Well... I have sat in a lot of cars where somebody has dialed all the tone cotrolls to their max, and that ALWAYS Sounds like hammered crap.

What anyone ought to be after is what audiophiles refer to as FLAT RESPONSE... that is you want the sound to reflect as faithfully as possible the performance captured at the studio.


Generally, Car sound systems are weak in the bass. They tend to have resonant thumpers- that is speakers configured such that they are overloud in a narrow spectrum of frequencies and too soft in others.

Because of the speakers and their placement and their limited enclosure options, they tend to be loudest in the midrange.
With only 3 bands, I tend to dial the midrange into minus territory, and the bass up just about half its range on the plus side. Some car systems are bright and you can leave the treble alone... but most have such overloud midrange that you need to dial up the treble at least a couple steps, but not as far as the bass.

Make up for everything else with volume... Fader and balance. If you seldom drive with passengers, dial the balance one tick to the right.
And dial the fader toward the back- 'The subwoofers are in the back, but high end is more directional and will be coming from the front.

Once you dial the fader toward the back a bit, that will probably be the best bass perfromance you are gonna get shy of getting a REAL subwoofer.

A real subwoofer requires a proper enclosure to isolate the speaker- IT may be ported, but if you crank tunes way up, its probably safer to have an acoustic suspension speaker in a sealed cabinet.

And keep this in mind. Speaker size has ZERO relation to the performance of low end. Subwoofers have a mathematical relation to how much air they move versus the volume of air in the enclosure.
In other words, A Smaller, high excursion driver, in a larger enclosure is ALWAYS better.
The best subwoofer I ever heard had a 6" driver in an enclosure the size of a refrigerator.

Clearly too big for a car... but in looking for a good subwoofer for the car, look for the biggest box you can accommodate with the smallest driver or multiple drivers.
A real subwoofer will likely require its own, separate power source.


Those huge things you see in the street cruisers are a Lot of chest pounding thump... but, musically, they sound awful.


Next to consider is the source.
CDs are crap. Always have been. If you want to replace your head unit, find one that plays SACD- vastly better, wider dynamic range sound...far more nuanced performance.


PS- its also possible that your bass speakers are blown if they sound bad...

Christopher,

I agree with much of what you have said. In fact, I have found that dialing down the midrange, setting the balance one tick to the right and fading slightly to rear has helped. And except for the base response, the tone is quitec clear and nice.

Nevertheless, I was under the impression that the TT premium Bose system includes a subwoofer. This is where it falls very very short. I have experience with subwoofers in both cars and homes. I even currently own a vehicle (MB 320) with Bose components including subwoofer that provides both pipe-organ low note clarity, as well as fairly convincing bump when called for. The TT system can provide nothing like this.

It may be that the small size of the TT cockpit together with the somewhat anemic power rating of these Bose components will never allow for generous low tone generation.

Aside from the fact that this is considered the "premium" system, I am disappointed that I can't find a way to either manually or digitally control the subwoofer output directly to at least play with its output/tone.

And, no, I don't get the impression any speakers are blown. I just think that small drivers are being inappropriately asked to generate low tones. It's as if cross-overs are not being utilized ideally, and the subwoofer has been disconnected.

I am not sure you have the best sound system for the 08 TT... I have driven several 08 Audis recently and the best sound system I saw had a Nav screen interface with a full featured 5 band equalizer function.

In my 05 TT, for example, the sound system called "premium" was not as good as the one called "concert".

You might want to check if there even is a subwoofer. It may just be normal low end drivers mounted with a dead space instead of an enclosure.

If there are subwoofer speakers for real... you can always have a subwoofer amp installed...one with a gain knob would be best so you could adjust it more discretely.


Me- I am still trying to isolate and eradicate a high pitched whine that accompanies use of the CD changer. Audi pulled and replaced both the head unit and changer and its still there.
I fear the wiring harness is acting as an antenna and there is no way I can afford to re-wire the car. Gonna have to go to some Audio Ace and see if they can pony up a filter that will work.

Good luck with yours.

Mine goes in for 10,000 oil change in a couple of months, and I will get the audio checked out at that time.

This worked on my 02' S4 Bose Symphony.  There are some hidden EQ adjustments for the Bose system & they can help sometimes.  Try this.

http://www.ibiblio.org/tkan/audi/radios/symphony.html