Audio upgrade journey for a 2019 Vantage

[VantageHead]

My (preconfigured) 2019 Vantage came with ‘professional audio’, which sounded awfully woolly and muffled, with ‘flabby’ bass and no perceptible soundstage. I decided therefore to embark on a journey of upgrades over the coming years to build a system that I could really enjoy and look forward to hearing each time I took the car out (in addition to the gorgeous 4 litre V8!).

I found a great car audio installer (who’d installed my BlackVue dashcam and Apple CarPlay adapter early on in the car’s life) to perform the upgrade work.

First to come out were the existing speakers. These were manufactured by ASK for Mercedes Benz cars, and were manufactured from plastic cages, underpowered ferrite magnets and paper cones. Here’s some photos of them;




The first challenge was to mount a pair of Audison Thesis TH 1.5 II Violino tweeters in the existing (very confined) tweeter location on the dashboard.  This was extremely difficult, as the dashboard is fully pre-built in the factory before installation, however has avoided the need for a complicated ‘A pillar’ tweeter build.


 
The existing centre channel speaker (which compromised the soundstage) was removed, and Hertz Mille Legend 1650.3 replaced the existing ‘under-dash’ woofers.



A pair of Audison Thesis TH 3.0 II Voce 3” mid-range speakers were next mounted in the standard positions in the doors.


 
As standard, a subwoofer is mounted (in a thin-walled plastic enclosure) behind the passenger seat.



This has been removed to make room for an Audison Forza M12.14, 12-channel amplifier (with tunable DSP) and an Audison SR 1.500 mono amplifier.



The SR 1.500 provides 500 watts RMS to a Hertz Mille Legend ML 2000.3, 8” subwoofer mounted into a robust custom-made fibreglass and plywood removable cabinet (manufactured in-house by the installer) in the corner of the luggage compartment.




(Here is the standard Aston (Ask) amplifier which was removed to make way for the Audison amplifiers;)



 
The Forza amplifier channels are allocated to run all speakers actively. The under-dash woofers are run from two pairs of bridged channels to add extra control. The installer installed a pair of Eton UG MB 100 PX coaxials in the rear quarter panels for ‘backfill’ sound. While doing this, he discovered that one of the original OEM speakers he removed was covered entirely with some wadding used as sound damping. This had been stamped to leave a hole, however, the factory had failed to remove this unwanted wadding!



I routinely stream High Resolution (Hi-Res) music from Qobuz at home and was keen to use the same service on the move. The standard (Mercedes) head unit in the car is Hi-Res capable, although this can only be grabbed from the vehicle’s MOST bus using a NAV-TV ZEN-M MOST processor.
 
I can alternatively stream via Bluetooth using an Audison B-Con Hi-Res Bluetooth Receiver and streamer. This feeds audio directly into the amplifier via an optical Toslink cable. Whilst bluetooth is not generally associated with Hi-Res streaming, the B-Con is Hi-Res certified by the Japan Audio Society. Whilst I occasionally stream from my iPhone (note that the Apple iPhone Bluetooth codec cannot stream Hi-Res music losslessly), I prefer to feed Hi-Res music from an Astell & Kern Kann Max portable DAP (Android-based Digital Audio Player) into the B-Con (using the superior LDAC Bluetooth codec).
 
An Audison DRC AC remote controller was installed in the centre console, using a panel fabricated from hard card and covered in matching Aston leather. It looks very OEM!



The DRC AC is programmable depending on the features the driver wishes to access, and can be used to control the master volume and the subwoofer volume. The amplifier can store different settings in presets, and the DRC AC allows me to quickly switch between ‘driver’ or ‘driver and passenger’ presets.

In addition to the install work, the whole car was treated with Skinz sound-deadening products (to remove noise & vibrations) and the speakers re-wired with good quality, high gauge, oxygen-free copper cable (replacing the thin audio cables of the factory wiring loom).

Imaging is now superb, whilst music now sounds far more alive and precise (especially when fed Hi-Res music) and precision, rhythm and timing are now exceptional, with a lower ‘noise floor’. The cabin of this Vantage is now an excellent place to listen to music, and as a consequence, the car is now also used as a demonstrator for the install company during their cars & coffee events.

Here’s a diagrammatic summary of the install.



Having recently ordered a ‘new new Vantage’ (which is due to arrive in September), I’m now discussing with my car audio installer which of these components should transfer over to the new car, and whether there are any further audio improvements to be gained from using any different components or audio install procedures.

