Maverick_A4

I have decided to go for a aftermarket stereo for my 96 A4 (non bose) with this nice looking/sounding Sony receiver.

<img src="http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/products/2003/158/h158F5700-f.jpeg">

I needed help regarding installation instructions for the stereo. I have been doing a lot of reading on the forum regarding this. Many people seem to have done this before but I didnt find any detailed or stepwise instructions.

Firstly I was wondering whether to buy this from Crutchfield or someone like BB/CircuitCity who do the installation for free. I visited a BestBuy store today and the audio installer guy there told me he would have to take out the old radio to give an estimate on how much it would take to do the install. He told me that if there was speaker rewiring involved it might go to bout $120.

Let me share what I have gathered so far about the install:
- You can get a wiring harness for the install at
&nbsp;&nbsp; 1 - either a Scosche or Metra
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Scosche - &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sounddomain.com/sku/SCOVW01B">http://www.sounddomain.com/sku/SCOVW01B</a>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Metra - &nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=32812&item=5701843 143">Ebay</a>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.discounts-n-deals.com/product.asp?0=200&1=341&3=982">discounts-n-deals</a>
The Metra is used by CircuitCity and the Scosche by BestBuy
- Secondly u need a trim panel for fitting the aftermarket stereo in the wide OEM stereo slot.
&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.scosche.com/scosche/installation/kits/AU2300.asp">http://www.scosche.com/scosche/installation/kits/AU2300.asp</a>
- U cud also get a wiring harness for the sony stereo.
&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=64579&item=5701909 548&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW">Sony Wiring Harness on Ebay</a>
- It seems the front speakers are powered by the radio while the rear ones are powered by an amp which gets the i/p from the radio preout.

This is all I know so far.....

I also called a Crutchfield rep about this and he told me that first they dont have a harness for the 96 audi. And secondly that I might need to do a re-wiring or buy some adapter ($29.99) which gets the amp and the aftermarket stereo "to common ground level" I didnt understand what that meant.

Can somebody help me with this? Will it be easy to do this install myself getting the stereo and the parts from the net for cheap or is it worth paying BB/CircuitCity to do the install? (they do have the free installation but that doesnt cover rewiring labor if it is involved)
Does anyone have any detailed instructions if they
have done this before? Any help will be highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance....

MacSub

Heard many a horror story of botched installs by supposedly reputable ICE companies. It is an easy upgrade especially since you've done your homework. Will take you 40minutes max, and there is plenty of help on the forum if you get stuck.

funkmasterta

-Sony *used* to make good stuff, I dunno about their Xplod line though, my little brother bought a JVC deck 2 yrs ago for ~300 and it looks much more classy and has better features &amp; specs.

-Why would you need to rewire if you're getting a wiring harness? The harness is what feeds power and signal to your speakers so if you've got that, there's no need to rewire. Those CC/BB boys are talking smack I think. BTW, I don't trust those installers, they make like $8-9/hr and it's really a hit and miss whether you'll get one who'll do a good install. I would do it myself, too.

-I added a 12" sub and amp to my car and it wasn't too bad. It really depends on whether you've had previous experience doing custom work on your car before. I've replaced the deck on my mom's Accord before, piece of cake! Man, there's a reason why Honda's get customized by so many ppl, it's easy as hell! I've also installed a 6-disc changer in my dad's Maxima and had the opening pass thru the rear armrest and mounted the display on a drawer in the dash, so it looks totally OEM and he can even use the drawer still. So, not knowing what your experience level is, my recommendation is to think thru the process of what needs to be done, maybe even write it down and go thru it all in your head, get all the parts that you need, and it should follow thru smoothly w/o many headaches, esp. if you're planning to use an aftermarket harness adapter to fit the oem harness, it shouldn't be too bad at all.

Maverick_A4

Thanks for ur input funkmastera

Regarding the Sonys, I liked the mp3 playing capabilities and the mp3 title album display as compared to other HUs like Alpine/Kenwood. Also Kenwood (my other choice) doesnt have random file play which is a must IMHO for mp3 disc play. I was browsing through the forum and found this Clarion to blend really well:
<a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/a4/msgs/1632794.phtml"> Clarion..</a>
But as per Crutchfield and CLarion site this deck "doesnt" fit A4. I dont know how these ppl got it to fit.

