Audi Q7 After market woofer install
12-04-2012, 04:14 PM
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Audi Q7 After market woofer install
After purchasing my Audi Q7 I found that the Bose stereo did not offer the lows (bass) I wanted. Having worked in the 12volt accessory industry for many years prior to my new career, it was a very simply choice to begin the process of adding an after market woofer and amp. Initially I wanted to building a fibreglass box inside of the spare tire area but quickly decided I would rather have the spare there just incase.
My second option was building a box on top of the spare tire using the cargo tray space. After making dozens of measurements, I again decided against it because I use that space for all of my emergency winter and boat gear. The only option left was to build a box to fit exactly behind my the 2nd row seat and behind the 3rd row seat when in use. This was not my preferred option but proved to be the best option for storage and sound quality. With the addition of the new equipment, I no longer required the factory Bose subwoofer. This allowed for a perfect location for the new JL Audio amplifier. The Amp rack in the bottom photos was designed so it was easily removable and easy to secure so it does not rattle around. In the second photo, you can see the LC2I. This spot for the LC2I was picked for its easy accessibility. For those of you who don't know, the LC2I is was converts the signal from the Bose amp to the After market amp. I obtained the input signal for the after market amplifier straight from the factory woofer inside of the spare tire.
Material used:
1x - Sheet 3/4inch MDF
1x - Box of dry wall screws
1x - Bottle of wood glue
1x - Roll of Box carpet
1x - Roll of velcro
2.5m - black leather
Parts used:
2x - 12" JL Audio W3
1x - JL Audio HD750/1
1x - AudioControl 2 Channel Line Output Converter (LC2I)
4ga Stinger Power Wire Kit
6 Foot Stinger RCA's
1x - Box Dynamat
My second option was building a box on top of the spare tire using the cargo tray space. After making dozens of measurements, I again decided against it because I use that space for all of my emergency winter and boat gear. The only option left was to build a box to fit exactly behind my the 2nd row seat and behind the 3rd row seat when in use. This was not my preferred option but proved to be the best option for storage and sound quality. With the addition of the new equipment, I no longer required the factory Bose subwoofer. This allowed for a perfect location for the new JL Audio amplifier. The Amp rack in the bottom photos was designed so it was easily removable and easy to secure so it does not rattle around. In the second photo, you can see the LC2I. This spot for the LC2I was picked for its easy accessibility. For those of you who don't know, the LC2I is was converts the signal from the Bose amp to the After market amp. I obtained the input signal for the after market amplifier straight from the factory woofer inside of the spare tire.
Material used:
1x - Sheet 3/4inch MDF
1x - Box of dry wall screws
1x - Bottle of wood glue
1x - Roll of Box carpet
1x - Roll of velcro
2.5m - black leather
Parts used:
2x - 12" JL Audio W3
1x - JL Audio HD750/1
1x - AudioControl 2 Channel Line Output Converter (LC2I)
4ga Stinger Power Wire Kit
6 Foot Stinger RCA's
1x - Box Dynamat
12-10-2012, 04:28 AM
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Yes. I used a 200amp breaker fuse box and 4ga wire. The seat requires a special hex socket and was a pain in the *** to remove. Once the seat was fully removed, I ran the 4ga wire from the battery down the drivers side to the amplifier. The ground wire was obtained by bolting it to the metal trunk pan. The sub input was obtained directly from the factory woofer plug. The LC2I has a feature where is auto senses the input signal and will automatically turn on. This does work for the Q7 but the factory amp turns on briefly now and then which causes a false input signal and the woofers to quickly thud at a low volume twice. This was fixed by running a 12 volt ignition remote line to the after market amp.
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03-04-2014, 12:51 AM
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I strongly recommend you use a breaker box fuse and not a standard ANL or inline fuse because it's a pain to get the seat out. I placed my breaker box fuse in such a way that I can just but my drivers seat back and flick the power on or off if ever required.
Here is what they look like
http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-AMP-12V-...-/221131642724
Step 1 - Remove driver seat to access the battery
Step 2 - Run 4ga power wire from battery to the trunk. Attach a fuse or breaker box within 10inches of the (+) battery terminal . I would use A 100-150amp fuse/ breaker box
* you may also wanna run a 12v (+) remote line with the power wire and leave it in the kick panel not connected. The reason I would say do this is because it's kind of a pain to remove the panels a second time. I did not need a remote line because the lc2 has a auto input sensing feature
Step 3 - figure out where your going to mount the amp and make the amp rack. I made a easily removable mdf circle that fit inside the spare tire that I'm using as my rack. I then used a long bolt to secure the amp rack to the factory spare tire tie down hole.