I hope this write-up will encourage other Aston owners to consider the advantages of audio fidelity improvement by upgrading their in-car systems, and shows that it’s possible to improve many of the poor quality factory installed systems. My learning from this is to save the money on high end factory audio options (Harman Kardon, Bose, B&O, etc.) and work with a trusted car audio installer to build a bespoke system that is specifically tuned to your listening requirements. Also, use of high source material (e.g. Hi-Res rather than highly compressed .mp3 files) will yield higher quality audio results. The old saying ‘garbage in, garbage out’ holds true today, and life is simply too short to listen to poor quality audio.

[AMV93]

Thanks for the write up, I have the same car and I've hated the (base) audio system from day 1. Mine was also a stock car so I didn't get to choose, however I have some comfort after hearing the optional one and realising it's the same poor system with more bass!

I'd like to do a stealth install in my car, preferably installing a sub into the OEM location behind the passenger seat and keeping the boot clear as we often fill it for weekends away (my car doesn't have one at all currently).

Are you able to give an approx steer on cost for a system like this?

[VantageHead]

AMV93 said:

Thanks for the write up, I have the same car and I've hated the (base) audio system from day 1. Mine was also a stock car so I didn't get to choose, however I have some comfort after hearing the optional one and realising it's the same poor system with more bass!

I'd like to do a stealth install in my car, preferably installing a sub into the OEM location behind the passenger seat and keeping the boot clear as we often fill it for weekends away (my car doesn't have one at all currently).

Are you able to give an approx steer on cost for a system like this?

Thank you AMV93. There’s approx £8K worth of audio upgrades in my install (carried out over 4 years - done bit by bit), though the Audison Thesis speakers (dash tweeters - £1000 & door mid-range - £1150) were probably accountable for a good slice of that. It also takes time to fit sound deadening mat (to reduce unwanted noise & panel vibration), good quality cabling and secure/safe installation of the components (removal and refitting of trim is a definite skill). It certainly is possible to do a stealth install using more reasonably priced speakers (Audison Voce, Audison Prima, Hertz Cento or Eton Mercedes replacement speakers) and build an in-built sub box behind the passenger seat. I had my work done in Sittingbourne (Kent, UK), though you can search for a local installer through the FourCar audio network (https://www.fourcaraudio.co.uk/find-a-retailer). If you search on YouTube, you’ll also see some lovely installs in ‘new Vantage’ by some of these companies.

By the way, my boot sub is completely removable and has a simple removable plug so that you can leave the bass box behind at home if the extra boot space is needed. Because the carpeting and trim is all intact, once removed, you’d never realise these was a sub fitted there at all! In fact, one of the joys of the system is that it is completely reversible and can simply be reverted back to factory components when I sell the car.

Hope this is helpful.

[Davil]

I’d just like my newer AM6 one to sound like my older VH one with the premium sound system. That’s a cracking system for an OEM.

I know it probably doesn’t matter too much with the newer one being a roadster. That’s what I tell myself anyway.

[Dewi 2]

My V8V has the Premium Audio, which does provide quite reasonable sound when stationary.

On the move though, with engine, exhaust and tyre noise, all competing with their own wonderful tracks (not the tyre noise) to any orchestra or pop performers, what would I gain from installing a more sophisticated audio system?

My daily car though is a very different situation. At 70 mph, I can even hear the notes played by the musician on the triangle.

[VantageHead]

Davil said:

I’d just like my newer AM6 one to sound like my older VH one with the premium sound system. That’s a cracking system for an OEM.

I know it probably doesn’t matter too much with the newer one being a roadster. That’s what I tell myself anyway.

Good point Davil. Of course if folks are happy with their existing systems, that’s great (everybody is different),however there are things that can be done (speaker positioning, digital signal processing (DSP) to enhance the audio, even in challenging environments like roadsters (with roof open &/or closed).

What I would recommend though is that folks get their speakers checked, especially as the cones can disintegrate with age, and door-mounted speakers (being more open to the elements) are checked for corrosion. Also given my ‘factory wadding’ example above, don’t assume that your system was installed as intended at the factory - my install guy has also seem out of phase speakers and speakers where screws are missing. These aberrations mean that you won’t be getting the best out of your existing system, let alone any upgrades.

Because of cost cutting, manufacturers fit very little (if any) sound deadening, and most installs will benefit from additional sound deadening and vibration reduction.

[VantageHead]

Dewi 2 said:

My V8V has the Premium Audio, which does provide quite reasonable sound when stationary.

