ICE Upgrade in 8L S3

[beanoir]

Well as some of you may have read, I recently installed a new headunit in the S3, I went for the Parrot Asteroid which is a pretty nifty piece of kit and does a lot of stuff.

My review of it is here for those that are interested: http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/home-cinema-hi-fi-gadgets/135770-parrot-asteroid.html

I re-wired the speakers to the headunit and by-passing the amplifier for the rear speakers leaving it to power just the standard subwoofer.

I've since decided that the standard speakers fitted in the car are pretty poor when it comes to sound quality, at least in my opnion they are. Not wanting to live with it anymore i've decided to embark on an upgrade.

Having said this, i'm not about to blow serious cash, I want to keep it afforable but half decent - the whole idea of me buying the S3 in the first place.

Fronts

Nothing too fancy and something that will fit behind the door cards as I don't want anything to be visible, so no clever creations with mdf and fibreglass here i'm afraid.

I've been very impressed with the Focal CAs in my Mazda and so i've popped for a pair of Focal 130A1 component speakers. I plan on using some adaptors of course (AndyMac specials if I can find out where to get them..). These will fit depth wise, and will be helped along with sound deadening in the right places.

Rears

For the rears again i'll be going with Focal, but this time i'll use coaxials for the job and will be using Focal 165CA1. Again fitted with the relevant adpators and plenty of sound deadening.

Amplifier

I'm a fan of driving the main speakers from an amp and I though if i'm pulling the car apart to fit the speakers then I may as well just do the lot at the same time.

Again i'm tryin to keep things small and compact and out of sight. I believe there is plenty of space for a 4 channel amp behind the rear speaker panels, probably the drivers side (in case of future AMSS upgrade needing the passenger side).

I've decided on another JL Audio XD400/4. If you've not heard these little Class D amps in action then you should. Their size belies their true ability and the sound reproduction from them is astonishing really.

Read up here for those interested: JL Audio XD 400/4 Amplifier Review

Subwoofer

I'll probably leave this for the next stage and see how the speakers bed in over the next couple of months, and then decide on sub requirements.

I've always been impressed by AndyMac's solution when i've heard it in other's cars and from the reviews of it on here. Again it also ticks the "hidden from view" box which is a big plus point for me.








So my shopping list for now is:

1x - Focal 130A1 Components
1x - Focal 165CA1 Coax
1x - JL Audio XD400/4
Speaker cable & RCAs
4g power cable and earth, fuses etc
Rhino sound deadening material
4x AndyMac MDF speaker adaptors

The speakers are ordered, so they should be with me in the next couple of days. I want to make sure I know exactly how to mount the amp, and where to channel the power to the battery etc before stripping the car down.

I'll update with pictures soon!!

 

[alijames]

The AndyMac Sub: It rocks! Simple.

Cheers,

 

[niallh]

Front Speaker rings
Audi A3/S3 8L MDF front speaker adapters 13cm 5.25" component | eBay
Rear Speaker rings
Audi A3/S3 8L MDF rear speaker adapters 165mm coaxials | eBayhen i installed my amps in my car i removed the glovebox and fed the power cable through a grommet in the top right hand corner of the engine bay, which fed the power cable straight through into the car behind the glovebox.

For my earthing point I undid the rear trim panel in the boot and used one of the bolts near to the boot catch for the earthing point

Feel free to drop me a PM if you want anymore ideas/help

 

[beanoir]

Thanks for the link mate. I've ordered a couple of pairs of the adaptors from AndyMac, so hopefully I'll have them for the weekend.

 

[beanoir]

Speakers and adapters haven't turned up yet so could look like I wont be doing that this weekend unless they arrive in tomorrow's post...here's hoping.

In the mean time I've focussed my attention to the music storage. The Parrot Asteroid has the capacity to stick as big an SD card in as you can get hold of. I've got a 32GB in there at the moment but in order to get all of my music library on it I have to convert it from Lossless audio format down to a 19kb mp3. The result is not as good as I would like and the difference is certainly audible. So given I can't get a 125gb SD card to fit all my music on and the fact portable hard drives are not too expensive these days I decided to get myself a 500GB unit that will comfortable fit my entire music library on and also plenty of room for the future.

I opted for a Western Digital Passport which looks pretty boring in black, but then it'll blend in with the interior nicely and fits in the cubby hole beneath the headlight switch. Its also got pretty quick data rates and the like so it should function pretty well, and certailny better than the old 2G iPod I was used to.

The result is pretty good, I have all the music I own there at the push of a button in my car....sweet ride!

 

[AndyMac]

Nick, I sent the adapters yesterday 1st class recorded so you should hopefully have had them this morning.

 

[beanoir]

Hi Andy, I did indeed find them sitting on the porch when I got home this afternoon, so thanks for that I'll leave feedback of course.

They look quite good I have to say, very well made and thought out. Thumbs up sir.

My speakers haven't turned up yet, but looking forward to fitting them next weekend hopefully.

 

[Oranoco]

I use those Focals in the front of my A4 and they are a superb speaker, as long as you don't want to drive them hard. Once the volume gets up they seem to lose their accuracy and sound crashy.

 

[beanoir]

I use those Focals in the front of my A4 and they are a superb speaker, as long as you don't want to drive them hard. Once the volume gets up they seem to lose their accuracy and sound crashy.

Are your's amplified?

 

[tsporta4]

Are your's amplified?

Yeah from what i recall all oranocos speakers are amped he wouldnt have it anyother way

 

[beanoir]

Yeah from what i recall all oranocos speakers are amped he wouldnt have it anyother way

Thats interesting, i've not had these problems. I actually have the same set up in another car Focals/JL Audio XD and it really does drive well at high volume. It could just be down to other factors I guess.

Still, either way it's going to sound a dam sight better than what Audi managed!

 

[Oranoco]

Yes all amped. I used an Alpine 9812RB with on board amplifier switched off to give the preouts the best possible output. At present they are being driven from an old Kenwood PS301T. I don't think the position and mounting method for speakers in the B5 A4 does the audio set up any favours at all.

 

[beanoir]

It could be a number of things to be honest, the Focal Access are generally easy to drive and not normally too fussy, but position is a big issue and not one we can do much about unless we want to start making pods and all that - which if you're like me you probaby don't.

I'll see how it sounds when i've fitted them, the next step could always be to stick a Bit Ten in but thats not what i'd been planning and adds to the costs and bulk, but they do work wonders!

 

[Kay Farooq]

I know this is an old thread... But having looked at the tech spec sheet for the 130A1, they have a mounting depth of 60mm?? Or is this the total height?? I'm not sure if there's a difference, either way, did you get them to fit in the front?

 

[easy going Si]

Hi yer

I went for Hertz HCX 165 full range in both back and front thought about components but the crossover will waste around 35%

of the amps output, did the install go well and did you enjoy the final sound quality