Sensible upgrade from non Bose system

[MrHooky]

So I've had the S8 for about 2 months now and I must admit that the non-Bose system is a bit poor. I've got a 2004 8N TT which has Bose and the sound is much better.

My question is, how easy is it to upgrade the non-Bose? Are all speakers on the Bose system upgraded? Is there a dedicated sub? The Bose in my TT just sounds a lot warmer and has much better base. If I could just get a bit more base I'd be pleased.

Not wanting to spend a fortune but if there's a quick and easy upgrade I'd be interested...

[mannyo]

The Bose system in the D2 is very different to the non Bose system. For example the Bose system has no tweeters in the rear doors, unlike the non Bose one. The Bose amp is mounted in the boot and drives all the speakers, the non Bose is driven by a mixture of the headunit and smaller amps directly on the speakers. On the D2 Bose the rear deck speakers are both Subs.

[PsYcHe]

And I think the wiring loom is very different (unsurprisingly).

[MrHooky]

OK all noted thanks.

So my question remains as to whether there's an 'easy' upgrade that can be done, better speakers in the parcel shelf for example, or an additional sub to be placed somewhere whilst retaining the head unit?

Even typing the above though now makes me thing can I really be bothered...!?

[IT]

Almost without exception, car audio upgrade results are directly proportional to the effort exerted +++

If you change one bit, the rest is still going to let it down. Worse still, the 'upgrade' might make the whole thing sound rubbish. Often a poorly installed hack leads to interference / feedback and its not good.

I've done a few Bose retrofits in the past. Its not hard, but it is time consuming. You will need to remove the seats, carpets and door cards to do it properly. To put some scale on, it'd take me about 12 hours end to end already knowing exactly where nut and bolt goes. (don't get excited, i'm not offering lol)

On the plus side, the audio loom is a separate plug and play item so there is no nasty wire splicing required. a8parts may well be able to supply the correct one for your car if you ask, or better still a full kit.

If audio is important to you on a D2, then Bose is the best you can practically get.

[Goran]

I can vouch for that, staying away from badly done aftermarket upgrades. Someone did a hack on my S8 splicing some sort of MP3/CD player into the RNS-D. There is interference and whining noise coming from the speakers proportional to engine speed / volume.
Personally I cant wait to upgrade to proper Audi Bose and ditch this badly done 'upgrade'.
Plus in my case they ruined the original loom so I need a new loom anyway.

[HPsauce]

What really annoys me is that my FL S8 is non-Bose but my son's S4 has Bose!
And an RNS-E.

[PsYcHe]

But.. is S4 Bose as good as D2 standard? I was hideously unimpressed by the B&O on an A4 I had recently.

[IT]

But.. is S4 Bose as good as D2 standard? I was hideously unimpressed by the B&O on an A4 I had recently.

I think all the Bose of that era were pretty similar quality to be fair.

The D3 Bose is way better than the D2, but obviously way inferior to the scrummy B&O.

Why they chose to cheapen the B&O brand by creating that awful low cost version in the A4's / A5's is beyond me. It truly is hideous.

The B&O in the Q7 is awesome..... Really fills the extra space nicely, possibly better, than the smaller cars +++

[ToreBj]

I have D2 FL with and without bose. I was not very impressed with either before I upgraded to RNS-E in both of them. This made a big difference and I would say that they are not that different when it comes to bass and power. I see no need to "upgrade" further.

The W12 had a ******* solution with some of the original speakers and some new and a huge Hifi amplifier. As someone else also indicated, if you mix original and new stuff you end up in trouble. Especially the Bose loudspeakers have a very low impedance which does not work well with most amplifiers. I ripped it all out and put the Bose loudspeakers&amplifier back. Lots of mess with the original wiring, but I finally made it back to original.

[moltuae]

The W12 had a ******* solution

A seven letter profanity!

I'm impressed .... and somewhat intrigued!

Do tell, what was it? :D

[ToreBj]

Well, the previous owner had installed all a mix of things he thought was an improvement where I totally disagreed. Fortunately the car came with everything he had taken out, so it was a matter of bringing it back to original shape with Bose.

The profanity word is what you get when you have a mix of two dog rases. :)

[MrHooky]

The profanity word is what you get when you have a mix of two dog rases. :)

Would have thought mongrel would have been fine to say on here...!

Thanks for all the responses on this. Much appreciated. I would ideally have like to have gone for a Bose car but when buying used other things such as mileage and colour are more desirable to me.

I do just enjoy a slightly better stereo in my 2004 Bose Audi TT. It's not perfect but is a lot clearer so feels slightly odd then driving my more luxo S8 in all its double glazed electric loveliness to have an inferior stereo.

I think I'll just keep as is as it's not a terrible stereo as standard, I just expected better for what was a £60k car new...

[Phil303]

Intersting to find this thread as I was wondering how to improve the non-Bose audio. Would replacing the speakers make any noticeable difference?

I had Bose in my 2002 A4 and it was fantastic. As mentioned above, for the cost of the car when new the standard audio system is crap.

[Oko]

I've been trying to find out some solid information on the non-Bose system, and this is what I've got:

Front speakers are amplified by the head unit (RNS-D in my case).
Rear speakers are amplified by the rear shelf speakers, which also act as subs. (The part# on them matches the BOSE rear shelf speakers, at least).

I've not yet opened up the doors to check on my assumptions.
But if my assumptions hold true, I think the easiest solution to get my plan of a tablet running the place of the RNS-D would go as such:
Plug the tablet via 3.5mm->RCA into a 2-channel amplifier, plugging the front speakers into this amplifier. This leaves two channels for the rear seats unamplified for the OEM speakers to do it. Because screw the people on the backseat. I'm driving.
This way, I would have little need to do any extra wiring beyond the small 2-channel amplifier for the front seats. Might as well make it a four channel amp, and plug in a sub too while I'm at it. Or just use an active sub and rob the signal from the rear speakers, installing the sub beneath the rear shelf.

Now, since I know nothing of this stuff, where am I going wrong?