A4 radio upgrade

[Mylo223]

Hi there,

I have a audi a4 b7 2005. My current radio is a double din cassette player and CD changer. I really want to upgrade it for something newer with Bluetooth capabilities and also satnav.

There are plenty of choices on the old eBay but I was wandering if anyone has upgraded theirs and have some good recommendations. 

Many thanks for reading post if you can help I would really appreciate it! Attached image is my current unit.

Cheers.

 

[Steve Q]

Hi Myles theres quite a few touch screen radios on the market now which incorporate apple car play or Android equivalent. This then allows you to use your phone satnav through them. Again you get what you pay for and I think good ones are around £300. 

Cheers

Steve

[Spencer C]

This is an upgrade I'm also planning soon so all help/suggestions gratefully received !! 

[incarexpert]

Hi Guy's, I'm a Car Audio specialist (42 years) & upgrade the Audio systems in Audi's all the time, I'm also an Audi A4 3.0 Tdi (B7) Quattro S-Line owner in Kent

so I'm deffo not touting for any business, particularly as you guys are far away from me anyway! But I would gladly give some advice if needed? Particularly if you are going to attemp to do this yourself etc! Not only on what I would recommend you do or don't look at buying (Budget wise) but also and more importantly the many additional things to know about Your Audi A4. I.e. Once the original Concert, Chorus or Symphony single or double din Audio Head unit is removed there is quite allot to add or compensate for to add an aftermarket system to all Audi vehicles and not just a simple matter of buying a new head unit and a correct single or double din fascia panel!  For example, all Audi vehicles are either half amplified or fully amped (Bose) also phantom (amplified AM/FM antenna) Also the original audio unit will have no acc - ignition feed present in either the earlier A4 - B6 (iso connectors) or the Facelift  B7 onward (Fakra -Quadlock 40 way connector) Double din units, the ignition on for all Audi's is achieved via the can bus data pair the goes to the head unit and there is no ignition 12v feed as such that is required to switch on an aftermarket replacement head unit, you can cheat by running a seperate ignition feed to the new audio head unit via the fuse box but this is not a good way of doing it! You will need at least a slim key Can Bus ignition interface at around £45 or if your vehicle has multi function steering wheel commands you will need a Can Bus Steering command interface unit on either ISO or Fakra depending etc These cost about £70.00 but worth getting! You will also need either a full Bose Amplifier retention patch harness or a Half amped patch (otherwise you won't have any rear speaker audio). This would apply to the A3, A4, TT old A6 etc, A4 convertible can be different again even post 2006 to the standard A4 2006 B7 as they follow the audio platform of the 2005 A4 (B6) Confused? Yeah Audi's are real good fun & even doing this daily even I get confused & have to double check all on the vehicle before I quote for any installation of audio change or adding a Parrot Mki bluetooth hf unit! Everyone says Audi are same as VW...  "Oh No they deffo are NOT! They are quite unique between the family of VAG & Skoda, Seat etc that are indeed same as VW. Audi however keep us thinking.

If you are attemping to install a quality brand of aftermarket head unit such as Kenwood, Pioneer Sony, Alpine or even JVC I'll gladly answer any questions you may have and fire away I'm all ears and will help or advise if I can.

If however you have bought one of those awful eBuy Chinese Xtron or similar £199.00 rubbish Android retro (bootfair quality units) send it back now and demand a refund or take it to a field & shoot it. I'm not interested as you can't make a silk purse out of a pigs ear etc *  _  *

[Mohan]

Phil,

Many thank you for your post. I am thinking of changing my Audi RNS-E head unit in  mt RS4 fitted with bose amplifier, speakers and subwoofer.

I understand most people lose function of the subwoofer?

The alternative is to buy a wiring harness adapter and plug your phone in, I much prefer the sound when its hard wired as opposed to bluetooth. I have seen a product by Denison.

What are your thoughts?

Many thanks,

Mohan 

[Prof Mat]

I had a non-bose concert system in mine but the CD player failed. After much looking and cogitating I decided to steer well clear of the Xtrons etc and go with a solid band and put a Pioneer FH-S820DAB, fitted with Connects2 kit to allow steering wheel control and rear amp power (careful you get the powerup line to the rear amp for the sub-woofer). You can set the button and display lights to red so it kind of matches. Sound is very good for the price...

I am about to put new pioneer speakers in the front as I am changing door cards, so that should help as well

 

Hope that helps

[Skjelstad]

Hey, I have a Audi A4 b6 with a 1din concert radio. Yesterday I mounted a new pioneer deh-s720dab. I can’t get the sound to work properly in the front. The speakers in the back doors work very good, but I can barely hear anything from the speakers in the front doors. There is no fader adjustment. I also feel like the bass in the doors isn’t as good in the b6 as it is in my other b7. Any advice? All speakers work, just not good.

[cla]

On 29/01/2019 at 19:04, incarexpert said:

