# Audi A4 Avant (B6) OEM-Look SQ Install



## DiamondFanatic (Dec 26, 2007)

This is my build thread for my build from March 2011 in my 2003 Audi A4 Avant. I completed this install shortly after finishing my degree during spring break before starting my full time job. I would like to thank Brad Scott of Brad's Car Tunes in Eugene, Oregon for making this build possible. Brad hired me to work for him when I was a 16 year old high school student that didn't know anything about car audio and taught me a ton along the way. At the time I did this build I had been out of the industry for about two years. Brad generously let me bring down my tools and my gear work on my build at his shop. If you are in Eugene and looking to have some work done to your personal car I can't say enough good things about the guys at Car Tunes.

Here is my car before it started (totally stock):

































The goal of this install was to keep the stock appearance from the outside due to me living in downtown Portland at the time. For this reason the stock headunit (Bose Symphony II) was retained. The rest of the gear used in the install:

McIntosh MC4000M
Hybrid Audio L6
Hybrid Audio L1PRO
Pioneer TSW-12PRS
AudioControl DQX (Which died and was replaced with a JBL MS-8)

The installation accessories used are:
Dynamat Xtreme
Dynaxorbs (had these in my toolbox for a long time, finally used them)
Kicker wire
Audison distribution block
Kinetik HC600


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## DiamondFanatic (Dec 26, 2007)

Wiring:
Power Wire Routing:
As I mentioned, I had decided to run a Kinetik HC600 powercell for a little extra juice. The Kinetik was to be mounted in the rear cargo area, behind some conveniend access panels. 

Removed the battery, after fumbling around a bit trying to snake 1/0 wire through the small grommet I wanted I noticed this large access grommet next to it:









It was much easier to route the wire that way. Then I pulled the engine compartment end back through the small grommet I wanted:









Then I trimmed the grommet and installed it to protect the cable:









Cable fits great around the battery:









Fuse holder was mounted nearby, it is a digital voltage display Tsunami I had laying around:









Conveniently there was an open spot on the power distribution point at the factory terminal:









Even fits under the cover:









Inside the cabin I ran the wires along the factory wire management system. In this shot you can also see the speaker wire (these pictures aren't in order  ):








Another wiring management shot:








This was a lot of wire, but conveniently Audi left a nice trough to run the wire through. With the factory foam insulation and thick carpet back in place you can't tell its even there. 

From the right rear sill, I was able to route the cables this really conveninet way in this tunnel over the right rear strut tower:









From this point on the wires needed for the install were all conveniently placed in the right side of the cargo area.

Kinetik HC600:
To mount the Kinetik powercell and the distribution block in the place where the factory sub enclosure fit behind the right tail lamp. I made a basic box out of MDF:









Then I vinyl wrapped it and mounted the distribution block:









With the power wire from the front battery terminated:









Cover on, positive and ground for the amp connected and wires bundled:









To ground the Kinetik I used a Tsunami ground block I had:









Once the ground block was mounted, and the rest of the wires were secured the area around the kinetik looks like this:









I used clear heat shrink and a label maker to clearly label each wire and terminate the techflex. An example of the labeling used on each wire:









Early picture of testing out the connections prior to mounting the amp (also shows the de-trimmed cargo area):


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## DiamondFanatic (Dec 26, 2007)

Factory Interface:
To maintain use of the factory Bose Symphony II radio I had to create a harness to integrate the new processor in. I didn't want to cut any of the connectors on the car harness, so I used the connector out of the factory amp. This was actually a straightforward process:

Factory amp:









First I opened up the case:









Seemed like a shame to cut apart a perfectly good amp, but I wanted to save the car harness so thats what I did! Here is the connector I needed:









Once I had the connector, I was able to use half of an RCA cable to splice in for signal. I used other 18ga wires to tap in to the turn on signal, ground, and 12V.









After soldering the wires to the connector I shrunk the heat shrink to protect the connection:









Because I was worried about the shrink ratio for the smaller pins, I used some of my nicer large heatshrink over groups of them:









At this point, my integration harness was complete. The harness was capable of providing turn on, 12V, ground, and front left and right RCA outputs from the factory head unit.


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## DiamondFanatic (Dec 26, 2007)

Amp Mounting:
I was concerned mounting an amp as big as the MC4000M would not be an easy task. When I de-trimmed the rear cargo area I was pleasantly surprised:









As you can see, the amp is approximately the same width as the factory plastic tray that sits around the spare tire under the floor. How cool is that?

After some more measurements, I committed to fitting the amp where the rear of the plastic tray was.









Good thing it fit as planned after the cut!









With everything going according to plan I whipped up a mounting plate using some MDF and T-nuts. The mounting plate allowed me to avoid drilling any holes in the body, instead I re-used existing holes.









Then I coated it in resin:









Resin was ugly, so I covered the panel in black vinyl:









After covering the panel, I installed it in the car with the amp. I think it looks nice and clean. I was able to get some stainless security screws to mount the amp to the panel with.









Next came wiring it up:









Reassembly in progress:









DQX mounted:









Here is the look after all the trim was re-installed. If you ask me an MC4000M flushed in the factory floor is a pretty sweet sight! 









With that, I have hit my upload limit for Flickr for the month. As much as I hate to do it, thats it for the uploads until it resets. Then I can show the less glamorous parts of the build, the doors and pillars


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## DiamondFanatic (Dec 26, 2007)

Reserved- Doors


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## DiamondFanatic (Dec 26, 2007)

Reserved- Pillars


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## DiamondFanatic (Dec 26, 2007)

Reserved - Amp/Sub Mounting


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

:snacks:


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## PTAudi (May 18, 2009)

Any development on this? hehe I am doing a build on my Audi A4 as well


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## flecom (Mar 31, 2008)

mmm MC4000M... fav car amp, too bad it does not fit in my car! :cry2:


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## vwtoby (Oct 28, 2005)

looking forward to this too!


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## PTAudi (May 18, 2009)

Yes very nice of a amp and is a monster in size! 
I am doing a similar build, well, redoing my old and in with the new! 
Going Morel drivers paired with Genesis Amps and more importantly, having BING from Simplicity in Sound doing the install! :laugh:


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## t0mas (Jan 5, 2013)

I will follow this build too, I'm doing an install in an Audi A6 and looking for useful pointers.


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## Coppertone (Oct 4, 2011)

Did this build fall off of the face of the earth?


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## JayinMI (Oct 18, 2008)

He hasn't been on since end of November. Might be a while.

Jay


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## anthony914 (May 22, 2008)

Did you finish this? Could you upload the pictures for the pillars and doors? Tried to PM you but your inbox is full.


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