# Audi A4 newb build



## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

This is a first for me, so please not too harsh on any criticisms if possible. I don't have the budget, tools, time or experience that most here have, but I want a nice sound, 2-way for now.

This is my build so far, but it's been through a few revisions, so I don't have door shots, mostly just my sub enclosure and amp rack which will be capped off with a beauty board ( as I think they are called). 

I had a fiberglass enclosure I made for the little cubby we have in the trunk, but I blew the sub (and my arc amp which Arc is repairing currently). So I wanted to combine the amps and my enclosure while not losing that much trunk space and maintaining access to my spare with little effort. So stealth is my objective.

Equipment-
OEM RSN-E NAV unit
Focal Tempo 6s
Dayton HO 10"
Arc Audio KS1000.1
Arc Audio KS300.4

Pics to come, but here's my baby.


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

This was the fiberglass enclosure I made that I am now replacing. The sub blew, and I hated having the amps at another location so I wanted to combine them all for a clean, stealth look.


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

So, here's the enclosure for the Dayton HO, .7cft.









Test fit-, you can see the curve from the spare tire in the floor


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

I wasnt as liberal with deadener as I've seen here. The Audi's sheetmetal is pretty thick, so I need to cover every inch with it?










rear deck that I am going to cover with carpet.









this is what I will use to mount the sub amp when my Arc is returned









I had to use my sundown amp while the arc is repaired


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

everything fits perfectly, spare tire access is unhindered.


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## jowens500 (Sep 5, 2008)

I kinda like the sub in the little cubbyhole. Build a grille for it and it would be gone from sight.


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

Hopefully this weekend, I can work on the beauty board. It will essentially be a wall with a cutout for the 2 amps and sub, covered in carpet with some accents from carbon fiber vinyl. Hopefully, I can do a decent job of it. 

The amps vibrate some when the sub is hitting hard, should I use some rubber washers or similar under the amp feet? Oh and the sub box is fastened to the frame behind the seats, though I might add an additional support on both sides fastened to the cargo net hooks. Overall, I LOVE the Dayton HO. Love it. It blends so much nicer than my TC Sounds OEM10 and hits lower than the Mach5 IXL before I blew it.


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

jowens500 said:


> I kinda like the sub in the little cubbyhole. Build a grille for it and it would be gone from sight.


I was going to grill it and finish it off nicely before I blew the sub. Since I had to replace the sub, I wanted to keep the new sub and amps in one place, so I combined them behind what will be a wall behind the seats when it's done.


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## jowens500 (Sep 5, 2008)

kid red said:


> I was going to grill it and finish it off nicely before I blew the sub. Since I had to replace the sub, I wanted to keep the new sub and amps in one place, so I combined them behind what will be a wall behind the seats when it's done.


I am sure it will look good when finished, but the little cubbyhole box is pretty unique and the look you are going to is a commonly used layout. Just my opinion though.


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

jowens500 said:


> I am sure it will look good when finished, but the little cubbyhole box is pretty unique and the look you are going to is a commonly used layout. Just my opinion though.


Yea, that's cool. I'm going for stealth for the most part, so it's not a presentation thing really. I think the most important thing for me was keeping the amps hidden and with the sub. With the cubby enclosure I could not do that. But I will always have that as an option to fall back on


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## Starlet-SQ (Apr 19, 2008)

May i suggest covering the amps (wires and other exposed things) to give it a more clean looking install....
maybe even incorporate some lights in the trunk to accomodate the amps n sub
just a few ideas to freshen things up a bit
for the rest...great n nice work 
good idea on gettin some rubbers in between
i would also use them on the support for the box....that way(i assume it will be metal on metal) their will b no noise what so ever(hopefully!!!!)

Continue doin a good jod dude!


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

Thanks. Yes, the amps and sub will all be covered by a beauty board (I think that is the term) which I am getting ready to work on this weekend. This is just my progress so far, I only get some time on the weekends to work on it. I can't decide if it will be a wall with the center cut out but still carpeted to cover the opening but allow sound through (I know carpet would not be as acoustically transparent but it's only sub bass?) Or I might cut out the sub opening and two flanking squares on each side to reveal the amps' Arc logo. I might try the wall board completely covered to test the sound and if it blocks sound then I could cut the sub opening and amp logo squares out.


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## thbugman (May 27, 2008)

Looking good! Can't wait to see the final product!


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)




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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

arc amp will replace the sundown, so ignore the fact it looks off center


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)




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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)




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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)




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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

It's almost done. I have to carpet the front of the sub box in some black carpet because you see just a sliver of the box behind the board cut out. I went this far, I want it to look clean. I also have to figure out a way to fasten the board. I have speaker grill connectors, just drilling to the sub box makes me nervous and I may resort to less than ideal velcro.

