Bose speaker problems...

S3 Paul

S3 Paul

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The speakers in the drivers door of my S3 sound shockingly bad from time to time, mainly when the temperature in the car is quite low,
They sound like one or the other has blown, kind of like the speaker is full of rice if that makes sence?
These speakers are quite pricey from Audi and as im unsure which one it is ( mid or tweeter ) i dont realy want to pay out the around £100 to get them both,
Does anybody have any they have removed i could try/buy? or is there an aftermarket option ? I am sure i read somewhere that the Bose speakers are a diffrent impeadene? to a normal automotive speaker so no straight forward swap with an aftermarket set up is possible??
 
Yes, they are 2ohm impedance, rather than the usual 4ohm.

I replaced all mine with Infinitys a year or so back (4" components front & 6x9" rears), along with an old-school Alpine MRV-F450 amp powering them plus my AndyMac Sub. Way better sound than the Bose. I had to make some custom adaptor rings for both front and rear speakers, as the Bose ones are not standard fixings and the rears have plastic adpators. Need plenty of strengthening and Dynamat on there too.

I sold my old Bose speakers on here if i recall. They pop up on eBay now and again.

Cheers,
 
I'm in the same boat as you Paul, went to Oxford Audi and the want £107 just for the lower speaker! I will be upgrading to after market speakers soon me thinks
 
Me too. The lower passenger side door speaker sounds awaful at low volume, like its really fuzzy and the sub cuts out at higher volumes. I thought these systems were meant to be the dogs nuts?!
 
Well i think that audi want somewhere near £60 for the lower speaker. not sure about the tweeter,
****** things !
 
Its just a bit involved. the bose set up with my added sub did sound very good.
If it was just the speakers i would gladly do it... but, removing the amp and the other sub and getting another 4chl amp and 4 good speakers is going to be well over £300 plus wiring and time to fit,
 
whether the car is cold or warm should make no difference to the sound system! Unless there's some major issue with the engine management running things differently before the warm up is complete which inturn due to poor voltage regulation in the alternator is inducing some kind of electromagnetic interference back into the car? And all of this only happens during a higher current pull whilst the car is cold?

hmm...

You need to sit with the stereo on and the engine off and pan/fade the headunit over to only one door only and then roll off the treble completely and set the bass to "0". Then make yourself a test disc of either a simple but well known (to you) piece of music, (or better still a reference tone of some kind) and listen to see if it is the mid driver ahead of the door pocket that is failing. Repeat with reverse tone settings for the high frequency driver next to the door handle and then go round the "corners" with pan/fade and make a list.

Aftermarket stuff may initially appear "brighter" than the original BOSE install but there's no way it's actually going to be better. VERY FEW people installing aftermarket stuff are making measurements of EQ'ing their vehicle and look at dispersion angles and power ratings relative to cabin volume; BOSE did and the results are calibrated within the gear to produce a result. It's serious, serious stuff and if it sounds crap them something's failed.

I've always thought (I've had a couple of Audi's with a BOSE install) that they sound a bit bottom heavy and I think the idea is to deliberately account for motorway road noise- I wouldn't be surprised if the most modern BOSE setups re-EQ due to road speed to accomodate this, or in fact have analysis mics to monitor O/P.

I must be lucky as the BOSE setup in my 8L is still working well- I like loud tunes but I've never even reached 60% of the ability of the system- the headroom is enormous!

Incidentally, £300 isn't going to get you an Amp alone of the BOSE quality, let alone the speakers also...

Test the doors and come back...

JimP
 
audi upgrades
You said it sounds bad from time to time? I would of thought if your speaker had blown, it would sound bad all the time. Have you considered the bose amp could be at fault.
 
Is it An easy retrofit as my symphony is rubbish!
 
audi upgrades
:keule:haha, so it is thanks for reading it for me lol.
 
The car has an after market Alpine DVD head unit.
Was in the car when i bought it.
It DID sound great and i was happy with the sound , Its just now the options are soooo limited.
Rip it all out and start again... ? I would expect this to cost something like
front speakers £150 plus
Rear speakers £150 plus
4 channel amp to run it all... £ 250 plus
wiring £50
Not to mention the time needed !

