quick radio question...

[paul_brad]

decided to finally give up with my Concert headunit, and get a new after market one.
Need a bit of help with the wiring at the back: theres lots of blocks of wiring to the left of the system, one brown thin wire in the middle, and a big black lead to the right... now, im thinking the big black lead was for the cd changer (not there anymore), the brown for the aeriel? do the others plug nicely into an audi specific ISO block, so I dont have to do any rewiring? how much do these cost?

thanks!

 

[AndyMac]

You should have 4 blocks, standard black ISO block (which will plug straight into any aftermarket HU, one brown ISO block for front speakers only (4 wires grouped in the middle 4, 2 x outside pairs blank, normally for rear speakers), one big red plug with only a 2 or 3 wires going to it (this is for the CAN-BUS and dash illumination) and then one mini-ISO block made up of 3 coloured blocks (one for dash display, one for CD changer and one for rear speaker amp).
If you have an A3 and want to wire up the "sub" and rear speakers via the puny amp inside the sub then you will need the active speaker adapter (available from CarAudioDirect.co.uk).
If you want to install a proper sub & amp then you don't need an adapter.
Forget the red one, you don't need it.
If you want to run the rear speakers off the HU (preferable to using the OEM rear amp) then you'll need the nonactive speaker adapter to allow you to hook into the front speaker loom while retaining the rear speaker connection.
Depending on the year you may find that the OEM power loom doesn't have an ignition on lead, if this is the case your new HU will have to be turned off manually rather than on the ignition key. There is a work around for this listed on the ICE forum. You'll see that the black ISO connector only has 3 wires going to it, rather than the normal 5, and doesn't have the red lead with a white stripe.
Other than that it's a simple 2 minute job.

 

[paul_brad]

Andy,
that is an amazingly knowledgable answer!
My A3 is prefacelift W reg... does that mean my radio will or wont turn off after ignition is off?

Also, I dont have Bose or anything, so does that simplify matters with this talk of subs?

looking on the website you mentioned, its talking about 'active speaker system' arrrgh, confused

Is that thin brown wire an aeriel then? Couldnt see exactly how it was attached to the radio, but i know afternmarket ones come with a new socket to put your wire in.... am i talking sense?

 

[paul_brad]

andy (again)
do i need: 'Audi wiring adaptor (speaker input)' instead of the RCA link one? £30 is a bit steep, non?

 

[AndyMac]

Prefacelift should have the ignition on wire, I think it was only very late A3/S3's that they decided to take it out.
Both Bose & non-Bose have what Audi loosely call a sub, (cheap door speaker mounted in a biscuit tin is NOT what I would call a sub).
If all you are doing is upgrading the HU then you need the active speaker system adapter.
If you are adding an amp or upgrading the sub then you don't need to hook into the Audi active speaker loom.
The aerial is the big fat black lead which will have the standard modern plug on the end (the size of a 5p with a thick pin in the middle. You will need to buy the powered aerial adapter in order to power the aerial amp as the power is fed down the centre pin on the Concert (nice one Audi, thanks). These are about £13 and will give you the aerial connection and then a separate wire which you need to connect to the "remote on" output from the new HU (or the power antenna wire)

 

[AndyMac]

Paul, I PM'd you the reply