Radio has mind of its own, volume issue?

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isimpoi

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Recently bought an Audi S3 and my radio seem's to be going up and down in volume all the time without me touching anything. Is this a common issue and is there a way to fix this?

I have the standard GPS headunit and trying to use my ipod through it so isn't bad reception.
 
The volume does automatically adjust to the cabin noise... so if you are travelling faster etc the music will turn up slightly, when you come to a stop at traffic lights for example the volume will turn down slightly. Maybe this is what you are experiencing?
 
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atkins14 said:
The volume does automatically adjust to the cabin noise... so if you are travelling faster etc the music will turn up slightly, when you come to a stop at traffic lights for example the volume will turn down slightly. Maybe this is what you are experiencing?
Click to expand...
I seem to experience it randomly, even just sitting along cruise control at 60 and it will jump up and down volume wise. It might be what you are saying, is there a way to disable it? Doesn't seem to be anything in the options but only had the car 2 days so might be missing something
 
Pull open the grey overhead light panel and unplug the small rectangular plug for the microphone. Restart and see what happens.

Baz
 
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Thanks for that, strangely i don't have that option in my list. The DSP circled in red doesn't appear on my list and think it's something to do with that?



I have the Bose speaker system if that makes any difference?

Edit: Sorry just read further and think it's in the navigation menu rather than sound strangely so will have to look there
 
Do you know if your car came with the RNS-E from the factory?

As i retrofitted mine and mine does this and I believe it to be a common problem when they are retro fitted and its only a problem with cars with BOSE. It was a long time ago when I looked into this but as far as I can remember cars without BOSE adjust the volume level relevant to the speed you are going but the BOSE system is a bit more sophisticated and adjusts the volume relevant to the internal cabin noise level.

The only was to stop this from happening was to cut a wire to the BOSE system so I just put up with it.

Someone feel free to correct me if this information is wrong as it was a long time ago since I fitted mine.
 
Ah okay, unsure if it was standard or retro. Not overly keen on cutting wires but starting to really bug me. Surely there is an option just to disable it or disconnecting mic may fix it?
 
As far as I know factory fitted sat navs have a shark fin on the roof. Unless like mine it had phone prep but no sat nav as the phone prep also uses the shark fin.

Annoyingly there was no way of disabling it that I could find. To be honest I have just got used to it but I have MFSW so changing the volume isn't that much effort for me.
 
Yea I have a shark fin on the roof but it's black not same colour as body so could be after market? Yea i have that too but everytime I adjust for the change it changes again haha
 
This has been bugging me too! The volume is quite erratic and sometimes increases whenever it feels like it. I've also noticed it seems to change bass/treble settings as well - volume level doesn't always change but the bass will increase to a level beyond what I get when I manually set it to maximum!

I've got a factory fitted RNS-E with Bose and I think the system responsible is called GALA. As far as I know the only way to disable this without cutting wires is with VCDS.
 
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Ah that sucks. I may need to look and see if anyone local has the tool to do it since I'm new to the Audi scene and not 100% clued up on them yet
 
Ah sweet, very handy. I may give one of them a try if I can't fix it through the list of options or disconnecting the mic
 
Best of luck bud. Let me know if you find a non-VCDS solution as I really want to sort this sorted too!
 
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Very interesting read. So looks like I may need more than just the VCDS to fix it? Specialist possibly? It really is driving me up the wall, especially since the car's without audiopilot can simply just choose to turn it off and Bose (meant to be the upgraded audio system) doesn't have that option in the menu's. I'm not overly keen on paying to get it fixed since it should really be a simple task but if I can't fix it physically then guess I'll have to
 
It is VERY easy to try the Mic unplug. Lever off the grey panel, pull out connector. Start car and go for a drive. 30 seconds tops and easily reversible.
It will at least prove if its the Bose adj the signal levels.
There is a setting in VCDS for some BUT doesnt always stop the vol change just changes the freq charteristics.
 
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Bazzle said:
It is VERY easy to try the Mic unplug. Lever off the grey panel, pull out connector. Start car and go for a drive. 30 seconds tops and easily reversible.
Click to expand...
Got interior LED's coming so once I get them I'll borrow my friends plastic trim removal tools and pull that panel off and try that and fingers crossed that works
 
So still researching into this and apparently there is an "engineering mode" for the RSN-E

The way I've been told to get into this is to:

1) Turn on RNS-E.

2) Press the NAV button and release.

3) Press the top-left cursor button for 5 seconds and release.

4) Press the top-right cursor button for 5 seconds. Hold until the screen changes.

Apparently there is more options available here so may see if there is anything there that enables me to turn it off. But by the looks of things people either say cut one of the wires that go to the audiopilot (bit drastic imo), un plug mic (best option due to being free) or disable it via vag com, port 66 or something? not clued up on that stuff tho
 
Any changes made in engineering mode are temporary unfortunately. Anything you do is undone as soon as you turn the system off :(
Disconnecting the mic sounds like a good shout but I think the Bose system has it's own mic (which is the one that needs to be cut out of the loop) - I'm not 100% on that though.
 
Probably not related mate, but good advice for other 8P owners reading.. Any other problems regarding the stereo? Reason I ask is that it is common for the stereo to turn off randomly and affect the central locking in pre 2008 models. Faulty ignition switch is the culprit! Been there and sworn lots at it!! Lots
 
Will have to try and look up on it more since it needs to be sorted. Just sitting away with cruise control on and start speaking to my passenger and the radio increases to drown me out :mad: surely there is a way to disable it, possibly will look into someone with the vag tool to see if they can do anything about it
 
Does turning 'gala' down a notch from auto to 5 not stop the volume from changing on its own?
 
My radio doesn't have the GALA menu or at least I can't find it. Something to do with Bose's own audio system. so annoying
 
Have you tried the real simple test of unplugging the Mic yet?? Takes 10 seconds. Easy to put back too another 10 seconds. We can go from there once you work out if its the auto volume and freq profiling that is giving you the issue.
Also there is a setting in VCDS but you need to identify the cause 1st.

edit: Need to turn back on and go for a drive to see any change.
 
Bazzle said:
Have you tried the real simple test of unplugging the Mic yet?? Takes 10 seconds. Easy to put back too another 10 seconds. We can go from there once you work out if its the auto volume and freq profiling that is giving you the issue.
Also there is a setting in VCDS but you need to identify the cause 1st.

edit: Need to turn back on and go for a drive to see any change.
Click to expand...
I found the mic but my chubby *** fingers couldn't fit in the gap to unplug it haha, going to ask my gf if she can try or get tweezers. I'm really hoping disconnecting that works
 
IMG 6486 [/ATTACH] IMG 6488 IMG 6490 IMG 6491
 
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So I unplugged it but didn't seem to make a difference... other people say that when they disconnect theirs when they start the car it makes three beeps to let you know it's unplugged but mine's hasn't changed at all
 
this is becoming a joke -_- just want to disable audiopilot since I want to be in control of the volume. I'm not asking a lot haha. I love my Audi so far and hasn't skipped a beat mechanically and lovely to drive, the only small issues i'm having is noise related. One being a strange high pitched noise every couple of minutes and the audiopilot wreaking havoc with my volume
 
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