Have Bose system, but want to change original factory stereo

[Boff]

Hi All

Just bought a 1997 A3 1.8 with a factory installed Bose system. The car's awesome, and the Bose sounds great.

However, the HU unit is tape only, so really want to swap this out and get an MP3 CD tuner in there. I thought it would just be a case of popping in a new after market stereo, but according to a chap at Halfords, apparently not! Just in cables alone he reckoned it cost upwards of £70 to do this, which seems a little steep to me (especially as the CD unit I was looking at was £65!).

I've never swapped a stereo before, so does anyone have an experience with doing this? Any advice, part numbers, best-fitting stereos, where to buy etc would be massively appreciated!

All I want is to be able to play MP3 CDs, so I'm not concerned with buying top-range stuff, but would like something that fits in as nicely as the original tape deck (which is a Blauplunkt).

Many thanks!

Ben

[T-sport]

You need an adapter cable to fit a non Audi head unit and a surround adapter plate which should cost you no more than £20 from a car audio shop.

You need to tell them you want the replacement head unit to run all the cars 6 speakers including the built in sub woofer in the boot area if you got one!!

Have a look at this thread for more info ... http://www.audi-forums.com/8l-forum/...t-working.html

Cheers T-sport

[Boff]

Thanks T-sport!

I think the disparity between the Halfords £70 and your £20 shows I need to find myself a specialist car audio store. Though foolishly, I didn't take down the details of the parts Halfords were suggesting I needed, so I can't compare what anyone else is offering...

Also - that other thread will also be useful when I come to do it, so thanks for that.

I'll keep the thread posted as to my success - should anyone else be reading this in the future!

So thanks again - you've pointed me in the right direction, and that's all I needed.

Ben