Recent install - 2005 A4 sedan
08-03-2006, 02:48 PM
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Recent install - 2005 A4 sedan
Had a forum member from out of state recently bring us his 2005 A4 for an audio upgrade.
He'd already done a number of upgrades - RNS-E, Sat, a basic amp driving a 10" sub in a prefab box, and several other vehicle mods.
He had us install an excellent system - Dynaudio System 240GT component midwoofers and tweeters in the front doors, a DLS Iridium 10" sub stealthed into the driver's rear corner of the trunk, and two Zapco amps, a DC350.2 for the doors and a DC500.1 for the front.
Both amps are fan cooled, so mounting them upside down under the package tray was no problem, and they are hard to spot unless you drop your head under the trunk opening edge. Each amp has a 10-band parametric EQ and digital input and output level settings, and very flexible internal crossover filters, all controllable by a PC with USB. Also, each amp comes with a stereo Symbilink balanced line-driver transmitter. We installed these behind the radio, using wires we inserted into his RNS-E adapter, and ran shielded balanced line from the RNS-E into the trunk for the amps. This took a lot of load off of the preamp section of the RNS-E and improved the sound (better detail than the other way).
The Dynaudio tweeters are good-sized and play a lot of midrange, but Dyne allows us to take them out of the casing for installations like this. The net effect is an elevated image since the tweeters are almost perfectly angled by Audi and the crossover lets them play so low.
The Dynaudio midwoofers have a three-inch voice coil and so the midbass from the door is very quick and tight. Even though the subwoofer is in the back, these drivers play low with authority and really support the illusion that all the bass is up front.
The DLS Iridium 10" has been in several IASCA winning show cars in the last few years, including the Finnish S4 that won its class in Europe. It's in a fiberglass-reinforced enclosure that is prism-shaped on the backside, with 1/4" MDF sides and a 3/4" MDF baffle, and then fiberglassed on top of that.
This was a great-sounding system and we were very happy with the results. Bass notes on Soul Coughing and Morphine's Cure for Pain had texture to them, not just thuddiness. Acoustic drum notes (Clark Terry Live at the Village Gate) were immediate and had slam to them. The air around the top end - from the tweeters - was excellent for a car system.
The whole thing retained OEM appearance and functionality, and provided excellent results. It took two and a half days to install, the biggest chunk of the time being spent on the subwoofer.
For reference, a system like runs around $3250 installed.
Woofer pics:
http://www.dls.se/speakers/IR10_front_grille_F.jpg
http://www.dls.se/speakers/IR10_rear_F.jpg
Components:
http://www.dynaudiousa.com/products/car/mfpicts/sys240gt.jpg
Amps:
http://www.zapco.com/images/Amps_Small/Ref_DC/Ref_DC350.2_Small.jpg
http://www.zapco.com/images/Amps_Small/Ref_DC/Ref_DC500.1_Small.jpg<ul><li><a href="http://kward1.homestead.com/2005A4upgrade.html">A few pics</a></li></ul>
He'd already done a number of upgrades - RNS-E, Sat, a basic amp driving a 10" sub in a prefab box, and several other vehicle mods.
He had us install an excellent system - Dynaudio System 240GT component midwoofers and tweeters in the front doors, a DLS Iridium 10" sub stealthed into the driver's rear corner of the trunk, and two Zapco amps, a DC350.2 for the doors and a DC500.1 for the front.
Both amps are fan cooled, so mounting them upside down under the package tray was no problem, and they are hard to spot unless you drop your head under the trunk opening edge. Each amp has a 10-band parametric EQ and digital input and output level settings, and very flexible internal crossover filters, all controllable by a PC with USB. Also, each amp comes with a stereo Symbilink balanced line-driver transmitter. We installed these behind the radio, using wires we inserted into his RNS-E adapter, and ran shielded balanced line from the RNS-E into the trunk for the amps. This took a lot of load off of the preamp section of the RNS-E and improved the sound (better detail than the other way).
The Dynaudio tweeters are good-sized and play a lot of midrange, but Dyne allows us to take them out of the casing for installations like this. The net effect is an elevated image since the tweeters are almost perfectly angled by Audi and the crossover lets them play so low.
The Dynaudio midwoofers have a three-inch voice coil and so the midbass from the door is very quick and tight. Even though the subwoofer is in the back, these drivers play low with authority and really support the illusion that all the bass is up front.
The DLS Iridium 10" has been in several IASCA winning show cars in the last few years, including the Finnish S4 that won its class in Europe. It's in a fiberglass-reinforced enclosure that is prism-shaped on the backside, with 1/4" MDF sides and a 3/4" MDF baffle, and then fiberglassed on top of that.
This was a great-sounding system and we were very happy with the results. Bass notes on Soul Coughing and Morphine's Cure for Pain had texture to them, not just thuddiness. Acoustic drum notes (Clark Terry Live at the Village Gate) were immediate and had slam to them. The air around the top end - from the tweeters - was excellent for a car system.
The whole thing retained OEM appearance and functionality, and provided excellent results. It took two and a half days to install, the biggest chunk of the time being spent on the subwoofer.
For reference, a system like runs around $3250 installed.
Woofer pics:
http://www.dls.se/speakers/IR10_front_grille_F.jpg
http://www.dls.se/speakers/IR10_rear_F.jpg
Components:
http://www.dynaudiousa.com/products/car/mfpicts/sys240gt.jpg
Amps:
http://www.zapco.com/images/Amps_Small/Ref_DC/Ref_DC350.2_Small.jpg
http://www.zapco.com/images/Amps_Small/Ref_DC/Ref_DC500.1_Small.jpg<ul><li><a href="http://kward1.homestead.com/2005A4upgrade.html">A few pics</a></li></ul>
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08-03-2006, 08:44 PM
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I don't know about a B6 but on my B5 it would have been a tight squeeze
My installer and I looked into it before we started my install. The 12" sub would have had to tilt into the trunk space quite a bit to fit. Since I didn't want the enclosure to protrude into the trunk space, I decided to stick with a 10".
08-04-2006, 09:34 AM
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Wouldn't it have been better to ditch the plastic speaker mounts on the doors?
and use something a bit more substantial like MDF rings. Just curious as this is how I upgraded my doors as there didn't seem to be any way to seperate the speaker from the mounts on the non-Bose units.
But the bass from the amp/speaker upgrade was impressive.
But the bass from the amp/speaker upgrade was impressive.
08-04-2006, 02:30 PM
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Bose are two-part, non-Bose are integrally molded
If they structurally don't flex, mechanically there's no loss.
The Bose rings are very sturdy, and fit perfectly - it would be hard to sell a customer on the labor to replace them. They are not flimsy whatsoever.
Unfortunately, we can't buy them from the dealer without the driver in an assembly - the audi PN seems to be a raw assembly PN and not a parts dept PN.
The Bose rings are very sturdy, and fit perfectly - it would be hard to sell a customer on the labor to replace them. They are not flimsy whatsoever.
Unfortunately, we can't buy them from the dealer without the driver in an assembly - the audi PN seems to be a raw assembly PN and not a parts dept PN.
