Basic car audio upgrade for the Audi A3
When you have a free day between projects and a client has one day to do something, you see stories like this one. A man called us and said he had one day, an Audi A3, and a task: improve the sound system in it.
It’s a difficult task. One day on a car like this is nothing. But if you know the secrets of car audio, are familiar with the equipment and cars, and know where and what will work best, everything works!
So, we have one workday. And an Audi A3, which needs speakers replaced in all four doors to make the music sound noticeably better. What are we doing? We won’t have time to do the soundproofing. We’ll just need to selectively seal the doors in the loudest areas. We won’t have time for the amplifier. Just the speakers in their original locations.
At this stage, the biggest responsibility is choosing the right speakers. It’s good that we have them. People who heard them at the booth couldn’t believe that speakers at that price could sound so good. An Audi A3 owner also listened to various kits at the booth and agreed that the PHD CF 6.1 kit sounded much brighter and more natural than the others.
We work directly with the manufacturer. All PHD lines are made in Italy. Hand-cleaned. They craft these speakers with passion. Italian soul. So, we took two two-piece kits, found the right spacers in our warehouse, and got started!
The front door before our intervention:
Front door After our intervention:
Ideally, of course, we’d keep the front speaker size the same. The factory size is 20 cm. If you’re not planning on adding a subwoofer, it’s better to use speakers with a larger cone. But we only had 16 cm speakers, so using CARAV 14-034 20 cm to 16 cm adapters, we connected the PHD CF 6.1 kit speakers. I’d just like to point out that 16 cm speakers can often sound significantly better than 20 cm speakers. However, the latter have one clear advantage solely due to the cone size – they produce more bass.
The rear speakers were installed using the factory spacers, which we modified slightly. The mounting depth for the speakers in the rear door was so tight that there were no other options:
The standard tweeter location in the Audi A3 is in the side pillars. We installed PHD tweeters there.
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Our knees were shaking when we turned on the new audio system after installation and connection. Without an amplifier, without high-quality audio preparation, when everything was rushed. Of course, we listened to the PHD in the car, connected directly to the factory radio, and the results were amazing. But every time it was like the first time. We’re always excited when we hand over cars with new music.
Without going into too much detail, it turned out well! Yes, the subwoofer is needed. The processor amplifier, too. But the stock sound has improved significantly. And we thank the Italians for their high-quality products – thanks to them, music can sing in any car even after a simple speaker replacement. A simple replacement with unusual, handmade speakers.
And the factory speakers went to live out their new life in the trash))) We hope that they can be converted into something sensible and useful.
