sympathy headunit and rca's

[Audiman99]

Hi, i have the the bosch double din sympathy headunit in my 2001 s3. I need more bass and have a sub and amp sitting in my garage, was gonna get a sub from andymac but I am skint at the mo so would like to try and fit my old sub to the car, i know the sub is powered by its own amp and a seperate amp powers the speakers.

So how do i get the sub working, im not sure if the back of the headunit will take rca cables. Dont wanna use original wiring from the bosch sub maybe theres an adaptor i need? any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Allan

 

[Audiman99]

ok done some research seems the headunit doesnt have rca out's so i need to wire it to the original wiring and may also need a high low converter??? What is this and can you buy them in halfrauds, thanks

 

[AndyMac]

No there are pre-outs at the HU but they are not on RCA connections. Unplugging the existing wiring may cause other issues depending on the type of plug on your S3, some are multicoloured and can be seperated others are a single black connector which also drives the DIS, rear/sub amp and the CD changer if you have one. So disconnecting it to plug in your own RCA's via the blaupunkt adapter loses those features.
The easiest way is to pick up the pre-outs & remote turn on is from the sub connector itself as they are all there. However if you have the non-Bose system the sub amp drives both the sub and the rear speakers, so disconnecting the Audi sub will lose the rears. So you really need a 4ch amp for your sub and then use the spare 2channels for the rears, or just buy a small amp off ebay for £20 to power the rears seperately (the Audi amp is only 2 x 20w).
You will have to run a new power cable whatever you do.
Here's the pin out for the non Bose sub connector.

 

[Audiman99]

hey thanks andymac, the system i have is the bose one im sure the sub has a built in amp and a seperate for the speakers. have you got any diagrams of the bose adaptor? Gonna attempt this 2day if it goes wrong ill post back here for help.

Allan

 

[AndyMac]

Yes the Bose sub has its own amp so makes things far easier.
Here are the pinouts, make sure the plug is round the right way i.e. earth top right and 12v perm live bottom right:

 

[Audiman99]

Im really sorry andymac 1 more question how i connect the amp to the audi conencter, do i have to cut off the ends of the rca's coming from the amp and coonect the 2 ends to a part of the diagram above if so what part do they go to, if not i give up, just done understand too confusing.

btw thanks for your help dude,

Allan

 

[AndyMac]

Yes take a pair of RCA's cut off one end & strip them back. This will give you a left and right signal wires usually white and red (the thin ones surrounded by the screen), and the corresponding earthed screens or shields.
seperate the screens from the signal wires and solder or crimp some very small spade connectors to each wire. These will then push into the Bose sub connector. White one to left line out, red one to right line out and the screens to the corresponding screen pins. Then all you need is the remote on wire and you have the feed for the new amp.
The main problem is finding spade connectors small enough to fit the Bose connector, I can send you some if you can't find any.

 

[Audiman99]

wicked im gonna attempt this 2moro, ill have a look for the spade connectors as well, thanks for your help seems pretty easy now.

Ill let you kno how i get on

Allan

 

[Audiman99]

thanks andymac, sorted it now, works a treat and sounds great its only the fusion 12 inch sub and amp, been in garage for ages. So glad i fitted it now just gotta get some front comps in there now.