# 2014 Audi A7



## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Hello everyone, I am entering the final stages of my build so I figured I would start putting some pics of the journey on here. Those us that own Audi's know how bad the stock sound system is in our cars. With the exception of subterFuse's incredible build in his S6, there aren't many documented builds out there in the Audi community, especially ones that upgrade the standard (non Bose/B&O) sound system. My hope here is that I eventually help someone else upgrade the system in their car. So on to the build...

My 3 main objectives are to

1) Build a decent SQ system (i have no intentions to ever compete) that I can enjoy, as this is my daily driver
2) Keep the car totally stock looking to the casual observer
3) Do this entire install myself and learn a little something in the process. I have done some decent systems in the past but never on a high end car like this.

So here is the car


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

A well welcome to a fellow Jersey person and also as a lover of Audi. Looking forward to hearing / seeing your thoughts as they play out.


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

I bought the car new last summer and within a month or 2 I had realized that the car had abysmal bass.

Mostly because of this cheesy stock sub enclosure in the spare tire compartment. You know its bad when the sub has a 6" driver and is mounted in a plastic box in the spare compartment!



I decided to do a quick upgrade , knowing that winter was coming and I probably wouldn't have time to do a full system upgrade. So after going through the various Audi forums I saw that many owners were just tapping into the rear signal, using a LOC and adding a box in the hatch area.

I decided that this would hold me over until spring so I bought an Audiocontrol LC2i , a JL Audio XD300/1 mono amp and a JL Powerwedge with a 10' TW3 driver in it.

I made myself a carpeted shelf for the amp and mounted it on top of the stock radio bracket. This is where the Bose or B&O amp would actually go if I had that option. I mounted the LC2i in the space between the radio and the new shelf. With the battery being in the trunk it was easy to add a properly fused power lead from the battery.



This was OK as a quick fix as I was still all stock and could control the sub controls from the stock MMI head. Until now.......


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

So over the winter I researched my options and I came up with this as a hardware list

*Amp - Mosconi D2 80.6 DSP*
80w x 6ch plus a full 6to8 dsp. All in a package small enough to fit on my little shelf. This will allow me to run a 2 way active setup in the front and a set of components, passive, in the rear. I know not everyone is a fan of rear fill but remember, I don't plan to compete and I do promise to follow the Rear Fill Best Practices mentioned elsewhere in this forum 

This will also allow me to send a processed signal via pre out to my JL Audio amp that I will maintain for my sub amp to drive my JL Powerwedge.

*Pre Amp/MOST Bus Interface - Audison Bit DMI*
So I originally tried to buy a mObridge DA1 but no one in northern NJ could find one of these. As luck would have it, another member on here (JimmyDee) was nice enough to sell me an older version that works perfectly. In all of the craziness of ordering gear, wires, tools, etc. I actually forgot that I had ordered the Audison from a dealer about 2 months earlier. I actually had the mObridge installed, working beautifully, in the car when the dealer called to tell me to come pick up my Bit DMI. This is ok, my son is planning a build for his BMW, that also uses MOST, so we will use it there.


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

So I have no pictures of any sound deadening in the doors because I did that back in the fall to help the stock speakers right around the same time that I installed my sub upgrade. It was a good layer of dynamat inside the doors and on the outside of the door, internal to the car I used Cascade Audio's VB-2 as a moulded layer between the metal of the door and the door card. You will see it in some pictures of the front doors, but this stuff is pretty cool, using a heat gun it moulds right to the contours of the door and is very thin. The stock sound deadening on the door card was pretty good so I left it alone.

With all of that said lets run some speaker wire.

But first lets color code it with some Techflex

Make sure its all labeled up right


There are some nice generous spaces to run wires in the Audi. An added plus is not worrying about crossing signal wires and power wires since everything is in the back of the car.



I basically ran them right next to where the stock wires are and used most of the cable management that is already in the car.


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## Fantaxp7 (Mar 20, 2010)

This is really cool, thanks for sharing.

I plan to purchase an A7 sometime in the future, and of course while day dreaming about it I question what I will do for audio. Not many build threads out there for the A7 so it's nice to see this.


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Of course nothing is never easy..I ran into these Molex plugs in the front doors, the rear doors were easier because I actually was able to move one of the pins. I drilled out( carefully ) both sides of the plugs with the Dremel using a bit that looks like something a dentist would use. It does a tiny bit at a time and I was very careful and sloooow using it.
A big thank goes out to Octave, who did subterFuse's install, for giving me the idea and courage to go this route, like he did on that S6.


It was sung but I got it through on both ends


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Fantaxp7 said:


> This is really cool, thanks for sharing.
> 
> I plan to purchase an A7 sometime in the future, and of course while day dreaming about it I question what I will do for audio. Not many build threads out there for the A7 so it's nice to see this.


Its a great car. If I could do it again , I might have gone Diesel, the specs on it are crazy good.
Save your money on the audio options they are all crap. Wait until you see the stock drivers....a magnet the size of a silver dollar on an 8" driver :furious: in a $75k Base model car?


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

So on to the speakers. Again I want looking to build a sound competition car so I went with modest but decent components sets for the front and rear

In the rear I went with a set of Focal AS130's, its a 5.25" driver. I will run these passive using the supplied crossover and 2 channels from the Mosconi amp.


Tweeter fit right into the door card and looks good

Did a fair amount of deadening inside and out on the rear doors. Note...I had to move the crossover from the location that you see in the picture. This a pic of the left door and I was getting this weird static out of the tweeter whenever I would start the car. I moved it to the left of that sensor that you see in the "pocket" that has the yellow wire coming out of it.

Finished door...lines up pretty good


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

On to the front stage

I picked up a set of the Focal PS165 components. I will run these active using 4ch on the Mosconi amp

Front door...the CAE VB-2 is a really nice sound deadening option and it moulds to the door nicely.


I added some Dynamat on the bottom plastic section to the right of the driver, e VB-2 would not stick to the plastic. Obviously I repeated this on the left side


So this is the part that I wasnt most proud of. Its the only non- stock looking part of the install. I didnt just want to drop the tweeters into the stock dash locations. I want to keep the tweets on axis and the Focals came with a surface mount option. They dont look terrible but short of building custom pillars, it was the best I could do. All I did was drill a few small holes in the stock grilles and mount secure with a small screw/bolt combo. I also have a spare set of Audi grilles just in case I screwed up


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## ben54b (May 30, 2014)

Nice work. Great to see someone with the nuts to pull apart a new Audi. What are the sub plans. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

ben54b said:


> Nice work. Great to see someone with the nuts to pull apart a new Audi. What are the sub plans.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Funny that you ask that.. if you remember back in the beginning of this thread I had a JL Audio power wedge box with a 10" JL sub in it. Dont get me wrong it sounds good but I had the opportunity to get one of these and I just couldnt pass it up......



Just a little tease for now, But we will get to the sub later...lets install the guts to make this thing go!


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Ok lets talk about some hardware
This little guy will provide 6 channels of Class D power..80 Watts to be exact..and it has a 6to8 DSP built in as well. It is small

Really small

Its a well made piece of equipment

I bought the bluetooth module to tune and it also allows you to controll it with an Android or Apple device. I also bought the RCD as well.


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## Fantaxp7 (Mar 20, 2010)

Question, is there an opportunity for a 3 way configuration up front?


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Fantaxp7 said:


> Question, is there an opportunity for a 3 way configuration up front?


Why do you ask?


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## carlr (Feb 27, 2011)

Hi,

As a fellow Audi builder I will follow this for sure! Feel free to check out my Audi Q7 build: Audi Q7 SQ Build


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

carlr said:


> Hi,
> 
> As a fellow Audi builder I will follow this for sure! Feel free to check out my Audi Q7 build: Audi Q7 SQ Build


Sir what you are doing in the build is pure magic. I have been following since the beginning.

My wife's 09 MDX is about to get upgraded and she has been looking at the SQ7 so I am taking notes on your build.


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## subterFUSE (Sep 21, 2009)

Glad to see it come together.


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## Fantaxp7 (Mar 20, 2010)

Hugg727 said:


> Why do you ask?


Just curious, not critiquing or anything. I've really been wanting to try a 3 way setup for a long time and I think I saw from pics a spot for mid bass, mid and tweeter in the front stage area? I haven't sat in an A7 yet.


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## jimmyjames16 (Dec 12, 2006)

My dream car.. this should be a good install with good equipment..


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Fantaxp7 said:


> Just curious, not critiquing or anything. I've really been wanting to try a 3 way setup for a long time and I think I saw from pics a spot for mid bass, mid and tweeter in the front stage area? I haven't sat in an A7 yet.


