Clarion Multimedia head-unit install complete!!! (BWW)

[Marc3.2TT]

First of all, thanks to everyone on this forum who's contributed to making this happen - I know there were lots of questions about wiring harnesses, splicing, etc. but trust me was worth it.

I ended up going with Clarion's brand new unit, the VRX745VD.
The reason I didn't keep the "old" one from my GTI, which was the VRX935VD model, is that it had a "hide-away" unit (call it "brain box") that was a little too considerable in size to actually fit anywhere, without having to take the whole car apart..
This new unit has everything integrated, so no big box to hide anywhere, and it also makes it less of a headache for wiring all over the place.

So I've *finally* managed to put all this mess together, and it looks a little something like this - see reply posts for details..

[Marc3.2TT]

So here's the beast - you'll notice it sticks out a bit more than your normal DIN head-unit:



The red circle above shows the "Video In" connection: there are quite a few RCA inputs/outputs to this thing - more on that later.


The label on the HU:




The beast from the front:





And from the back, with all the required connections shown:



From left to right, we have: antenna (need an adapter from the German-style connector), main harness (power, speaker output etc.) and CeNet input I use to connect my Sirius receiver, and other CeNet devices (CD/DVD changer, 5.1 decoder, TV tuner etc.) if available.

[Marc3.2TT]

If you've seen the new A4/A6/A8, they all have a fairly large shark-fin-looking antenna on the rear portion of the roof. I was tempted to also place my Sirius antenna on the roof, but it breaks the nice lines of the TT.. so I had to find a place inside the cabin.

The rear windshield is more angled than the front one, so the trunk (or more precisely, the rear shelf) seemed an obvious place for the satellite antenna, since it needs as much view to the sky as possible. However, wiring from the shelf proved a little challenging, and wouldn't look very good since the cable would have to be routed from the centre to the side of the trunk, then back to the front where the receiver is. Not pretty.

So, I found a better solution: under the front windshield!
From Jeff Bipes' kind explanations, I managed to remove the front defrost vent:




And wire the Sirius antenna through the front hole:






I routed the antenna's wire down behind the HU and all the way to the area behind the glove compartment, which was just wide enought to squeeze the small Sirius receiver box into it. I don't have pictures of the receiver since it's way up there and too dark to show anything.


View from outside, which shows how inconspicuous the antenna looks as opposed to having it on the roof:

[Marc3.2TT]

Here are the car's main connections, picture again courtesy of Jeff Bipes:



You'll notice the rear spearker inputs are line-level located on the bottom connector. Also, it turns out the "Dash Lights" and "Switched +12V" are no longer used in newer models.

After doing some research on this forum, I found out that I needed Scoche's VW01B wiring harness which would plug in to the car's connectors. However, since the rear speaker inputs are located on another connector NOT provided in the VW01B harness, I ended up ordering the VWK1B harness which came with a connector for "AKTIV Amplified Systems":




Unfortunately, the second connector in this harness is not the correct one, so I ended up only using the one circled below:




This allowed most connections, such as +12V constant, Ground, and front speaker input (LF+ LF- RF+ RF-):



For rear speaker input, I ended up splicing into the extra connector which I didn't have a harness for, with 2 RCA cables show in the lower red circle above.


Here's the Clarion's main harness connection:




The +12 switched is shown here (I ended up going to the fuse box for that - see further down):




More wiring nightmare, the +12 switched shown below also spliced into the power amp for the rear speakers:




This blurry one shows the splicing done to the rear speakers input (LR+ RR+ and COM):




Here's the fuse box located on the left side of the dash, from which I tapped into fuse # 10 (it's a 10-amp fuse) called "S-Kont" or "S-Contact":



The advantage of this connection, vs. the other yellow +12V lead shown below, is that this one acts as a +12V switched turn-on lead ***that actually stays on after the engine is turned off*** and stays at +12V until the key is removed from the ignition. Some may prefer the other method, I prefer this one..

Here's how I routed the "S-Kont" wire back to the HU:




And finally, all the required connections coming out of the HU slot where I also inserted the metal mounting bracket:



From left to right, we have the CeNet connection (circled in red), the main harness connection, and the RF antenna. Note that I also had to connect the RCA outputs for rear line level speaker connections, the ones that were spliced into the main car harness. Also got some patch RCA cables to connect to the Video in and Audio left/right in - see step 5 below.

[Marc3.2TT]

After the wiring nightmare, this step seemed like child's play.

Being careful not to squeeze any wires, the HU was inserted slowly by also retrieving the excess wire length from the back (reaching in from the bottom, behind the ashtray that was of course removed):




Unfortunately the unit could not be pushed all the way in, otherwise the screen couldn't open due to the aluminum "TT" flap:




Also, there are small gaps on the sides of the HU which I'll have to fill in somehow:




But overall, the HU looks pretty cozy in there, and that's not even with LCD opened yet:




Here's the LCD screen in the process of opening:




And here's how much clearance I ended up with - almost none:




Another angle:




And here's the HU in full-force, with Sirius satellite radio:




A couple of DVD shots with "Terminator 2" action:






Here's how CD's & DVD's are loaded, the front face flips down:






View of the front face flipped down from the side:




To remove the face for security, simply pull on it and close the flap:






Now onto the final step, getting Aux. in (Audio + Video) into this baby!

[Marc3.2TT]

The Clarion HU has Aux. inputs for both Audio and Video, so I thought it would make sense to be able to take advantage of them by setting up RCA connections for on-the-fly hook-up.

If you've ever taken the dash apart, you'll notice there are two L-shaped plastic parts below the ash tray that clip together and screw into the sides of the centre console.
The right L-shaped part has a metal piece behind its front face, but the left one doesn't.

So, I decided to place RCA female inputs into the face of the left L-shaped part by drilling 3 holes into it (one for Video and two for Audio):




Here's a close-up of the holes - I had to make sure they were just the right size to fit the female RCA connectors without being too loose:




Into the bottom two holes, I plugged in a dual-female/female connector for the Audio L/R inputs:




Here's what it looks like from the "outside":




And another single female/female connector was used for the Video input:





From the front:




This is what it would look like with a set of RCA connections:





You'll notice that the front (outside) connections are not all the way in, since the L-shaped plastic flap has some thickness to it, but it's enough to make a solid connection for both the inner and outer RCA contacts.


Here's the L-shaped part installed back in the car:






And a view from the driver's seat, albeit a little bent down, showing that the connections are somewhat discreet:






Finally an example of audio connections:




I need to get a couple of more shots with my camcorder plugged into the Aux inputs, which is one of the applications I think I will use the most - so more to come!!

[EighTT]

[sTTanford]

does it come with a fitment kit to close this gap up at all?

total cosT? cost for the unit?

[Marc3.2TT]

[Marc3.2TT]

Unfortunately the unit doesn't come with any extra pieces to close the gap.
However, the fitment is REALLY tight so there's no need to be concerned about any movement due to loose fitment. About the visual gap, I plan on filling it flush with the rear of the black plastic trim piece that comes with the unit. Not INTO the gap, but out to the sides if that makes sense.

As for total cost, well the HU itself is $1200, Sirius receiver $150, and Sirius antenna $50. Add in all the little tidbits such as wiring harnesses, splicing connectors etc, and you have almost $1500..