OK, I have to say the one major disappointment with my A3 is the Bose sound system. The bass isn't bassy, the treble isn't trebly and the sound quality has that boxy mid-range sound characteristic of a boom box. My Subaru had a factory premium stereo and sub that sounded way better (despite making the door panels rattle).

As many people have mentioned beefs with the audio quality, have any of you made any mods to improve it? What works? What doesn't? Would putting in new speakers help? Don't wanna tear apart my doors to do something that isn;t worth doing.

 

Middle aged here, like the base stereo, I keep all the settings at zero (bass, treble, and mid). I play all digital music and imo it sounds great.

 

Hmm...thanks, az. Never gave thought to zeroing out the EQ settings. I'm not an audiophile, and I'm definitely not one of those drivers who crank things up til people in other cars hear me. I just like a decent amount of thump and clarity when I play rock CDs.

Subaru really does have an amazing sounding premium stereo package...maybe they set the benchmark too high. Other than this little issue, though, my new A3 is soooooooooooo much nicer.

(edit) With the lack of low end, I wonder if the subwoofer is disconnected...Anywhere know where and how to check?

 

The sub-woofer is in the cargo area, left side behind the panel.

http://forums.fourtitude.com/zerothread?id=2741663

 

The sub is pathetic. I just took delivery on a 2007 A3 3.2 with the big Bose system. I am going to retain the head unit and scrap everything else. The system in general is medicocre, the sub is abysmal. I consider myself an expert in sound - I own a high end audio store and having been exposed to serious gear for about twenty years. The store owns a Chrysler Town and Country mini van with better stock sound. Unfortunately replacing the Bose crap is not simple. They build in eq to the head unit or amps, depending on the model, to try to make the poor quality drivers sound better. You have to undo that or replace everything, including the head unit. There are no adapters presently on the market for fitting an after market head unit that I am aware of (if you know of one, please let me know). There is a device by JL audio that will analyze the eq applied to each channel and then apply the inverse of it, restoring it to flat. At that point you can replace speakers and power them with a decent amplifier. That is the route I plan to take because the head unit is tied into to some of the other features, like bluetooth. Fortunately a friend of mine owns a very good car audio store and is doing the research for me. If anyone is interested in what we find and the parts that are needed, let me know.

I used to have an A6 V8 and the Bose in it was surprisingly good with the exception of the sub, which was the same stupid design as this one. It was the only Bose product I have ever heard that was listenable, at least by my standards.