Stay patient my friend...what you see in there now is not how it stays at the end.:laugh:


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## adam_rostron (Jun 14, 2014)

this is a really nice build man! 

nice car, nice equipment and you're doing a great job with the install.


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

subterFUSE said:


> Glad to see it come together.


Thank you. It was definitely inspired by your car and those conversations that we had way back over the winter. Your recommendation to look at the Mosconi D2 is what started this entire project


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## Fantaxp7 (Mar 20, 2010)

Hugg727 said:


> Stay patient my friend...what you see in there now is not how it stays at the end.:laugh:


Just when I thought this thread couldn't get any better


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Ok so on to getting my electronic components into the stock factory cubby. 

I will run the RCD up front later so lets get the Amp, Bit DMI, Power Disti and relay all set up.

The D2 is a good size and fits on my shelf nicely. This is what will face the door that opens up the cubby.


On the back side of the "rack" I mounted a Streetwires power disti block that takes in my man power/ground and provides 4 more fused power sources.

In the remaining space I mounted my relay and a terminal block that I will use for "Local" power and ground connections within the "rack". My "remote" system works like this... The DA1 turns on when it gets a signal via the fiber optic MOST network, I am using that as my main remote trigger for my relay. From there I just connected the Amps remote leads to the remote out on the relay via the terminal block.


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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

I love your car and gear and your build !! Love all over the place watch out don't get any on you !!!


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Here is the finished product waiting to be put into the cubby. If you look close enough, under the shelf to the left I mounted the DA1 bypass switch. To the right of that is a red switch to control an LED light bar that I will mount inside the cubby on the top for some additional light. 

The DA1 is on the shelf between the stock radio and my fabricated shelf, you can see the sliver Toslink cable connecting it to the Mosconi. Because I couldn't totally remove the radio from the MOST bus (it also takes in the GPS, Sirius and FM antennas in the car) I had to make my own MOST fiber cable that connects to the factory connector and allows both the radio and DA1 to connect to the ring. As you can see it has one female and 2 male connectors. I configured it so the signal looks like this MMI.....DA1.....Radio.....MMI.


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Initially I was hoping to put all of my gear into that stock rack. That didnt happen, so I had to put my JL sub amp into the space where the old sub enclosure used to reside.

First let's make a nice Power/Ground Remote cable for it...

Here is a shot of the cubby with all of the wires run. You can see the factory loom where the MOST and antenna cables run under the rack. I ziptied the sub cable to my already installed feeder that is connected to the battery.

All connected , the back looked like this before a little wire clean up.

Sub amp mounted where the old sub was. I made another shelf and mounted it to the stock locations with some L brackets.


All in the cubby and working!


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## carlr (Feb 27, 2011)

Liking where this is going! The bit DMI is working as expected?


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

carlr said:


> Liking where this is going! The bit DMI is working as expected?


Yes sir.....clean signal!!


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

So I cleaned up some of the last few odds and ends today.

I built my new sub box...Stereo Integrity BM mkIV in a Atrend box

Dont get me wrong..the JL box was good, but for a few bucks more this thing gets lower and tighter. Finished in the car..

Final few pics of sub amp location


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Last few pics...
Everything fit nicely back in to place 


Even my led light works


Total stock look!


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

So I spent a few days tuning and figuring out the Mosconi software. Its not hard to use but its flaky. Makes changes on its own after I shut the car down. Weird stuff but Cobb has been fantastic helping me out. When it works it sounds good. I tuned it with REW and got it close, then I took it to a place that does this for a living. They were impressed that a 52yo software salesman did this to a new Audi. They helped a bit with the sound and I tweaked it back and forth when I got home. but I never got it where I was really wowed by it. 

After a week to 10 days of tuning it every day I was actually disappointed in the sound. There was no staging, the mids sounded good, bass was excellent but the overall clarity and sparkle up top was missing. I started looking through all of the tuning threads for ideas and while doing that I learned a few things about the specs on each speaker. Theile Parameters...Fs...vMax..etc and I learned quite a bit from some really smart guys on this forum community.

I had taken a decent set of component speakers, that came with their own crossover and broke them up into separates. Before I did that I should have looked at the specs for each component separately. The tweeter that came with my Focal set has a resident frequency, fs, of 2950hz. Using the rule of setting the crossover at the fs, I would have to set the crossover at almost 6khz. The more I read the more I was getting mad at myself for not taking the time to research the speakers a little more. Then I even started questioning having rear fill. 80ch x 6 could be a nice little 3-way active front.

So after about 2 weeks of researching and talking to various experts this happened...

Big thanks to Huckleberry Sound for helping me with these.
I will be going to a full 3 way active front stage. I am currently looking into and talking to a few shops to build me custom pillars and/or tweeter pods. This will delay the final completion but I think it will be worth it.

I have already replaced the mids with the HAT L6SE Carbons and it sounds much better. I crossed the Focal tweets at 6k it just cleared up everything. I cant put the new tweets or the 3" mids in yet because I will probably have to give then to the shop as templates. But for now I am happy.



Please pm me if you know of any good shops that can do custom sails/pods in the NY/NJ area. Stay tuned


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

I am talking to a shop that will do something like this for me, but in all black to match my dash. Thoughts?


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## Fantaxp7 (Mar 20, 2010)

Nice, looks like you keep making this more and more interesting. 

In regards to the speaker positioning, I think they will sound much better. I had some pillar mounted mid ranges in my last car that had extended range so I skipped the tweeter, it sounded amazing.


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## rton20s (Feb 14, 2011)

Nice build so far. In to see how this progresses.


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

I sent this picture to my shop and this is what we are going after for the mid. I still like the tweeter in the pod where the stock grille is in the other picture. Great job by the team at SIS, I wished I lived in the bay area
Even the alcantara is starting to grow on me...


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

So I have sent my tweets and mids out to have them custom mounted. While I was waiting I have been playing with the tuning. 
I even found time to mount my Mosconi RCD into its final location...


Thanks to Bing and Joey out at SIS for this idea from their A6 build. I used 1/8" acrylic for the cover and painted it with the SEM Landau Black paint.


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## Fantaxp7 (Mar 20, 2010)

So I had been looking into a shallow mount sub for awhile and was settled on the JL 13tw5, but then saw how popular the Stereo Integrity MK series is. What are your impressions of it after having it for awhile?

I see there is a MKV being developed, once I actually get an A7 perhaps I'll go with one of those.


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## Huckleberry Sound (Jan 17, 2009)

nice work....


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Fantaxp7 said:


> So I had been looking into a shallow mount sub for awhile and was settled on the JL 13tw5, but then saw how popular the Stereo Integrity MK series is. What are your impressions of it after having it for awhile?
> 
> I see there is a MKV being developed, once I actually get an A7 perhaps I'll go with one of those.


Yes there is a new model coming out but it seems like it might take a few more months from what I have read. Keep watching the classifieds...when one goes up on there it doesnt last long. I got mine BNIB from another member on here and I am quite pleased with it. I had the JL box with a 10", which was fine as an add on to the stock system. It sounds pretty good with all of the new stuff as well. But after reading about the mkIV, I knew I wanted that sub. with the same anp it hits just so much harder and lower. It appears to be working less to produce more sound. 
I did some A/B testing a few weeks back. I was using the Bass Mechanic CD and it showed how much better the Stereo Integrity sub performs. Window rattling bass that you can feel in the middle of your chest. For $299 plus another $100 for a good box you cant beat it.


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## Fantaxp7 (Mar 20, 2010)

Hugg727 said:


> Yes there is a new model coming out but it seems like it might take a few more months from what I have read. Keep watching the classifieds...when one goes up on there it doesnt last long. I got mine BNIB from another member on here and I am quite pleased with it. I had the JL box with a 10", which was fine as an add on to the stock system. It sounds pretty good with all of the new stuff as well. But after reading about the mkIV, I knew I wanted that sub. with the same anp it hits just so much harder and lower. It appears to be working less to produce more sound.
> I did some A/B testing a few weeks back. I was using the Bass Mechanic CD and it showed how much better the Stereo Integrity sub performs. Window rattling bass that you can feel in the middle of your chest. For $299 plus another $100 for a good box you cant beat it.


Nice! good to hear. I am a ways until I actually purchase the A7 so I will be able to see how the MKV is received but you are right the MKIV will definitely be a bargain.

I hope to do as you are, have a small box for it in the trunk at first then maybe down the road look at having it built into the side of the trunk. Some other member here has done that and it looks clean.

Can't wait for more updates!


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## Fantaxp7 (Mar 20, 2010)

Any updates?


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## vwjmkv (Apr 23, 2011)

o_0
i wouldn't have the guts to but into that car...


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Quick update...