On the move though, with engine, exhaust and tyre noise, all competing with their own wonderful tracks (not the tyre noise) to any orchestra or pop performers, what would I gain from installing a more sophisticated audio system?

My daily car though is a very different situation. At 70 mph, I can even hear the notes played by the musician on the triangle.

Absolutely Dewi! Yes, modern car after-market audio has moved on leaps and bounds from the 80s/90s when I used to pop a Pioneer head unit in my Nissan Micra (with a couple of tacky speakers mounted in the floppy rear parcel shelf) and call it ‘job done’! Nowadays, Many after-market systems (e.g. Audison, Hertz, Morelle, JBL, Focal, etc.) are manufactured to be highly customisable to the customer’s requirements as well as difficult audio environments in mind.

In the article that I recently wrote on car audio ( https://caraudiokent.co.uk/case-study/in-car-high-...), my conclusion was that:

• “The myth that ‘audio in a car will always be poor’ does not need to be the case. Agreed, the interior design of a car imposes some compromises, however, a properly installed and tuned after-market in-car audio system will (in most cases) significantly outperform any of these so-called ‘premium’ factory-fit packages. It is highly recommended that you contact a quality in-car audio specialist installer who will work closely with you to design and build an audio upgrade (within your budget) that considers every component from signal to speaker and will be significantly better than the factory system in your vehicle”.

[LunarOne]

I don't have an Aston but interested in doing something similar in my Boxster. It has the slightly upgraded but still Fisher Price-sounding audio, which I guess is acceptable in a convertible. But does high-res audio really make that much of a difference in a car environment where there's lots of ambient noise anyway? Or did you do it just because you can?

[AMV93]

VantageHead said:

AMV93 said:

Thanks for the write up, I have the same car and I've hated the (base) audio system from day 1. Mine was also a stock car so I didn't get to choose, however I have some comfort after hearing the optional one and realising it's the same poor system with more bass!

I'd like to do a stealth install in my car, preferably installing a sub into the OEM location behind the passenger seat and keeping the boot clear as we often fill it for weekends away (my car doesn't have one at all currently).

Are you able to give an approx steer on cost for a system like this?

Thank you AMV93. There’s approx £8K worth of audio upgrades in my install (carried out over 4 years - done bit by bit), though the Audison Thesis speakers (dash tweeters - £1000 & door mid-range - £1150) were probably accountable for a good slice of that. It also takes time to fit sound deadening mat (to reduce unwanted noise & panel vibration), good quality cabling and secure/safe installation of the components (removal and refitting of trim is a definite skill). It certainly is possible to do a stealth install using more reasonably priced speakers (Audison Voce, Audison Prima, Hertz Cento or Eton Mercedes replacement speakers) and build an in-built sub box behind the passenger seat. I had my work done in Sittingbourne (Kent, UK), though you can search for a local installer through the FourCar audio network (https://www.fourcaraudio.co.uk/find-a-retailer). If you search on YouTube, you’ll also see some lovely installs in ‘new Vantage’ by some of these companies.

By the way, my boot sub is completely removable and has a simple removable plug so that you can leave the bass box behind at home if the extra boot space is needed. Because the carpeting and trim is all intact, once removed, you’d never realise these was a sub fitted there at all! In fact, one of the joys of the system is that it is completely reversible and can simply be reverted back to factory components when I sell the car.

Hope this is helpful.

Many thanks, that is most helpful. Something I have been wondering, is whether the sound deadening 'mutes' the car at all? I am lucky enough to have a pre GPF car which sounds great from inside, and it would be a shame if this was toned down too much.

I'll have a look to see if there's anywhere reputable that's local to me in the East Midlands, I have found a couple of installers that clearly have experience with these cars however one is Cambridge and the other Stansted...I certainly wouldn't want anyone pulling my Vantage apart that hasn't seen one before!

[VantageHead]

LunarOne said:

I don't have an Aston but interested in doing something similar in my Boxster. It has the slightly upgraded but still Fisher Price-sounding audio, which I guess is acceptable in a convertible. But does high-res audio really make that much of a difference in a car environment where there's lots of ambient noise anyway? Or did you do it just because you can?

Interesting question Lunar. For me, as I have a lovely home audio system (Naim components & Bowers & Wilkins 800 series loudspeakers), I wanted to try to move the audio quality of what I hear in the car my car closer to what I enjoy at home (not replicate - just make the ‘gap’ smaller). Couple that with the so-called ‘premium system’ fitted to my 2019 Vantage, and the four year journey of upgrading one step at a time, listening and then taking the next step on the ladder was as much a hobby as it was to see where I could take the audio in the Vantage.

