Rears,auto changer and sub don't work

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Hi peeps just connected my new alpine headunit up but i only get sound from the front. The rear speakers, auto changer and base unit don't work. all but one connecter is connected. thats just one purple and grey wire that goes into a red connector that doesn't plug into anything.

Do i need some sort of other connector or am i missing something.

oh and my areial is pants doesn't seem to pick anything up.

Cheers
 
You need the correct adapter to feed the RCA signal to the rear/sub amp, presumably you have ths already as otherwise you'd have 2 connectors that weren't plugged in. You then have to connect the flying lead on the RCA adapter to the remote on or power antenna on the Alpine to trigger the rear amp to turn on with the HU.
The changer will not work with any aftermarket HU.
You also need the antenna adapter to feed power to the aerial amp:
http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/aerial-adaptor-p-211.html

At the moment your aerial amp is not powered so will pick up very little. Again the flying lead on this adapter needs to connect to the power antenna lead on the Alpine.
 
Got my rear speakers working and sub but no autochanger. that has no power to it was so ever.

Also been told that theres no way of getting the autochager to work with an alpine headunit.
 
As I said "The changer will not work with any aftermarket HU."

Sell it on ebay and buy a decent MP3 one.
 
Ah so you did see told you i was a simpleton. Right only problem now is thers no memory all my settings get reset everytime i turn my stereo off, and theres a buzzing noise
 
You need to reverse the permanent live and the ignition on live as Audi wire them back to front. The buzzing is pretty standard, does it rise and fall with engine revs, or is it there with the engine off?
You can try adding a chunky earth cable to the chassis of the Alpine and connect it to the bodywork behing the glovebox, as the Audi earth cable is pretty feeble.
 
Yeah its goes with the rev's of the engine. Might try coneecting the earth found it not connected to anything. how do i go about swapping the lives over.
 
Dude...think about you've just said. If the earth isn't connected the stereo wouldn't work!

The earth point is pretty rubbish as standard, you need to move it elsewhere, something i need to do.
 
Then either it's not the earth or my stereo is specail as it works.
 
Well it can pick up a crappy earth from the rear amp via the screen running from the HU so although it might work you need to earth the chassis of the HU directly to the chassis of the car and make sure the earth on the black power ISO is connected to the brown cable on the Audi power loom.

To swap the perm/ignition on lives you either need to buy a male & female power ISO adapter, and splice the red to the yellow and the yellow to the red and plug that in between the Audi loom and the HU. Or if the HU has it's own loom then just cut the yellow and red wires and reconnect them red to yellow and yellow to red.
Either way saves you from having to chop the Audi loom. If the Audi loom has already been butchered then you can use that. You should have a red wire with a white stripe and a yellow wire with a red stripe on the black ISO power socket. You just need to cut these and reconnect them round the other way so red wire goes to yellow and yellow goes to red.
 
Oh my god i hate my stereo i've had to buy so many adapters and leads just to get it working and now i need to buy more and all my wiring is nice and neat nothing has been butchered as i hate it like that. So now i need to get male & female power ISO adapter. I think its cost me more in wires and adapters then it has for the stereo.
 
Andy, when you say earth the Chassis of the Headunit itsself, how would you do this?
 
Ah ha, not sure my pioneer has a big old bolt on the back, given that i hate it anyway, i might just get the drill out....:tocktock:
 
Pretty much all HU's have a fairly large threaded screw hole on the back in the middle which you can use with the right bolt.
 
Tried this today, no difference, very good earth, solid connection, still loads of interference. Going to wire a positive connection straight off the battery tomorrow and see how that goes
 
Pioneer Aftermarket HU, replacing a BOSE Concert system. Adapter cable being used to feed sound to the BOSE amp. Only powering the front speakers as the out RCA jack is being used for a sub. I've tried disonnecting the sub, and only using the bose amp, either way there is distortion, but ONLY when the car is either very cold, or the headlights are on, this is worsened when i used the indicators.

Tried re-earthing the headunit in various places, both keeping the stock earth connected, and grounding the chassis, to replacing the stock earth. Either way, absolutely no difference.
 
I've also tried a GLI on the Bose inputs, and it did reduce the distortion, but also removed the midrange and added a wierd echo to the sound.
 
Distortion or alternator whine/interference?
Two completely different issues.

TBH you'd be far better off just buying some £60 front components and running them straight off the Pioneer competely by passing the crappy Bose crap.
 
It's alternator whine.

I've just had a thought, does the Audi loom have a dash lighting feed, i.e when you turn on the headlights it makes the standard unit dim. If so, could be causing the problem, i dont think the Pioneer dims.
 
It does, but it's on the big red connector (the one with only 2 or 3 wires going to it). There's no where to plug this into the Pioneer so it won't be connected.
The Bose system just doesn't like aftermarket HU's. Some work better than others, but even so you won't get an improvement in sound, just the additional features of a better HU.
The low level pre-out wiring is garbage, it doesn't use completely screened connectors so is very prone to engine interference.
The Bose amp has a bizarre input stage so when used with a non Audi HU's RCA's you are likely to get popping from the amp when changing CD track or turning the volume down to zero.
You can spend hours trying to diagnose the problem, which would be time better spent bypassing it completely and improving the quality at the same time. Just change the speakers and bypass the amp.
 
How difficult is the wiring? I.e removal of the panels etc
 
Panels are easy. Lower the window, remove the 2 visible screws on each side at the top of the panel. Then remove the scre inside the grab handle and push the cuff down to reveal the 2 main screws. Remove these and then pull the whole panel straight up and out.
The fiddly bit will be routing the wiring through the rubber boots running to the doors. If you don't fancy this you could use the stock wiring and pick this up at the Bose amp in the boot, but best to rewire straight to the door, an old wire coathanger is a useful tool for this.
You'll need speaker adapters to fit the speakers to the flimsy door panels. If you buy the plastic ones you'll need to use some hot glue or silicon sealant to fill the gaps that they leave round the aperture as most are a hopeless fit.
 
Success! Got some new Autoleads GLI's from eBay, plugged them in after some to'ing and fro'ing. Sucess, no distortion! Anyone with an A3 8P replacing a BOSE headunit with anything aftermarket, get one of those.
 
Hi Guys.
New to the forums & I too have been trying to fit a Pioneer HU. I even asked a garage to have a look, flippin useless, so I had a browse through the forums yesterday & had another go. My sub is powered up, as is pops like AndMac stated, but no sound from the speakers at all and the sub just farts! Completely useless! So I've taken out all the adapter cables & put the original back in for now. Looks like it will have to be a clean install, like in my last car (old Vectra) but that's just time & head space I don't have at the moment. I guess I could do it piecemeal along side the original, until I'm good to make the swap.
I had no issues getting the original HU out the 1st time, so I'll have to see what pleasures that holds for me next time, though thanks for all the do's & don't's.
Have a great day all.
 
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