I sent my pillars, tweets, L3SE's to a shop that is custom building the pillars and tweet pods. While waiting for this to complete I have been using the Focal tweeters with the L6SE Carbons. Sounds pretty good, but I cant wait to hear it when I have the full 3 way active up front. Unfortunately I had problems with my Mosconi D2 and I had to send it back to get reflashed and bench tested....that went out about a week ago. Unit kept resetting the input settings that I had saved. Should be up and running in about a week.


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## Berniemac (Dec 10, 2008)

Was it difficult to fabricate the fiber optic harness to allow the factory amp and the Mobridge preamp to share the feed? Where did you get the parts? I am planning a similar install in my A4 with the same factory radio unit. Thanks!


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## Huckleberry Sound (Jan 17, 2009)

Any updates? Pillars, D2? I'm excited about this build. Keep taking your time. I'm curious, how did you work out the details with the fabricator?


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## Celestial Bliss (Sep 17, 2011)

How do you like the Mosconi D2 80.6 DSP? Does it make good power? 

I am also looking to do a 3-way active using 80.6, but I am worried that I won't have enough power for the 6.5" midbass drivers. 

Keep up the good work!


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## Fantaxp7 (Mar 20, 2010)

So hows it going?


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Fantaxp7 said:


> So hows it going?


Still waiting on my pillars.......


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Oh wow I was wondering what had happened with your build. Good to see that it is still going strong.


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## Fantaxp7 (Mar 20, 2010)

So I've finally bought my A7. Loving it.

It came with the B&O system which is..OK at best. I really like the look of it with the pop up tweeters and the silver grille on the doors...nice aesthetically. In a bit of time I will get to upgrading the audio.

One question, have you looked at all at the center? Mine is making a cracking noise and I am thinking of replacing it.


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## JimmyDee (Mar 8, 2014)

HUGG, just following-up, to see how this is coming along?

I'm considering a bit an 'experiment' on my end, which involves 3-way active front, and 2-way active rear.

I am currently running a 2-way active front, and a passive rear. But now that I have a Mobridge DA3, which has a Toslink optical output in addition to the RCA outputs, I can use the DSP on the Mobrige, and also strap-on an additional DSP, through the optical output.

If I use 6 of the DSP channels on the Mobridge DA3 for an active 3-way front, then I can also send a Toslink optical signal out to a Mosconi D2 100.4 DSP, and use that to run an active 2-way rear fill. 

Then from the Mosconi, I would also have a 2-channel RCA output, which is fully controlled from the internal Mosconi DSP, to run out to my sub amp.

Ultimately, what this would give me is an 11 channel, fully active system.
3-way active front.
2-way active rear
1 channel sub


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## Huckleberry Sound (Jan 17, 2009)

jimmydee said:


> HUGG, just following-up, to see how this is coming along?
> 
> I'm considering a bit an 'experiment' on my end, which involves 3-way active front, and 2-way active rear.
> 
> ...






Does that mobile has the ability to dive the optical out and rca outs at the exact same time? If I understand correct once one is activated the other is deactivated. If that unit has the ability to do that, amazing.


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## JimmyDee (Mar 8, 2014)

Huckleberry Sound said:


> Does that mobile has the ability to dive the optical out and rca outs at the exact same time? If I understand correct once one is activated the other is deactivated. If that unit has the ability to do that, amazing.


The Mobridge DA3 can run both at the same time.

In essence, it uses channels 1 & 2 of the DSP for the Toslink optical output.

This still leaves channels 3 through 8 (6 channels) of the DSP to run as RCA outputs.


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

So I have been away from the thread for a little while due to the fact that, as I type this, my tweet pods and pillars are being shipped to me. I decided to go to a 3way front back in May and I sent my HAT tweets and 3" mids to a dealer in another state so he could build me custom pillars and pods. Due to various mishaps, it took him 7 months to complete the work. From what I can tell by the pictures, it was worth the wait. 

Problem now is that its getting cold here in NJ and I need to find a decent day to get his done. As soon as I finish I will update the pics on the build.


_One question, have you looked at all at the center? Mine is making a cracking noise and I am thinking of replacing it._

Yes that thing is Cheeze Wiz, I removed it asap. If you are replacing it be careful, its very shallow in the dash. Please let me know how I can help with your build.


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

OK so I took advantage of the 65 degree temps this weekend and I FINISHED!! Still playing with the tune (who isn't?) but I have a good baseline put down and it sounds incredible.

Lets get the final pics out of the way.... 

They were worth the 7 month wait...


Nice clean look inside the car


Kudos to Danny @ Amplified Motorsports in Tampa, FLA. He made these for me after I sent him a few pictures.

The L3SE's are very nice, you could probably go without a tweeter with them....I experimented. The soundstage is much wider and higher...I am still experimenting with the crossover points, especially between the L3SE and the L6SE midbass. All of the drivers seem to work more efficiently. 

I took it to a shop today that I bought some "supplies" from during the install. They are a pretty good installer, been around a long time and they are mostly an Audison shop. When I originally told them that I was going to install this myself, into a brand new A7 they basically laughed at me. They told me to come back when it was done, sarcastically I am sure....Well today was my victory day! They couldn't believe the install and how good the little Mosconi D2 puts out power. Its only 85w x 6 but it sounds incredible.


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## JimmyDee (Mar 8, 2014)

Very nicely done.

Did you ever try (experiment) with the 3.5" mounted in the factory location, in the mid/upper part of the door?

The reason I ask, is because I am 'tinkering' with the idea of ordering an RS7... and I wondered how it would sound, with a 6.5" down at the base of the door, and a 3.5" in the mid/upper part of the door (the factory locations) - then a custom (on-axis) tweeter pod in the sail panel.


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## teldzc1 (Oct 9, 2009)

Great job! Front stage looks awesome.


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## subterFUSE (Sep 21, 2009)

jimmydee said:


> Very nicely done.
> 
> Did you ever try (experiment) with the 3.5" mounted in the factory location, in the mid/upper part of the door?
> 
> The reason I ask, is because I am 'tinkering' with the idea of ordering an RS7... and I wondered how it would sound, with a 6.5" down at the base of the door, and a 3.5" in the mid/upper part of the door (the factory locations) - then a custom (on-axis) tweeter pod in the sail panel.



The S6, S7 & RS7 are all very similar.

You can't easily mount a 3" aftermarket speaker in the factory location because of the lack of depth. The factory mid is ultra shallow and the door skin is closed behind it. The factory speaker has almost no magnet, in other words. It just sits on the door skin, rather than going in a hole in the door. You would have to either cut the door skin for a larger magnet to recess into the door cavity, or build a pod that will protrude out from the factory speaker grill location.


Also, it is generally a good idea to keep a mid and tweeter as close together as possible to help with blending at the crossover region. That would support putting the in the A pillars or on the dash.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## JimmyDee (Mar 8, 2014)

subterFUSE said:


> You can't easily mount a 3" aftermarket speaker in the factory location because of the lack of depth. The factory mid is ultra shallow and the door skin is closed behind it.


Thanks. This is kinda what I had figured.

It's amazing that Audi can charge $5,000.00 for a B&O audio upgrade... and supply $5 speakers! It's definitely not $5K (or $6500 in Canada) worth of equipment.


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Jimmy,

Like subterfuse said, it is very shallow in there . My car came with the base audio package so I didnt even have an opening in the upper part of the door. But I do remember seeing the opening in the inside part of the door when I had the car apart and I noticed how little space was left behind it. 

Do you guys have any thoughts on the xover points in the front?


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## subterFUSE (Sep 21, 2009)

jimmydee said:


> Thanks. This is kinda what I had figured.
> 
> It's amazing that Audi can charge $5,000.00 for a B&O audio upgrade... and supply $5 speakers! It's definitely not $5K (or $6500 in Canada) worth of equipment.



There is a video online of a guy taking the door apart on a new S550 with Burmester stereo. The speaker is a worthless piece of crap just screwed down to the door panel, just like the mid in the Audi door.

6000 Euros for a fancy grill with a burmester logo on it, he says. :laugh:


----------



## subterFUSE (Sep 21, 2009)

Hugg727 said:


> Jimmy,
> 
> 
> Do you guys have any thoughts on the xover points in the front?




2X Fs is usually a good place to start, and I would generally not go lower than that with a tweeter.



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## teldzc1 (Oct 9, 2009)

I'd find the range that the mids sound best and offer the best staging and then work in the tweeters from there.


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## Gomer Pilot (Nov 30, 2014)

Hugg727 said:


> Jimmy,
> 
> Like subterfuse said, it is very shallow in there . My car came with the base audio package so I didnt even have an opening in the upper part of the door. But I do remember seeing the opening in the inside part of the door when I had the car apart and I noticed how little space was left behind it.
> 
> Do you guys have any thoughts on the xover points in the front?


