Given up on the Audi Sound System retrofit

[Zak0123]

Evening gents! (and ladies)

Soooo after quite a while of trying to code the *** into my car I think it's time to pull the plug (literally). After trying for a while myself (and with the help of others) I took it to an Audi specialist and they recon that as the MMI unit is a different version to those who have pictured doing it successfully, it can't be done.

Anyway, moving on. I'm still looking to install the *** sub and amp it independently. A couple of guys said they have had success in tapping into the rear speaker cables, but others has said this may cause problems resistance-wise. Can anyone advise on whats best to do? I'd look to power it with the 12v supply in the boot, I'm wondering if it's easy to tap into

Cheers in advance!

 

[rajeevx5]

Evening gents! (and ladies)

Soooo after quite a while of trying to code the *** into my car I think it's time to pull the plug (literally). After trying for a while myself (and with the help of others) I took it to an Audi specialist and they recon that as the MMI unit is a different version to those who have pictured doing it successfully, it can't be done.

Anyway, moving on. I'm still looking to install the *** sub and amp it independently. A couple of guys said they have had success in tapping into the rear speaker cables, but others has said this may cause problems resistance-wise. Can anyone advise on whats best to do? I'd look to power it with the 12v supply in the boot, I'm wondering if it's easy to tap into

Cheers in advance!

If you get a high level input amp you should be okay resistance wise. What you should do is tap into both front speakers and get a 3/4ch amp, use the rear speakers as an input form the amp, power the front speakers with the amp and then power the sub with the 3rd channel. Make sure you have an amp which can send the same signal to all speakers from one input rather than two. Most amps have low pass and high pass filters on each channel, so make sure you tune it to be low pass filter for all the low frequency bass, and the first two channels leave at mid range. Setting the gains correctly will also ensure your front amplified speakers are not louder than the rear.

 

[Zak0123]

If you get a high level input amp you should be okay resistance wise. What you should do is tap into both front speakers and get a 3/4ch amp, use the rear speakers as an input form the amp, power the front speakers with the amp and then power the sub with the 3rd channel. Make sure you have an amp which can send the same signal to all speakers from one input rather than two. Most amps have low pass and high pass filters on each channel, so make sure you tune it to be low pass filter for all the low frequency bass, and the first two channels leave at mid range. Setting the gains correctly will also ensure your front amplified speakers are not louder than the rear.

Cheers for the reply Rajeevx5! This sounds so confusing haha! Will running off the same amp still give bass to the sub and 'less bass' to the fronts? Can you recommend any amps?

I have one already but pretty sure it only has 2 outputs and I don't think you can control them independently of each other (if that's what you mean).

I guess the wiring wouldn't be too bad as all the wires would only have to be wired into the HU (rather than directly to each speaker) and then from the HU the existing wires would then feed through individually to each speaker? Is there much benefit in amping the front speakers?

 

[DJAlix]

Evening gents! (and ladies)

Soooo after quite a while of trying to code the *** into my car I think it's time to pull the plug (literally). After trying for a while myself (and with the help of others) I took it to an Audi specialist and they recon that as the MMI unit is a different version to those who have pictured doing it successfully, it can't be done.

Anyway, moving on. I'm still looking to install the *** sub and amp it independently. A couple of guys said they have had success in tapping into the rear speaker cables, but others has said this may cause problems resistance-wise. Can anyone advise on whats best to do? I'd look to power it with the 12v supply in the boot, I'm wondering if it's easy to tap into

Cheers in advance!

Which MMI unit do you have?

 

[Cairnsy13]

I sold my sub yesterday cause I gave up too haha! Have you fitted the front door speakers? Do you notice a difference in bass with them?

 

[949]

what is the ***?

 

[Cairnsy13]

what is the ***?

The *** is the upgraded soundsystem between stock and Bang and olufson, gives you a front centre dash speaker, 2 upgraded door speakers and a sub in the spare wheel. Costs around £250 from the factory compared to £750 for B&O

 

[949]

so it sounds like he wants to add an original audi part into the car. am I correct in understanding this?
is this just to make the system complete or to get actual better sound because he feels the system is lacking?

