# 2020 Audi A6 install



## Taylor (May 18, 2014)

Hi,

I am posting my build for my 2020 Audi A6, Premium Plus package with Band and Olfsen factory stereo. 

My main objective is to use the stock mounting locations with minimal modifications. All speakers must be behind factory grills and SQ is the goal. I wanted to use an all-digital signal from the factory head unit, using all active crossovers. Lastly, I wanted the vehicle as quiet as possible so I decided against using a subwoofer that was mounted inside the trunk area (more on this later).

For those of you wanting a general overview, I will post those details later in this post. For those of you wanting more details, I will break the build down into several areas and will be posting additional photos and info when available.
1. Tear down, speaker locations, and size options for each location.
2. Door prep
3. Trunk prep
4. Speaker choices
5. Speaker installs
6. Signal and amp setup (Nav-TV, JL AUdio VXi HUB and JL Audio Amps)
7. Subwoofer box build and install
8. Tuning

After tearing everything down and looking at all the speakers and specs, and what would work best for my specific car and my goals, I decided on the following pieces. (Warning, this isn't for everyone; its complex, overkill, and some may say a waste of money. That is totally fine! I don't have many hobbies and haven't had the opportunity to do a quality install in the past few cars, so I wanted to go a little overboard on this.)


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## Taylor (May 18, 2014)

1. Tear down, speaker locations, and size options for each location.

There are 17 individual speaker locations for this particular vehicle configuration.
1. Center Channel
2. Center Tweeter
3 & 4. Surround/Upstage tweeters
5 & 6. Main Tweeters
7 & 8. Front Midrange
9 & 10. Front Woofers
11 & 12. Rear Tweeters
12 & 14. Rear Woofers
15 & 16. Rear Surround
17. Subwoofer

Next, I will break down each speaker (or set) location, how to access them, cutout and depth measurements, and any notes or thoughts I had.

1. Center Channel
It is located in the front dash under the center grill. To access this, you will need to remove the center grill AND the right grill (i know, it doesn't make sense, just trust me). You then will need to remove the single bolt holding the lower panels in place (there will be two on the center panel and a single bolt on the right panel). NOTE: there is a pin that holds both of these lower panels together so both removed at the same time - BE CAREFUL. Now disconnect the right tweeter and both of these panels can be removed, giving you access to the Center Channel speaker. 

The stock speaker is 4in with a 1.5 in mounting depth. It states it is a 4ohm speaker at 20w. The cutout is 89mm and has a mounting depth of 52mm.

The speaker has an overhang that makes the installation a bit tricky and really limits the mounting depth. It only has two mounting holes in the stock location so you may need to make a mounting adapter. I chose to go with a 3.5in speaker in this location and was happy I did, as it made the install much easier. To make the adapter plate, I used 1/8 ABS, then traced the stock speaker onto it and used a Dremel to cut it out. 















2. Center Tweeter
This tweeter is not installed or nor does it have any wiring to this in the normal B & O system (you will need the $7k Advanced 3D B & O stereo to get this tweeter installed and powered). It is located next to the Center Channel speaker. To access this, remove the center grill and you will see the mounting location for this. 

It has a 54in diameter and 52mm mounting depth. 








3 & 4. Surround/Upstage tweeters
These tweeters are located on the A-pillar facing the rearview mirror. To access these tweeters you will need to remove the panel located on the side of the dash (between the dash and the door) and remove the main tweeter grilles. TO remove the a-pillar trim, there is a slide on the inside that needs to be moved to release the trim piece (see a youtube video for this, it's kinda complicated).

The stock speaker is 1.5in tweeter @ 4ohm powered by 20w, and is 51mm wide by 47mm tall. 

I installed a 1.5in tweeter using the stock bracket with a .75in #8 metal screw. This may require you straightening the stock mounting bracket depending on your tweeters size. Note: these tweeters are only on when you have 3D surround featured turned on when using the stock amp. 








5 & 6. Main Tweeters
These speakers are located in the corners of the dash. You can access them by removing the grilles. 

