[suparockin]

Hello everyone,
I'm new to the forum, from Sydney Australia (please keep the kangaroo jokes to a minimum LOL!).
I've ordered a new Q3, 125 TSFI S-Line with Teknik Pack (MMI, Xenons etc) but my budget couldn't stretch to the Bose stereo, plus I'm not a huge fan of Bose in general.
I was wondering if anyone has done an aftermarket upgrade to their Q3?
I am thinking of upgrading the speakers in the doors and putting one of these in the boot -
http://www.pioneer.com.au/au/products/25/131/201/TS-WX610A/page.html
Or one of these under the seats -
http://www.pioneer.com.au/au/products/25/131/201/TS-WX110A/page.html
I'm sure someone here has done something similar?

 

[rontheman]

In my experience, amplified sub woofers are a waste of money, and I am doubtful as to the benefit of upgrading door speakers, especially if you aren't adding an amplifier for them. If you are powering new door speakers from the existing amplifier, then I would suggest you are wasting your money.

I don't know how much the Bose upgrade is in Australia, but I would suggest by the time you have bought new door speakers, plus the amplified sub woofer, and installed them (either by you or a third party), and bearing in mind that you are clearly an audiophile, then I would suggest it makes more sense to simply go for the Bose. The sound isn't that bad. Also, Audi do an Audi sound system option, which is somewhere between the standard system and the Bose (and which I have) and might well be worth considering.

 

[SemiQ]

I would also order the Audi Sound System instead of those Pioneer thingies - unless you are really planning to upgrade to something better. The original bass speaker is not really a subwoofer so it should be relatively easy to get better DIY results (i.e., building the subwoofer from scratch).

Changing the door speakers might be slightly laborious – so because of that I wouldn't consider anything too cheap (do it once, do it right). For example, some two or three way 6.5” system with neodymium magnets (requires less space) could be a good choice (e.g., DLS UP6i could be one option).

Of course, then you would also need an amplifier and so on. <!-- Font Definitions @font-face font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-atther; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0; @font-face font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-atther; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0; @font-face font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0; Style Definitions p.Msonormal, li.Msonormal, div.Msonormal mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; .MsoChpDefault mso-style-:ex-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; @page WordSection1 size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:70.85pt 2.0cm 70.85pt 2.0cm; mso-er-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0; div.WordSection1 page:WordSection1; I would also order Audi System instead of those Pioneer thingies - unless you are really planning to upgrade to something better. The original bass speaker is not really a subwoofer so it should be relatively easy to get better DIY results i.e., building the subwoofer from scratch.

Changing the door speakers might be slightly laborious – so because of that I wouldn't consider anything too cheap (do it once, do it right). For example, some two or three way 6.5” system with neodymium magnets (requires less space) could be a good choice (e.g., DLS UP6i could be one option).

Of course, then you would also need an amplifier and so on.

-->Edited by: SemiQ

 

[Hannu]

In my experience, amplified sub woofers are a waste of money, and I am doubtful as to the benefit of upgrading door speakers, especially if you aren't adding an amplifier for them. If you are powering new door speakers from the existing amplifier, then I would suggest you are wasting your money.

I don't know how much the Bose upgrade is in Australia, but I would suggest by the time you have bought new door speakers, plus the amplified sub woofer, and installed them (either by you or a third party), and bearing in mind that you are clearly an audiophile, then I would suggest it makes more sense to simply go for the Bose. The sound isn't that bad. Also, Audi do an Audi sound system option, which is somewhere between the standard system and the Bose (and which I have) and might well be worth considering.

I've order the Audi system simply because I thought the Bose was a tad expensive for what you got. Is the Audi system any good ??

 

[suparockin]

In my experience, amplified sub woofers are a waste of money, and I am doubtful as to the benefit of upgrading door speakers, especially if you aren't adding an amplifier for them. If you are powering new door speakers from the existing amplifier, then I would suggest you are wasting your money.

I don't know how much the Bose upgrade is in Australia, but I would suggest by the time you have bought new door speakers, plus the amplified sub woofer, and installed them (either by you or a third party), and bearing in mind that you are clearly an audiophile, then I would suggest it makes more sense to simply go for the Bose. The sound isn't that bad. Also, Audi do an Audi sound system option, which is somewhere between the standard system and the Bose (and which I have) and might well be worth considering.

Sorry, I should have mentioned that I would change out the rear speakers and run them off the head unit then put an amp in the boot to run the new front speakers.
I don't have much choice in the subwoofer, I had an enclosure built for my Tiguan but it did get frustrating not being able to use the boot.
My wifes Bose system in her Renault Koleos has a sub that sits inside her spare wheel and it sounds alright, I presumed that the Bose system for the Audi Q3 would be something similar?
I can't get the Bose for my car as it would tip over the limit of AU$60K with the other options I got and that was the limit from my company, I'm allowed to do some aftermarket additions.

 

[rontheman]

I hear what you say, but my comments still stand. A boot based amplified sub woofer is basically a boom box, no finesse, no control of sound, just boom, thump, boom, thump. If you don't take the bass sounds out of the main speakers, then you are missing the point of having a sub woofer.

I don't know, but I would be surprised if the standard Q3 set up had all the outputs necessary to handle 2 external amps (ie your new one for the front speakers, plus the amp for the sub woofer) as well as cross overs to separate the sound output into high, mid and low range sound. Once you stripped out the bass from the internal speakers, the original amplifier (80 watt, I believe) would likely be adequate to run upgraded internal speakers for high and mid range sound.