 

[Cairnsy13]

so it sounds like he wants to add an original audi part into the car. am I correct in understanding this?
is this just to make the system complete or to get actual better sound because he feels the system is lacking?

Yes this has been done a few times by other members but his s3's MMI is an updated version as it's a newer build, as is mine, meaning we can't code the MMI to open the ports to allow the connections for the new speakers.

In my opinion the stock system is very tinny and very little bass, so upgrading to the *** makes the system a lot better.

 

[949]

I have never heard of this. can you explain more about the idea and what ports your speaking of?

 

[h5djr]

Sorry to hear it could'nt be made to work Zak.

Dave

 

[Zak0123]

Which MMI unit do you have?

Just standard bud, I believe it is 8V0 035 874 C, and I know from other members that the coding works on 8V0 035 020 F. Pretty frustrating.

I sold my sub yesterday cause I gave up too haha! Have you fitted the front door speakers? Do you notice a difference in bass with them?

Noooo haha you shouldn't have given up so easy! I think the door speakers are slightly better/heavier on the bass. Definitely think amped sub is the way forward for folk like us I'm still going to use the sub/housing so that it's stealth, might even use an aftermarket 10" (or whatever it is) in the same housing in time. And then just leave the centre speaker out altogether.

I have never heard of this. can you explain more about the idea and what ports your speaking of?

Hi bud, we need to enable the sub and centre speaker port, basically tell the HU that we want to connect speakers, but unfortunately the coding to enable the speakers doesn't work on some units.

Sorry to hear it could'nt be made to work Zak.

Dave

I know Dave, especially after all the work we put in! Hopefully putting an amped sub in will be relatively straight forward

-

Now just to decide whether to tap into the rear speakers and amp the sub off those or go down the more complicated route as Rajeevx5 suggested, this route is a bit more daunting!

 

[DJAlix]

Just standard bud, I believe it is 8V0 035 874 C, and I know from other members that the coding works on 8V0 035 020 F. Pretty frustrating.

Am pretty sure the following should allow you to activate the ***:

5F > LC

• Byte 4 = FF
• Byte 5 = 0A
• Byte 6 = 00
• Byte 7 = 00
• Byte 11 = 01

Not sure if this has already been tested, not seen any / read any other related threads.

 

[Cairnsy13]

Just standard bud, I believe it is 8V0 035 874 C, and I know from other members that the coding works on 8V0 035 020 F. Pretty frustrating.



Noooo haha you shouldn't have given up so easy! I think the door speakers are slightly better/heavier on the bass. Definitely think amped sub is the way forward for folk like us I'm still going to use the sub/housing so that it's stealth, might even use an aftermarket 10" (or whatever it is) in the same housing in time. And then just leave the centre speaker out altogether.



Hi bud, we need to enable the sub and centre speaker port, basically tell the HU that we want to connect speakers, but unfortunately the coding to enable the speakers doesn't work on some units.



I know Dave, especially after all the work we put in! Hopefully putting an amped sub in will be relatively straight forward

-

Now just to decide whether to tap into the rear speakers and amp the sub off those or go down the more complicated route as Rajeevx5 suggested, this route is a bit more daunting!

Do you have the tech pack with yours again? That system has more power anyway I believe so the door speakers might be better then! I'll probably go down that route, less fiddly haha

 

[Zak0123]

Am pretty sure the following should allow you to activate the ***:

5F > LC

• Byte 4 = FF
• Byte 5 = 0A
• Byte 6 = 00
• Byte 7 = 00
• Byte 11 = 01

Not sure if this has already been tested, not seen any / read any other related threads.

DJAlix this is what I tried -
01730301FF0A000021111101000A00002F00020701000100DE

Byte 11 seems to be different, does it have any info under that byte in VCDS? Where did you get that coding?