I have the L3SE with the L1 Pro R2 and I'm running the L3s at 250 - 7k and then the tweets take over from there. Midbass are 70 - 250.


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Gomer Pilot said:


> I have the L3SE with the L1 Pro R2 and I'm running the L3s at 250 - 7k and then the tweets take over from there. Midbass are 70 - 250.


Great advice, thanks.

I have the tweets at 6500 the L3 at 500 and the L6 at 80-500. I am going to try the L6 at 70 - 250 to see how it sounds.


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## Fantaxp7 (Mar 20, 2010)

Any of you guys happen to have a picture of the mid range from the door? Curious what the max depth would be for another speaker.


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Fantaxp7 said:


> Any of you guys happen to have a picture of the mid range from the door? Curious what the max depth would be for another speaker.


No sorry, my car didnt have one...


----------



## greg09 (Jun 10, 2015)

I do. I'll try and measure it tonight.


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## Fantaxp7 (Mar 20, 2010)

Hugg727 said:


> No sorry, my car didnt have one...


No problem. Pillars look great by the way.



greg09 said:


> I do. I'll try and measure it tonight.


Thanks!


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## subterFUSE (Sep 21, 2009)

Fantaxp7 said:


> Any of you guys happen to have a picture of the mid range from the door? Curious what the max depth would be for another speaker.


It's not even 1 inch deep.

There is no hole in the door there, either. That means no baffle to attach to, and no airspace for a speaker to breathe.


I have my mids in the garage in a box. I'll try to find them and take a pic later today, after work.


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## SBS Audio Group (Nov 25, 2015)

Look good! You are brave for digging into that nice A7!


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## subterFUSE (Sep 21, 2009)

Pics of the midrange from the door.

It is 1" deep, and the door frame is closed behind it. There is no hole for a deeper speaker unless you cut the door.

You see the two plastic pegs on the left and right side? Those are to mount this speaker bracket to the surface of the door. So the speaker is not even mounted to a baffle. It just floats in space over the door skin.


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## Fantaxp7 (Mar 20, 2010)

subterFUSE said:


> Pics of the midrange from the door.
> 
> It is 1" deep, and the door frame is closed behind it. There is no hole for a deeper speaker unless you cut the door.
> 
> You see the two plastic pegs on the left and right side? Those are to mount this speaker bracket to the surface of the door. So the speaker is not even mounted to a baffle. It just floats in space over the door skin.


Thanks for the pics.


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## Gomer Pilot (Nov 30, 2014)

subterFUSE said:


> Pics of the midrange from the door.
> 
> It is 1" deep, and the door frame is closed behind it. There is no hole for a deeper speaker unless you cut the door.
> 
> You see the two plastic pegs on the left and right side? Those are to mount this speaker bracket to the surface of the door. So the speaker is not even mounted to a baffle. It just floats in space over the door skin.


Even an enclosed mid like the HAT L3 Pro would be too deep.


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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

How Lordy I just made mess all over self those pillars and tweeters are bonerlious&#55358;&#56600;&#55356;&#57340;


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## JimmyDee (Mar 8, 2014)

Subter, Where did you mount your widebands? Got a pic? I recall you originally had horns mounted at knee level.

I don't want to sidetrack HUGG's post here, but I'd like to see different mounting options for a 3.5" speaker in the 6 and 7 Series Audi...


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## JimmyDee (Mar 8, 2014)

jimmydee said:


> Subter, Where did you mount your widebands? Got a pic? I recall you originally had horns mounted at knee level.
> 
> I don't want to sidetrack HUGG's post here, but I'd like to see different mounting options for a 3.5" speaker in the 6 and 7 Series Audi...


Nevermind... I found it:


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## quality_sound (Dec 25, 2005)

subterFUSE said:


> The S6, S7 & RS7 are all very similar.
> 
> You can't easily mount a 3" aftermarket speaker in the factory location because of the lack of depth. The factory mid is ultra shallow and the door skin is closed behind it. The factory speaker has almost no magnet, in other words. It just sits on the door skin, rather than going in a hole in the door. You would have to either cut the door skin for a larger magnet to recess into the door cavity, or build a pod that will protrude out from the factory speaker grill location.
> 
> ...



What about an illusion C3? I bet they'd fit. 


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## subterFUSE (Sep 21, 2009)

quality_sound said:


> What about an illusion C3? I bet they'd fit.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



How is it going to sound with no baffle to mount to? It would be free air into the door card, with a solid reflective surface right behind it.

C3CX in the A Pillar is a better idea. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## quality_sound (Dec 25, 2005)

How's the OEM mounted? To the door card? But other than that is go pillars as well. That's what I'm going to do with mine. 


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## Fantaxp7 (Mar 20, 2010)

Is it wildly difficult to make a hole where the 3" is into the door? 

I've never attempted...I'm just very eager to try a 3 way and don't want to add custom pillars. 

My friend can get a great deal on a set of Dynaudio Esotec 362's. Do you guys think we'd be able to fit an 8" woofer in the door?

Thanks


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## subterFUSE (Sep 21, 2009)

Fantaxp7 said:


> Is it wildly difficult to make a hole where the 3" is into the door?


Probably not that difficult, but I personally don't think it's a great idea to cut the metal of the inner door skin.

Here is a pic of my door with the mid range speaker in place. The mid bass enclosure has been removed in this picture and replaced with a molded baffle for an 8" speaker.













Here is what the Bose mid bass enclosure looks like when taken out.













Here is a pic of the same door, but with the Bose mid range speaker removed. Now you can see what I mean about the door skin being closed behind the speaker. See that round concave indentation? That's where the Bose mid was sitting on top. You can also see my 8" Beyma 8G40 midbass installed here.













> I've never attempted...I'm just very eager to try a 3 way and don't want to add custom pillars.


I already contacted Audi about pricing on replacement A pillars. They were $175 each, and that's with Dealer markup. If you can find them elsewhere they should be less expensive than that.

A $175 pillar will cost a heck of a lot less than a replacement door, so my personal suggestion would be to do the pillars because they will both perform better and be less expensive if deciding to return to stock condition.




> My friend can get a great deal on a set of Dynaudio Esotec 362's. Do you guys think we'd be able to fit an 8" woofer in the door?



Yes, an 8" woofer will fit in the front door easily. I had Beyma 8G40 midbass in my doors. Just don't get an 8" that is much deeper than the 8G40, because my magnet was rubbing the window track slightly. Any bigger and there might have been issues with the window.


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## subterFUSE (Sep 21, 2009)

jimmydee said:


> Subter, Where did you mount your widebands? Got a pic? I recall you originally had horns mounted at knee level.
> 
> I don't want to sidetrack HUGG's post here, but I'd like to see different mounting options for a 3.5" speaker in the 6 and 7 Series Audi...



Russ build my pillar pods at the corners of the dash, following the strict guidelines for MECA Modified class on size.





















And here's a view of everything, including the Dynaudio MW-182 midbass speakers in custom kick panels.

Russ is an absolute expert installer. The best I've ever had the luxury of working on my car.


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## Fantaxp7 (Mar 20, 2010)

Wow subter thanks for the feedback!

Your system looks great. Do you have any pics of what you did with the amps? 

Sorry Hugg for high jacking


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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

It is fanatic build. Those pillars are works of art


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Fantaxp7 said:


> Wow subter thanks for the feedback!
> 
> Your system looks great. Do you have any pics of what you did with the amps?
> 
> Sorry Hugg for high jacking


No worries!!!

Subter....what happened to your horns???


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## subterFUSE (Sep 21, 2009)

Hugg727 said:


> No worries!!!
> 
> 
> 
> Subter....what happened to your horns???



I have them in a box at home at the moment.

Russ and I made the decision to remove the horns and pro audio midbass, and switch to the A pillar wide bands and the kick panel Dyns. We did this just before the end of the 2015 competition season.

The primary goal was to get the soundstage higher, particularly on the far left and right sides. I tried very hard to tune for that with the horns but ultimately decided it's just easier to get a high stage when the speakers are actually high.

The results turned out quite well. Everyone who has heard the car in both formats has agreed the staging is much improved.

To be fair, I also made a dramatic change in my tuning workflow after the horns came out. I actually regret not having the chance to try my current tuning style on the horns because I have a feeling I could do much better with them now.

I might put the horns in a different car one day in the future. I have no intention of selling them. Musically, I loved them. I was just trying to boost competition scoring on technical things and took the easy route. 


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## Black Rain (Feb 27, 2011)

Are the Dynaudio 182s sealed or vented out? What difference in stage do you feel the kickpanels give you vice being the doors?


