TT MkII Bose stereo upgraded

[mageus]

I wanted to post my experience with upgrading the head unit because of an issue with the Bose unit.

I originally bought an aftermarket head unit to replace the RNS-E. However, I discovered that the Bose 6000 amp does not listen to the remote-on signal ("blue wire") from the harness. It gets its turn-on signal from the CAN bus. So, an aftermarket head unit will not turn it on. The offending amp is labeled "AMP, 6000, CAN TT". So, I ended up replacing both the RNS-E and Bose amp with aftermarket parts. What was originally a 30" harness soldering session turned into 2 weeks of troubleshooting, research, then purchasing more hardware. Here's what I ended up with:

Parts
- aftermarket head unit (JVC KW-AV60BT touchscreen DVD player without nav)
- Connects2 CT23AU05A Double-Din Fascia Kit
- Connects2 CTSAD002 steering wheel adapter
- Connects2 steering wheel lead cable
- Fakra style 2-pin antenna adapter
- amp (Rockford Fosgate R600-5 5-channel amp)
- amp wiring kit with fuse

Both Dynamic Sounds (http://www.dynamicsounds.co.uk/)and Enfig (http://enfigcarstereo.com/) carry the Connects2 parts.

Beckermanex wrote an excellent guide to upgrade the head unit using the Connects2 products. This gives you a stock looking fascia and working steering wheel controls.
http://forums.fourtitude.com/showthr...n-MK2-Roadster

Mark Davis posted an excellent writeup of how to access the Bose amp and tap into its harness:
http://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewt...?f=19&t=111204
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mark.da...%20Install.pdf

This will not be a full how-to. I will be pointing out salient issues with such an upgrade. Hope this helps someone out.


PROCESS

- Follow beckermanex's guide for the HU install. You can route any cables (e.g. USB/iPod) through gaps behind the stereo into the glove box. Since I have AMI, I just ran the USB cable to the enclosure.



- Access the amp per Mark's article. You can use crimp connectors, but I soldered extensions onto each of the wires. If you remove the amp harness completely, you will need to insulate the power, ground, CAN bus, and mic wires with shrink wrap or electrical tape. I recommend drawing power from the battery directly, and ground at the Bose amp mounting bolt.



Cut the foam to clear your amp. I plan to make a vented trunk floor like Mark did.



There are 12 speakers in the Bose TT. Note that the front mid/tweet and the rear mid/tweet are wired in parallel.



Here are the pinouts for the amp harnesses:

32 pin connector
pin color
1 Red/Green power
2 Brown gnd
3 Red Door L woof +
4 Red/Grey Door R woof +
5 White/Black Sub +
6 Black/White FR + (door mid + dash tweet)
7 Red FL + (door mid + dash tweet)
8 Red/Grey center tweet +
9 Yellow Mic -
10 Green Mic +
11 Brown/Green RL - (mid + tweet)
12 Red/Green RL +(mid + tweet)
13 Brown/White RR - (mid + tweet)
14 Blue/White RR +(mid + tweet)
15 Brown/Red Door L woof -
16 Brown/Grey Door R woof -
17 Brown/Black Sub -
18 Brown FR - (door mid + dash tweet)
19 Brown FL - (door mid + dash tweet)
20 Brown/Grey center tweet -
23 Brown mic other
27 Orange/Violet CAN+
29 Green/Yellow ACC
32 Orange/Brown CAN-

18 pin connector (pre-amp outputs)
pin color
3 Blue FL+
4 FL-
5 Green RL+
6 RL-
11 Yellow FR+
12 FR-
13 Red RR+
14 RR-

I chose to drive the front speakers and sub with the Fosgate, and the rear mids with the head unit. I retain fader control. Since the HU can only handle 4ohms, I couldn't drive the rear mids and tweets in parallel. I'm also missing the dash center tweeter - no big loss.



