A3 8P aftermarket HU/Changer

I put an Alpine HU into my A3 recently, and in so doing have invalidated the vehicle warranty, allegedly. The line is that if the HU isn't standard Audi kit but connects to standard Audi wiring, then anything that connects to the same wiring is no longer covered... since the electrical system is pretty interconnected it's likely that all electrics are now not covered. Sigh.

On the other hand, the new HU is one heck of a lot better than the old Concert unit I had in there, and I kept the same speakers. With better speakers the sound would be awesome.

As for CD changer - can't help you there. As an alternative I attached an Alpine KCA-420i adapter and plugged in my iPod which now lives in the glove box. I would seriously recommend this over a CD changer any day - far more flexible, much more music and no fiddling about with discs and cartridges, etc. If you then use audio which is higher quality than MP3 you get a much better sound, too. Plus, it all fits in easily enough.

So - I still have the Concert HU, and will be thinking about putting it back in the Audi if I need a warranty repair, only to remove it after and put back the Alpine unit. A lot of fiddling around, I guess, but what cost of repair otherwise?

think logically though, most the wiring are inputs or not used, so on after market head units the only outputs from a non standard oem head unit are to the speakers! so really should/can invailidate them!

to be fair.. when i had my A3 (8P) 3.2

i had it chipped
air filter
exhaust
and full ICE setup

and have warrenty work and service work carried out with no problems..

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Hadn't really considered going the iPod route as I don't own one /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif - but all things considered, this might be the ideal opportunity to justify the purchase to the missus /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Did you need to make wiring modifications or use an adapter to fit the Alpine to the Audi loom?


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I'd definitely recommend one!

I had the HU fitted for me - it is a 1Din sat nav job. having pulled it out to look at what has been done, no - there isn't anything spectacular that's been done, as far as I can see. There are a couple of extra plug blocks which go right into the existing loom, and one set of RCA outs (there are three) for amps goes off to the rear...

I am not at all familiar with wiring at any level, so am probably not the best person to ask, I'm afraid. The HU connects also to a KCA420i iPod adapter using the Ai-NET port, and the iPod simply plugs into that. The only thing that doesn't happen is there is no radio station or CD info display on the DIS anymore (hardly surprising) and the audi phone kit doesn't play through the speakers - I'm still looking for an adapter for that bit. All else works fine - including phone number appearing in the DIS when a call comes in (as it used to).

I do have the ElsWin system on disc here and looking at the wiring for the A3 is a bit of a mystery... there appears to be several control boxes at various locations around the car which deal with the various functions. As I said - I am no good with wires!

The only other thing you might consider is the Dension iPod adapter. This plugs right in to the standard HU and works pretty well. I have one sitting doing nothing right now, since I used to use it before I got the Alpine. Again, you'd need to persuade 'she who must be obeyed' that you *need* an iPod, but I reckon if you bought her an iPod mini as well she wouldn't complain too loudly /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Unfortunately no aftermarket radio's are compatible with Audi DIS. Not exactly a great loss.

The RCA input adapter feeds a purer (unamplified) signal to the rear amp/sub however the Alpine kicks out 4v+ on the pre-outs so they recommend using the speaker input method. This gives a less pure signal as it is running through the Alpine onboard amp then being taken back down to a pre-out level before being fed to the Audi amp.
Using the RCA input adapter can result in a nasty pop from the rear speakers when changing CD's or turning the unit on, so the speaker input is a better option. The best option is to rewire the rear speakers directly to the HU speaker outs, and fit a proper sub with a seperate amp as I've tried various options on the old A3 and you can't get decent sound without replacing the sub (even if you upgrade the cabin speakers).
Yes, you will need the antenna amp.

You'll still get the pop but it probably won't be quite so loud, but still really annoying. It's caused by the stupid way Audi have designed the input stage to the rear amp. I think they've done this to get round interference problems caused by their mickey-mouse wiring.

Unfortunately that's the more expensive adapter as it includes a line level converter.