Do you have the tech pack with yours again? That system has more power anyway I believe so the door speakers might be better then! I'll probably go down that route, less fiddly haha

No I don't have Tech Pack bud, was looking at upgrading the MMI but looked like a couple more hundred £££'s at least. Will go sub and amp route as soon as I'm set on how to wire it up, think I may need some help from some of the more experienced audio 'wirers' on the forum lol!

I know some basic stuff but this is a little more delicate than I'm used to. At the moment I'm thinking of using the rear channels to supply the amp with audio, but some have advised against it due to resistance complications.

 

[rajeevx5]

Cheers for the reply Rajeevx5! This sounds so confusing haha! Will running off the same amp still give bass to the sub and 'less bass' to the fronts? Can you recommend any amps?

I have one already but pretty sure it only has 2 outputs and I don't think you can control them independently of each other (if that's what you mean).

I guess the wiring wouldn't be too bad as all the wires would only have to be wired into the HU (rather than directly to each speaker) and then from the HU the existing wires would then feed through individually to each speaker? Is there much benefit in amping the front speakers?

Look at some JBL amps, the wiring is not too difficult and i can actually draw you up a wiring diagram if need be. Theres a slight improvement but its better to amp the front speakers so the HU sees the right resistance

 

[DJAlix]

DJAlix this is what I tried -
01730301FF0A000021111101000A00002F00020701000100DE

Byte 11 seems to be different, does it have any info under that byte in VCDS? Where did you get that coding?

As VCDS cannot dump / map Long Coding I take screen caps for when needing to work offline. Attached is what I have thats related to the install via v15.7.3. Not checked .4 as yet.

A friend of mine is looking at doing the same retrofit and over whatsapp this afternoon I was talking him through the needed coding. He has a 8V0 035 864 unit running 8V0 035 864 A SW. Once completed (note that his sub and center speaker are yet to be connected as he is awaiting delivery) an autoscan revealed no Open Circuit DTC's / Errors. As I believe the needed coding to be correct I am thinking that maybe Audi are using wiring harnesses which are providing "shorts" across the center and sub pins on the MMI... maybe... in order to avoid "issues" in non *** setups.

Again, having not viewed any previous threads on the subject I am not sure if this is the case but I have ElsaWin so will do some digging tomorrow.

 

[OliS3]

I hope you can find a way to make this work

 

[Zak0123]

Look at some JBL amps, the wiring is not too difficult and i can actually draw you up a wiring diagram if need be. Theres a slight improvement but its better to amp the front speakers so the HU sees the right resistance

That would be amazing and super helpful if you could draw out a wiring diagram, I'd really appreciate it Rajeevx5! I'll take a look at JBL amps this afternoon and let you know what I find

As VCDS cannot dump / map Long Coding I take screen caps for when needing to work offline. Attached is what I have thats related to the install via v15.7.3. Not checked .4 as yet.

A friend of mine is looking at doing the same retrofit and over whatsapp this afternoon I was talking him through the needed coding. He has a 8V0 035 864 unit running 8V0 035 864 A SW. Once completed (note that his sub and center speaker are yet to be connected as he is awaiting delivery) an autoscan revealed no Open Circuit DTC's / Errors. As I believe the needed coding to be correct I am thinking that maybe Audi are using wiring harnesses which are providing "shorts" across the center and sub pins on the MMI... maybe... in order to avoid "issues" in non *** setups.

Again, having not viewed any previous threads on the subject I am not sure if this is the case but I have ElsaWin so will do some digging tomorrow.

Would be interested to hear how he gets on bud, I've tried several times and no faults came up. I was also looking for independent 'sub control' to appear on the MMI which didn't appear either, would have thought this would appear even with the 'shorts' across the pins? What do you reckon?

I hope you can find a way to make this work

Thanks man, me too!

 

[Schizophonic]

So I purchased Cairnsy13's *** sub. never realised how light it was.

I was the guy who Alex was whatapping so he assures me the connections on the back of my VCDS is active but will find out in the next coming days when I put a pair of speaker cable and test it.

For those who want to see more pictures of the sub. Its really quite basic!