These areas are quite large, as they are made to hold the mechanical horn tweeters that come in the B&O premium 3D package. Installed in my configuration is a 4ohm 20w tweeter on an adapter plate that partially covers the opening. The stock opening that should accept a round speaker up to 67mm and is several inches deep, so mounting depth shouldn't be an issue.

I installed a 2.5in speaker here, but a 1.5in or even a 1in tweeter would be just fine. 








7 & 8. Front Midrange
These are located in the front doors above the woofers. You can access them by simply removing the grilles. 

The stock speakers are 4in and 1.5in deep. They are 4ohm and 20w. The opening is146mm. The depth of this location is tricky, with only 32mm of mounting depth. 

I used a 4in speaker with a 37mm top mount on a 1/4in HDPE starboard. It barely fit for the peaker depth and the thickness allowed by the door panel. I wouldn't recommend any thicker ring or a larger top mount. I feel this was the largest speaker this space will allow for without major modifications. 








9 & 10. Front Woofers
These are located in the front doors. TO access them you will need to remove the door panel. There are three screws (t25), one located under the armrest, the other under the 4in midrange speaker grille, and the last one is located under your wood/aluminum door trim near the door handle. With these three removed, using a panel remover tool you can pop the panel off and up to remove. With it free you will need to remove the door release cable and the wiring harness that connects to the door. Here the woofer is installed in an enclosure that can be removed from the door (a bunch of nuts and bolts). 

The enclosure is sealed and I am told from a reliable source (that filled it with water to determine the actual cavity volume) that is is roughly 0.23 cu ft

The stock speaker is 6.5in with a 3in mounting depth. The speaker is labeled as 8ohm and 100w. The cutout is 146mm with a 76mm depth. NOTE: super wide magnets may need to be thinner (or adapter used) due to how the back wall is designed (not flat).

I installed a 6.5in speaker with a 3.5in mounting depth using a 3/8in HDPE starboard adapter. Note: Screw holes for the speaker will not match up to factory screw holes. I suggest a quality adapter plate no matter what you install here.








11 & 12. Rear Tweeters
These are located in the rear doors near the door handle. To access them you will need to remove the door panel. There are three screws (t25), one located under the armrest, and the other two are located under your wood/aluminum door trim near the door handle. With these three removed, using a panel remover tool you can pop the panel off and up to remove. With it free, you will need to remove the door release cable and the three wiring harness that connects to the door. When you remove the panel, the speaker is located on the rear side of the door panel. 

The stock speaker is a 1in tweeter at 4ohm and 20w. It is 40mm wide and 20mm tall. NOTE: The stock tweeter uses an inline HPF that is built into the tweeter. If you are going to replace this and run it off the stock amplifier, you will need some type of crossover to protect the speaker from full range frequencies. 

I installed a 1in tweeter here. It was actually very easy to install a new tweeter, it popped right into the old mounting location that had held the stock tweeter. I used the front mount rings to get my tweeter to fit tightly. 














12 & 14. Rear Woofers
These are located in the rear doors. To access them you will need to remove the door panel. There are three screws (t25), one located under the armrest, and the other two are located under your wood/aluminum door trim near the door handle. With these three removed, using a panel remover tool you can pop the panel off and up to remove. With it free, you will need to remove the door release cable and the three wiring harness that connects to the door. 

The stock speakers are built into a 2.5in spacer. They have a 6.5in speaker at 4ohm and 20w. This location is a IF install and doesn't have a door enclosure. The speaker opening is 146mm and the total mounting depth of the stock speaker is 87mm. You may be able to a slightly larger mounting depth at your own risk. 

I installed a Metra 82-9101 adapter, then a 6.5in woofer. NOTE: due to how this sits in the door cavity and the panel, I would suggest a Ring kit that had front and rear foam rings and the rings to be installed in the cavity. I used a Stinger RKFR6 foam ring kit. 








15 & 16. Rear Surround
These are located on the rear deck, under the grilles. 

