Audi A4 (1995 - 2000) - Trying to find a CD player!!

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Sun 27 Apr 2008 10:42
Trying to find a CD player!! - stuart1077
I'm still banging my head against a wall trying to find a way to play CD's in my car!!!

Its a 1997 A4 1.8T Sport which has a radio/cassette head unit. Some nice person has at some time in the cars life removed the CD auto changer from the boot!

What I'd like to do is get myself a compatible single disc genuine Audi head unit which will fit in the dash and also plug in and play without having to faff about with wiring harnesses etc! Been down that road and its no easy!!!!

Anyone got any ideas where to pick one up at a reasonable price (other than eBay - had bad experience so now staying away!!!)?

Cheers
Stuart

Edited by stuart1077 on 27/04/2008 at 10:42

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 27 Apr 2008 11:02
Trying to find a CD player!! - adverse camber
try audi & vw forums.

Problem is that (a) its a non-standard sized hole in the dash so you need spacers if it isnt going to look a mess, (b) this is the era of the badly designed audi audio units where the volume control fails.

So there are not lots of suitable units about. And you need the code or you can add £15 decode charge to the £30 for the spacers and wiring adapters.

How much are you looking to spend? The multichangers do crop up but tend to be £80-£100.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 27 Apr 2008 11:19
Trying to find a CD player!! - stuart1077
Funny you should mention the volume control... this is another problem... hence why I'm not looking at the auto changer option. AND changing CDs in my boot in the pouring rain isn't my idea of fun!!!!

I think that the Audi Concert head CD head unit will work but its making sure I get the right one for my year of car so it fits in the dash.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 27 Apr 2008 12:27
Trying to find a CD player!! - adverse camber
the boot multidisc has a 6 cd cartridge - or at least ours does - changing is a matter of seconds.

I *think* that the units out of the early A8 fit. You can get spacers for use with later units. Not that I've tried (although I might soon - I've lost the code on my radio and the battery was disconnected when the glow plugs were changed - Ive just ordered the removal tool, I think I can generate the code if I have the serial number off the radio)

I should say that the volume control affects *ALL* of them. They will fail in time - try to avoid altering the volume.

Edited by adverse camber on 27/04/2008 at 12:28

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 27 Apr 2008 12:55
Trying to find a CD player!! - Pugugly
Have you got an MP3 player ?
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 27 Apr 2008 13:20
Trying to find a CD player!! - thomp1983
For £75 you could have something like this,

tinyurl.com/5p6vqj
tinyurl.com/5fe5va
tinyurl.com/695ryw

or you could change the cd to player to any you may wish, such as one wiht handsfree bluetooth etc. But as you can see the adaptor leads and facia spacers aren't that expensive anymore.

chris
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 27 Apr 2008 18:47
Trying to find a CD player!! - adverse camber
yes - that is getting sensible - but you also need an aerial adapter I think.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 27 Apr 2008 13:22
Trying to find a CD player!! - pendulum
The cheapest option would be a cassette-to-headphone-jack adapter. Plug one end in to the existing radio/casette and the other in to a portable CD player. They only cost about £10, and the quality's good enough, but it's not a very pretty setup.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link