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## subterFUSE (Sep 21, 2009)

Vented into the frame, but not to the exterior. It's hard to say how much the kicks improved to midbass. The widebands are playing from 230 Hz up, and they are in the pillars so everything images above the dash. The horns were always crossed around 800 Hz, so this is a very different setup.


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## bigbubba (Mar 23, 2011)

Wow John, I didn't realize you had moved away from the wave guides. Very nice upgrade. Hope to get to hear it some day.


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## greg09 (Jun 10, 2015)

Hugg, I didn't realize you had those pillars done by Amplified Autosports. I can literally see Danny's shop from my office window.

Yours look amazing! I'm going to go talk to him today about having them done for my A7.


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

greg09 said:


> Hugg, I didn't realize you had those pillars done by Amplified Autosports. I can literally see Danny's shop from my office window.
> 
> Yours look amazing! I'm going to go talk to him today about having them done for my A7.


Danny did a great job on both the pillars and the pods. I was lucky , as he had an S7 in the shop, so he could check for fitment. I actually bought extra pillars from Audi and sent them and my speakers to him so he could build them. I actually took a chance by using him, the only reference that I had for his work was pics online. Being in NJ just outside of NYC, you would think that there are many builders like this, but there isnt.
Danny did a great job of communicating with me during the entire build process. My son is getting an S3 and I wont hesitate to ask Danny to build pillars again for that car.


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

One more update on my system...

I replaced my Mosconi D2 + RCD with the Helix P SIX DSP + Director. While I do think that Mosconi makes fantastic amps, I think that their software is a little lacking.

Aside from the audible differences due to the increase in power (85w > 120w), especially the L6SE's, the Helix software just seems easier to use and has "convenience" features like linking channels and the Auto EQ that just is night and day vs the Mosconi. I had issue with the D2 software form the very beginning. I even had to send it back to Orca for 3 weeks so they could factory reset it. Even with the factory refresh I could never get the RCD to control everything and the time alignment never gave me that staging that everyone strives for. With the Helix I did a quick Auto tune of each set of components using the built in RTA and then I EQ'd each a little further manually in 15 minutes! This gave me a rough tune but it sounded, especially the staging, much better than the D2. I used the same distance measurements for the TA as I did in the Mosconi and it was dead center and much higher on my dash. It almost sounded like I had the center channel speaker still hooked up.

Still have more tuning to do but it does sound pretty good right now.


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## greg09 (Jun 10, 2015)

Haha. I just bought a Helix P Six MK2 to put in my A7 also. I have been using the Mobridge DA3 as a DSP, but wanted something with additional inputs and a remote, so I got the P Six.

I haven't put it in yet, but am glad to hear that it worked well for you.


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

greg09 said:


> Haha. I just bought a Helix P Six MK2 to put in my A7 also. I have been using the Mobridge DA3 as a DSP, but wanted something with additional inputs and a remote, so I got the P Six.
> 
> I haven't put it in yet, but am glad to hear that it worked well for you.


If you look at my pics of the cubby in the left trunk area, I mounted it on the shelf that I attached to the existing radio/amp structure. Its tight but it fits.I have the director remote in the ashtray type thing in front of the shifter.


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## greg09 (Jun 10, 2015)

That is where I have my 1200.6 and DA3. So, the P Six should fit great. 


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## greg09 (Jun 10, 2015)

Any pictures of where you have the director? Was thinking of putting in the sunglasses holder. 


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Hugg727 said:


> So I have sent my tweets and mids out to have them custom mounted. While I was waiting I have been playing with the tuning.
> I even found time to mount my Mosconi RCD into its final location...
> 
> 
> Thanks to Bing and Joey out at SIS for this idea from their A6 build. I used 1/8" acrylic for the cover and painted it with the SEM Landau Black paint.


Greg,

I put in in here, I had originally had the RCD supported by mounting a small block of wood to the ashtray and then a good strip of velcro holds the remote tight against the wood. I have the director in the same spot. I just have to build a new black trim piece to cover up the area to the left and right to complete the look.


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## greg09 (Jun 10, 2015)

Did you have to take the entire center console out to route the cable for the Director? or were you able to fish it through?

For you front door speakers, did you use factory enclosure? or did you make a baffle? If you kept the enclosure, did you seal it? or leave it ported?

I currently have my Dyns in the plastic enclosure, and sealed it up. I have considered trying to make a baffle out of plastic, but there are so many contours in the door.

Thanks again


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## robolop (Mar 10, 2008)

You renovations you're doing is similar to A7, PERFECT


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

greg09 said:


> Did you have to take the entire center console out to route the cable for the Director? or were you able to fish it through?
> 
> For you front door speakers, did you use factory enclosure? or did you make a baffle? If you kept the enclosure, did you seal it? or leave it ported?
> 
> ...


I ran the cable for the director up the left side under the steering wheel area over to the center where I could pull it through. You have to take the leather shifter boot off, then that entire center with all of the buttons on it pulls straight up. Put the car in D and that allows you to move the center control panel down and it exposes 2 bolts in front of the "ashtray". Take those out. I had to remove the climate control as well. No bolts holding it in, it pops straight out. Remove the 2 cables from the Climate control. Now you can pull the sliding Door assembly up and out. Then you should be able to pull the ashtray out and you will see a few option to run the cable towards the steering column.

My car had the base audio so I did not have the enclosure in the doors so I made speaker adapters out of plastic


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

*Last update...I hope!!*

So after reading the ridiculous amount of glowing reviews and posts about the Esotar E650's , I took the plunge and grabbed a pair. The HAT L6SE Carbon are a wonderful speaker but my curiosity got the best of me.... and my wallet. I will report back my thoughts on the Esotars after I have a chance to break them in, re-tune and experiment with some different x-0vers and slopes. Right now I have them low passed at 80hz and high passed at 350hz. 

A few pics of the relatively easy install.

Made some new pigtails to make it easy to take them out if necessary

They fit perfectlly into the original rings that I made for the HATs. Just had to drill a few pilot holes into the plastic rings for the extra holes


Perfect, but I wish that the door didnt block the top of the speaker


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## quality_sound (Dec 25, 2005)

You high passed at 80 and low passed at 350. 


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

quality_sound said:


> You high passed at 80 and low passed at 350.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Oops, brain fart...Thank you


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## Huckleberry Sound (Jan 17, 2009)

Very Nice!


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

*Update...Sub Amp*

So in my never ending desire to totally empty my wallet, I have made another upgrade. This should be the final one for a while, at least until Audison works out the kinks on the Bit Play 

The very first upgrade that I did to this car was to address the bass with the factory system. I did that with a JL amp and a JL Stealth Box. Even after I re did the entire system I was still powering my sub with the JL. I wouldnt say that it sounded bad but it could never really drive the BM MK IV the way that I thought it should. This became even more apparent after I added the Esotar 650's into the mix. So last week I was just searching around for SQ Mono Class D amps and I looked at Zapco's website for the very first time. I see many members on here with incredible systems built from the ground up with Zapco products. I eventually became interested in the Z Series Z-1KD amp. As luck would have it, I searched the forum and a member had one NIB that he was selling. His post was 3 weeks old...surely it was sold already. After several PMs and much to my amazement, it was still available!

So with help from Paypal and UPS a few days later......


From a specs perspective, the Zapco is much better that the little JL. Improved THD, damping, efficiency and more power too, 560w to my 2ohm sub vs 300w from the JL.

Its also physically bigger so I had to be careful when I mounted it on my little sub shelf in the spare tire well.


Wiring was easy, as I was able to keep the same power runs that I used before. My runs are quite short...Its nice having the battery and distribution block in the trunk on the Audi. The only power/ change that I had to make was the fuse on my distribution block for the Zapco. I had a 40a in there, Zapco recommends 100a which is crazy high unless I was driving a 1 Ohm at 1000w. I went with a 60a based upon the 560w at 2 Ohms and it works fine.

Like I said, the Zapco is bigger and it missed the spare by about 1/3"




First impression after setting gains, etc., is that the boominess is gone. Everything seems effortless for the sub, much more efficient sounding. When the volume is set correctly on my Director it sounds more like an SQ sub now, more up front with the rest of the image. Now if I want the boominess, I have plenty of headroom and I just turn it up in the Director remote.

Overall very good upgrade.


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

Nice. You still using the si sub with that?

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk


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## WhiteL02 (Jul 25, 2014)

Very nice setup. How would you compare the dynaudio to your old hat 6.5"?


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

WhiteL02 said:


> Very nice setup. How would you compare the dynaudio to your old hat 6.5"?