BUT if its not the speaker at fault and i start throwing money at new Bose speakers its going to get pricey
 
I had a rental a3 with the bose sound set up. were talking a 10 plate, it was very poor when compared with the stock units in the s3. Really quite shocking
 
If the problem is temperature related it won't be the speaker. Speakers either work or not.
The Bose amp is the cause. Components on the amp get dry solder joints over time, and this is why it's worse when cold, once things warm up then the connections get better and the problem goes away. Either replace the amp or whip it out and resolder the main joints on the PCB. Buy a solder sucker and suck out the old knackered solder and then apply fresh. Fixed quite a few Bose amps in this way.
 
Would you concider doing mine at a cost??
 
Andy, I just ripped my amp out (after breaking a ****** clip on the plastic panel!!) and the solder joints look ok. Is it noticable of the joints are dry and which ones do I resolder if they are gone, it looks like a maze of solder joints and im a bit scared!!
 
Its cool Andy, just found your how to with pics, right ill give that a crack and see how it turns out
 
Unfortunately you can't see if a solder joint is dry, it dries out from the inside. You can be lucky and hear a slight hiss when you heat it up, which is the only sign that the joint is dodgy. Just do the main ones, about 20-30, it doesn't take long, leave all the surface mount joints.
I'm happy to do anyones for the price of the postage. PM me.
 
Andy, I took my 2005 S3 in today to the local fellow in Hamburg who built all my hifi into my cars.....and I printed out the section you had inserted in another thread regarding the temperatures and solder and to suck it all out and replace the solder...they did it and the sound is still distorted to all speakers.....any other suggestions? Do I replace? I hear I have to replace with the exact same model and model number amp? Is that right or has Bose Concert got options for amps for the rear of the S3? The guy down at Pötter (the auto electrical people) said that its a bummer for them because the only way they can test Audi and Bose is to have an identical car and replace the amp with the other cars amp - they have no diagnosis instruments.....so I feel a little lost about this.....the sound DOES get better as the rear interior of the car gets warmer but its taking ages now.....thanks for all your suggestions til now - I'm sure it COULD have worked....pity it didn't!
 
Sorry that didn't work for you, TBH it's usually the older 8L models that suffer, never done the newer 8P models.
All the Bose amps are the same for the 8P, and there's loads on ebay for very little money.
Is it purely temperature dependent? Does the sound improve when played loud?
 
Andy, thx again for your rapid response. Please tell me the difference between 8L and 8P? I will find out today if it is totally temperature dependent because I will drive until its 22deg inside the entire car.....this takes a while because the amp is so far from any heat sources. No, the sound does not improve when played loud.
 
May have to take you up on that soldering offer Andy! I too have this problem with a fuzzy drivers door speaker when it is cold or damp but it seems intermittent, don't remember it happening in the summer at all. I just thought the speaker was old and broken!
 
Andy - the sound does improve when played really loud, yes. What meaning can we derive from this?
 
Poke13 said:
May have to take you up on that soldering offer Andy! I too have this problem with a fuzzy drivers door speaker when it is cold or damp but it seems intermittent, don't remember it happening in the summer at all. I just thought the speaker was old and broken!
Click to expand...
Me too! Currently hunting for a how to so I can remove the amp to solder it :)
 
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Well normally that could be due to dirty connectors inside the door boots (the rubber protecting the wiring going from the door to the cabin). But it is unlikely to effect both front speakers (usually just the drivers side) and won't be the cause of the rears unless you have a 5 door.
 
Hijack alert!! I've got a genuine BOSE lower MID speaker for the 8l S3 if any one needs one PM me if required!
 
Can anyone tell me where the amp is on my B6 Sport ? and where to find AndyMac's write up?

I have an intermittent front door speaker and rear door tweeter that also gets some interference so hopefully the re soldering will sort it?

Thanks
 
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