 

[Zak0123]

So I purchased Cairnsy13's *** sub. never realised how light it was.

I was the guy who Alex was whatapping so he assures me the connections on the back of my VCDS is active but will find out in the next coming days when I put a pair of speaker cable and test it.

For those who want to see more pictures of the sub. Its really quite basic!View attachment 84309 View attachment 84310

I know it's super simple isn't it, was so surprised it was so small when I took the cover off lol.

When are you installing yours? Do you have a menu for independent sub control in the MMI? Will be super keen to hear how yours works out bud

-

@rajeevx5 will any of these do the trick?

 

[Schizophonic]

I know it's super simple isn't it, was so surprised it was so small when I took the cover off lol.

When are you installing yours? Do you have a menu for independent sub control in the MMI? Will be super keen to hear how yours works out bud

-

@rajeevx5 will any of these do the trick?

I've activated mine but no Sub menu. Just started a conversation with Rajeevx to see if I can bypass the quadlock and test the pins and sub.
I ran the scan after making the long code changes and no open circuit errors @DJALEX assures me its all working.

 

[DJAlix]

I've activated mine but no Sub menu. Just started a conversation with Rajeevx to see if I can bypass the quadlock and test the pins and sub.
I ran the scan after making the long code changes and no open circuit errors @DJALEX assures me its all working.

"All working" and "correct coding" can be two different things!

 

[Zak0123]

Guys does anyone know what the 2 outputs are on the rears? There is 2x left and right on the pin readout for the rear...

Wondering which one is best to tap into.

 

[Zak0123]

Any ideas guys?

 

[Zak0123]

Got an idea, what would be the results if I hijacked the front door speakers output from the HU, fed them through to my amp, then one channel of the amp 'back' to the front door speakers and one channel of the amp to the sub.

That would mean I have amped front speakers and an amped sub, best of both worlds...

Does anyone know if this would work and what the implications would be? Would the same signals going to the sub and door speakers be ok?

-

@Schizophonic any luck yet?

 

[Schizophonic]

Hello. Managed to get some time to work on this.

In short = mine has failed.

I purchased a parrot adapter cable as suggested as I don't want to be slicing into my oem cables and tested the output of my mmi to a sub and got no sound. Tapped into the center speaker output and same no sound.

Decided to test if it was wiring or sub speaker and Tapped into a side front speaker and heard sound so I know it's nothing to do with speaker or cable. So its my mmi not playing ball.

Just for reference here are my coding and mmi unit.

Looks like I'll have to go through the aftermarket root now.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[DJAlix]

Hello. Managed to get some time to work on this.

In short = mine has failed.

I purchased a parrot adapter cable as suggested as I don't want to be slicing into my oem cables and tested the output of my mmi to a sub and got no sound. Tapped into the center speaker output and same no sound.

Decided to test if it was wiring or sub speaker and Tapped into a side front speaker and heard sound so I know it's nothing to do with speaker or cable. So its my mmi not playing ball.

Just for reference here are my coding and mmi unit.

Looks like I'll have to go through the aftermarket root now.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Don't give up just yet. Once I get back to the uk I will pick up the project

 

[Neil C]

Sorry to hijack, but would adding just the additional door speakers make a worthwhile difference to my 2014 standard sound system ? If so, is it a complicated job ?

 

[MKC]

Hello. Managed to get some time to work on this.

In short = mine has failed.

I purchased a parrot adapter cable as suggested as I don't want to be slicing into my oem cables and tested the output of my mmi to a sub and got no sound. Tapped into the center speaker output and same no sound.

Decided to test if it was wiring or sub speaker and Tapped into a side front speaker and heard sound so I know it's nothing to do with speaker or cable. So its my mmi not playing ball.

Just for reference here are my coding and mmi unit.

Looks like I'll have to go through the aftermarket root now.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

How did you get on @Schizophonic?

 

[FrA1l3]

Hello!