They are pretty close. It just seems that, down low, you can throw more at the Dyns. I now have them crossed at 70hz, which definitely pulled the sub stage forward. The HATs are no slouch, my system sounded very good with them. Keep in mind I had the Carbons and the magnet is very small compared to the HAT L6SE's and the magnet on the Esotars is even bigger. Still running the L3's and the tweets, no plans on changing those.



SkizeR said:


> Nice. You still using the si sub with that?
> Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk


Yes, I really dont have any room for anything but something small in a box. I still need trunk functionality. What else could I do?


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## JimmyDee (Mar 8, 2014)

The Esotars will sound even better with age... 
After about 20 hours of playing time, they settle-in nicely.


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## Electrodynamic (Nov 27, 2007)

Nice install log. Awesome car and of course nice choice for a subwoofer.


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Electrodynamic said:


> Nice install log. Awesome car and of course nice choice for a subwoofer.


Thanks!!

I have gotten so many compliments on the sub. People cant believe the output for its size. Where is the mk V? They will sell like hotcakes.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

^^^. Congrats on proving what we've all seen, a smaller sub can have more output..


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## mino922 (Oct 8, 2010)

Wow this is awesome! Where in jersey are you?


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## Skinnarbox (Sep 26, 2015)

This looks amazing! great work.


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Thanks guys.

I am in North Joisey!


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## greg09 (Jun 10, 2015)

Great work as always!

If you get a chance, could you post a picture of the Helix Director mounted? I know you have a couple pics of the Mosconi one, but want to see how the Director looks in there.

Another option for more trunk room and keeping the sub is to have a fiberglass enclosure built into the cubby hole on the passenger side of the trunk. Danny, the guy that did your pillars did it in a friend's RS7 and fit an Illusion C10XL in it. I am considering doing the same. You could probably fit the BM MKIV in there.


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Skinnarbox said:


> This looks amazing! great work.





jimmydee said:


> The Esotars will sound even better with age...
> After about 20 hours of playing time, they settle-in nicely.


Jimmy,
Did you re-tune after they broke in?


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

greg09 said:


> Great work as always!
> 
> If you get a chance, could you post a picture of the Helix Director mounted? I know you have a couple pics of the Mosconi one, but want to see how the Director looks in there.
> 
> Another option for more trunk room and keeping the sub is to have a fiberglass enclosure built into the cubby hole on the passenger side of the trunk. Danny, the guy that did your pillars did it in a friend's RS7 and fit an Illusion C10XL in it. I am considering doing the same. You could probably fit the BM MKIV in there.


Here you go, I just have it velcro'd to the wooden block underneath and it holds well. I still want to make a nice black trim piece for the sides like I did for the Mosconi.




Annnnnnd another gratuitous plug for Danny @ Amplified Motorsports


If that was the RS7 that he worked on last summer/fall then thats the car that he used to model my pillars. I know that spot that you are talking about. There is a fuse box underneath there that you still might need to get into, so whatever you put there needs to be removable.

I just bought an Audison Bit Play and I was thinking of making some type of shelf in that spot to mount the Bit Play to. It would be easy access when I add songs via USB.
I am happy with my sub/enclosure, I just need a way to secure it down...havent had the time to figure that out yet.


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## greg09 (Jun 10, 2015)

Thanks for the pics. That is kinda what mine looks like also until I finish it up. 

Those pillars are awesome looking!


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## greg09 (Jun 10, 2015)

Let me know what you think of the Bit Play. I have been considering it for a while. Some of the negative reviews have held me back from pulling the trigger.

What input on the P Six are you going to connect the Bit Play to?

I have just been using my iphone 6s through the AMI connection, but it annoys me most of the time. Takes a while for the MMI to get connected to it. Then sometimes the volume doesn't work and I have to disconnect the cable and reconnect. Also, every time I connect the iphone, it tries to play the first play list on my apple music even after I start playing music on another app like Tidal.

Think I am going to connect my Air enabler to the aux input of the P Six and try that.


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## MrGreen83 (Jun 11, 2015)

Danny is my brother. Great guy! Does great work! 


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

greg09 said:


> Let me know what you think of the Bit Play. I have been considering it for a while. Some of the negative reviews have held me back from pulling the trigger.
> 
> What input on the P Six are you going to connect the Bit Play to?
> 
> ...


I ordered the HEC optical in, so now I will have an additional digital input on the P SIX. 
I got a really good deal on the Bit Play so I figure I would try it. Now I need to rip/convert my entire music collection to lossless.


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

MrGreen83 said:


> Danny is my brother. Great guy! Does great work!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


He does do good work. Hoping that he gets some more business from me!


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## MrGreen83 (Jun 11, 2015)

Hugg727 said:


> I ordered the HEC optical in, so now I will have an additional digital input on the P SIX.
> 
> I got a really good deal on the Bit Play so I figure I would try it. Now I need to rip/convert my entire music collection to lossless.




NUMBER ONE REASON.....that I haven't gotten the Bit Play HD yet. I don't have the patience to do that lol


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

OK, I finally had a free weekend and good weather to do the BitPlay install. Its a relatively easy install but quite time consuming due to the fact that n order to do it right, you have to remove the seats in the car and pull up the carpet to run cables to the console. The console on the A7 is similar to the A6 so between SubterFuse's install log and a few other internet sites I figured it out.

So after I finally got the console out I had to run wires from the trunk up into the front console:
1) Video cable - This allows me to see whats happening on the BitPlay from the Audi MMI screen
2)BitPlay IR remote wire - I placed the IR sensor up front so I can control the BP with the remotes that are supplied with the unit
3) Spare Ground Wire - Just in case I didnt get the Video In Motion on the Audi correctly programmed, I wanted an extra ground wire. On the Audi's you have to be in park and not moving to get video. In the VCDS system you can reprogram that. I eventually found that I didnt need the extra wire.



Since all of my speaker wires are on the left side of the trunk, I had more room on the right side. You can see my yellow/black tech flexed video cable with the unneeded blue wire,



I decided to build another shelf to replace my sub amp shelf that was bigger so it could accommodate the BP as well. Last summer I helped my brother-in-law build a system in his boat. We had some HDPE left over so I decided to use that. Easy to work with and much stronger than MDF.


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## JimmyDee (Mar 8, 2014)

Looks good. 

Interested to see some screen shots of it in action. 
And also, to hear your review on how you like it...


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Since I originally started the build, over a year ago, I have upgraded both amps. Its probably overkill, but I figured that while I had the car apart I would re-do the power distribution. So I now have 1/0 ga from the battery and 4ga to the amps.



I bundled the power, ground and remote lead together and fed it back to where my P SIx is.


I powered the BitPlay by putting an add-a-fuse into the nearby fuse block(red wire)


Back inside the car, I made a few customization for the Audi MMI to accept video from the BitPlay.


Inside the console showing the MMI cable and the USB connector that goes back to the BitPlay so I can add music from inside the car.


Its a tight fit but I got it all working in that stock location


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

i still need to come check your car out. looks awesome


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

jimmydee said:


> Looks good.
> 
> Interested to see some screen shots of it in action.
> And also, to hear your review on how you like it...


I will post a few shots later today. The resolution is so-so video wise on the MMI, but the audio is incredible. FYI....for those who are using fiber Toslink cables I had a weird issue with my install. 
I needed a 10 ft cable to connect the BitPlay back into the Helix HEC optical in. I went on Amazon checked a few options, read the reviews and bought a cable. The cable has 5 star reviews, already had a tech flex like wrap and was $25. While I had the car still sort of apart, I tested the Bitplay to make sure it worked but I used an MP3 file. Everything checked out so I buttoned everything back up. It was already dark so I waited until the next day to add my FLAC files.
Next day I add some FLAC files and I test..no sound. Check all of my signal routing on the Helix..all good. Try an MP3, sounds good...FLAC, nothing but a faint crackle. I try my FLAC files on my PC, all good. I am dumbfounded.

I email Elettromedia support and they instantly want to blame the HELIX DSP, really guys? Grow up.

So I reached out to SubterFuse, who has a similar BitPlay setup and he validates that my settings are just like his and he has also bought music successfully from HDTracks. Hmmmmmm.

So due to work a full week passes and I still cant listen to FLAC files. So when I got home from work yesterday, on a whim, I decide to swap out the Toslink cable. I only had a 6' from my home system so I had to run it on top of the spare tire.


Boom! Sonic bliss...bad Toslink cable. How bizarre that it would play MP3s but not hi res?

I already ordered a replacement high quality cable from Lifatec USA based on a recommendation from SubterFuse. They are expensive, like everything else in this hobby, but well worth it.

I will give you my thoughts after a few days of playing around with it. So far so good.

Oh Yeah, I almost forgot...I swapped out my tweets to ScanSpeak D2004's


The HATs are good but these seem more authoritative and warmer. Need to break them in and re-tune to see how I really like them.


