ok, here's my story. I recently acquired a 1992 Audi 100 S with a nonfunctioning radio. The lights on it still light along with all the other dash lights, but it won't turn on.

I'm thinking this means the radio is just toast, and that the power connection has to be intact. Does it have a second power lead coming into it for those lights? or just a control lead and one power?

I'm thinking of replacing it with an aftermarket Blaupunkt cd player i have from my old car that has a pair of preamp outputs.

The current Gamma CC radio doesn't say Bose anywhere on the radio or in the book, so i think it's the base model (and i read somewhere that the Bose only comes on the CS Sedan...i wish this information was more easily available, so i could have determined that i don't have the Bose along time ago).

I'm not sure if any or all of the speakers in this car have amplifiers mounted to them. I believe maybe the rears do, but have no idea about the front door speakers. How can I find this out?

If it's just the rears amplified, I could use the preamp outputs on my cd player to send signal to those, and use the players internal amp to power the door speakers. But if the doors are amplified as well, adn i only have one set of preamp outputs....

I'm hoping/assuming that I could just fashion an RCA connector (if there isn't one already installed) into the line to run those rear speakers off of my RCA preouts.

Also, for wiring in my new Blaupunkt, does anyone know where I can get a good pinout of all the wires going into the rear of the stereo? The sticker that was on there is weird. It has weird symbols I don't know (i'm no electronics guru, but i've installed several simple car stereos in simpler cars (olders hondas, chevy's, etc.).

Also it appears to have redundant outputs for some of the speakers, and no ground for other, and aggghh! it makes no sense to me. Can anyone link a good explanation or pinout diagram to me? Or help me make sense of it?

This is all frustrating me, because I think once I get this information, I could possibly wire it all in 10 minutes or less, but I need to know what wires go where, and which speakers are amplified, etc.

 

First off I have a 95 A6, but it too had the Gamma CC non-Bose, so I would assume that it is the same as the 100S... That being said, the head unit says "Bose" right on the front if its Bose, and when you turn it on I believe it says it to. I�'m not completely sure about your radio itself, but I agree that it sounds like it�'s gone. So... the way my non-Bose was set up was, no amps on the front doors, but yes the rears have amps attached to them. As for your "pre-amp to the rears" idea, I�'m not sure, but I don't think it will work. To my knowledge the rear amps require the stock head unit to tell them when to turn on and off and the such so w/o the Gamma HU the amps just sit and don't work (at least that�'s what happened to me the first time around). I worked around this by soldering leads to the speakers themselves, bypassing the rear amps, then connecting my new leads directly to the amplified rear outputs on my new head unit. That worked well for me, but after a while I was not impressed with the stock rears and ended up replacing them with JBL 6x9's. I spent a long time dealing with the pin-outs of the stock HU. In the end I got it... and I know exactly what you are talking about with the grounds. I�'m afraid that right now with the computer I�'m on, and my location, I don't have that info, but I can try and look it up later. That sticker on the HU is the map... you just need the key to be able to decipher it. The �"do-it-yourself replacement� of the head unit with my aftermarket (also a Blaupunkt) was extremely frustrating and time consuming, but when all was said and done I had the abilities and the sound that I wanted. Anyway hope some of this helps, and I'll look into the pin-outs.

~scrogers

 

Dear Giffypop17: I'm also no electronics guru, but have you by chance had your battery disconnected recently throretically causing the radio's lock code to kick in? Not sure if that scenario would still allow the dash lights to glow or not, but looking in the owner's manual for the lock code might get you started up. There are many threads on how to do this on this list. If all else fails, get on the Audiworld forum for stereos(scroll way down towards the bottom) to get better answewers than I can give!)

Someone on the list told me mixing aftermarket stereos and the amplified speakers was bad juju. The power output impedance for most aftrermarkets is 4-8 ohms resistance and the Bose amplified speakers it's like 1.2 ohms. IIRC, a 1.2 ohm load will fry most in dash amplifiers eventually. if the lock code thing didn't work, then I think I'd replace the door mount speakers with some decent Boston Acoustics separates(or MB Quarts if you hit the lottery) A good aux amp would be a nice touch too.

I think the Bose Audi sound system is mediocre at best, especially for what the original owner had to pay for it. Maybe it was good in 1992.

Max

 

I have a 95 A6QA with the stock Gamma which went south intermittently. I bought a Clarion from Crutchfield. They sent me a conversion piece which allowed me to run the CD/tuner with the stock front speakers (unamplified) and the stock rear speakers (amplified.) They also gave me a plug which allowed me to switch the Audi antenna to a normal plug. Works fine. BTW, if you call them they will tell you they have the Bose. Tell them you don't. email me if you need more help with this.

 

When you replaced the Gamma unit in your 95, was the item that Crutchfield sent a pac-oem? Was it straight forward to connect the wires using this? Did you use their harness? Thanks