I also need to carpet the underneath section of the rear deck. I'd love to have some lights in there, but that's outside my realm of knowledge. I don't know what lights I'd get, how they'd be wired, etc. My Audi has a lot of red interior lights, so I'd love to put some red LEDs on the sub and amp sections wired off the trunk light, but that's not something I know how or what to do.


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## Starlet-SQ (Apr 19, 2008)

Man......
Props......nice work
and you work fast i must say........
keep it up....i'd give u a 9 out of a 10 for the trunk!!!!


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

Thanks, I appreciate that. I only have the weekends to work on these types of projects, so I try to best utilize my weekend time between wife, 2 kids, house, yard, & personal stuff


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## Starlet-SQ (Apr 19, 2008)

Totally understand
i've got the same thing.......
just started wid my SQ project....


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

hehe. Cool, I'll have to check it out.


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## Genxx (Mar 18, 2007)

Good job. Nice touch with the cover board creating a design that is pleasing to the eye.


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## Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX (Oct 24, 2007)

Looks great man...!!! 

Something quick, I didn't read it all.. but you might want to pull the sub abd beauty boards and spray some black paint around the sub... you don't see the MDF that way..


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## Maddman (Dec 20, 2008)

nice work on the trim panels, got hate those corners when covering with material!


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## thbugman (May 27, 2008)

Looking great! Good job!


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## jowens500 (Sep 5, 2008)

kid red said:


> It's almost done. I have to carpet the front of the sub box in some black carpet because you see just a sliver of the box behind the board cut out. I went this far, I want it to look clean. I also have to figure out a way to fasten the board. I have speaker grill connectors, just drilling to the sub box makes me nervous and I may resort to less than ideal velcro.
> 
> I also need to carpet the underneath section of the rear deck. I'd love to have some lights in there, but that's outside my realm of knowledge. I don't know what lights I'd get, how they'd be wired, etc. My Audi has a lot of red interior lights, so I'd love to put some red LEDs on the sub and amp sections wired off the trunk light, but that's not something I know how or what to do.


We get all of our LED's from Oznium.com. All you need to do, depending on how you want them to turn on, is a ground and a turn on source. You can use the remote turn on or the trunk light. If you have an alarm you can hook it up to an AUX out or just hook it up to a switch.


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## pagustin (Mar 1, 2009)

Nice and clean! I like what you did with all the nice routered edges. 

P


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

Aaron'z 2.5RS/WRX said:


> Looks great man...!!!
> 
> Something quick, I didn't read it all.. but you might want to pull the sub abd beauty boards and spray some black paint around the sub... you don't see the MDF that way..


Yea, good catch, an important detail for sure. A few posts up I explain that I will have to cover that up. I never thought about spray paint, I have some black speaker carpet that I was going to cover the face with. It's very dark and should blend right into the sub.


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

Here's what the notches on the bottom are for. And you can see the sub box that I need to cover up as well. Next weekend I guess.


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## 2fast4all (May 19, 2008)

WOW very clean setup, I wish I had a system like yours...


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

Thanks for the kind words. I still have a little work left to finish it off (that exposed sub box gap for one) , but I'm happy so far. Also, the equipment is keeping a smile on my face as well. Not as high-end or balanced as some here, but it's good enough for my less educated ears.


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## KARPE (Nov 9, 2008)

why not just paint the sub box black? that would probably be faster than carpeting


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

I could. I would still have to uninstall the sub to do either and I figured the carpet would be faster as once it's on the box I can re-install the sub. With the paint, I'd have to wait for it to dry before installing the sub. I'd only carpet the face on the sub box, not the entire box which would indeed be more time consuming. Unless I'm missing something?


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## drake78 (May 27, 2007)

That's a nice and clean install. Those are interesting bolts for the sub attachment. Do they completely seal when they are bolted down?


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

Since they are threaded, and 1 1/2" long, I think they are but I could be wrong.


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## drake78 (May 27, 2007)

You can push down lightly on the cone (for air movement). If it's leaking through the bolt area. The air will make some hissing sound. Or you can put some type of foam seal tape underneath the bolt heads.


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## m3gunner (Aug 6, 2008)

Nice setup... how did you mount your front speakers?

I've got a 1999.5, which should have the same body style as yours and I can only get a 5.25" driver (currently a Dynaudio MW150) in the front doors. Did you do kick panels or did you use the stock location?


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## bertholomey (Dec 27, 2007)

I really like the way this turned out! Very simple concept - very well executed. 

My plan for my 325i was to do a fiberglass enclosure in the rear wheel well, and an amp rack against the rear of the trunk. I may change that plan now and (if I have enough room for my amps / sub) do exactly what red did here. 

I'm looking forward to seeing this completed with the Arc amp installed. Very nice work!


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

m3gunner said:


> Nice setup... how did you mount your front speakers?
> 
> I've got a 1999.5, which should have the same body style as yours and I can only get a 5.25" driver (currently a Dynaudio MW150) in the front doors. Did you do kick panels or did you use the stock location?


