hosacans

when i was replacing my battery recently, something weird happened to my HU. the tape deck jump in and out for a few times, now it doesnt work anymore. i still get the radio, but the tape deck doesnt work. which is bad because i use it to connect to my ipod with a cassette adapter. i was planning to replace the HU when summer comes, but i think i should get started on that now. there are several questions i have before i being:

1) which aftermarket HU should i get? i have bose speakers, and from what i read in this forum, they can be a pain to remove. someone suggested to get a HU that can do "non-amp" outputs... does anyone know about those, and how would i connect it to the bose speakers. also i am trying to connect the ipod directly into the HU, with one of those CD changer conversion tricks... anyone know an ideal HU that might grant me these wishes?

2) i notice that when i disconnect the HU, my car alarm goes out, what can i do to bypass that? do i have to install a new system or is there a way to disconnect it from the HU?

3) after the battery incident, i notice that my driver side front speaker is acting up... and recently, it stopped working... no sound is coming out, i am suspecting that it might be the amp that is out. how can i repair that? do i ahve to replace the whole speaker unit or is there some way that i can just fix the amp, or get a replacement amp from radio shack?

EDIT: i read another thread from earlier about a similar front left speaker problem, i looked at the amp that i have and i see no signs of burning... everything seems undamaged. could that mean the no sound problem is cause by the HU? is there a precise way to do a diagnostic on the circuitry?

Thanks so much!

Audi Logic

<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/61186/dsc00256.jpg"></center><p>I replaced mine with a vw premium 5 from a 00 passat. it was almost a direct fit except for moving around some wires in the harness and I lost the station display on the dash.
I rewires the existing changer wire to use the VW changer plugs and had a indash 6 disk changer in the trunk up until it broke, right now I going to use my Ipaq as an mp3 player and controll it from the headunit via a vwcdpic, you can also use this to control ipod if you can find or make one

It also interfaces with the factory alarm which I believe is just a ground loop that if broken the alarm will go off, your problem is the alarm will not set since it sences a open switch(missing radio)

Any radio with line outs will work with the bose system. I had even connected the speaker out from the radio to the bose for a few minutes to see how it would sound..(very load)

As for you left speaker check the amp turn on wires from the head unit and I believe there is a relay under the dash, I hear it click every time I turn my radio on, if it does not click I get no sound..

I will be deleting my amps soon and I don't think its as much of a pain as some make it out to be..
the wires are already in the door, I'm just going to unplug it from the amp and connect the wires directly to the new speaker and on the radio side move to from line out to speaker out..