If you look on the audio forums, you’ll see ‘hot debates’ on topics like ‘Analogue vs. Digital’, ‘audio cable X is better than audio cable Y’, etc., and obviously, everyone’s hearing is different. Some folks can’t tell the difference between highly compressed .mp3 music and CD quality music (let alone Hi-Res), even when done well (e.g. via a good playback system). For me though, most of the upgrade steps I made on the Vantage did offer sonic benefits, however occasionally I got it wrong - an example was upgrading the front door speaker and dash-mounted tweeter from factory to Eton components - the end result was not good and I ended up having them removed and the Audison Thesis components put in their place - huge improvement.

Your question about whether High Res is worth it in the hostile environment of the car is also good, and for me (certainly when stationary) the uplift in quality (compared to Apple Music streamed over CarPlay) is immediate & obvious. When I perform ‘blinded’ A/B comparison demonstrations at car events, the listener almost always identifies the Hi-Res stream correctly as the higher quality music. I agree though that the difference is diluted when driving (especially on motorways) as the (lovely!) V8 burble and tyre noise intrude more. The joy of a system like mine though is that it can be retuned for specific circumstances (e.g. motorway) and that specific DSP setting saved in the bank of settings for recall on the DRC AC controller.

If you’re interested further in this, I’d recommend you ‘Download the Full Article’ in Driving Sounds magazine about this install and my after market audio journey with the Vantage (written by Carl Hynes).

https://www.drivingsounds.co.uk/articles/archive/i...

[BiggaJ]

Nice write up Vantagehead, thank you.

Like you, I enjoy good Hi-Fi at home but less so in the car as it is compromised for space, that is until I got my most recent company car with a Burmester system which I have to say sounds very good but it is still an OEM installed system.

Being into good audio Burmester are a very respected company for high end home systems. I would have thought given the link with Mercedes, the 2019 Vantage with premium audio as I have would have been a Burmester based system but from what you have written it appears not, unless you r car was not spec'd with the audio upgrade.

I also have an Astell & Kerns player, mine being the SR35 ... does this work in the 2019 Vantage via Bluetooth? I hadn't thought about it but rather than Qobuz I use Tidal hi res.

In fact I was only thinking the other day about selling my CD player, turntable and some other home Hi-Fi stuff as the streaming these days is so good.

[VantageHead]

AMV93 said:

Many thanks, that is most helpful. Something I have been wondering, is whether the sound deadening 'mutes' the car at all? I am lucky enough to have a pre GPF car which sounds great from inside, and it would be a shame if this was toned down too much.

I'll have a look to see if there's anywhere reputable that's local to me in the East Midlands, I have found a couple of installers that clearly have experience with these cars however one is Cambridge and the other Stansted...I certainly wouldn't want anyone pulling my Vantage apart that hasn't seen one before!

Absolutely agree - no one wants to deadening the lovely engine in their Aston, and the sound deadening simply helps remove vibrations and makes the doors ‘dead’ when you knock on them (they no longer ring like a bell or reflect unwanted sound waves from the door speaker)! (If you remember back to school about constructive and destructive interference wave behaviour)!

Yes, Cambridge Car Audio come highly recommended (have a look at the many examples of their work on YouTube, including a 2019 Vantage) and I hear that they do a great job on premium cars. They are used to installs on high end vehicles like Bentley, Rolls, Lamborghini, Astons, Ferrari, etc. and will certainly be worth a visit for a chat about potential upgrades. Because they know these vehicles well, they are mechanically sympathetic when it comes to removing and replacing trim (with aged and fragile clips)! They offer many levels of upgrade from basic to completely bespoke (have a look on their website for priced examples for different model cars) and judging by their YouTube content and high ‘Google Review’ rating, have produced some quite beautiful bespoke (and sonically superb) builds with their advanced woodworking shop and ability to 3D high quality speaker rings (and sophisticated ‘A’ pillar builds). The fact that people ship cars over from the USA to them for work, plays testimony to their quality reputation,

Before anyone asks, no, I don’t work in the car audio business - I am a retired analytical chemist with a passion for good quality sound!

[VantageHead]

BiggaJ said:

Nice write up Vantagehead, thank you.

Like you, I enjoy good Hi-Fi at home but less so in the car as it is compromised for space, that is until I got my most recent company car with a Burmester system which I have to say sounds very good but it is still an OEM installed system.