Step 4 - Run the ground 12v (-) wire. This wire attaches to the metal body of the vehicle. Make sure all paint is sanded off to ensure a perfect connection. Also make damn sure you know where your drilling so you don't hit the gas tank or something valuable.
Step 5 - Connect your line converter. This piece converts a speaker wire signal into a RCA cable signal. The beauty of the lc2 is that it is cheap but allows you to apply cut off filters and adjust the gain so you get only the frequencies you want. Of course a audison bit one or JL clean sweep is a bit better but not really worth the extra cost for just a woofer. I connected to the input wires at the factory Bose woofer for two reasons. 1- it was super easy and 2- is that those wire are already being amplified by the factory amplifier which will allow a higher voltage input signal into the lc2. I know what your thinking..... How do I know which wire is positive and negative on the factory woofer? After taking apart the factory Bose woofer and disconnecting it from the car, use a 9-18v battery to bump the small Bose woofer. You do this by connecting one factory Bose wire to (+) and the other to (-) on the 9-18v battery. ( if I remember correct there are 4 wires at the Bose woofer that is because there are 2 factory woofers) it doesn't matter which set of wire you use. When this is done correct the Bose woofer will either bump out or suck in. If it sucks in then you have the wires back wards. If it bumps out then you have the correct (+) and (-) wire. You will use these wire as your source/ input wire on the lc2 or line converter. Don't cut them incase you want to put the factory Bose woofer back in. Simply tap onto them and run a set of speaker wires to the lc2.
Step 6 - power your line converter. I ran a 15 amp fused line from my amp to power my lc2. This was the easiest way and prevents the chance of anything shorting out the factory electronics.
Step 7 - run RCA's from the lc2 to your amp and set it to auto signal sensing
Step 8 - Bump some tunes
I'll take a look at my q7 and see if I can tell you what wires to tap onto at the factory woofer to save you some time. A side from making the sub box the amp install only took me about 3 hours. Most of the time was spent fighting to get the front seat and battery out. Hope this helped
Here is what they look like
http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-AMP-12V-...-/221131642724
Step 1 - Remove driver seat to access the battery
Step 2 - Run 4ga power wire from battery to the trunk. Attach a fuse or breaker box within 10inches of the (+) battery terminal . I would use A 100-150amp fuse/ breaker box
* you may also wanna run a 12v (+) remote line with the power wire and leave it in the kick panel not connected. The reason I would say do this is because it's kind of a pain to remove the panels a second time. I did not need a remote line because the lc2 has a auto input sensing feature
Step 3 - figure out where your going to mount the amp and make the amp rack. I made a easily removable mdf circle that fit inside the spare tire that I'm using as my rack. I then used a long bolt to secure the amp rack to the factory spare tire tie down hole.
Step 4 - Run the ground 12v (-) wire. This wire attaches to the metal body of the vehicle. Make sure all paint is sanded off to ensure a perfect connection. Also make damn sure you know where your drilling so you don't hit the gas tank or something valuable.
Step 5 - Connect your line converter. This piece converts a speaker wire signal into a RCA cable signal. The beauty of the lc2 is that it is cheap but allows you to apply cut off filters and adjust the gain so you get only the frequencies you want. Of course a audison bit one or JL clean sweep is a bit better but not really worth the extra cost for just a woofer. I connected to the input wires at the factory Bose woofer for two reasons. 1- it was super easy and 2- is that those wire are already being amplified by the factory amplifier which will allow a higher voltage input signal into the lc2. I know what your thinking..... How do I know which wire is positive and negative on the factory woofer? After taking apart the factory Bose woofer and disconnecting it from the car, use a 9-18v battery to bump the small Bose woofer. You do this by connecting one factory Bose wire to (+) and the other to (-) on the 9-18v battery. ( if I remember correct there are 4 wires at the Bose woofer that is because there are 2 factory woofers) it doesn't matter which set of wire you use. When this is done correct the Bose woofer will either bump out or suck in. If it sucks in then you have the wires back wards. If it bumps out then you have the correct (+) and (-) wire. You will use these wire as your source/ input wire on the lc2 or line converter. Don't cut them incase you want to put the factory Bose woofer back in. Simply tap onto them and run a set of speaker wires to the lc2.
Step 6 - power your line converter. I ran a 15 amp fused line from my amp to power my lc2. This was the easiest way and prevents the chance of anything shorting out the factory electronics.
Step 7 - run RCA's from the lc2 to your amp and set it to auto signal sensing
Step 8 - Bump some tunes
I'll take a look at my q7 and see if I can tell you what wires to tap onto at the factory woofer to save you some time. A side from making the sub box the amp install only took me about 3 hours. Most of the time was spent fighting to get the front seat and battery out. Hope this helped
