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2000 B5 S4- Had to upgrade from my RNS-E because it just didn’t have enough features for me anymore. BUT in doing so, my sound quality went to s**t!! I totally know why but regardless I decided to upgrade the whole thing a bit at a time.
I bought a new kicker 5 ch amp that will throw 100w x 4 and like 400w to a mono channel and I bought two kicker 6 3/4” subs to throw in the rear deck to replace the “blose” subs
my question is whether or not I can just use the factory speaker wires for any door speakers I may choose in the future? I’m gonna see what happens with upgrading just the amp but plan to do the whole system at some point.
As as far as the audio out patch in I’ve had a pair of Boston subs and amp in the trunk for years and the original installer used a line level to RCA converter for that... since I’ve already upgraded the head unit to a new Sony touchscreen I’m assuming I should just run new rcas to the new amp (since it’s gonna require a 4ga run from the battery regardless) but I was hoping to avoid running all new speaker wiring if possible... 🤷🏼♂️
Thanks for the details. I apologize for the late arrival here, but I am starting my 2016 A6 C7 9VD system upgrade this week. I just want to confirm one thing with the group before I begin... the factory amp location appears to be in the trunk, DRIVER'S SIDE cubby hole? When I open that up, I have nothing but a silver metal "floor" under the black pad? Am I correct to assume that the factory unit is under that and all the trunk carpeted pieces need to come out to grant access to that area? I'm okay with doing that as I have I'll be laying down sound dampening anyway, just want to make sure before I got started. I will detail everything once I get going for all to see.
How are you guys keeping your amp from clipping? I have the non b&o system and replaced the amp and have 2 12” subs. I’ve tried line out converters, a DSP, and now an LC7i pro. All of which produce the same result. As soon as any bass is introduced instant clipping. I’ve smoked two sets of subs. I mean it sounds fantastic. Best bass but ever. Clear as day, but damnit if it doesn’t clip nonstop.
I'm just starting an audio upgrade project on my 2012 A6 standard 10 speaker system (non-Bose, non-B&O), and I didn't want to start a whole new thread because there's already a lot of great information here. I've found that the amp harness is very similar to the 52 pin Quadlock on the headunit with some modifications, so I got one from AliExpress for $10 so that I didn't have to cut up my original wires.
Blocks B, C & D are not on the amp harness, so the relevant pins are:
A1 Loudspeaker (+), rear right, A5 Loudspeaker (–), rear right
A2 Loudspeaker (+), front right, A6 Loudspeaker (–), front right
A3 Loudspeaker (+), front left, A7 Loudspeaker (–), front left
A4 Loudspeaker (+), rear left, A8 Loudspeaker (–), rear left
A9 Subwoofer (+), A13 Subwoofer (-)
A10 Centre loudspeaker (+), A14 Centre loudspeaker (-)
I'm assuming A17 & A18 are the amp power wires but I didn't test them.
I have highlighted in red the parts you need to remove with a Dremel on the new Quadlock:
Original harness plug:
Socket on amp with 2 extra pins:
New 52 pin Quadlock harness with parts removed in red, as well as the 3 unnecessary blocks B, C & D removed and de-pinned:
I haven't even decided what speakers and amp to buy yet, but I tapped into the wires to do some electronic testing of a pink noise signal with an RTA (wire tap -> LOC -> RCA to 3.5mm TRRS -> iPhone Studio Six Digital CinemaTools RTA app).
Front left channel with Bass set to 9 (scale 0-18), Treble 9. I thought this was the neutral setting but it looks like there's a fair bit of EQ going on:
Bass 7, Treble 2, as flat as I could get it, and looks like a HPF at 50Hz:
Bass 18 so the boost is centered at 80Hz:
Treble 18 so the boost is centered at 16kHz+ (maybe my iPhone input doesn't go any higher):
Subwoofer channel, Sub set to 9, Bass 7. Not sure where exactly the LPF is, maybe 80-100Hz?
Sub 9, Bass 18, so the bass setting also boosts the sub channel at 80Hz:
Stage 1: Kicker KEY 200.4 amp with Auto EQ
Total cost: ~$300
This is a great first stage upgrade even if you want to stay on the stock speakers. The amp comes with a microphone to do Auto EQ and time alignment. It does a great job to bring the soundstage to the front and center, and the sound is clear with good bass even though I unplugged the center speaker and sub (you have to unplug them when running the Auto EQ setup).
Installation time should be 1-2 hours and is completely reversible to stock.
Crimping tool and ring terminals, soldering iron kit and heat shrink tubing. These are for the Kicker KEY amp power and ground wire ends. They include a fuse and the wires are just long enough for the Audi A6 trunk.
Installed a Kicker TRTP122 12" CompRT sub with passive radiator, and a CXA 400.1 300W into 2 Ohm mono amp.
I'm still running the stock speakers which are actually 8" in the front doors so they already put out some bass after the Kicker KEY amp did its Auto EQ, but I think the sub will still help on the highway where road noise drowns out the bass.
The A6 trunk is quite long and you can put things on top of this sub so you don't really have to worry about losing trunk space.
Kicker KSS 6.5" speakers installed in the front doors, and sound deadening applied to the back side of the outer door skins. These actually have less bass than the original 8" speakers so it's a good thing I put in a sub.
After some more listening, I actually felt that the sub was weaker than I expected. So I retested the signal on the sub channel coming out of the stock amp and through the Kicker CXA 400.1 amp, but this time using a multimeter and single frequency sine wave mp3s because it should be more accurate than the LOC and iPhone line-in RTA app that I used before.
The standard sub signal in blue drops off below 60 Hz and above 80 Hz so you don't really have much to work with. (The Kicker amp's LPF is set to the max 200 Hz so I'm just using the stock system's crossover). Luckily the Kicker CXA 400.1 amp has a Bass Boost feature at 40 Hz so I cranked it to +6 dB and it was able to flatten the frequency response down to 40 Hz. Sounds much better now. To get even lower frequencies, I guess I could use a Kicker KEY 500.1 amp or KEYLOC, but the CXA 400.1 amp has a subsonic filter at 25 Hz anyway.
Installed the tweeters for the Kicker KS 6.5" components, and ran new speaker wires for them to the trunk to run them in bi-amp mode. The time alignment is now spot on, whereas before I felt that it couldn't account for the difference in distance between the woofer and tweeter. But one downside is I can hear a slight change in balance between the tweeters and woofers when you change the volume, probably because they have different sensitivities. So you should run the Auto EQ at the volume you listen at.
I saw on the internet that some people were saying you could recode the radio/amp to output more bass. In VCDS the setting for my 2012 A6 base stereo is in the [56] Radio module, byte 4, change it to 00 Sound Profile: External Amplifier.
Yes, there was more bass, but actually way too much bass. I checked the Front Right signal coming out of the factory amp with an RTA and got the image below. The bass actually rolls up below 500 Hz up to 30 dB. Something was obviously not right here so I put the coding back to Internal Amp.
Audi Recreates Crazy-Looking Speed Record Breaker From 1935
Slideshow: Audi has recreated one of the wildest machines of the pre-war speed-record era, reviving a streamlined V16 racer that originally exceeded 200 mph in 1935.
Most informative thread I’ve found
