Door Sealer Roll 0.31" Dia. x 14.76 ft. L for the sound deadening on the doors and any area that needs it. I have all the speaker mounting brackets for the locations that have been verified to work for in the doors. I also have 20 sets of connectors for the various wiring harness hookups to the B&O audio feeds. I also have the Audi Non-B&O stock speaker cover grills for the LT & RT front door locations, that give the full circle perforations instead of the half closed B&O system solid speaker grills.
I do need to figure out what frequency filters I will need to add to each area to get the best sound once the final speakers are chosen.
I am open to any and all critic, suggestions or recommendations you have for alternate speakers or audio gear, if you see something that I have missed or overlooked. My goal is for all the components in this sound system that 'play well with others'!!!
Now if I can find all the time needed to get things installed and set-up, I will soon be hearing the best musical clarity that my car has ever given me!!!
I have the Basser box and the Kicker amp so I will buy the JL Audio 10W1V3-4 to complete the sub set-up.
You can read what other speakers I already have above, also I am not against buying other speakers you recommend and returning the ones I have if it makes more sense to use another speaker.
If you are not using B&O surround and 3D, why are you bothered about replacing those speakers. You can do this in project in steps. Faitalpro drivers are absolutely brilliant if you want drivers with higher sensitivity and the least amount of fuss, which means that your vocals/mid range will sound clearer. But since they are higher sensitivity you want to make sure that they marry up with all the other drivers. Especially since you are going to use the B&O amp.
Apparently in the B&O the rear effect D pillar speakers are always on? Can you confirm that. Check if they change volume based on the fader position.
The Centre channel is ON all the time.
What I would suggest is that you first finish the subwoofer aftermarket amp install and drive either the Skar or Ampire and see how you get on.
If you plan to use the Faitalpro 4FE32 and I think you should, then start with the Centre channel. The factory amp is mostly 4 ohms per channel but the moment you drop the Faitalpro 4ohms in, you will notice that channel seem louder. Hence why you want to balance everything out.
You haven't mentioned what tweeters you want to use.
Although I do not care for the generated sound produced by the B&O Surround and 3D Effects, my line of thought on the B&O Surround and 3D locations was to actually use the speaker locations, for bass, mid and treble output; not for the B&O Surround and 3D effects (as I don't watch movies / videos in the car and music just doesn't sound natural with it turned on for me). I was trying to find a way of installing an appropriate driver, mid or tweeter in the locations and wire them in to the door or center channel driver, mid or tweeter to use all 19 speaker locations for a more immersive sound stage. Obviously I need to eat this elephant one bite at a time.
Yes, both of the LT & RT D Pillar rear effect speakers are always on, regardless of the fader's 'Cross Hair Site' location in both the full fwd or full aft position.
I did get your wiring adapter today in the mail for the sub wiring hook-up. Thank you again for the right wiring set-up!
Looking at the specs of the Skar and Ampire subs which one do you think would give the best sound with the Kicker KEY500.1? The only reason I purchased the Skar is that it was the closest in dimensions to the stock 6.5 inch sub, without breaking the enclosure apart for a rebuild or expansion. It took a little bit to cut the speaker flange down to fit it in the enclosure, but in the end it fit. I was thinking the dual 4 Ohm in series was OK for the 8 Ohm supply, as I did not know the B&O was a dual 8 Ohm feed.
I didn't know what tweeters you wanted to recommend as I have not purchased any tweeters as of yet, knowing that you were waiting on me to tell you what mid's I was going with. I have 8 ea of the FaitalPRO 4FE32 4 Ohm speakers, so I will plan on using them for the mid's. What do you suggest for the front and rear door drivers, is the pair of Aurum Cantus AC165/50C2C 6-1/2" for the front door drivers and the Parts-Express 6-1/2" Poly Cone Midbass Woofer 4 Ohm for the rear door drivers what you would recommend? Do you have a better fitting / sounding driver in mind now that I can confirm the mid's. Please remember that I can return any and all the speakers that do not work with each other or that we don't use, so please give me the best advice / recommendations for the best system, as I only want to rip things apart and stitch them all back together once, if at all possible.
In about 4 weeks I will have something else that will help you immensely in your wiring. However nothing needs to stop at the moment in terms of biting the elephant.
Next week I will be able to confirm if the Faitalpro 3FE22 fits in the locations at the ends of the dashboard. If they do then its best to stick with a single manufacturer as much as possible.
Between the Skar and the Ampire Bold, the Skar (on paper) is the superior driver and better suited for the OEM enclosure in terms of volume requirements. And I'm guessing you now can't return the Skar because you have modified it. So might as well stick with it. The Ampire Bold is a bit more sensitive but is rated lower than the Skar. Neither of them will work as a replacement to your B&O OEM subwoofer driver driven from the B&O amp. The B&O driver is 8+8 DVC.
Both your chosen drivers are 4+4 DVC, so what I would do is drive both coils in parallel so that your Kicker amp sees a 2 ohm load. Take the current input to your OEM subwoofer and use that as the Hi Level input into the Kicker amp and then send the output back to your after aftermarket sub driver in the OEM enclosure. This is exactly the configuration I am using.
If you feel this is enough bass, you can skip the Basser box completely. But if you plan on using the Basser box you need to find either a 4+4 DVC 10 inch driver that will fit in the Basser box or a 2ohm SVC (e.g.10W1v3-2)10 inch driver. That Kicker amp is 4Ω = 150 Watts RMS or 2Ω = 300 Watts RMS.
The important thing for the speakers you intend to drive directly from the B&O amp is to match them against each other. The reason being is that you have very little control on the volume and equalisation of each speaker channel. The DSP curves are set in the B&O amp. so if you mis-match your speakers things will sound quite terrible. You especially don't want to mix speakers of different sensitivities in the same zone. e.g. All the fronts should rise in volume together. But if the fronts and rears are slightly mis-matched then that can be dealt with using the fader. This becomes especially true if you are going to run multiple sets of speakers in the zone on the same side.
You have a few fixed constraints to deal with i.e. the Centre channel and the rear surrounds are on all the time. If you put in the 4 ohm versions of the 4FE32 in those spots they will get louder. Now that's not a bad thing if you listen to a lot of vocal based audio. You can turn the B&O 3D and surrounds down but you have no control on the Centre channel amplitude except for the Focus. The Front Focus emphasises the Centre channel a bit more than the All.
If you like your music lively then the 4 ohm Faitalpros are perfect. But if you want them a bit more warm then you might want to consider the 8ohm or even 16 ohm versions.
After you finish installing your subwoofer Amp, perhaps the next bite of the elephant could be the Centre/D pillar Rear channel. Maybe buy some 8 ohm and 16 ohm versions of the 4FE32 and then swap in the 4/8/16ohm versions in the Centre/D Pillar channels and see which ones you prefer. The reason I am saying these locations rather than the doors is because these slots can stay exposed until you decide which drivers you want to use. The doors get a bit tricky without the panels installed.
Another part you might want to buy and keep ready is https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000416960485.html with the pigtails. This will come handy when I am ready with my B&O wiring terminal block. Only suggesting you buy this because this from Aliexpress can take a while to travel the globe.
Last edited by bruce_miranda; 05-17-2020 at 05:12 AM.
05-16-2020, 11:29 AM
Changing all the speakers in a B&O sportback car
