Can a Concert II replace a Concert I?

[Nick]

Hi,
The volume control on my Concert head unit in my '00 S4 has gone completely insane and I need to replace it. Does anyone know if a Concert II head unit is a direct replacement for the Concert I???
Thanks in advance.
Nick

[Turbomike61]

They should do, but remember that Bose have different wiring to non Bose.

[Mitch]

I think the Concert 2 is a different colour - grey as opposed to black.

[Turbomike61]

Mines black.

[Ken VAG]

I'll bet that your volume control problem is the faulty GALA function discussed on here many times... would be worth switching that off before forking out hard earned $ (unless you specifically wanted a CD head unit).

[dcc236]

While the correct model Concert II should slot straight in, be aware that the wiring on the Concert II is slightly different than in our B5's. The Concert II was designed for the B6 onwards and used the VAG Canbus system. That is, the newer radios in the Audi's do not use ignition sense but a bus system to trigger electrical components like audio, air, etc.

The implications of this:
- You can wire it up but it'll shut itself down every 1 hour or so, whether the key is in the ignition or not. To switch it back on again you need to hit the off/on switch. Same as when we switch on our Concert I without keys in the ignition.
- I understand you can get a Canbus emulator for the B5 but I have not had any experience with these, maybe others here have.
- Depending on whether you have Bose or not, you'll need to Vagcom the car to enable or disable Bose for the new h/u but this will apply whether you get a Concert I or II.

For more information, have a look at www.audiworld.com and do a search on the subject.

However before you do anything, ensure that the Gala feature is disabled and see if it makes a difference. It didn't in my case, so I just learnt to live with it.

Hope this helps, good luck.