[V8] Car stereo?

[Roger Woodbury]

Oh, drats. This sort of thread had to come up now.  Well, maybe it will work
out OK.  You see, I too have a stereo problem in the car and I am going to
get it fixed.  Although the problem is in my wife's car....

The vehicle is a 1994 Audi 100CS Avant.  It has the obnoxious Bose system,
or rather, it has what is left of the obnoxious Bose system.

In 2001 just after getting the car we were about to leave on a trip to
Florida.  The Bose head unit gave up a day or so before leaving, and at that
time the Audi dealer in Bangor had a sweet deal where they would swap head
units for peanuts.  I don't even remember how much difference the price
was...maybe free.  I don't' remember.  Normally I wouldn't darken the
dooryard of a giant Ford dealer who sold Audis because no one else had the
money to pick up the franchise when it was lying on the ground, but this
time I couldn't resist.  

Off we went to Florida.  While we were there, the on/off/volume knob gave up
and we had no sound in the car at all.  I took the car to a car stereo place
in West Palm Beach, and had them install a Nakamichi head unit.  Turned out
that one of the front speakers was totally dead, too, so I had them replace
the front speakers with something or other that they recommended, and off I
went.

I chose the Nakamichi head unit because despite its rather sudden yellow
face, it almost like it belonged in the car, and certainly not like a low
grade juke box in a cheap New Orleans whorehouse.

But the speakers never really balanced well with the Bose rear speakers.  My
wife never minded so much, and for the most part she just listens to the
rear Bose speakers with the fronts turned off.

BUT, as happens with all flesh, and especially with Bose products, the rear
speakers are dying, and especially the LEFT rear which snap, crackles and
pops and sometimes badly in any weather, but especially in cold.  Time to
rip everything out and start again.

Here's the problems.  I have called several car stereo places....there
aren't many, one near here, one in Bangor, one in someother place, one in
Waterville and so forth, mostly 50 miles one way at least from where the car
lives.  The reaction hasn't been helpful.  Some places have asked what kind
of car I have.  "Oh," they said after I said an Audi.  Then:  "We don't work
on Audis."  Had that happen twice.

There is a local shop that has said that they would look at it.  What I
think Iwant to do is to replace the rear speakers with something that will
deliver bass below, say 15,000 hrz using a crossover, thus the front
speakers become the main speakers and the bass would be delivered non
directionally from the rear.  The question is what size speakers and what
shape can I get for the rear enclosures?  Anyone know for this car?

No, I don't want a subwoofer, and no, I don't really want to remove the
front speakers and replace all four if I can get out of it.  And maybe a
separate amplifier with separate control might work for the rear bass
drivers, I suppose, but I am not sure if I can actually get that done this
side of Portland, which is a 300 mile round trip.

My mechanic says that he can do the installation, so I suppose at the end of
the day that may prove to be the path of least resistance.

This is not intended to turn this car into symphony hall, but my wife does
listen to a lot of different music on CD, but the only station that we
listen to is the classical network here along the coast.  

Any comments from out there?

TIA,

Roger

P.S.  When I think of buying a newer car than either the V8 or my wife's
100CS, I think of the newer cars with thirteen speakers to go along with the
sixty-twelve air bags that will jump out at you from any conceivable angle,
and I just get tired and go and lie down.  (And when I think of a Bose
system I reach out for the nearest baseball bat to smash the entire system
into smithereens.)