Stereo dilemma

stevec

stevec

Member
Wales
Hi All
Wondering which way to go on reinstalling a stereo system into an A2.
The car in question is the free A2 that A2steve gave to my sister minus the complete Bose set up.
Firstly have sourced speakers/tweeters to refit into doors and an Alpine single cd with blue tooth to go in dash with the stereo dash fitting kick .
As stereo isn't can bus ready, I need to buy a connecting harness with ignition generator(to use to turn stereo on/off etc).
Now this is where my dilemma kicks in.
Do I wire stereo speaker outputs directly to door speakers via original harness? Possible heat issues from stereo in dash??
Or do I look to keep it OEM and source a Blaupunkt amplifier(for rear speakers) and wire original harness back into that?
Or do I source a 4 channel amplifier to replace the Bose amplifier system, Utilize the front and rear pre-outs on the stereo to run to the amplifier
Either way I face a fair bit of wiring from stereo head unit to the foot well storage area.
The original Audi stereo to Bose amplifier harness is only meant to supply audio signals(low power) to the amplifier.
Thanks
 
The drive units you have, are they OEM Bose, OEM non Bose, or aftermarket?
Is all the original wiring, including the Bose amp connectors, still present and correct?
Mac.
 
HI
The bose setup was removed by A2steve. Think he cut a section out of original bose amplifier harness with plug. All other audi connections are in place(head unit etc) The original Audi chorus tape unit hasn't been plugged back in(I'm assuming it is in good working condition).
The speakers that will be fitted are original audi (non bose)
Don't have any amplifiers at present(apart from 4 channel onboard stereo amp)
 
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All (probably) head units, including the OEM Chorus and Concert, can drive front and rear, left and right speakers. So, depending on the height of fi you want, you could drive the new speakers direct from the HU. The power output stages of modern HUs are pretty good, so the extra cost and complexity of an aftermarket amp would be, for me, hard to justify.
As the car was Bose, there will be no wiring from the HU to the speakers.
I think I'd run new wiring (flat multi-core), from the HU to a point, probably the original Bose amp location, where you can pick up the speaker outputs from the Bose amp to the speakers themselves. Not as easy to do as to say though. Might be easier to ignore existing speaker wiring (from Bose amp) altogether, and run the new wiring all the way from HU to each speaker position. Less hassle trying to work out which wire is which!
Just my first, early morning thoughts.
Good luck, and could be an interesting thread.
Mac.
 
PlasticMac said:
All (probably) head units, including the OEM Chorus and Concert, can drive front and rear, left and right speakers.
Click to expand...
Audi head units (Chorus 1&2, Concert 1&2, Symphony 1&2, RNS-D&E, etc) only have a 2-channel amplifier for the front speakers. There are no amplified outputs for rear speakers. Rear outputs are line-level only, meaning that an external amp is required if speakers are fitted in the rear doors.

Cheers,

Tom
 
timmus said:
Audi head units (Chorus 1&2, Concert 1&2, Symphony 1&2, RNS-D&E, etc) only have a 2-channel amplifier for the front speakers. There are no amplified outputs for rear speakers. Rear outputs are line-level only, meaning that an external amp is required if speakers are fitted in the rear doors.

Cheers,

Tom
Click to expand...
Of course, sorry to mislead. I'm guessing the Alpine does have front and rear speaker outputs though?
Mac.
 
Hi.
Yes the Alpine unit has a 4x40watt amp on the headunit, but as said concerned about heat build up. Not much room behind unit to dissipate heat. That's what got me thinking about a 4 channel amp in footwell as power cables and the like are almost there.
 
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