I made this retrofit in January 2017. You can see the complete DIY here: http://www.audisport-iberica.com/fo...-básico-(8RM)-a-Audi-Sound-System---***-(9VD)

I was made it in Spanish, but it has a lot of photos to explain it very well.

Please feel free to ask me any question. Regards!

 

[DJAlix]

How did you get on @Schizophonic?

Schizophonic is due to pop down so we can complete the install, just not had the time as yet. If you are in or around London I can complete with the needed parameterisation.

 

[Schizophonic]

well, just an update and got it up and running for my car now. Very happy.

I wanna do a clean mod and if anyone has any ideas how this works.

So these are the parts required:

* 4E0 971 942 - Flat connector housing 2-pin
* 000 979 026 EA - Single Wires

What I'm concerned is how to deal with the single wire, this will go to the back of the MMI into the pocket slot where it would normally go but the length of cable is too short and wont reach to the back of the car. Whats the best way to extend this? Is it a case of just soldering an normal metal reel to this and join it to the flat connector housing?

Any picture or suggestions helps as I've never done this type of electrical work before.

Thanks

 

[DJAlix]

well, just an update and got it up and running for my car now. Very happy.

I wanna do a clean mod and if anyone has any ideas how this works.

So these are the parts required:

* 4E0 971 942 - Flat connector housing 2-pin
* 000 979 026 EA - Single Wires

What I'm concerned is how to deal with the single wire, this will go to the back of the MMI into the pocket slot where it would normally go but the length of cable is too short and wont reach to the back of the car. Whats the best way to extend this? Is it a case of just soldering an normal metal reel to this and join it to the flat connector housing?

Any picture or suggestions helps as I've never done this type of electrical work before.

Thanks

Normal speaker wire terminated to the MMI quad lock on one end and then the Flat Connector Housing, for the sub connection, on the other?

 

[SevenW]

I recently sourced a 8V subwoofer and quickly Vagged the code, wired it up to the back of pin 9 and 13, got nothing, I should of tested a bit more but didn't and I didn't take down the MMI model nos. but it will be on my Vagcom laptop.
My MMI is a non nav single SD card type, definitely made by Panasonic and the last digit was a B rev.
Will try again when the weather here clears up this weekend, but is there anything else I should look out for?

 

[DJAlix]

I recently sourced a 8V subwoofer and quickly Vagged the code, wired it up to the back of pin 9 and 13, got nothing, I should of tested a bit more but didn't and I didn't take down the MMI model nos. but it will be on my Vagcom laptop.
My MMI is a non nav single SD card type, definitely made by Panasonic and the last digit was a B rev.
Will try again when the weather here clears up this weekend, but is there anything else I should look out for?

The sub will need activating via a combination of both coding and parameterisation. VCDS cannot do the parameterisation so you will need to find someone with VCP or ODIS. If you are in or around north London I could do this for you.

 

[SevenW]

Thanks for the offer DJ.
Afraid I am on the other side of the planet, so it lookslike the sub is going to be a big paperweight, or I will have to look at tapping into the rear speaker lines then thru a high line amp then into the sub.

 

[larbel]

So I purchased Cairnsy13's *** sub. never realised how light it was.

I was the guy who Alex was whatapping so he assures me the connections on the back of my VCDS is active but will find out in the next coming days when I put a pair of speaker cable and test it.

For those who want to see more pictures of the sub. Its really quite basic!View attachment 84309 View attachment 84310

Sorry about digging up the old thread, @Schizophonic do you happen to know the diameter for the sub speaker? Would appreciated if maybe you can measure it real quick, thanks!

 

[Schizophonic]

Sorry about digging up the old thread, @Schizophonic do you happen to know the diameter for the sub speaker? Would appreciated if maybe you can measure it real quick, thanks!

I still have it in my car but once i get a chance I can do this for you mate.

 

[Teck B]

I still have it in my car but once i get a chance I can do this for you mate.

Hi, got a question. when you did your install on your a3 8v did you have to add pins/cables under the rubber boot between the doors as i'm starting part of my install this weekend seeing as we are on lockdown. Thank in advance.