And I doubt the MMI operates like a normal head unit. Most likely is that the MMI output goes into an amplifier which then feeds the speakers, and I think it wouldn't be that easy, or indeed that wise, to start delving around the car wiring to connect up the system you are talking about. Even if it was, you would need to spend an awful lot of money to build a system that gave a meaningful improvement in sound. And remember it might compromise the warranty, as well as the sound and tone settings on the MMI

 

[suparockin]

I hear what you say, but my comments still stand. A boot based amplified sub woofer is basically a boom box, no finesse, no control of sound, just boom, thump, boom, thump. If you don't take the bass sounds out of the main speakers, then you are missing the point of having a sub woofer.

I don't know, but I would be surprised if the standard Q3 set up had all the outputs necessary to handle 2 external amps (ie your new one for the front speakers, plus the amp for the sub woofer) as well as cross overs to separate the sound output into high, mid and low range sound. Once you stripped out the bass from the internal speakers, the original amplifier (80 watt, I believe) would likely be adequate to run upgraded internal speakers for high and mid range sound.

And I doubt the MMI operates like a normal head unit. Most likely is that the MMI output goes into an amplifier which then feeds the speakers, and I think it wouldn't be that easy, or indeed that wise, to start delving around the car wiring to connect up the system you are talking about. Even if it was, you would need to spend an awful lot of money to build a system that gave a meaningful improvement in sound. And remember it might compromise the warranty, as well as the sound and tone settings on the MMI

This is what I did to my Tiguan, it ended up costing around AU$4,000
Here is that install -http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/f97/installing-sound-system-tiguan-audio-upgrade-38398.html
The way I work it out -
New Fronts = $500 a pairNew rears = $300 a pairUnderseat/boot sub = $400Small amp = $250Wiring/install = $750
Total = $2200.
Of course it would have been better to get the Bose (easier anyway) but I didn't get that option, this will work, the MMI shouldn't be much different to the RNS510 that I had in the VW.

 

[rontheman]

You are clearly an audiophile, but the main difference between your old Tiguan system and what you are proposing here, from what I can see, is the subwoofer. The old system uses an enormous sub (15"?) whereas your new setup is non-existent in comparison.

Do let us know how the new system perform. Would be interesting!

 

[suparockin]

You are clearly an audiophile, but the main difference between your old Tiguan system and what you are proposing here, from what I can see, is the subwoofer. The old system uses an enormous sub (15"?) whereas your new setup is non-existent in comparison.

Do let us know how the new system perform. Would be interesting!

Oh, for sure. My Tiguan' system is super-sized, it gives you a real punch at the low-end.
But the undersea sub should 'round out' the frequency enough to make it a good sounding system.
Got a quote of $300 to strip the old gear from the Tiguan so that will save me from buying a new Audison Bitone processor and new amps at least.

 

[SemiQ]

I would be also interested to hear how/where to get the line level audio signal for the subwoofer (in case of non audi sound system setup - no subwoofer at all).

It might be that the sound system is not using traditional line level cables to transfer the audio signal from the head unit to the subwoofer amp.

If anything else fails then there is still an option to use speaker-level inputs of some amps. Of course, I would prefer the low-level (i.e., line-level) signals.

 

[SemiQ]

This is what I did to my Tiguan, it ended up costing around AU$4,000
Here is that install -http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/f97/installing-sound-system-tiguan-audio-upgrade-38398.html
The way I work it out -
New Fronts = $500 a pairNew rears = $300 a pairUnderseat/boot sub = $400Small amp = $250Wiring/install = $750
Total = $2200.
Of course it would have been better to get the Bose (easier anyway) but I didn't get that option, this will work, the MMI shouldn't be much different to the RNS510 that I had in the VW.

Nice setup

If you would do a similar setup to your Q3 would you add Dynamat to doors again?

 

[Hannu]

Can anyone tell me if the upgraded Audi system I have order is worthwhile ??? or have I wasted my money and should have gone for the Bose system that the wife wont let me have ??I know it not in the league talked about here after seeing the VW set up, wow.

 

[suparockin]

This is what I did to my Tiguan, it ended up costing around AU$4,000
Here is that install -http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/forums/f97/installing-sound-system-tiguan-audio-upgrade-38398.html
The way I work it out -
New Fronts = $500 a pairNew rears = $300 a pairUnderseat/boot sub = $400Small amp = $250Wiring/install = $750
Total = $2200.
Of course it would have been better to get the Bose (easier anyway) but I didn't get that option, this will work, the MMI shouldn't be much different to the RNS510 that I had in the VW.

Nice setup

If you would do a similar setup to your Q3 would you add Dynamat to doors again?

Yeah, Dynamat is freaking amazing stuff - it really stops any noise from getting into the cabin and makes the speakers really resonate.
If you have the trims off then you may as well.

 

[suparockin]

I would be also interested to hear how/where to get the line level audio signal for the subwoofer (in case of non audi sound system setup - no subwoofer at all).

It might be that the sound system is not using traditional line level cables to transfer the audio signal from the head unit to the subwoofer amp.

If anything else fails then there is still an option to use speaker-level inputs of some amps. Of course, I would prefer the low-level (i.e., line-level) signals.

That's where the Audison Bitone comes in (I think, remember I got an installer to do the VW), have a look here -
http://www.audison.eu/index.php?page=product&id=49

Although, thinking back I'm pretty sure I could have got away without it in the VW as there was already a LFE line out on the VW head unit and I presume the same thing is there on the Audi.

 

[SemiQ]

Can anyone tell me if the upgraded Audi system I have order is worthwhile ??? or have I wasted my money and should have gone for the Bose system that the wife wont let me have ??I know it not in the league talked about here after seeing the VW set up, wow.

I think you have made a good decision.

 

[niftydoniv]

Dear All,I'm new to this forum and I own a Audi Q3 too Very happy with the Car, it has a basic Audi sound system. I'm planning to add a sub woofer in the boot, just like how suparockin started this thread.Has anyone done this recently, any suggestions on this would be highly appreciatedThanks