(More coming soon)

17. Subwoofer
This is located inside the spare wheel located in the trunk. 

The stock speaker is a DVC 6.8in woofer installed in a ported box. The speaker is rated at 8ohm and 100w per channel.

(more coming soon)


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## Taylor (May 18, 2014)

2. Door and dash prep

I wanted a quiet and vibration-free vehicle, even more so than the stereo itself. While the Audi is quiet, to begin with, there was some room for improvement.

Full disclosure: I am a Systems Engineer and have no background in car-audio or anything auto-related. This is not a professional installation job, so please don't judge my lack of skills to harshly.

I chose to use Dynamat Superlite and 1/8in Dynaliner on each of the doors. I knew I wanted to use three separate layers of Dynamat; the outer shell, inner shell, and the door panel. I could have used regular grade Dynamat, but knowing I was using foam over it, I wanted to keep the door weight down and not worry about Audi's tight tolerances.

Front Doors
To remove the door panel, there are three screws (t25), one located under the armrest, the other under the 4in midrange speaker grille, and the last one is located under your wood/aluminum door trim near the door handle. With these three removed, using a panel remover tool you can pop the panel off and up to remove. With it free you will need to remove the door release cable and the wiring harness that connects to the door. Next, I removed the wiring harnesses mounting points and anything else that could be disconnected or removed from the door panel, including the speaker enclosure and the boot.














I was installing this into a 2-week old car that was immaculate to start with. For me, I was able to use Isotropic alcohol on the outer and inner shell and just let it dry before installing the Dynamat. 








I started with the outer shell. 








Next, I reinstalled the speaker enclosure and the boot so I could start on the inner shell.








Next, I installed the Dynamat on the door panel.
(pic coming soon)

Now it was time to install Dynaliner (Foam) on the inner shell. I wiped down the door and dynamat again with alcohol to remove any oils from installing the Dynamat. Once dry, I installed the 1/8 foam.








This completed the front door installation. Now, on to the rears.

I used the same process for these doors as the fronts.






















As for the dash, I removed the three grilles and placed a single layer of dynamat in those areas as well.







(more to come)


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## Taylor (May 18, 2014)

3. Trunk prep
For the trunk, I used the same process as the doors; remove the panels, remove any harness clips, clean with alcohol, a single layer of Dynamat and Foam. What differed here was that I used Stinger Extreme instead of Superlite, and I used 1/4in Dynaliner instead of the 1/8in on everything. Lastly, I used Dynapad under the flat carpeted area above the electronics.

For the trunk lid, I used Superlite on both the out shell and inner panel, and I used 1/8 dynaliner on the inner panel.

Removing the rear panels (more to come soon)

Removing the Trunk lid panels (more to come)

Notes: (more to come soon


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## Taylor (May 18, 2014)

4. Speaker choices

First, why did I pick each speaker?

Brands. I was open to most brands with a good reputation. Focal, AudioFrog, Morel, Hertz, etc. I had several sets of Focal over the years and I must admit I enjoy their colorful (often described as harsh) tweeters, so I must admit I had some slight bias towards them.

Now to each speaker.
Center Channel. The obvious limitation was the size and the overhang that may prevent any 4in speakers with any decent mounting depth to be installed. I wanted to stick with a 3.5 or 4in as I planned to run 400hz and up through it. I was impressed with the Utopias 3.5wm frequency response from 300hz to 8k hz, as well as its sensitivity matching most of the other speakers, and the power that I would be throwing at it. I think any decent midrange speaker would do well here, but I went a little overboard and decided on the Utopia 3.5. One piece of advice I received from a friend, "make sure your center is the same quality as your door speakers, or better, as this speaker will be asked to do more than any other speaker in the car if set up correctly."








Center Tweeter. I didn't know this space existed until after I purchased the Utopis 3.5 and went to install them. My thinking was I would only have one speaker for the center and I would need to run everything over 300hz to it. The focal M 3.5 is awesome but starts to struggle a little over 10k. An obvious solution was to add a 1in tweeter to cover that and having that location already there made it a no brainer for me. I also had this tweeter leftover from the Focal 100k2 component set that fit perfectly and matched the sensitivity and power handling i was looking for.

