Replacing Audi Symphony (Non-Bose) with Alpine CDE 122 - What did I miss?

[squeegy200]

I have a 2005 Audi A4 Avant with the Audi Symphony (Non-Bose)

My goal was to replace the head unit with the Alpine CDE-122 Single DIN CD Receiver
to do this, I purchased
1. PAC C2R-Audi wiring harness adapter with CAN Bus
2. Powered Antenna adapter for Motorola type connector
3. Double DIN face plate to single DIN kit
4. (4) Stereo Removal keys

Physical installation is a breeze and supplied instructions and informationals in this forum are sufficient for me to properly install the unit into my dashboard.

I am NOT using the following features:
A. No steering wheel controls
B. No Satellite Sirius Radio
C. No Navigation
That should simplify a portion of the installation.

Here's where I encountered challenges
The PAC supplied documentation is insufficient and sorely inadequate -- a common complaint from what I've been able to discover online.

The wiring chart was only partially accurate. I used the Alpine wiring chart to make the connections.
Yellow went to 12V
Black went to ground
The speaker colors are consistent and I connected to the corresponding matching color wires in the PAC harness.
Pink Audio Interrupt wire - Not used
the CAN bus connector can only be connected one way. No possibility of getting it wrong.

First challenge:
PAC documentation says to determine if external amplifiers are used or if the speakers are directly connected. This can be determined by examining the existing connectors to see if they are populated. Then connect the harness appropriately. Unfortunately, upon close examination, it appears both have wires attached. So I connected all of the speaker speaker wires from the alpine harness to the PAC harness matching color for color.

Second Challenge. PAC documentation incorrectly identifies the blue wires as remote amp power. The Alpine documentation identifies the blue wire as the power antenna lead. I connected per the Alpine documentation. The Radio works and I get excellent FM and AM reception in its current configuration.

I am not using the Sirius Satellite so the second antenna connector is left unattached.

Third challenge. The Blue wire/White Stripe from the Red PAC connector is not identified in the instructions. The Blue/White Stripe in the Alpine documentation is remote amp power on. So I connected these two wires.

Lastly -- I connected the two RCA Front Left/Right connectors to the rear RCA Output connectors on the Alpine Head Unit. One of the comments in one forum said that was the only way to get his rear speakers to work.

So with this configuration, I get operational power to the Alpine head unit.
-AM/FM reception work well
-Disc / Aux / USB input sources work.
-Front speakers operate very well -- a huge improvement over the OEM Audi Symphony

However - The rear speakers and the subwoofer are faint with very low power output. If I fade to the rear, Rear levels as high as 8 or above -- then I begin to hear the rears at normal listening levels matching the fronts but front speakers are greatly diminished
(If I connect the Rear RCA connectors to the Alpine, I get no sound at all. Fade to the rear is dead silent )

I suspect that low level output at the RCA on the Alpine need to be matched to input sensitivity on the Audi internal rear amplifier(s)? Keep in mind, front speakers sound incredible. It is exactly what I would expect an Alpine head unit to do with factory OEM speakers. But the rears are nowhere near their potential.

Did I miss a connection? Is there an adjustment either at the Alpine or at the Audi amps I need to make?

Hopefully i've provided enough detail for someone more knowledgeable to make me a suggestion.

Please advise

Thanks!




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[dcc236]

You need to understand what you have to start with and then wire the system up appropriately.

Facts
If you have have a non-Bose B6/7 Avant you symphony system runs the front speakers through its internal amp.
The rear speakers and small sub are run via line level outputs from the h/u to the amp in the rear.
The Symphony2 in your Audi uses CAN message for accessory & lighting. So with an aftermarket h/u, you need to pickup these from other locations in the car or buy a can converter to aftermarket interface for those functions.

You therefore need to decide how you plan to ru your new Alpine. Run the system the same way AUdi do or make a couple of small changes (which will substantially improve sound quality) and run new speaker with an aftermarket 4 or 5 channel amplifier.

If you want to run it as is, you need to wire the stock front speakers to the Alpine internal amplifier. To run the rears & little sub, you need a rear line level out from the Alpine and feed it to the rear amp along with the remote on wire from the alpine.

I am not sure what the PAC is that you refer to. You can buy items from somone like Enfig to make this all plug n play or build those interfaces yourself.

I trust this helps.

[squeegy200]

Thank you. That helps confirm much of what I was assuming.


The PAC CR2 is a factory integration wiring kit for the Audi Symphony. It does have the CAN Bus converter as well as accommodation for Navigation, satellite radio, and the factory steering wheel controls. It is actually made well. however the supplied documentation is insufficient for this application. There is a lot of important information that is simply omitted--enough that anyone not experienced would not be able to successfully accomplish this integration.

I spent some time reading the Alpine documentation more thoroughly. Insight from you as well as further details on the output stages from my Head Unit confirm that I did wire this correctly.

the internal amplifier in the Alpine can be turned off which then leaves the low level outs to use the Audi factory amplifiers exclusively. In this mode, it becomes apparent that the rear speakers as well as the subwoofer are indeed working. The Alpine internal amplifier simply outperforms the Audi symphony amplifiers using factor speakers that the rears are simply overshadowed by the fronts which are driven by the aftermarket amp. Using a single source the difference from front to rear is much like switching from digital radio to AM.

I think my next step is to eliminate the remainder of the Symphony and install a four channel aftermarket amp.

Thanks for your help!

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[Christian@enfig]

Next time use this instead of the pac... [:D]
http://enfigcarstereo.com/ENFIG_SRWH_AUD2_NS.html

This part will take car of your low volume issue. The low level outputs are much higher on the audi radio than on all aftermarket radios.
http://enfigcarstereo.com/ENFIG_RWH_AUD2_HILO.html
http://enfigcarstereo.com/media/products/ss_size1/ENFIG_RWH_AUD2_HILO.gif