Replacement Symphony Radio Volume Knob not responding

[thorrn4]

Hello Audizine!!

I just recently purchased a 2001 B4 A4 a few weeks ago and it did not come with a radio.

A few days ago, the owner gave me a symphony a4 radio that would have come with the car (that he bought from ebay).

I called Audiusa and I got the code for the radio (which was free) and it seems to be working only that there is NO VOLUME... when I turn the knob, NOTHING happens. I seems to be playing CDs and I can choose stations though... Does the knob have to be replaced?

[walky_talky20]

I haven't had a symphony in my car in a long time, but I don't think the volume adjustment gives any visual indication when you change it. So I think your problem has much less to do with the volume knob, and much more to do with "I can't get audio output from my symphony radio".

It could be that your car is Bose equipped, and the amplifier fuse is blown, or the amplifier itself is bad, bypassed, or otherwise disabled. The car was purchased without a radio installed, so who knows what shenanigans (yes, SHENANIGANS) have been going on with the tunes in this whip. Full-up re-wire? Somebody Hacked The Gibson? We just don't know.

It could be that the Radio is coded for Bose, but your car is not Bose equipped. Thus stuff no-worky. That's a pretty simple explanation that requires nothing to be actually broken.

I need more information to give you more detailed advice.

[NoLightOff]

Cheaper to replace the whole thing. ECS sells the radios new for $35

[walky_talky20]

Cheaper to replace the whole thing. ECS sells the radios new for $35

Really? Cheaper than what else, exactly? Your suggestion is to just throw parts at it? $35 + shipping doesn't guarantee him a fix. There could be nothing wrong with the radio at all. Could be a blown amplifier fuse. Could be coded incorrectly. Could be lots of things that lead to that being $50 down the drain.

From where I am standing, replacing the entire radio at $35 + shipping is probably the most expensive possible fix for this problem.

[Mad Cow]

So are you saying there's no volume control or there's no sound whatsoever? If your car is bose and you head unit is coded as a non-bose you'll only get sound through the speakerphone in the driver's door which is broken most of the time. If your car's a non-bose and the head unit is coded as a bose you'll only get sound through the rear decklid speakers. Or it could be the stuff walky listed, but you need to give more info.

[NoLightOff]

Really? Cheaper than what else, exactly? Your suggestion is to just throw parts at it? $35 + shipping doesn't guarantee him a fix. There could be nothing wrong with the radio at all. Could be a blown amplifier fuse. Could be coded incorrectly. Could be lots of things that lead to that being $50 down the drain.

From where I am standing, replacing the entire radio at $35 + shipping is probably the most expensive possible fix for this problem.

I'm saying that if it is indeed broken there is a cheap alternative to repair.
Before buying something new and diagnosing the problem first is implied.

BTW if the security code is not entered properly it would just say "SAFE" on the display.
This radio can be also coded for Bose or non Bose. If you don't have it coded to your car properly it won't work right. To code it you will need a vag cable. The cheap $10 from eBay will do the trick.

[thorrn4]

I don't see an amplifier in the trunk. That might be the problem. All the wires might be running through the amplifier that the other guy took out to. He had a giant speaker box with amplifiers & subs

[walky_talky20]

He had a giant speaker box with amplifiers & subs

Bingo. Untold amounts of shenanigans was going on here. You need to undo said shenanigans.

Is the car Bose equipped? (Bose emblems on the speaker grills). Is the radio coded for Bose? (Says BOSE when you turn it on).

[AudiTurbo]

I have taken my battery cables off many of times and never had to enter a code. Is that a problem? I have bose and had a problem with the person before me splicing into the factory amp wiring too

[Mad Cow]

I have taken my battery cables off many of times and never had to enter a code. Is that a problem? I have bose and had a problem with the person before me splicing into the factory amp wiring too

That's really odd, do you have to enter a code if you unplug the radio? Splicing into the amp harness shouldn't affect the radio power though, where are the splices located?

Just because there's an amp spliced in doesn't necessarily mean there were shenanigans, but judging by what I've dealt with in the past there's a good chance the PO did something ridiculous. I've seen speaker wires coming from an aftermarket deck spliced into the bose amp outputs because someone was too cheap/stupid to buy a deck with 4 line outs. This same car also had a very long antenna wire extension ending under the back seat plugged into nothing. As you can imagine, the whole setup didn't exactly work, luckily I was able to bring everything back to stock and nothing was permanently damaged.

[AudiTurbo]

That's really odd, do you have to enter a code if you unplug the radio? Splicing into the amp harness shouldn't affect the radio power though, where are the splices located?

Just because there's an amp spliced in doesn't necessarily mean there were shenanigans, but judging by what I've dealt with in the past there's a good chance the PO did something ridiculous. I've seen speaker wires coming from an aftermarket deck spliced into the bose amp outputs because someone was too cheap/stupid to buy a deck with 4 line outs. This same car also had a very long antenna wire extension ending under the back seat plugged into nothing. As you can imagine, the whole setup didn't exactly work, luckily I was able to bring everything back to stock and nothing was permanently damaged.