I ran speaker wire from the HU to the rear. The kick panel under the steering wheel is fixed with 6 bolts. Open the fuse cover, remove 2 bolts, and pull the lower A-pillar panel out. Then the running board trim, and the back seat. Wires are easily run under all this. I had to run the bluetooth mic to the headliner anyways, so this wasn't much more work.
I also removed the rear passenger trim panels to get to the speakers and disconnect the rear tweeters. Marvel at the crap-tastic Bose ported sub while you are there. Warning - Parktronic uses a speaker behind the right panel. Don't mistake that for the tweeter and disconnect it.



RESULTS

A relatively OEM look. I chose the JVC partly for the volume knob and the clean fascia.



Sound quality - what an amazing improvement! I used my trusty Radio Shack sound level meter, some test tones, and the crossovers on the amp to equalize all speakers. Then drove the car for a week, tweaking the crossovers on the amp, then on the HU, then the eq settings on the HU. The stock speakers are actually decent. I can hear the highs on my music again. Cymbals come out crisp. The catgut rub from cello strings. Subtle reverb on vocals that was absent before. And everything's so well balanced. Since I don't need tons of base the Bose sub is fine. I keep a little rear fader bias to provide rear fill, and because the kids like to hear the music when they're in the car.
In hindsight, I'm glad I was forced to upgrade the amp. In trying to tweak things for the 'perfect' setting, the Bose amp just ruins the sound.

It took me a few weeks of research, but the actual installation is quite easy, since the battery's in the trunk and there's plent of space under the trunk floor panel. If you used amps to drive all speakers, you wouldn't have to run any wire. Well worth the time and money investment.

[Marty]

Thanks for the write-up! Did you have stock nav?

I really miss my aftermarket touchscreen nav I had in my last car. Dialing that knob around to type in addresses is just painful... but the OEM unit looks and fits so well with the car.

Also, how did you work around the remote turn-on issue?

[mageus]

Thanks for the write-up! Did you have stock nav?
Also, how did you work around the remote turn-on issue?

Sorry, I guess my post wasn't very clear. It was the RNS-E. Also, I pulled the Bose amp and replaced it with an aftermarket amp. Thus, no remote-on issues. I updated the original post.

[caj1]

Interesting diagram - I'd love to know why Audi decided to hide the 9 channels of customizable equalization and provide absolutely no control over mid-range and DSP with the Bose/RNS-E system.

[mageus]

I'd love to know why Audi decided to hide the 9 channels of customizable equalization and provide absolutely no control over mid-range and DSP with the Bose/RNS-E system.

Because Bose.

The last Bose product I willingly bought were my 101's from college. Amar's gone downhill since then.

[caj1]

Because Bose.

The last Bose product I willingly bought were my 101's from college. Amar's gone downhill since then.

Bose is crap indeed.. The Dynaudio system in my previous VW CC blows this POS away.

[GERMANCARMAN]

Bose is crap indeed.. The Dynaudio system in my previous VW CC blows this POS away.

Agreed I traded in my CC as well the the Dynaudio was light years better than this system.

For the original Post, I love the Footjoy Glove in the picture, have to hit the links now and then!!!!!!!!

[- Jeremy -]

Interesting diagram - I'd love to know why Audi decided to hide the 9 channels of customizable equalization and provide absolutely no control over mid-range and DSP with the Bose/RNS-E system.

I'm also assuming that we don't have the AudioPilot feature, either. I've never heard any evidence of it while driving.

- Jeremy -

[caj1]

I'm also assuming that we don't have the AudioPilot feature, either. I've never heard any evidence of it while driving.

- Jeremy -

Who knows.. I'd agree I don't hear any difference while driving, however it's clearly marked as a feature on my window sticker.

[mageus]

- Germancarman - I don't golf. Those are my impromptu driving gloves. I've got a pair of CarbonX's for the track which are decent.

- Jeremy - Do you mean GALA? (speed sensitive volume), then no, the TTs don't have it. However, the TT Bose does have a microphone that supposedly adjusts sound quality based on something. I don't want my gadgets telling me what my preferences should be.

I was setting up MP3s for my mom's MkV Sportwagen. It's the system with the touch screen but no nav. Maybe I was just biased, but it sounded better than the TT Bose system. Go figure.