My A4 is a 2006 which fits 6 1/2" speakers. I used the existing speaker from the stock location and simply cut out the woofer and kept the remaining ring and used that to mount my woofer. The stock tweeter is located up high enough and my 1" tweeter fit the stock location without mod as well.

I'm not a fan of kick panels which I'm sure is blasphemy here


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

bertholomey said:


> I really like the way this turned out! Very simple concept - very well executed.
> 
> My plan for my 325i was to do a fiberglass enclosure in the rear wheel well, and an amp rack against the rear of the trunk. I may change that plan now and (if I have enough room for my amps / sub) do exactly what red did here.
> 
> I'm looking forward to seeing this completed with the Arc amp installed. Very nice work!


Thanks.

I had the same set up, and I just battled back and forth about the cool cubby, but not a complete set up or look with the amps in another location. And I could not figure out a cool way or stealthy way to deal with the 2 amps. Blowing the sub that I built my cubby enclosure for, may it easier to look at another location option. Going with a small depth woofer that needs a small enclosure guaranteed that I'd keep my trunk space and more importantly, access to my spare.

Hopefully I can finish it up this weekend. However, the Dayton drops so hard that I have a ton of mysterious rattles to track down and deal with.


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## Eiswritsat (Nov 19, 2008)

looks great very clean


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

Thanks.

I finished it! Whew, I had some ups and downs, but I'm happy with the sound, presentation and functionality.

Here are the last photos.

Carpeted the sub front to hide any gaps the beauty board may reveal









now to carpet the rear deck


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)




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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

Goodbye mdf gap









I added some velcro strips in the top corner of the sub for beauty board attaching


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)




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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

I will have to add some more deadener to the trunk lid, and license plate as I'm still getting some vibration. There are a few other rattles I get with certain high bass drums that will have to pin point and deal with.

I have a vent with moving vents to allow air to move into the rear fender area and the bass pressure makes it flutter like a shutter in a hurricane. I don't want to block off circulation, but are there any tips for dealing with those?


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## [email protected] (Jun 12, 2008)

looks nice


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## bertholomey (Dec 27, 2007)

Looks fantastic! I just measured my trunk - I don't think I will be able to replicate this - my Zuki Eleets is 19" long and the small mono will be about 21" long - they won't fit in my trunk standing on end. The only way I can do something like what you have is to make the amps angle back toward the front of the car. 

I love the look of the 'beauty' panel - Very clean, professional looking build.


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

Thanks Beats. 

Thanks Bertholomey. Wow, those are huge amps. I loved that the arcs were decent sizes, only 8" wide. Maybe go half and half- with the sub on the left and the two amps horizontally stacked on the right? I don't think the sub being centered on to the side makes any difference in sound. 

So use my same idea, but stack the cut outs to the side of the sub?


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## bass_lover1 (Dec 10, 2005)

Beautiful!

You know, you're not that far away, and we drive similar cars so duplicating something like this won't be hard


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

Thanks. It wasn't hard at all. It's mostly the equipment that lent itself to this setup. Small enough amps and a sub that can be mounted in a small shallow enclosure.


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## syd-monster (Jan 7, 2008)

Nice DIY install. I can see you have been getting insperation from others on the forum, but added your own tweeks!
Cool little helper too!


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

Thanks. Yea, 'simplicity' not sure if that's the biz name or username, but I got some inspiration from his install galleries. Then yea, I wanted to do it my way, but within my capabilities and ended up with what I have.


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## trevordj (Feb 22, 2009)

Spot on! That trunk looks amazing. I am very impressed.


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## SpacemanSpiff (Apr 3, 2009)

Nice work! I'm actually halfway through the build for my 10" enclosure in the side cubby of my 05 A4. Did you have any opinion of that location beyond being far from the amps? I've had a box in the last 2 cars and am finally going to do the stealth install I've always wanted (this car's going to be with me for some time).


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## nepl29 (Mar 25, 2007)

Looks GREAT!!!


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## kid red (Jan 10, 2009)

SpacemanSpiff said:


> Nice work! I'm actually halfway through the build for my 10" enclosure in the side cubby of my 05 A4. Did you have any opinion of that location beyond being far from the amps? I've had a box in the last 2 cars and am finally going to do the stealth install I've always wanted (this car's going to be with me for some time).


Not really. It was a pretty large spot, just fitting the opening into the door space as a pain. I wasn't able to close the door because I had the enclosure perfectly to the edge and forgot to sink the sub into the front baffle so I could close the cubby door. However, even if I could close that rear cubby door, the bass would have rattled it to shreds. So, you'd have to leave it exposed, (remove the door) finish the visible part of the opening and then protect the sub from content of the trunk. So it was harder to 'finish' off for me in that location cleanly. Matching the curved shape of the cubby cut out and such was a pain.

That and the amps is why I moved in another direction, otherwise, it's a clean, decently sized useful space. I have two different subs so I can't comment on sound from side firing in the corner to the current aiming to the rear.


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