As for the rewiring I think this thread will clear things up...
<a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/audio/msgs/38071.phtml">ReWiring need...</a>

My experience level is a total novice when it comes to car custom work. I have never done anything myself thats why I am a little hesitant. But now the more I am reading bout stuff in the forums, I am getting the confidence that I cud do it and will mostly go for it myself.

I was mainly looking for ppl who had done the exact same thing bfore and know what went right/wrong with it. Its always good to know bout ppls mistakes and learn from them rather than commiting the same yourselves!

Maverick_A4

BTW.. loved ur "cell-phone-holder" wonder where I can get one of those ;o)

DigglerD

A few things.

1) Kenwood does have random play because I just put a Kenwood unit in my car.

2)I used an adapter harness for a VW of the same year however this only works to adapt the dimmer, power B+ and Access, and ground.

3)The front speakers run a common ground and WILL short your deck if you just try to hook them up (the VW plug will have these in the harness...don't use them unless you re-wire the front speakers). The rear speakers run a common ground and amp as well.

4) The antenna is a amplified window antenna and needs a special adapter that has a power wire hanging out of the adapter to turn the window antenna on.

I ended up running a 4-channel amp and 2-channel amp fed via 3 H/U RCA ouputs. This coupled with new speakers made it nessecary for me to re-wire the speaker leads and in that process I was able to ditch the poopy common ground setup.

If you are only changing the H/U with speaker level outputs instead of RCA's, you will need to inquire as to hooking up the fronts without shorting the deck (I never found out how as I was rewiring anyway). The rears are easy, they are located on the yellow plug that comes out of the stock H/U. The middle wire is ground for both speakers; the white wire is the amplifire "remote on" lead (needs a 12v power source to turn on the amp).

funkmasterta

cool links. okay, I did a sub + amp install myself, here are some mistakes I made:

-when pulling up the door molding on the inside part of the door sill, be careful when u get to the rear seats, they're kind of a PITA to get out and I broke a bit of plastic off near the center pillar between the front &amp; rear door openings. just be patient and keep at it, eventually it comes out. u'll prolly end up running the speakers wires under that to the rear deck if u're not gonna power them from an amp in the trunk, i would run the speaker wires on the passenger side and save the driver's side for power in case (which u most likely will) u decide to add an amp and/or sub in the future.

-if u don't have the real audi radio removal tools, ie, if u jimmy rig some flat metal things like i did, it can be a PITA to remove, but not too bad, i would recommend getting some real tools

-this is basic but don't forget to take out the right fuse or just disconnect the battery so u don't short nething. i didn't make this mistake but u said u were a novice, so don't forget to do this.

-getting to the speakers in the front doors were pretty easy and if u follow the write ups on here, it should go pretty smoothly, they were done well.

well, that's all i can think of for now, keep us updated on how well it goes.

funkmasterta

haha! yea, they jiggle when you get an incoming call =)

funkmasterta

hahaha, sweet!<ul><li><a href="http://forums.clubsi.com/showflat.php?Cat=&amp;Board=UBB3&amp;Number=416581 6&amp;page=0&amp;view=collapsed&amp;sb=5&amp;o=&am p;fpart=1">http://forums.clubsi.com/showflat.php?Cat=&amp;Board=UBB3&amp;Number=416581 6&amp;page=0&amp;view=

Maverick_A4

Thanks DigglerD..

I had actually taken a mp3 cd to bestbuy and CC and played it on a few receivers. Seems the Kenwood has folder shuffle but not disc shuffle. e.g on the sony stereo when u play with disc shuffle on, any song from ANY folder is played randomly. whereas on the Kenwood, it can play random within the same folder. Newys.. They have a good comparison on the Crutchfield website.

Man this common ground wiring thing complicates things now. And just when I thot that I was understanding things.

Do u have any wiring diagrams handy which will kinda explain things? I dont really understand these electrical wiring things. There at least a pin diagram of the delta CC unit on the tech article page.

and yes I will be just changing the HU without any amp or speaker changes. Thats the simple install I am trying to achieve..

Thanks in advance..