Upstage Tweeters: I had used a pair upstage tweeters from CDT audio way back in the day and I appreciated how well they worked for such a simple concept. With these already wired and installed, and having the TKMX from the Focal 165kx3 kit sitting around, I figured why not? So I installed these. Are they needed? Nope. Will they possibly make tuning more difficult, yep! So, depending on how the tuning goes, these may be changed or removed altogether.

Main tweeter location: Here I decided to try an AudioFrog GS25. I picked the GS25 for its size, but I chose it over the identical GB25 because it performed better on the top end and the extended power handling of the GB series wouldn't benefit me. Depending on how it sounds, and If the upstage tweeters make the sound worse, I may move the Focal TKMX tweeters down here and remove the AudioFrogs. The idea was to put the majority of vocals through this speaker, somewhere from 1800hz to 8k hz, and let the upstage tweeter handle 8k and above. Because of the axis of the upstage tweeter, this may not work. We will see how it goes and i will update this as it changes.

Door Midrange: This was a bit of a challenge to find the right speaker. I really wanted to go with the 4in over a 3.5 due to I was going to run lower midrange through it, something like 600hz to 1800hz. The mounting depth made this challenging at only 1.5in deep and the door panel was very close to the stock speaker, so using a thick adapter plate was not feasible. I found a sweet spot of using a .25in thick adapter allowed me to use the Focal ES 100 K2 driver. This barely fit! Test fitting showed that without the 1/16in weatherstripping installed on the rear of the speaker caused the magnet to touch the rear of the enclosure. I first put 1/4in weather stripping on the back, and the door panel started to rub on the surround when the speaker began to move. I think, in most setups, a 3.5 would have worked just fine.

Front Woofer. This was fairly easy compared to the others. Because of the sealed door enclosure, the frequencies I planned to run through it, and the power I was using throwing at it - I chose the Focal 165 FX3. I chose this one over the Utopia, Audiofrog GB60, and others for several reasons. First, this was designed to be a woofer, not a midrange like most 6.5in speakers. IMO, most speakers in this size are made to cover 60-3.5k+ hz to blend well with tweeters for a 2-way system. Because this was designed for their three-way system, they didn't design the 6.5 to perform as high as most 6.5 are designed to run, as the 3.5in driver was taking care of the midrange frequencies that normal 6.5 in two way systems are having to produce. It also allowed them to focus on the lower end, making this a better woofer than midrange (Fs is 54). With the high sensitivity (92), power handling that I wanted (240w), and a QTS (.48) that seem to perform better in a sealed enclosure like this. I felt this was a great speaker for this application and configuration. The Audiofrog GB65 would have been great too and was heavily considered.








Rear Tweeters - Rear speakers aren't all that important to me, but I do have people in the back seats most of the time so I wanted decent speakers back here. I went with the Focal TAM tweeters because they fit perfectly into the stock mounting locations, matched the power and sensitivity specs I was looking for in a rear speaker, and it came in the Focal 165 FXE set that I wanted for the rear doors (more on that later). Really, any decent tweeter with the same dimensions will work fine here.

Rear Woofers - I didn't want to spend much on rear speakers, but I still wanted something decent. The new Focal 165 FXE looked great because the Fs, Qts, and power handling made sense for this IF install with the ability to handle the frequencies and power I want to throw at it. Really, any decent 6.5 that is designed for an IF install will work well here.

Rear Surround Speakers - These are very shallow locations without a hard mounting point (think, very thick cardboard). I am not sure you could fit a decent 5.25 in speaker here with only a 1.5in depth. I chose the GB40 only because a friend had given them to me. I am working on a mounting plate for these and should have them installed soon. If i didn't already have the GB40's, I would look at the ES 76 from the KX3 kit. Otherwise, any decent 4 or 3.5 should work. Do you need this? No. Will it make it harder to tune? Yep!. WIll I keep these here? I dont know yet. We will see how it goes.

