[V8] Bose Junk Recall

[Roger M. Woodbury]

I have had the same problem in my 1993 V8 Quattro (now sold).  When I first 
got the car, everything was working, but the rear speakers were hissing and 
popping, and I decided to just disconnect them because there were rumors 
that Audi was going to have a recall campaign due to the rear amplifiers 
causing V8s to burn up.

Events passed and eventually the recall campaign was announced but strangely 
ended with model year 1992.  Since the systems were identical from '89 to 
'94, I was curious and spoke with the dealer who knew nothing , another 
dealer who knew less as expected, and then I called Audi's customer service 
line.

What I was told was that the recall applied to ALL V8's but those outside of 
the years announced would be handled on a car by car basis. In the case of 
my 1993 model, I was told to make an appointment and take the car to an Audi 
dealer, have them remove the speakers and Audi would then examine the parts 
and make a determination.  The cost of R&R would be mine, unless Audi 
decided that the speakers should be replaced under the recall campaign.

Since the nearest dealer is 100 miles away, and since I was going to have to 
pay for it, I decided to do nothing, enjoy the sound of the wonderful 
engine, and eventually replace the entire system.  I had disconnected the 
rear speakers so I was no longer concerned about them going aflame.

My wife's '94 Audi 100 Avant has an Audi Bose system in it, and the radio 
head and one front speaker died while we were on a trip to Florida.  I took 
the car to a shop in Naples and they replaced the head unit with a Nakamichi 
and both front speakers with new ones of some type, driven off the radio 
amplifier.  The system is not the best as the front and rear speakers can't 
properly be balanced, but for our purposes it is ok for now.

Over the last two years or so, the left rear speaker has started to crackle 
some, especially in very cold weather.  On the list of things to do, is to 
take this car to Portland, rip out the old, crappy, overrated, overmarketed 
Bose junk, and replace them with a subwoofer assembly that will interface 
properly with the front speakers.

The Nakamichi headunit is a close match to the interior of the car, except 
for its rather ORANGY/YELLOW glow,a nd the sound is fine...will be much 
better with the new rear speakers installed.

If I EVER buy another car with a BOSE system already installed, I will 
either have the seller yank the junk out, or discount the price of the car 
enough to have a really good, professional system installed.

Roger

'93 V8 Quattro:  departing
'91 20valve Avant:  restoring with Alpine head and new speakers to come
'94 100 Avant Quattro- with Bose/Nakamichi hybrid system
'98 Chevrolet 1-ton dually 4X4 with one of the General's radios that works;
'87 Porsche 928S4 with Blaupunkt OEM radio that sounds much better than it 
should and may be tricked out with amps and new speakers....hope they're not 
Bose!
'92 Ford F150 Flareside with one of Henry's radios that works.