Pscheoverdrive

Well, before going into this project, I did as much as I could to get info on the Bose system and I found a lot of conflicting information. I also ordered crap that didn't fit, either.

Here's a list that hopefully some of you can benefit from:

1. The rear door speakers are the same size as the rear deck speakers. 5.25", I'm guessing (I forgot to measure, maybe I'll do that and re-edit this)...

2. The front door speakers are 4". The driver's side features two tweeters, while the passenger side only has one. (I hate Bose.)

3. All four door speakers (not the tweeters) use 3-hole mounts that fit pretty much nothing. You have to make your own brackets. (I hate Bose.)

4. The rear deck speakers are NOT amplified. They may be on the Audi Symphony system, but with Bose, they are not. They do, however, feature crossovers. (I hate Bose.)

5. The Scosche double-DIN adapter for the head unit does not fit the way you'd think. It's too tall and not wide enough. You have to fabricate something to fill in the side holes... The double-DIN unit will fit where the Bose Symphony HU was, but the adapter won't sit flush with the dash. (I hate Bose.)

6. The antenna adapter from Crutchfield doesn't come close to fitting either the aftermarket headunit or the antenna lead on the car.

7. You can get 14-gauge speaker cable through the door-chassis rubber hosing. There's a big, plastic wiring-harness thing in the way, but I got Rockford Fosgate gamma-twisted cable through a small hold in the side of the harness.

8. You only need a little more than 30 ft of speaker cable for the four door speakers. I ordered waaaay too much... :P

Originally, I had planned on taking the entire Bose system out, but after looking at how 'integrated' everything was, I decided to just rip the speakers and the headunit out. I built my system ground up. I have a Kenwood KDC-X889 powering four Alpine 4" SPS-10C2 speakers in the doors, with the sub pre-outs going to a Kenwood KGC-9044 eq. The front and rear preouts of the eq go to an Audiobahn A6004T, which powers a pair of Pioneer TSA-6990s and 6.5" Polk Momo MMC650s. Both pairs of speakers are on the rear deck. I cut holes in the metal shelf, and the 6x9s fit fine. I took off the factory grills and made my own mounts for the speakers using wood. The sub preout from the eq feeds an Audiobahn A12005DN, which powers the ABB122V (loaded dual 12" ported box). .5 Farad Rockford Fosgate cap on the A6004T and a 1 F RF cap on the A12005DN.

I haven't taken any pictures or anything yet, but it's up and running well... Just got to spend the time to tune the whole thing.

And no ragging on Audiobahn... I know everyone thinks it's not a good deal for the money - I just think you're looking in the wrong places b/c I got good deals on all of it... Altogether I probably spent $1300.

HIS4

1. You can fit 6.5" speakers in there with prefab adapters. MB Quart used to make them but I've seen other places to get them.

2. You can fit 5.25" speakers in there with prefab adapters. The second tweeter on the drivers side was meant for the in car phone and is not part of the audio system.

4. The Symphony and Bose are the same except for some programming of the head unit and an additional ground connection. Both systems have amplified rears.

5. That adapter was actually made for an A6 which is why it doesn't fit correctly.

6. They gave you the wrong adapter. Mine fit fine.

You say you planned on ripping out the whole system but then decided to just take out the head unit and speakers. If you changed out the speakers and the head unit, what's left of the stock system that you had to leave behind. That is the whole system.

As far as Audiobahn goes, there is a lot of better equipment out there for the money. $1300 is a pretty good amount of money. If I'm remembering my model numbers correctly, a lot of the equipment you listed are not current models so they would be discounted as much as 40 or 50% since they would be old stock. Audiobahn is known more for its bling styling than what's actually inside the box.

Pscheoverdrive

Mmm... I'm not doubting you know your stuff, but there's a few things that I saw for myself...

4. I meant, the rear deck speakers do not have amplifiers ON them. Some people said that the rear speakers in the A4 have amplifiers actually attached to the speaker, making swaps to aftermarket speakers more difficult. The ones I pulled out of my car did not have amplifiers on them. Also, Bose gives you 'Bose' speakers.

5. It's quite possible that the adapter was made for the A6, but it explicitly states on the packaging 'A4'... And only 'A4'... 'A6' is not to be seen on the packaging.

6. Well, if that's true, that really sucks.

Remember, $1300 total... Which is eight speakers, what used to be the best Kenwood deck, two amps, two caps, lots of speaker cable, two amp power kits, hardware, plastic, wood, etc... I paid ~$200 for the dual 12" box with subs and ~$130 for the A6004T and ~$150 for the A12005DN. Seemed like a pretty good deal to me... :P

Oh, and what I left behind was all the old wiring, the amp and the 'sub' in the trunk. It wasn't 'total' in my sense of 'total'...

Just an idea, perhaps we could make a FAQ for the audio forum? The ones on the other AW forums are really helpful... Just an idea.

Pscheoverdrive

Oh... And since the second tweeter on the driver's side is supposed to be for the phone, how come it's wired to the same terminals on the harness as the other tweeter? The harness has two prongs, one for + and one for -, and the two tweeters are wired in parallel, straight to the harness.

avincar

Your search for info was pretty slipshod as far as I can tell.

I've worked on several of these and the cell speaker is NEVER in parallel with the tweeter. The wires are in the same harness but are NOT parallel.

Bose has issues, but they DON'T put two tweeters in the driverr's door of an A4.

And they ALWAYS amplify the speakers that say Bose on them.

Should be an FAQ on Audizine in a few weeks.

CURSH[silverbullet]

B6 Symphony II sedan?

Pscheoverdrive

I'm not trying to make things worse, I'm simply asking for more explanation.

Let me explain... On one side of the harness, there are four prongs. On the other side, the wires for both of the tweeters are present. The positive wires go to the same hole, which looks like it would be the same connection. The same goes for the ground wires.

I could take a pic... But, unless I'm totally stupid, when you have two components with + and - coming from the same source, rather than inline with each other, it's a parallel connection. There's four wires on one side, and two prongs on the other... How is this not a parallel connection?

So, what makes me wonder is how can Bose keep the phone and audio signals separate?

Also... The speakers I pulled from my car do not have amplifiers ON them. They're just regular speakers. I read somewhere that Audi amplifies the rear deck speakers ON the speakers themselves. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm not trying to argue w/anybody... I'm just looking to further my own understanding.

MacSub

the trunk.

B5S4_Oz

It sounds like a B5 to me, particulalry if it had stock 4" splits upfront.

1. I think you'll find the rear door and deck speakers are 6.5". They'll be powered by the Bose amp in your trunk.

2. That second tweeter is actually the phone/Nav speaker supported by the h/u. You can fit 5.25" speakers using some MDF to make your own adapter

4. Yes they are. They are driven by the Bose amp in your trunk.

6. Sounds like you got the wrong one.

Taking the entire Bose system out - sounds like the only thing you didn't remove was the amp. I hope you're bypassing it, or you'll be getting some strange results.

I decided to keep the stock h/u and replaced all other items and also added 2 x 10" subs in a nice box. The front splits I installed in the stock location were only 5.25", I couldn't fit 6.5" speakers.

To improve the sound quality, it's always a good idea to sound deaden those front doors using something like Dynamat Extreme.

While $1,300 isn't a lot, I think you could have bought better gear for the money, particulalry if you went second hand.