Audi RS6 Avant

This one came to us all the way from Ohio. We had the pleasure of outfitting this brand new Audi RS6 with a world class audio system. It was quite the challenge considering the size of the amplifiers and DSP. The client wanted to retain an OEM feel. A lot of engineering had to come together to make everything work in an efficient manner.

The front stage consists of Brax ML1 tweeters in custom tweeter pods. The pods were fabricated from layered acrylic. We used the initial design of the mid bass woofer grilles to trim our pods. The midrange (Brax ML3) was installed in the factory door location. We had to create acrylic rings to house the midrange and mid bass in the OEM door enclosure. A combination of Hushmat and Soundshield was used to fully sound treat the entire door and door panels. We retained the OEM rear speakers.

We chose two Brax ML10 10” subwoofers for our sub bass. We measured each orientation of which the subwoofers could sit (up firing, down firing, forward and backward) to see which gave us the best bass response. Down firing was a clear winner, so we got to work creating an enclosure. We took inspiration for the design off the door panels and how the materials were layered. We also got the idea of the Brax logo from the Quattro logo on the dash board. Each layer coincides with what you can find throughout the dash and door panels. A combination of OEM cognac leather, black leather, silver trim, mate black trim, gloss black trim, orange fiber lighting, orange accent lighting and matte textured carbon fiber was used to trim the enclosure.

We used three Bras MX4Pro amplifiers to run all of the speakers in the car fully active. The MX4Pro all receive their digital signal from a single Brax DSP. It was quite a challenge to fit all of this equipment under the floor considering the limited space we had available. We created and amp rack that housed one MX4Pro amplifier and the Brax DSP on the first level. We outfitted that layer with multiple fans to circulate air through and out of the level. Our second floor consisted of two more MX4PROs.We installed a secondary battery on the left side of the amp rack (XS Power RSV-S5 12v battery). We then created a whole new subfloor and wrapped it in a matching german carpet. We created a removable battery cover that was wrapped in the same carpet material. To keep the entire trunk fully functional, we created an additional subfloor insert that locks into the amp trim location, and gives a complete storage area that also protects the entire installation.

The entire audio system is controlled by a single Helix Conductor DSP controller which is installed right in front of the arm rest in the center console. Next to that, we created a modular cup holder mount that magnetically holds an Astell & Kern SP3000 DAP. This would be used as one of the inputs into the DSP. We also use a HD BT chip which is docked into the DSP for high bandwidth (no latency) BT streaming. Then, of course, we have our factory radio in which a digital signal is being extracted by a Nav-TV Zen-V interface.

The entire interior was removed and a combination of Hushmat and Soundshield was used to sound treat all open surface area including behind each plastic panel.

In the end, we created a highly dynamic and immersive sounding car that has an incredible and accurate stage while retaining a practical front stage. The pictures do not do this one justice, as it was a ton of work in which appears little was done. Which in this case, the OEM approach with the ability to show it off was key for the client.