richardeuro

i bought my b5 a4 with a non oem radio and have decided i want to go back to stock with a concert hu. i have managed to get hold of a radio from an a6 (friend upgradinG his system). he doesn't know the code for the radio. my local audio installer is telling me they can't decode the radio. is there a way around this? what if i get the the vin from the donor car? can anyone tell me the code? even if i can obtain the code, will the radio work with my ecu? (heard somewhere the radio is coded to the specific cars ecu). sorry for what is probably a lame post, but i can't piece the answer together just by searching the boards. (my car is non bose, if the concert hu turns out to be a bose unit, this can be disabled with vag-com or by my audi dealer, right???) thanks guys.

Li3ny

The radio can't be decoded. My code was never removed from the owners manual, so check there. I'm not gonna say it can't be done, but your in for alot of b/s, if doesn't plug in and work. Just find the correct one for your car and make sure you get the code. Or since your already wired for aftermarket just find one you like.

MacSub

Call your local Audi dealer and providing you can convince them the HU is legit they can decode it for you.

richardeuro

from what i can tell from my searches on the boards, the bose setting is a defineable state that can be turned on/off via vag-com (in other words, audi takes a stock concert unit and programs it's software to flash up bose on startup and tweaks/disables the eq to make it a bose unit, as i understand it, it's the outboard amps and speaker pack that do most of the work in a bose system). can anyone else give me a definitive on this? the original concert radio from my car is long gone so no chance of finding that, i want to retain that 'stock' look.

Li3ny

I've never heard of a bose system h/u having an internal amp not being used that just needs to be turned on. That means vag-com can somehow bypass the external amp at each speaker. Sound unlikely to me, but good luck. I meant the code might be in your freinds A6 manual, or find the exact radio from someone else for your model.

MacSub

The VAG-COM programming doesn't by pass anything or control any amps, all it does is change the EQ settings on the standard head unit to the Bose setup and show Bose on the display when you turn it on.
All Audi head units have both front & rear pre-outs and a 25w front amp built in. The Bose setup uses all the pre-outs and just doesn't have anything connected to the buit in front amp.

Li3ny

So if someone's front bose speakers or amps take a dump, does that mean you can put in a 4ohm replacement? That is if you reprogram it, and get the correct plug. BTW I'm not breaking your ***** or anything.. thread is starting to sound nasty..I'm really asking?

MacSub

If you want to change speakers you're still stuck with a Bose amp that is expecting a 2 ohm load, so it will work but at reduced power, or you can dive new 4 ohm front speakers off the HU internal front amp which would be a better idea, but I doubt if the front speaker harness is there, so you'd need to run speaker cable to the doors and buy a standard ISO speaker harness to plug into the back of the Concert.
You can also run a full Bose system without the Bose coding, which some say sounds better. My experience of the Bose coding was that it sounded muffled and woolly compared to non-Bose, and the treble control didn't seem to do a lot.