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

well, i guess cables do make a huge difference lol


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

SkizeR said:


> i still need to come check your car out. looks awesome


I will be at the NY/NJ meet up on July 10th:laugh:


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## greg09 (Jun 10, 2015)

Awesome work as always! Please come down and do the same thing to my A7!


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Looking forward to seeing/hearing this when we all gather.


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

greg09 said:


> Awesome work as always! Please come down and do the same thing to my A7!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


HAHA,

look at your sig....you have a very nice setup as well. Where do you have your sub amp located in the car?


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## greg09 (Jun 10, 2015)

Same spot as yours. Doesn't look quite as nice. Don't have enough time for all the details. 

I meant come down and take out my center console and install a bit play. Been very interested in them. 

Here's my hatch area. 

























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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

At least you put some deadener in the spare tire area! I dosub with the nt have that shelf that you have in the cubby. Was the bose amp on that shelf?

Are you powering the sub with that Mosconi? That is a nice amp


The center console wasnt that bad. The bitplay sounds good but not much better than the SD card when you compare the dollars and time spent. Yes, it sounds great but it was a lot of work. Now that its done I will enjoy the convenience of having all of my music in one place.


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## Onyx1136 (Mar 15, 2009)

Hugg727 said:


> I will post a few shots later today. The resolution is so-so video wise on the MMI, but the audio is incredible. FYI....for those who are using fiber Toslink cables I had a weird issue with my install.
> I needed a 10 ft cable to connect the BitPlay back into the Helix HEC optical in. I went on Amazon checked a few options, read the reviews and bought a cable. The cable has 5 star reviews, already had a tech flex like wrap and was $25. While I had the car still sort of apart, I tested the Bitplay to make sure it worked but I used an MP3 file. Everything checked out so I buttoned everything back up. It was already dark so I waited until the next day to add my FLAC files.
> Next day I add some FLAC files and I test..no sound. Check all of my signal routing on the Helix..all good. Try an MP3, sounds good...FLAC, nothing but a faint crackle. I try my FLAC files on my PC, all good. I am dumbfounded.
> 
> ...


I reread this part about the toslink cable a few times and it still confuses me. I'm having no luck wrapping my head around how the cable could have been the issue. It's just carrying the digital signal that's fed to it by the BitPlay, right? Nothing is processed or resolved in the cable itself, so how is it possible that the cable could only pass 1's and 0's from an MP3 file but not a FLAC file?

Isn't that like saying that my power wire would only carry alternating current and not direct current? My 20 years of experience with optical cables tells me that they either pass signal or they don't. I've never seen one that would only pass a certain signal. 

Can someone explain to me how this is possible? There must be something going on here that I don't know about or is just technically way over my head, but I don't have the slightest idea what it is.


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## subterFUSE (Sep 21, 2009)

I have had toslink cables that get static noise in the music. Swapped cable, static gone. They are delicate cables.


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## Onyx1136 (Mar 15, 2009)

subterFUSE said:


> I have had toslink cables that get static noise in the music. Swapped cable, static gone. They are delicate cables.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Static through optical is one thing, and happens from time to time. A cable bent a little too aggressively can start to break up the light traveling through it. Even a bur on the end of the cable where it plugs in can have a negative effect on the signal traveling through it. But for a cable to not be able to pass the signal from a FLAC file? That's something completely different. It just doesn't make sense to me. 

Wouldn't it be similar if I said "My RCA cables would only pass an audio signal from AM/FM radio, but not from a CD source." Would that make sense to anyone? Obviously something was going on, I just don't understand how it could have been the optical cable. It just seems more likely that the plug on one end of the cable was bad and was only transmitting light at certain times, and that happened to coincide with when MP3's were being played? I dunno. The whole situation is really odd to me.


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Onyx1136 said:


> Static through optical is one thing, and happens from time to time. A cable bent a little too aggressively can start to break up the light traveling through it. Even a bur on the end of the cable where it plugs in can have a negative effect on the signal traveling through it. But for a cable to not be able to pass the signal from a FLAC file? That's something completely different. It just doesn't make sense to me.
> 
> Wouldn't it be similar if I said "My RCA cables would only pass an audio signal from AM/FM radio, but not from a CD source." Would that make sense to anyone? Obviously something was going on, I just don't understand how it could have been the optical cable. It just seems more likely that the plug on one end of the cable was bad and was only transmitting light at certain times, and that happened to coincide with when MP3's were being played? I dunno. The whole situation is really odd to me.


I couldnt agree with you more , it defies the laws of common sense.....which is why it took me a week to figure it out:laugh:


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## S6Per (May 22, 2016)

Quick question: what drives the requirement to have a relay installed in your setup? I don't think I've seen those in other installs?
I want to make sure I don't blow anything up as I put mine together


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## subterFUSE (Sep 21, 2009)

Number of amps, or if you need to delay the amp turn on to prevent pops.


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## S6Per (May 22, 2016)

Hmm, interesting, and thanks. Do you have one in your setup?

I wasn't planning on having one in mine (DA1->Helix DSP Pro->Arc 1200.6 and Arc 600.4). Should I (assuming for the moment that I don't have amp pop)?


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## subterFUSE (Sep 21, 2009)

4 or more amps prob need a relay. 3 or less, don't need.


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## S6Per (May 22, 2016)

Great, thanks.


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

subterFUSE said:


> 4 or more amps prob need a relay. 3 or less, don't need.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


It was probably overkill in my setup, but I didnt want any popping during on/off.........and I dont have any!


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## subterFUSE (Sep 21, 2009)

I have 1 relay and 4 amps


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## S6Per (May 22, 2016)

Hugg727 said:


> Because I couldn't totally remove the radio from the MOST bus (it also takes in the GPS, Sirius and FM antennas in the car) I had to make my own MOST fiber cable that connects to the factory connector and allows both the radio and DA1 to connect to the ring. As you can see it has one female and 2 male connectors. I configured it so the signal looks like this MMI.....DA1.....Radio.....MMI.


Curious about this one, Hugg. I'm not quite following why you had to take this step? I thought that taking the MOST connector that was feeding the amp, and plugging it into the DA1 was all that's needed, and that the radio (looks like I have similar setup as you) could stay plugged in as is and they coexist on the MOST bus? Did you try that first and things didn't work? Any further insight is appreciated.

Thanks,
Per


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

S6Per said:


> Curious about this one, Hugg. I'm not quite following why you had to take this step? I thought that taking the MOST connector that was feeding the amp, and plugging it into the DA1 was all that's needed, and that the radio (looks like I have similar setup as you) could stay plugged in as is and they coexist on the MOST bus? Did you try that first and things didn't work? Any further insight is appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> Per


I didnt have any external or Bose amp in my setup. Just the radio, which seems like all of us have at least that. I had to make the loop cable to keep the MOST loop intact. It would have been much easier if I could just unplug the Bose amp and connect the DA1or Bit DMI.


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## S6Per (May 22, 2016)

Got it...thanks for clarifying!


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## S6Per (May 22, 2016)

One more question for ya' (for now  ). For powering your terminal strip, what gauge wire do you have coming out of your audison distro block, what size fuse do you have, and what is it all powering?

Thanks!


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

S6Per said:


> One more question for ya' (for now  ). For powering your terminal strip, what gauge wire do you have coming out of your audison distro block, what size fuse do you have, and what is it all powering?
> 
> Thanks!


I used 14 ga wire for the power and ground for the little stuff that hang off my terminal strip. I put a 10 amp fuse on the circuit that handles the bit DMI and my light. Each amp has their own fuse in the distro block.

I have since added another distro block and increased the size of the power cable to 4ga for my 2 amps. I also went up to 1/0 gauge from the battery

Keep up the good work......more pics please!


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## S6Per (May 22, 2016)

Cheers! Where did you find a 10amp fuse that fits the Audison distro? That seems to be the missing link for me right now / realizing that I can only find 20amp mini-ANL fuses and that that's likely way too high for protecting the DSP and DA1.

Or, are you saying (which is what I was starting to think about doing), that you added an additional in-line fuse on the 14ga cable run in between the Audison and the terminal strip?


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

PM sent


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## Flyhogz (Nov 8, 2012)

Hugg727 said:


> Here is the finished product waiting to be put into the cubby. If you look close enough, under the shelf to the left I mounted the DA1 bypass switch. To the right of that is a red switch to control an LED light bar that I will mount inside the cubby on the top for some additional light.
> 
> The DA1 is on the shelf between the stock radio and my fabricated shelf, you can see the sliver Toslink cable connecting it to the Mosconi. Because I couldn't totally remove the radio from the MOST bus (it also takes in the GPS, Sirius and FM antennas in the car) I had to make my own MOST fiber cable that connects to the factory connector and allows both the radio and DA1 to connect to the ring. As you can see it has one female and 2 male connectors. I configured it so the signal looks like this MMI.....DA1.....Radio.....MMI.