Subwoofer - This is still a work in progress. For now, the plan is to make a small ported box that is mounted to the underside of the rear deck, with both the speaker and port firing into the cabin. You can easily go with a large woofer in the spare tire area or an 8 or 10in in a fiberglass enclosure on the sides of the trunk. Heck, you can slap any sub in a prefab box in the trunk and call it a day. All of that is too easy for me. First, I didn't want any pressure in the trunk. I hate trunk rattles, hate it! Second, with how well the car is sound deadened, I would need to fold down a seat, or open space on the rear deck, to allow the sound to come through. I wasn't willing to do that. Third, I wasn't willing to take up any trunk space for it. The only solution was a box (sealed or vented) firing into the cabin. An IF install on the rear would put pressure into the trunk, so that was out. A large subwoofer in bandpass box, with vents firing into the cabin, was not considered because it would take up valuable trunk space. The rear deck has a 7x10 opening with a 4x4 opening located near it. I am having a box bade for a 6.8 woofer firing upwards through the 7x10 opening and the port firing through the 4x4 inch opening. I picked a vented design to help the lower end. I decide on the QEX-680 from CDT audio.


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## Taylor (May 18, 2014)

5. Speaker installs
(more to come)


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## Taylor (May 18, 2014)

6. Signal and amp setup (Nav-TV, JL AUdio VXi HUB and JL Audio Amps)
(In progress)


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## Taylor (May 18, 2014)

7. Subwoofer box build and install
(Coming soon)


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## Taylor (May 18, 2014)

8. Tuning 
(coming soon)


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## dcfis (Sep 9, 2016)

You crazy man, but i like it


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## Frequentflyer (Mar 3, 2020)

Wow, that is A LOT of drivers.... lots of pink noise in your future!


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## Taylor (May 18, 2014)

If it isn't difficult or crazy, I don't like it 

This was mainly inspired by the AudioFrog Mercedes.


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## Cayo71 (Apr 22, 2020)

I like your craziness. It will be fun tunning that system. Keep those updates coming.


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## naiku (May 28, 2008)

Cayo71 said:


> It will be fun tunning that system.


Yeah, I don't envy you trying to tune all of that. Hopefully it works out for you and you don't end up realizing that less is often times more when it comes to car audio. 

Regardless though, great build log so far and with a lot of well presented information.


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## Taylor (May 18, 2014)

I won’t be doing the tuning, I will leave that to a professional.


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## Snax OG (Mar 24, 2011)

I have an A6 (C7) as well with the B&O and often thought of replacing the speakers. Well the sub I have already (2 10's oldschool pro-tech in an IB) but everything else is oem. I'm really loving this build tho. Keep the pics coming


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## vsaudi (Nov 27, 2012)

Taylor said:


> I have a build thread I started if you are interested.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Taylor
I share your insanity but decided to delete center stage due to past experience. Decided to go with 12 ch DSP for 3-way active front stage and passive rear then tune with audifrog and REW software.


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## bruce_miranda (Jul 8, 2018)

Wow, subscribed. 
I went for a couple of Faitalpro 3FE22 in the dashboard ends and a 3FE32 as the Centre channel + B&O OEM Centre tweeter on my A5. Those were the only speakers I could get to fit in those weird locations and those sizes.


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## vsaudi (Nov 27, 2012)

Taylor said:


> 6. Signal and amp setup (Nav-TV, JL AUdio VXi HUB and JL Audio Amps)
> (In progress)
> View attachment 270589


Taylor
I had some issues with software on NavTV Zen V when I first loaded it. There was recent firmware update that seems to work now. The key is making sure car has powered down. This takes maybe a minute or two. Then unplug power and most connection. Then update firmware with usb cable. 
V


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## vsaudi (Nov 27, 2012)

User2 said:


> My brain starts hurting with just the image of sitting in the car with a laptop, REW and a microphone, and I don't even know how to tune!


That is what I thought until I went through the tuning instructions from Andy at audiofrog. Really not too bad. 


