A3 Bose sound problem

[naquiss]

Hello all, I'm new to the forum.

I have an Audi A3 1.8T 2001 (5 door) with the Symphony HU and Bose upgrade.

There is a problem with the sound and I hope someone help me understand what is happening.

*** My problem is that bass frequencies disappear when I set the fader/balance fully to the Rear/Right. ***

It looks like the BOSE sound system has a total of 8 speakers:

2 tweeters in the front doors
2 low-mid in the front doors
2 low-mid in the rear doors
1 bass enclosure in the boot with 2 built in bass drivers (subwoofer)

I disconnected the in-boot sub woofer only and found that the:

- the sound is perfectly balanced from the rear door low-mid speakers.
- rear doors low-mid speakers have no bass whatsoever.
- front doors low-mid speakers have some bass (obviously not as deep/loud as the subwoofer).
- when reconnecting the subwoofer, the sound disbalance reappears.

It sounds like the boot subwoofer is connected to the left channel only.

This is obviously not normal, can someone help me understand it?

Many thanks for any advice.

 

[AndyMac]

It's connected to both the front right and rear left pre-outs, this is because the Audi HU doesn't have a sub pre-out and splitting the feed front and back means you don't lose the sub if you fade to the front (or the rear). You should get the same result if you fade totally to the front/left. This is totally normal.

 

[naquiss]

Thanks Andymac.

Also, are the rear door speakers supposed to be lacking in bass output?

The front low speakers have some bass, but the rear door speakers sound totally mid-range only.

 

[AndyMac]

You obviously haven't seen the shyte Bose fit to the rear doors, they look like something taken out of a pre-war valve radio.
You won't get any bass out of any of the cabin speakers as they are all 4" units loosely screwed to a flimsy doorcard, but at least the front speakers are the chunky 4" units, the same ones used in the sub. The tweeters aren't even Bose they're the same Nokia shyte used on the non Bose system.

 

[naquiss]

oh dear! That explains it then.

Can't say I'm impressed with this Bose stuff. You don't get much for an upgrade costing hundreds of pounds.

You know, the Bose setup appears oriented for the driver. I don't notice any sound disbalance in the driver's seat, but my rear seat passengers complain about the sound being leftside heavy. Perhaps this is because the sub woofer is mounted on the left side.

Can the crappy cabin speakers be replaced then? Any speakers that any one can recommend?

 

[AndyMac]

B.O.S.E - Buy Other Stereo Equipment
no highs, no lows, it must be BOSE!
Commonly referred to as BLOSE

You won't get much of an improvement just replacing the speakers, it could actually sound worse (if you can imagine that!).
Best option is to rip it all out, or just replace the sub with a stealth unit, this will give you proper bass (not the woolly rumble the Bose sub delivers) and then allows you to run the cabin speakers with much less bass, which improves everything. Also worth chopping the earth lead going to the Bose pin on the back of the HU, this will deactivate the Bose flat EQ which will liven up both the Bass & Treble controls.

 

[naquiss]

hahaha! .... BLOSE....very apt.

I don't understand the flat EQ part. There are the bass, midrange and treble controls on the control panel. Also, there are the hidden EQ controls (which i haven't experimented with yet).

Does it mean the EQ is flat despite the above settings?

 

[AndyMac]

The EQ is flattened, so the effect of the bass & treble is minimised