Bose system on A3 Sportback

it sounds like its too bassy for your liking (personally, you can never have enough bass !)

Have you tried turning the bass down a few notches and the treble up a bit ?

I've never seen the Bose described as too bassy.
Usually the opposite.
I have the bass turned up to 6 (same with the treble) and it's still lacking.
I listen to rock,so I'm not after chav-type 'booom' either.

I have the bas on mine turned up to 6 and the treble at 3. Not too bassy for me either...

See I have mine at 5 with the treble at 4 or maybe 3 and when the volume is low you seem to get much more bass from it than when it's high. Not sure why this is... but I like it - bass is good, but just not too much like a chav'd saxo.

I have found the standard system has much better bass at low volume than the Bose.
Up to around 8-10,I would say the standard system sounds better.
Over 8-10,the Bose starts to take over.
By the time you get to around 12-15,the standard one is distorting all over the place,but the Bose sounds fine (without being saxo-ish).
I regularly get to compare the two,as my colleague's A3 has the standard system.


It's exactly how the salesman said it would be.
If you like it loud,go for the Bose.
If you don't,stick to standard.

BrianM said:

Hi all, fairly new to the forum and also new to Audi, I have a Feb 06 A3 Tdi DSG Sportback with the Bose sound systems and Symphony head unit. Sure this has been asked before but I really am unhappy with the sound and particularly the bass, I don't want to change the system but would like advice on the best setup. My wife absolutely hates the bass resonance and even my 22 year old son says it sounds "naff", by which he suggests it really is similar to the chavs cars he hears and is not clear. At best the bass is annoying so does anyone have suggestions as to the best settings please?

Click to expand...

I started a thread on this topic some time ago, but have made progress !

My previous car was a 2.0TDI Sportback Sport, and this suffered from boomy woolly bass, just as you describe. No amount of fiddling with the settings seemed to make any difference.

I have since changed the car to a 2.0T 3-door S-Line, and the sound system is completely transformed. Bass is now tight, and bass lines can be followed easily. I think this is due to :-
(a) The 2.0T is much quieter, with none of the buzzing and grumbling I had with the TDI.
(b) The new car has Continental tyres, whereas the old one had Dunlops. The Contis produce vastly less road roar - virtually none on most roads, in fact.

So there is a solution, but probably not the one you wanted to hear !