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## Taylor (May 18, 2014)

Still waiting for Re-opening Stage 3 to get the car finished up.

I am going to ditch the CDT Audio subwoofer for a Focal P 20 FSE.

Still trying to find someone with a lot of JL Tuning experience to finish it off. 

Hoping to have an update on the amp installs in 2 weeks.


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## ProYoda (Jun 5, 2020)

Taylor said:


> View attachment 270511


What software did you use to create your system diagrams?


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Any updates with this, or did you call it quits ?


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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

ya what's happening with the build ? Waiting to see some picssssss


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

I’m feeling that he has bailed on us, well I wish him well with all that he did have done.


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## Cooper81 (Jun 4, 2021)

vsaudi said:


> Taylor
> I share your insanity but decided to delete center stage due to past experience. Decided to go with 12 ch DSP for 3-way active front stage and passive rear then tune with audifrog and REW software.
> [/QUO





Taylor said:


> Hi,
> 
> I am posting my build for my 2020 Audi A6, Premium Plus package with Band and Olfsen factory stereo.
> 
> ...


I would like to compliment you about the system.
Just for curiosity: have you used the original speaker wires or you run new cables?

Lucio


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## vsaudi (Nov 27, 2012)

Cooper81 said:


> I would like to compliment you about the system.
> Just for curiosity: have you used the original speaker wires or you run new cables?
> 
> Lucio


Ran new wires to Molex at door. There are two sets of wires going through door molex and I used one for mid and one for bass. Then ran wire all the way to tweeters in a-frame lower location. Stock b&o had a single set of wires that went from dsp to front then split with capacitor for mid in door and lower a-frame tweeter. 
Had to do a little wiring in door after molex exit as Focals had different harness connection. 


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## bbfoto (Aug 28, 2005)

vsaudi said:


> Ran new wires to Molex at door. There are two sets of wires going through door molex and I used one for mid and one for bass. Then ran wire all the way to tweeters in a-frame lower location. Stock b&o had a single set of wires that went from dsp to front then split with capacitor for mid in door and lower a-frame tweeter.
> 
> Had to do a little wiring in door after molex exit as Focals had different harness connection.


What speakers and subwoofers (and speaker locations) did you end up actually using in the Audi, and which ones, if any, did you omit?

Were you able to find someone to tune it for you?

As of now, I know that the JL VXi DSPs don't have a dedicated center channel upmixer algorithm, so I'm curious as to how that was handled or tuned to provide a good front soundstage and imaging?


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## Cooper81 (Jun 4, 2021)

vsaudi said:


> Ran new wires to Molex at door. There are two sets of wires going through door molex and I used one for mid and one for bass. Then ran wire all the way to tweeters in a-frame lower location. Stock b&o had a single set of wires that went from dsp to front then split with capacitor for mid in door and lower a-frame tweeter.
> Had to do a little wiring in door after molex exit as Focals had different harness connection.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Very good.
I’m currently starting the installation of my Audi A6 system.
I start from a basic OEM system which is requiring me to reprogram the motherboard in order to activate the fiber optical port. I will have to get the bundle offered by NAV-TV with Zen V. Then I will go for a simple 2 way system in the front plus subwoofer in box reflex in the trunk custom made.
For the rear I will have a simple 2 way system which will stay off unless I have passengers seating in the back.
The system will be completely active, monitored by a DSP Audison BIT HD.
Front: Amplifier 5 channel Audison Voce HD which will pilot a pair of Woofer Focal Utopia and a pair of tweeter Scanspeak Illuminator R3004. Last, the subwoofer in Reflex, brand Ciare but customized by Blue-Wave Italy.
In the back I will have a simple Alpine 4 channel for a kit 2 way from Coral Electronics. (Another Italian brand).
Everything will be mounted In the original slot but the front tweeter which will go on the front pillar in a custom made brackets.

Pictures will follow.


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## Cooper81 (Jun 4, 2021)

Taylor said:


> I won’t be doing the tuning, I will leave that to a professional.


Hi Tyler,
Did you finish your amazing stereo system?


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