Installing aftermarket stereo in my A4

[jimmyb]

Hi all,

Having read tonnes of threads, I'm not quite getting the full picture, so I need to ask what may be an obvious quesiton to a lot of you!

I want to replace the Concert unit in my 54 plate A4 Avante (new shape). It has the sub-woofer and bose amp in the boot.

I want to fit a pioneer head unit myself, and my questions is, what cabling / adaptors do I need? i.e.

- CAN BUS stalk adaptor. Do I need this as my steering wheel does not have any remote controls? Or is this needed for other inputs such as speed pulse and ignition signal etc?

- ISO adapator. Do I need this for speaker hook up, or does a CAN BUS adaptor include these connections?

- Antenna adaptor. Do I need one of these to hook my head unit up to the factory fitted antenna? On that subject I read the factory fit antenna has poor recepention when fitted to aftermarket units, is this true? If so is an amplifier needed too?

- Facia adaptor. Do I need one of these? If so are the specific to the make/model of car, or the make/model of the replacement head unit?

Thanks in advance!

James

[irishstoner]

Hi all,

Having read tonnes of threads, I'm not quite getting the full picture, so I need to ask what may be an obvious quesiton to a lot of you!

I want to replace the Concert unit in my 54 plate A4 Avante (new shape). It has the sub-woofer and bose amp in the boot.

I want to fit a pioneer head unit myself, and my questions is, what cabling / adaptors do I need? i.e.

- CAN BUS stalk adaptor. Do I need this as my steering wheel does not have any remote controls? Or is this needed for other inputs such as speed pulse and ignition signal etc?

- ISO adapator. Do I need this for speaker hook up, or does a CAN BUS adaptor include these connections?

- Antenna adaptor. Do I need one of these to hook my head unit up to the factory fitted antenna? On that subject I read the factory fit antenna has poor recepention when fitted to aftermarket units, is this true? If so is an amplifier needed too?

- Facia adaptor. Do I need one of these? If so are the specific to the make/model of car, or the make/model of the replacement head unit?

Thanks in advance!

James


I fit a sony headunit to my car 02 b6 model. I had to get a new facia specific for the model of car.

No idea about the rest:o

[bez101]

Hi all,

Having read tonnes of threads, I'm not quite getting the full picture, so I need to ask what may be an obvious quesiton to a lot of you!

I want to replace the Concert unit in my 54 plate A4 Avante (new shape). It has the sub-woofer and bose amp in the boot.

I want to fit a pioneer head unit myself, and my questions is, what cabling / adaptors do I need? i.e.

- CAN BUS stalk adaptor. Do I need this as my steering wheel does not have any remote controls? Or is this needed for other inputs such as speed pulse and ignition signal etc?

- ISO adapator. Do I need this for speaker hook up, or does a CAN BUS adaptor include these connections?

- Antenna adaptor. Do I need one of these to hook my head unit up to the factory fitted antenna? On that subject I read the factory fit antenna has poor recepention when fitted to aftermarket units, is this true? If so is an amplifier needed too?

- Facia adaptor. Do I need one of these? If so are the specific to the make/model of car, or the make/model of the replacement head unit?

Thanks in advance!

James

the iso adapator u need depends if u have half amped ar bose (fully amped) as u say u have a bose amp in the boot you need the iso for fully amped
you need the aerial adaptor and the reception will be just as good as with your concert
and yeah you need facia all easy to get from ebay also get the removal keys for the concert

[wmccann]

I fitted a Kenwood DNX-7200 to my A4 Cabrio (It was double Din). Looks great :)

Anyway, what you need is the following:

1* facia panel - see www.autoleads.co.uk or go to halfords (if money is not object) - there are 2 different types - one for singe din and one for double din.
1* Aerial adapter normal - PC5-90 - check these before purchase to ensure both ends match your car/radio
1* Aerial adapter Diversity - PC5-237 - check these before purchase
1* Aerial combiner - or do it yourself if you are good with a soldering iron
Speakers - if using stock speakers then you don't need to do anything
1* radio to Amp adapter Auto leads PC9-404 - if you are using stock amplifier - note your radio must have preout capability.

Now for the fun part: If you want to use the can bus then you have to get a can bus adapter: see WWW.connects2.com - I had have one of these but never used it - might sell it if anyone is interested. For most radios you only need an ignition connection and one for the lights - I took these off the back of the light switch.

Also to be strictly correct you will need to get someone with a vag and reprogram your car to tell it not to expect a radio - can't remember exactly where you do this but if you google you will probably find it.

You don't need the canbus stalk adapter.

Walter.







BTW combine the aerials it makes reception far far better

[jimmyb]

Thanks Walter. I'm intrigued by all the ariel parts you mention. What do they all do?




I fitted a Kenwood DNX-7200 to my A4 Cabrio (It was double Din). Looks great :)

Anyway, what you need is the following:

1* facia panel - see www.autoleads.co.uk (http://www.autoleads.co.uk) or go to halfords (if money is not object) - there are 2 different types - one for singe din and one for double din.
1* Aerial adapter normal - PC5-90 - check these before purchase to ensure both ends match your car/radio
1* Aerial adapter Diversity - PC5-237 - check these before purchase
1* Aerial combiner - or do it yourself if you are good with a soldering iron
Speakers - if using stock speakers then you don't need to do anything
1* radio to Amp adapter Auto leads PC9-404 - if you are using stock amplifier - note your radio must have preout capability.

Now for the fun part: If you want to use the can bus then you have to get a can bus adapter: see WWW.connects2.com (http://WWW.connects2.com) - I had have one of these but never used it - might sell it if anyone is interested. For most radios you only need an ignition connection and one for the lights - I took these off the back of the light switch.

Also to be strictly correct you will need to get someone with a vag and reprogram your car to tell it not to expect a radio - can't remember exactly where you do this but if you google you will probably find it.

You don't need the canbus stalk adapter.

Walter.







BTW combine the aerials it makes reception far far better

[wmccann]

There are 2 aerials which produce a "diversity aerial", you only need to connect one but I experienced dreadful reception on some stations. When I spliced the 2 adapters together the reception was great.

Note each aerial has a powered amplifier so you have to connect the cable from them to the switched power of your car.

Walter.