Being into good audio Burmester are a very respected company for high end home systems. I would have thought given the link with Mercedes, the 2019 Vantage with premium audio as I have would have been a Burmester based system but from what you have written it appears not, unless you r car was not spec'd with the audio upgrade.

I also have an Astell & Kerns player, mine being the SR35 ... does this work in the 2019 Vantage via Bluetooth? I hadn't thought about it but rather than Qobuz I use Tidal hi res.

In fact I was only thinking the other day about selling my CD player, turntable and some other home Hi-Fi stuff as the streaming these days is so good.

Hi Jon. I’m not familiar with Burmeister, however the good news is that they appear to be an independent company and not part of Samsung’s Harman International group (AKG, Bang & Olufsen Automotive, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon, Mark Levinson, and more), so are more likely to ‘spend the dosh’ and not penny pinch as some other ‘premium brands do’. Yes, the ‘premium audio’ in my Vantage is the ‘more expensive’ upgrade that was available, and several people in my AMOC area have the identical installation. You can tell the premium audio by the fitment of the sub behind the passenger as well as the rear quarter panel speakers - the base system has neither.

The reason for me fitting the B-Con streamer in the car was to enable the higher Bluetooth bit rate offered by the Astell & Kern player using the LDAC codec (see the second table in https://caraudiokent.co.uk/case-study/in-car-high-... of up to 990kbps, whereas I suspect the Mercedes head unit will be SBC (256kbps) or AAC (320kbps) only. You can certainly try setting the A&K to LDAC and seeing if your Mercedes system will accept the signal, but I doubt it. I would say though that it’s a pain to stream the A&K whilst driving (unless playing a long playlist) as UK driving laws forbid you touching the screen on a mobile device whilst driving. What I do instead is have a 512Gb USB stick with CD and Hi-Res music saved as .WAV files (Mercedes system doesn’t recognise FLAC) that I play most of the time. You can select folders/albums/music via the ‘scroll knob’ and screen on the Vantage legally or set the memory stick to play tracks randomly!

Tidal is also great, but I left them after the whole MQA debacle! I see they've now abandoned MQA and have seen sense in returning to normal FLAC!

[V8 Minotaur]

I’ve looked into this myself.

I also have just the bass 6 speaker system with no centre front, behind seat speakers (just blank grilles and no front / rear fader), nor bass unit.

The issue is that this uses a base harness so there are no existing additional wires or connectors to pick up on.

The base amp is 4 channel and of undetermined output.

It would seem that without going to the expense of interior dismantling the only reasonable cost upgrade would be to swap out the speakers for a set of Audison APK163 and fit some sound deadening. Hopefully the included (small size) crossovers can be set to help improve the soundstage.

To be honest I don’t think you could make it much worse!

If anyone has an alternative upgrade suggestion that isn’t a big hit on the wallet - I drive a Roadster and have some hearing loss and tinnitus so that would be pointless - I’d be very interested to hear it.

[VantageHead]

V8 Minotaur said:

I’ve looked into this myself.

I also have just the bass 6 speaker system with no centre front, behind seat speakers (just blank grilles and no front / rear fader), nor bass unit.

The issue is that this uses a base harness so there are no existing additional wires or connectors to pick up on.

The base amp is 4 channel and of undetermined output.

It would seem that without going to the expense of interior dismantling the only reasonable cost upgrade would be to swap out the speakers for a set of Audison APK163 and fit some sound deadening. Hopefully the included (small size) crossovers can be set to help improve the soundstage.

To be honest I don’t think you could make it much worse!

If anyone has an alternative upgrade suggestion that isn’t a big hit on the wallet - I drive a Roadster and have some hearing loss and tinnitus so that would be pointless - I’d be very interested to hear it.

If you look (as an example) at the Cambridge Car Audio site, you’ll see a range of upgrades to suit a wide range of budgets ( https://www.cambridgecar.audio/aston-martin-vantag...). You could also do as I did and make a small step, live with it, then if desired (and you have the budget), take a further step. It doesn’t all have to be done in one go. I did humorously see that Cambridge offer a £126K upgrade on the Vantage Roadster!!

It’s not a problem only having high level outputs, as the Audison Forza amps will accept speaker level inputs (and correct any manufacturer’s equalisation to produce a flat frequency profile). The amplifier outputs are bridgable (meaning the output to selected speakers can be increased) and Audison’s bit-tune software can be used to tune the final system. As this is an active system (as opposed to passive), no cross-overs are required.

My suggestion would be to have a conversation with your local reputable car audio installers, and if possible, try and hear a demo vehicle to get an impression of what the system improvements could sound like.