A4 Avant sound upgrade - help/tips

[s11eps]

Afternoon guys.

Have also posted this in B5 forum to cover all bases!

This weekend I'm planning to upgrade the sounds in my wife's 2001 (B5) 1.8T Avant Sport.

Not going too over the top, as she wants to keep it standard looking (so no changing headunit) and keep the functionality of the boot (So no huge boot installs)!

Her current setup is totally standard (non-Bose) concert radio/tape in dash, with boot mounted 6 disc. I believe the rears are amped as std?

My plans for this weekend are to add a small amplifier to drive a single 10" sub, in a box with a flying lead for easy removal when she needs the full boot. Along with this I intend to filter off anything below 80Hz to the full range speakers, so they can be driven a bit harder before they start to wobble. Next step is to upgrade those.....

Now, I had hoped to stash the small Amp in the cubby on the drivers side of the boot. Howvewer, when I took the covering panel off there's an odd shaped widget in there with loads of wiring going into it - I'm assuming that's the central locking module? Bit of a shame as that looked an ideal place to mount the amp. I don't want to have to resort to mounting the amp in the rear of the back seat - I want the car to be totally free of stuff when the sub box is removed, for practicality reasons - an amp hard-wired to the back seat will just be in the way.

So, first question first, those of you that know the B5 avant, where is the best place to stash a small amp?

Secondly, I have been led to believe that there are no pre-out outputs from the head unit, and that I will have to use a line to RCA adapter from the front outputs (the rears are a bespoke output for the amp driving the rears). Is this correct?

Thirdly, any advice on the best route to take for my amp cable from battery + terminal? Any easily accessed grommits I should be looking for?

Finally, any general tips on working with Audi's? i'm fairly competent in doing car audio stuff, have been doing mine and friends cars for 10 or so years, but never touched an audi before in my life. I know they have a good reputation for being welll screwed together, so any tips on taking them apart and putting them back together again?!

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/noidea.gif

Hoping you can help,

Si

 

[AndyMac]

With the amp location I'd try removing the boot trim first as on my B6 Avant there was loads of room behind it for both an amp on one side and a stealth sub on the other.
There are pre-outs from all Audi head units, you can pick them up off the rear amp along with the remote on.
For the cable run, the easiest entry through the firewall is via the case for the ECU. The plastic box under the drivers wiper. Just remove all the accessible screws and prise the lid up enough to run the cable, there's a spare grommit on the front you can use. Theres one screw at the back that's pretty buried so I left that one in. With the lid prised up you can actually see into the drivers footwell.

 

[s11eps]

Thanks for the help AndyMac, I used your advice and my power cable run was completed without drama, all very neat. Managed to squeeze my amp in my desired location in the end, even mounting it using an existing bracket.

My problem now is signal and remote on cables - I have been advised that the standard rear speakers are amplified via a small circuit board fitted to the rear passenger side speaker, and that I can pick up signal and remote from this circuit.

Now, I haven't physically seen the back of the speaker (haven't taken door panel off yet) but there aren't the correct number and colour of wires going into either rear door, so I can't believe that either of the rear speakers has this circuit board fitted to it - is it possible that this 'circuit/amplifier' is elsewhere in the car?

Someone please help - I have the sub in the car, the amp in place and all wired up, I just need to get my rca's connected and a remote switch and I'm away! Where is this pesky amplifier??!!