Nils --

I hesitate to tell someone with over 50 well-reasoned posts on the BBS how to set up his stereo, but a quick sampling shows that most (if not all) of your writings tend towards the technical aspects of the empeg as compared to audiophile interests. In that regard, we are exact opposites, so maybe what I say will be useful.

Unless there are things I don't know about your Audi's sound system (maybe the speakers are made out of a special unobtainium alloy with super conducting voice coils or something) I am astonished by the paucity of the sound system in your very expensive car. I really don't see how you are going to get good sound quality from four inch speakers and a six inch "subwoofer". The frequency response ranges you will achieve with this setup are very limited. Those 4" (110 mm) speakers, unless they are co-axials with built-in tweeters aren't going to give you much high treble, and they won't give you much mid-bass either. The single 6" speaker (15cm) will give you nice response in the mid-bass range, but one speaker in the back of the car to handle all your mid-bass isn't going to be satisfactory. As for bass and sub-bass, you will have nothing below about 80 Hz. A six inch speaker just is NOT a subwoofer!

There -- now that I've finished trashing your car (which is certainly a much nicer car than my 14 year old station wagon!) look at this as an opportunity to fix what Audi should have done right in the first place. I am assuming that since you are spending probably $1500 on an empeg (you are going to go at least 10GB aren't you?) you won't mind spending another few hundred on good speakers, properly sized for optimum performance.

You need tweeters. I have had exceptional success with the MB Quart RKB-100 4" co-axial speakers. Replace your two front speakers with those (about $200--$250 USD) and you won't believe the differrence you hear. Get rid of the two 4" speakers in the back, replace them with a pair of 6" speakers (in the doors if feasible) and replace the 6 inch "subwoofer" with a 10 inch, or if you are a real bass head, a 12 inch but I don't recommend that because you will lose some of the crispness, or punch in your bass and sub bass. Explore the possibility of a free-air subwoofer so you don't have to fill your whole trunk with a huge speaker box.

You won't need a lot of power to drive this setup. I have found that a 100 watt amp for all the small speakers, plus a separate 50 watt amp for the 10" is plenty, and gives you lots of configuration and tuning options.

I have no idea where you will put all this stuff, but my experience is that you want to take your time making the decisions -- be creative, measure to see where things might fit, talk to experienced installers like Dominic at Cambridge Car Audio who has solutions to problems you didn't even know existed and has seen hundreds of very clever installations.

Don't rush into it and you can have a really outstanding sound system in a very desirable car. (** he says turning green with envy**)

tanstaafl.



"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"