It appears that I am in the same boat as I just purchased an Audi Q5 with the Nav+ (MOST) without B&O or an external amplifier. When looking at the MoBridge instructions it states that you need to go in and change some of the coding. Did you need to change the coding or did the tri-MOST connector take care of it completely ?


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

I did not recode, the most cable that I made works 

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## Flyhogz (Nov 8, 2012)

Sweet! Thanks for getting back. 


Sent from my


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Let me know if I anything 

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## rAudiguy (Mar 13, 2018)

Hugg727 said:


> Let me know if I anything
> 
> Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk


Hi Hugg,

I'm in the UK and about to do a similar build in my A7. sadly it would seem alot of the pictures have been deleted on this thread. I'm planning on doing a HAT L3SE in the A pillar and wondered if you had any pictures of your build process? i found a finished picture on Pintrest but that was it. 

any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Jay


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## Jonathan177 (May 7, 2018)

HI , can the a7 fit 6.5 speakers in the rear doors?


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## rAudiguy (Mar 13, 2018)

Jonathan177 said:


> HI , can the a7 fit 6.5 speakers in the rear doors?




Yes


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## Jonathan177 (May 7, 2018)

Thank you rAudiguy


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## rAudiguy (Mar 13, 2018)

Jonathan177 said:


> Thank you rAudiguy




The doors are very easy to remove. Pop off the trim panel around the release handle and then you will find 3/4 T25 torque heads. Then just pop the card off. If you have bose I’m 99% sure the bose is a 6.5” in the rear and 4” in the front door. Stock is 6.5” all round. 


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## Jonathan177 (May 7, 2018)

Thanks for the info rAudiguy , I do have the bose system. One more question I plan to use the stock wiring , does the dash mounted tweeter wires can i tap into to it from the front doors?


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## rAudiguy (Mar 13, 2018)

Jonathan177 said:


> Thanks for the info rAudiguy , I do have the bose system. One more question I plan to use the stock wiring , does the dash mounted tweeter wires can i tap into to it from the front doors?




No it’s not that simple. Do you plan on replacing the front doors too? There is a multi plug that runs through the doors. Not just a rubber gate like older cars. So you can’t just run new cables. Please explain your system to me and I’ll do my best to help. 


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## Jonathan177 (May 7, 2018)

I plan on installing components in the doors, I also have the mobridge da1 with helix dsp pro, alpine pdx v9 for the amp, I wanted to know can i use the existing wiring in the doors to power the component speakers?


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## rAudiguy (Mar 13, 2018)

Jonathan177 said:


> I plan on installing components in the doors, I also have the mobridge da1 with helix dsp pro, alpine pdx v9 for the amp, I wanted to know can i use the existing wiring in the doors to power the component speakers?




Yes you will need to run cables from the amp to the footwell. Then find the speaker cables. Sadly the colours don’t tie in with the the colours on the door. So you will need to work that out. It’s a ball ache tbh. This has been the hardest car I’ve worked on. 


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## Jonathan177 (May 7, 2018)

Looks like I have my work cut out for me, but I will figure it out with the help of you guys, thank you rAudiguy


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## rAudiguy (Mar 13, 2018)

Jonathan177 said:


> Looks like I have my work cut out for me, but I will figure it out with the help of you guys, thank you rAudiguy




No worries! Just to add a spanner to the works. I used the bose front door pods as sealed enclosures rather than the doors rattling. 




































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## Jonathan177 (May 7, 2018)

Wow you did a great job sealing off the enclosure , what did you use to do it?


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## rAudiguy (Mar 13, 2018)

Jonathan177 said:


> Wow you did a great job sealing off the enclosure , what did you use to do it?




Plywood rings and I cut some plastic the same shape as the port and used stixall to seal both the ring and the blank. Solid as hell. Then I sound deadened the whole thing. 


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## Jonathan177 (May 7, 2018)

Nicely done rAudiguy I'm definitely gonna put your tips to good use.


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## rAudiguy (Mar 13, 2018)

Jonathan177 said:


> Nicely done rAudiguy I'm definitely gonna put your tips to good use.




Just make sure you cut the rings so they angle like the bose does. Otherwise the door cards won’t go back on. 


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## Jonathan177 (May 7, 2018)

Understood thanks rAudiguy


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## Jonathan177 (May 7, 2018)

rAudiguy how thick of a speaker ring would I need for the door speakers? And can I totally remove the bose amp or do I need to leave it in?


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## rAudiguy (Mar 13, 2018)

Jonathan177 said:


> rAudiguy how thick of a speaker ring would I need for the door speakers? And can I totally remove the bose amp or do I need to leave it in?




I still don’t know your system plans mate. Tell me what you’re putting in? 

18mm ring but you will need to sand down one side to about 10mm


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## Jonathan177 (May 7, 2018)

My system will be Mobridge da1 going to a helix dsp pro, that will be feeding my alpine pdx v9, 2 sets of Boston spz60 component speakers and my sub is a infinity perfect 10vq


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## rAudiguy (Mar 13, 2018)

Jonathan177 said:


> My system will be Mobridge da1 going to a helix dsp pro, that will be feeding my alpine pdx v9, 2 sets of Boston spz60 component speakers and my sub is a infinity perfect 10vq




Ok so you’re planning to run the 4 doors passively of the Alpine? Why don’t you ditch the rear doors and run the front active? 

You won’t need to remove the bose amp. Just split the MOST from it into the DA1 


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## Jonathan177 (May 7, 2018)

Yes I plan on running the components of the alpine passively, I'm not running them active only because I don't fully understand the concept, it's new to me and I don't wanna damage anything


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## rAudiguy (Mar 13, 2018)

Jonathan177 said:


> Yes I plan on running the components of the alpine passively, I'm not running them active only because I don't fully understand the concept, it's new to me and I don't wanna damage anything




Honestly, I would ditch the tears and go active on the front end. The Helix is a brilliant bit of kit and very easy to set up with some protection for the tweeters. It will give you a much better sound Stage. I’ll happily help you over FaceTime or something if you want? Pm me 


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## Jonathan177 (May 7, 2018)

I hope to start attacking my build this weekend coming up, I would gladly take you up on your offer , when I get to that point, I wanna install sound deadner and run the power and speaker wires on Saturday, and install the speakers on Sunday and then button everything up.


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## rAudiguy (Mar 13, 2018)

Jonathan177 said:


> I hope to start attacking my build this weekend coming up, I would gladly take you up on your offer , when I get to that point, I wanna install sound deadner and run the power and speaker wires on Saturday, and install the speakers on Sunday and then button everything up.




Ok mate, just to warn you the A7 is a mare to work on. So make sure you have some contingency planning in there. My car doesn’t have the bose so I’m not sure what the cables are like but you might be best to tap into them from the amp. They should be individual pairs for each speakers. Probably a wiring diagram somewhere which could be of use. 


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## Jonathan177 (May 7, 2018)

Hopefully it all works well, your tips give me confidence, I will let you know how it goes.Thanks rAudiguy. I read in a forum of a site where i can find the wiring diagram for the car.


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## rAudiguy (Mar 13, 2018)

Jonathan177 said:


> Hopefully it all works well, your tips give me confidence, I will let you know how it goes.Thanks rAudiguy. I read in a forum of a site where i can find the wiring diagram for the car.




As said just be careful with time. If you plan to make the doors like I did. This isn’t a 1 hour job. It took me a couple of days as you need to let the stixall Set over night etc with clamps. If you don’t go that route you will have to remove the bose enclosure and then make a baffle to cover the hole. This won’t be easy. It’s not flat. As I said this car is a pain to work on. Good luck though and if I can help in anyway just shout. 

This shows the stock speakers holder. See how it’s not flat? So a bit of mdf won’t work. You could maybe look to buy a set of these from a scrap yard??




















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## Jonathan177 (May 7, 2018)

Ah ok I see exactly what you mean , I will take my time and figure it out, I'm going to look into buying those speaker brackets, that your showing in the picture, that would go a long way. Once again thank you.


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## Hugg727 (Sep 17, 2009)

Hello Audi fans. Its been a while since i posted but I wanted to start here before I hit the Classified forum. I am selling the A7 and have already taken the components out of the car.

I will be re-using most of the pieces, with the exception of the tweeter pods and the custom alcantara A-Pillars. Please go to pages 3 and 5 in this thread to see the pods and pillars. If you are interested please PM me. 


I will be following up this build using many of the items that were in the Audi but in a much different platform......Tesla Model S


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