Going from aftermarket to RNS-E

[rick1.8t]

Hey everyone,
Well I originally had a symphony II+ in my car (non-Bose) and ended up buying a Semting Head unit to replace my Symphony II+ and installed a sub and amp for a little bit more sound. I had to install a Hi-Lo converter to get the rear speakers to work and everything was great. Well I just got a great deal on an RNS-E on Craigslist and installed it but now my rear speakers don't work. The stock amp was replaced with an aftermarket amp and I thought if I wired the original rear speaer inputs into the RNS-E harness that they would work. That was not the case.
Has anyone went from aftermarket to RNS-E with an aftermarket sub+amp combo? If so, what did you do to get the rear speakers to work again? I sold the stock amp and currently had the rears being powered from the aftermarket amp. Now the rears do not work and I am not sure why. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you everyone.

[boarderx100]

Try the Car Audio Forum under Tech Forums. You might have better luck getting an answer for this there..

[PNW Avant]

It should work fine.

Code the RNS-e to non-bose. This way your front speakers will be powered off the RNS-e and the rears using only signal (not power) from the RNS-e.

I am assuming you're using RCAs as the input on the amp? This will require you to splice RNS-e wires into RCA connectors ends. Using the diagram below, splice C5 (Line out RL[+]) and C8 (Line out GND[-]) to the + and - of your left RCA. Do the same with C11(Line out RR [+]) and C8 (Line out GND[-]). As you can see, you will have to splice C8 into two wires and connect to each RCA; it is a common ground. Follow this pin out diagram below:

http://data.motor-talk.de/data/galleries/1076779/3797379/label-5309.jpg

Coding to non-bose and wiring as I described will provide line-level output to your amp, which it should be able to process easily. It's not going to sound perfect, but it should work.

[rick1.8t]

Thank you so much for your help. I have one question though. How do you code an RNS-E to non-bose? I tried searching it but couldn't find anything.

[PNW Avant]

You need a VAGCOM cable to communicate with the RNS-e through your diagnostics port.

[rick1.8t]

Yes I know that. My question is what do I code it to? I currently have my VAG-COM cable hooked up but am not sure what you mean by "recode to non-bose" Do I have to change the value in the navigation/Radio settings? I looked up the current value and it is listed as 0301114.

[rick1.8t]

I have read multiple threads where people suggest recoding the RNS-E to non-bose but not one actually specifies how to do it. I appreciate the help so far guys but I am stuck on the re-coding part. I have all the wires hooked up correctly now. I also already moved the C7(K-line) to the B5 spot so the unit can talk to the car.

[PNW Avant]

Your coding is already appropriate for non-bose, as your 4th digit is "1". Bose would be "9".

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/Audi_Radio/Navigation_System_(RNS-E)#Coding

[rick1.8t]

Hmmmm well it looks like we are back to where we started. I wired everything exactly as you described. I still have no sound from the rear speakers. Any other ideas?

[PNW Avant]

As far as audio signal goes, that's correct way to wire it. Double check?

Also check: Does your amp have power? Is your amp signal ("remote") wire turning on the amp?

[rick1.8t]

Damnit! I wired the wrong end of the wires. Well looks like I have to rewire the C5, C11, and C8 wires somehow, considering I left myself no room to splice. Thanks for your help though. Next time I'll have one less beer before electrical work.

[PNW Avant]

You could always buy new repair wires / pins. Or I can send you some from my spare interior harness, if you can't get your length to work.

[rick1.8t]

Well after some tight clearances I got it all wired up. Rear speakers work, but they sound terrible. Sub barely is producing any sound. I turned the fader to rear and when I try to turn the sound up, they become distorted and muffled at a low volume. Any ideas? The next step is to just take it in to a shop in town. Hopefully I won't get too screwed.

[PNW Avant]

Reinstalling stock rear amp and running a line level converter from the rear and sub speaker outputs is your other option. Do you still have the stock amp lying around?

Audi line-level output is not necessarily equivalent to an aftermarket deck, as the audi line level output is developed for the specific bose or audi amp input sensitivity. So it's not going to create the best sound (as I noted in post #3 [:D])

[rick1.8t]

Okay so I just got off the phone with an audio guy in town. I guess my problem is that I have my signal coming from my OEM headunit now going through a HI-Lo converter which is cutting the signal in half for my rear speakers. I'm assuming I need to get rid of the Hi-Lo converter and have the Amp power my rear speakers by splicing the RCA connectors. Does this sound crazy or correct? I no longer have my stock amp anymore. I needed up selling it thinking I would no longer need it.

[PNW Avant]

The signal wires from the RNS-e should be spliced into RCAs and plugged directly into your amp input. There should be no high-low converter between them. The RNS-e is providing you a line-level input for direct input to your amp.

Sorry if that wasn't clear before - I thought you tossed the hi-low converter out of the picture.

Each RCA plug has two wires inside it. You need to splice the pins I noted above directly into the respective RCA plug (R and L).

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/22/28680451_a40d5cff78.jpg?v=0

[rick1.8t]

Okay so I ditched the Hi-Lo converter, and spliced the wires into the signal wires, but still no sound from the rear speakers. However, I do now have my input from the sub and it is working properly. I tried tapping into the rear wires from the stock amp wires but that only provided terrible quality sound. I'm out of options. I'm going to take it into the shop and see what they say. The gentleman at the shop walked me through a lot of it but I think I might be messing something up so I will take it to him and finish this thread with what needed to be done to correct my issues. Hopefully this helps someone else out.

[PNW Avant]

What's your input for the sub then? The OEM system uses to rear channels as the sub input, too. To be quite honest its getting a little difficult to understand how you have the system set up.

[rick1.8t]

This was how the car was setup with the aftermarket head unit. I had two sets of wires running from the Rear Right and Rear left inputs from the head unit back to the Hi-Lo converter. These wires spliced into the rear right and rear left stock amp wires and the Hi-Lo converter. On the other side of the Hi-Lo converter were RCA cables that plugged into my amp. This allowed the rear speakers to work and powered the sub. The amp was being turned on by the stock amp remote wire that I tapped into.
Currently with the RNS-E, I do not have the rear left and right wires so I followed your schematic above and used the line out wires which i connected to those same set of wires I had running back to the Hi-Lo converter. I ditched the converter and cut the ends of the RCA plugs that were originally in the Hi-Lo converter and separated them out into a positive and negative. Now I am stuck as to what should be connected to what. I hope that makes sense. I appreciate all your help so far.

I tried splicing the wires you mentioned above into the RCA cables but all that did was power the sub and I had no sound from the rear speakers.

[PNW Avant]

Splice C5 into the positive wire on your right side RCA. Splice C8 into the negative wire on your right side RCA.

Splice C11 into the positive wire on your left RCA. Splice C8 into the negative wire on your left RCA.

This leaves you with one set of RCAs (a red plug, a white plug). Plug these into your aftermarket amp, this is your audio signal for one channel (either REAR or SUB). Split the RCA in two using a splitter, or splicing on your own, to duplicate the channel for use in both the SUB and REAR channels of your aftermarket amp.

That's as clear as I can make it. If you're running into other issues, it does not have to do with the RNS-e wiring, but rather something else in your set up.