I have never unhooked the radio. I had the same thing happen to be, but with the stock head unit. Someone before me went from the white wire of the amp harness and linked both of the back factory bose subs together and then I found a really weird module with wires under the back seat

[thorrn4]

Is the car Bose equipped? (Bose emblems on the speaker grills). Is the radio coded for Bose? (Says BOSE when you turn it on).

4 things I noticed are:
1. The radio says BOSE when it starts up
2. The front speakers dont say BOSE on the grills
3. The rear speakers (4 in total) are aftermarket
4. The trunk has like 3 wires are arent plugged into anything. one is like a serial or an s-video type plug.. another is a long 16 or 20 pin type connection plug and there is 1 other random one.

I ebay'd BOSE amps are I definitely do not have one

Sorry for the delay in responses... been dealing with water seeping into through the floor problems (I had to unclug the drains in the hood)

[walky_talky20]

1. Radio is coded for Bose.
2. Car is not Bose equipped.
3. Nice.
4. Untold amounts of shenanigans. Gives me the shivers, personally.

Here's the deal:
- Non-Bose cars (to my knowledge) only ever had 4 total speakers. Fronts are driven directly of the Symphony (built-in amp). Rear speakers are driven by an amp built-in to the left rear speaker.
- Bose cars have 6 speakers, all of which are driven off the external Bose Amp in the trunk
- You have 6 speakers, yet no external amps anywhere. So your options are:

A: Hook up the 2 front speakers to the symphony = done. (Wow, that's a crappy option)
B: Sell the aftermarket speakers, get some factory rear non-bose speakers, and make it all stock.
C: Get a 4-channel amp for the rear so you can run all 6 speakers.
D: Sell the car, this is too much trouble.

Well, there's more options than that, but you see where I'm going. Basically you don't have enough amps. The Symphony only has a 2-channel amp for the fronts, and a "low-level" output for the rears (to go to an external amp). In "BOSE" mode, it just has 4 low-level outputs period. So you need to figure out what you want, and how you are going to power what you want. Once you decide on that, then we can help you sort out the wiring.

[thorrn4]

I was able to get an aftermarket 4 channel amp, 600watts... I would like to have all 6 speakers running, with the from 2 being the front and the rear 4 being back left and back right. Would having a stock non-bose radio be better for this task? Or can I use that I have? Where can I find the wiring diagrams? Thanks.

[Cactus Avant]

Hey man I had a sorta similar problem. I but a bose symphony in my non-bose car... and only one speaker worked. I looked up a DIY, used VAG COM and recoded my radio for non-boss, and my problem is now resolved. From what I'm reading, I think that may be your problem, but I am not 100% sure.

[walky_talky20]

Thor, good work on obtaining the 4-channel amp. Now you just have to make it happen. The steps will be something like this:

1. Recode from BOSE to non-Bose. This will enable the front amplifier channels.
2. Find the added wires (8 total wires) that go to each of the 4 aftermarket rear speakers
3. Adapt factory low-level wires to dual RCA plugs
4. Plug wires from steps 2 and 3 into shiny 4-channel amplifier
5. Get some POW-AH to said amplifier
6. Maybe a ground as well, if you roll like that.

Note 1: The coding for turning on the front amps may indeed be separate from the Bose coding. That might be something I would experiment with. The special Bose equalizer curve might sound better. Or might sound like crap. Just something to try, maybe.

[Mad Cow]

Thor, good work on obtaining the 4-channel amp. Now you just have to make it happen. The steps will be something like this:

1. Recode from BOSE to non-Bose. This will enable the front amplifier channels.
2. Find the added wires (8 total wires) that go to each of the 4 aftermarket rear speakers
3. Adapt factory low-level wires to dual RCA plugs
4. Plug wires from steps 2 and 3 into shiny 4-channel amplifier
5. Get some POW-AH to said amplifier
6. Maybe a ground as well, if you roll like that.

Note 1: The coding for turning on the front amps may indeed be separate from the Bose coding. That might be something I would experiment with. The special Bose equalizer curve might sound better. Or might sound like crap. Just something to try, maybe.

The channel output is indeed separate from the bose EQ, good reference here: http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index...ation_I#Coding. You'd want the 3rd digit to be 0, you could also use 1 but nobody ever uses the stock speakerphone so you can just leave the whole connector unplugged without throwing an open circuit code.

It'll probably sound better with the bose eq off, also remember that there's a hidden 7 (I belive) channel EQ.

[thorrn4]

My step father said the front speakers don't work with the amp, that I would need more powerful speakers in the doors. Would recoding the radio allow me to leave the stock speakers in? Or are aftermarket ones still needed? I know new speakers would sound better though... And is that link above for the steps for recoding ?