Audi Concert radio?

[nadeem85]

what does Audi Concert Radio mean ? I haven't taken the b&o option because it's too expensive. But i have Audi Concert radio and i don't know what it means. Theres also something Symphony!!
I know it's an audi sound system with 10 speakers.
Anyway could anyone explain that to me?
thx

[tomtom20]

Hi Nadeem,

I am not sure what you mean, by 'What does Audi Concert radio mean' but am going to try my best and explain the differences between the Chorus, Concert, Symphony and Bang & Olufsen systems.

First off, what does it mean? On the most basic level different names to differentiate between systems. The 'Basic' system is the Chorus Radio. You only get this on the base model and has 6 speakers, (80w) single CD player and Monochrome display.

Move up to SE trim and as standard you get the Concert Radio. With 10 speakers (120w One of the speakers is a sub woofer.) You also, at least for now, get an SD card reader which is capable of reading cards up to 2GB in size for play back of MP3's. It's display is linked to the MMI system and D.I.S (Driver Information System) which is in the instrument cluster. You can also control the radio through the steering wheel controls.

First 'upgrade' on the options list is the Audi Symphony Radio. This is very much the same as the Concert, however is a front loading 6 CD changer. You still get the SD card and same speaker numbers and output as with the Concert system.

The big upgrade however is the Bang & Olufsen system. B&O designed the system acoustically for the A4's cabin. They also added microphones which pick up the road noise, rain etc and like my sound cancelling headphones, 'filter' out the outside noise so you simple hear the music with minimal outside interference. With 14 high quality speakers (505w with 10 channel amplifier) these are sure to be your thing if you love music, but at £525.00 you have got to love music.

So there is the run down of the systems, what the differences are and perhaps answers your question: What does it all mean.

[nadeem85]

Thx that's exactly what i wanted to know. Im a huge music lover, can't drive 10 miles without music. But the B&O are not included in the package im getting because im buying a car that is ready. To add the B&O i would have to wait 3 to 4 months for a car and on top of that pay 1000$.

So im just going to have to sort myself out with the Audi Concert.
But the dealer told me it was 180 Watts.
Anyway that's what im getting.

thx

[tomtom20]

I am happy with the Concert system, but I once owned a car which the trim level above had extra speakers. I notice in the Audi there are the grills for where the extra speakers would go. In this previous car, I went to a car audio centre and had extra speakers fitted. I may well do this with the Audi, it won't be as good as a B&O system, but will add some extra 'surround' sound for a lot less than the true B&O system would.

[digigriffin]

I wondered whether I should have gone the B&O route but the cost for a car audio system was too much.

I have the symphony radio in my SE and I am more that happy with the sound that I get from it.

However I may have rendered the upgrade to the symphony pointless.
As I upgraded to get the multi CD option, however I have found that I do not now use CD's due to how good the SD reader is.

[tomtom20]

I have found that I do not now use CD's due to how good the SD reader is.

I was only thinking that the other day! I used to always want a CD changer in a car, then I got an SD card and pretty much blew that idea away. Indeed, when did I last buy a CD? For me it was in 2006. Since I just download music, and when I was recently playing a CD (simple as it is) to get the CD, open CD drawer, load and play I am so used to using a PC to play back tracks or MP3 player where you just hit PLAY this lark of handling media seems very old fashion.

I wonder how long it will be, before the CD is not a mainstream item? Go into HMV plug in mp3 and download, pay n go that is the future me thinks...

[nadeem85]

How does the SD Reader works ? I guess it would be with the MMI but is it like the ipod sorted by artists and songs etc... or is it different ?

[tomtom20]

It is simple once you get the hang of things. Basically you get an SD card (max 2GB) and put that into your computer. I use Windows Media Player, but whatever you use to manage music the tracks must be saved as mp3's (so if using iTunes AAC format won't be supported in the car)

What I tend to do is have 4 top level folders, which I name by music type, Rock, Dance and so on. Then within these folders I Sync from WMP my songs. Now this is a bit long winded, but bare with me.

WMP will sync to a folder on the SD card it creates, called 'Music' within this folder are all your artists, so for example lets say you have an album by ABC artist and the album is called XYZ. You will find that in the music folder is Artist: ABC folder, then within that folder another folder for the album, in this example we shall call it XYZ album, and inside that folder the music tracks. On the car this is a pain as you have to click the MMI wheel to get into the different folders to get to your tracks.

Solution:

Have a folder for the artist in this case sticking with the artist: ABC and take the tracks from the album folder, delete the album folder once you have copied the tracks within it and paste the tracks into the artist folder. This way on the car's MMI you see all the artists, press enter and the tracks begin to play. No messing about. If you are really picky you can add to the name of each track a prefix 01,02 and so on and the car will play back in that order (but take off the number prefix before the track from the track name)

I have noticed the car has play lists, though how the hell you get this work I have no idea. I have tried copying my play lists from WMP and had no luck in them being played back in the order they are on my PC. Hence I reverted to the above mentioned method. It does seem a lot of messing about, but last night added over 200 tracks with ease. Just don't have more than 4 top level folders, as the car won't 'see' them or the tracks within those folders. Of course, you could just make one folder on the SD card, and put all your tracks into it but you would have a lot of scrolling to do once in the car to find the tracks lol.

[Plife]

In this previous car, I went to a car audio centre and had extra speakers fitted. I may well do this with the Audi, it won't be as good as a B&O system, but will add some extra 'surround' sound for a lot less than the true B&O system would.
Not sure if the head unit would have enough power for extra speakers - remember the B&O has an amplifier as well.

[tomtom20]

Good point Plife...But in my view the speakers that are 'missing' are only small ones two in the top of the front doors and two in the top of the rear doors. I'm still not sure if I would go ahead and get more fitted, the current sound system is very good, but to my ears is biased more to the front speaker in the top of the dash. But will tinker with the settings some more. Only found out the other day when you set up the bass, trebble etc if in Radio mode it does not apply to that when in Media/CD mode and one has to set that up all over again.

I suspect the speakers on the B&O are obviously a lot more powerful and of higher quality and better frequancy response.