Olá pessoal, sou especialista em áudio automotivo (42 anos) e atualizo os sistemas de áudio dos Audi o tempo todo. Também sou proprietário de um Audi A4 3.0 Tdi (B7) Quattro S-Line em Kent

então, definitivamente, não estou promovendo nenhum negócio, principalmente porque vocês estão longe de mim de qualquer maneira! Mas eu ficaria feliz em dar alguns conselhos, se necessário. Principalmente se você for tentar fazer isso sozinho, etc.! Não apenas sobre o que eu recomendaria que você fizesse ou não ao comprar (em termos de orçamento), mas também, e mais importante, sobre as muitas coisas adicionais que você deve saber sobre o seu Audi A4. Ou seja, uma vez removida a unidade principal de áudio de din único ou duplo Concert, Chorus ou Symphony original, há muito o que adicionar ou compensar para adicionar um sistema de reposição a todos os veículos Audi e não apenas uma simples questão de comprar uma nova unidade principal e um painel frontal correto, simples ou duplo din! Por exemplo, todos os veículos Audi são meio amplificados ou totalmente amplificados (Bose), também fantasmas (antena AM/FM amplificada). Além disso, a unidade de áudio original não terá alimentação de ignição de acordo com o A4 - B6 anterior (conectores iso) ou do Facelift B7 em diante (conector Fakra -Quadlock de 40 vias) Unidades Double din, a ignição para todos os Audi é obtida através do par de dados do barramento can que vai para a unidade principal e não há alimentação de 12 V de ignição como tal, necessária para mudar em uma unidade principal de reposição de reposição, você pode trapacear executando uma alimentação de ignição separada para a nova unidade principal de áudio por meio da caixa de fusíveis, mas essa não é uma boa maneira de fazer isso! Você precisará de pelo menos uma interface de ignição Can Bus com chave fina por volta de £ 45 ou se o seu veículo tiver comandos de volante multifuncionais, você precisará de uma unidade de interface de comando Can Bus Steering em ISO ou Fakra dependendo etc. recebendo! Você também precisará de um patch de retenção de amplificador Bose completo ou de um patch Half Amped (caso contrário, você não terá nenhum áudio do alto-falante traseiro). Isso se aplicaria ao A3, A4, TT antigo A6 etc., o A4 conversível pode ser diferente novamente, mesmo após 2006, do padrão A4 2006 B7, pois eles seguem a plataforma de áudio do A4 (B6) 2005. Confuso? Sim, os Audi são muito divertidos e mesmo fazendo isso diariamente, até eu fico confuso e tenho que verificar tudo no veículo antes de fazer um orçamento para qualquer instalação de mudança de áudio ou adicionar uma unidade Bluetooth HF Parrot Mki! Todo mundo diz que Audi é igual a VW ... "Oh, não, eles definitivamente NÃO são! Eles são bastante únicos entre a família VAG e Skoda, Seat etc., que são de fato iguais a VW. Audi, no entanto, nos mantém pensando.

Se você estiver tentando instalar uma marca de qualidade de unidade principal de reposição, como Kenwood, Pioneer Sony, Alpine ou mesmo JVC, terei prazer em responder a quaisquer perguntas que você possa ter e responder. Sou todo ouvidos e ajudarei ou aconselharei se puder .

Se, no entanto, você comprou um daqueles horríveis eBuy Chinese Xtron ou similar £ 199,00 Android retro (unidades de qualidade bootfair), envie-o de volta agora e exija um reembolso ou leve-o para um campo e atire nele. Não estou interessado porque você não pode fazer uma bolsa de seda com uma orelha de porco, etc. * _ *

Good evening Phill. I liked a post, do you have a Facebook page so I can get information about the sound of my Audi from you? 

[WhisperingAl]

Hi

I have an A4 B7 with a Concert radio. I don’t want to change it for something that looks out of place but I want to play music from my iPhone and retain the steering wheel controls. 
Any ideas?

[Tarmo]

8 hours ago, WhisperingAl said:

Hi

I have an A4 B7 with a Concert radio. I don’t want to change it for something that looks out of place but I want to play music from my iPhone and retain the steering wheel controls. 
Any ideas?

I'd take something from here. Depending on what connector you have behind your radio. Basically it emulates cd changer and adds bluetooth connectivity that way.
https://www.connects2.com/products/steering-wheel-control-interfaces/vehicle/Audi/A4

[WhisperingAl]

Thanks. 
Yes, I have been looking at similar things since I posted. 
I was also concerned about disconnecting the radio without a code but am now familiar with the process. 

[WhisperingAl]

On 5/26/2024 at 6:00 PM, Tarmo said:

I'd take something from here. Depending on what connector you have behind your radio. Basically it emulates cd changer and adds bluetooth connectivity that way.
https://www.connects2.com/products/steering-wheel-control-interfaces/vehicle/Audi/A4

Hi

I have purchased and fitted a similar device and connected via Bluetooth but I have no way to start playing. If I select CD it simply says No Disc

[Tarmo]

Can you post a link? And did you plug in the connector for cd changer?

 

[WhisperingAl]

12 hours ago, Tarmo said:

Can you post a link? And did you plug in the connector for cd changer?

 

I connected the device as specified by the manufacturer. That is, a blue connector which I believe is the CD auto changer. 
However I need to tell the car that it has a CD changer via programming. 
A mechanic I use is going to plug into it on Thursday. I will keep you posted. 
 

[WhisperingAl]

Hi. 
Mechanic changed programming to include CD auto changer but the item still did not work. 
I bought a different unit and it worked straight away.

 I believe, or guess, one unit replaces the auto changer and one works alongside. 
The one that works has more wires in the blue connector. 
 

Thought I would update for anyone who is interested. 

[pga7]

Hi!

 

I have an Audi Concert 1 car radio.

 

I bought a bt adapter from aliexpress and it does not work. When I press the cd key two times, it only replies NO CD.

 

What adapter did you buy that worked fine for you?

A link would be great!

 

Regards

 

[WhisperingAl]

Hi

I bought this one and it works 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003666056014.html?spm=a2g0n.order_detail.order_detail_item.2.7fb6f19cM9cxBB

I have to press the CD button once for CD, twice for Bluetooth. 
I believe the car must be told it has a CD auto changer. 
A friendly mechanic plugged in and set mine. 
 

[WhisperingAl]

Forgot to add, I bought the option “Bluetooth only”

[pga7]

Just what I needed ! Super Thanks!