[Andy_A5]

I have been having an absolute nightmare with my stereo and I'm hoping someone might be able to answer something. My car is a 2009 A5 3.2 S-line with Bang & Olufsen sound system (MMI. I believe it is the G2 version).
The back story: The amplifier was fried when I purchased the car (the typical water damage). I made a deal with the seller that the stereo (including MMI) would be fully functional etc. They've been true to their word, working with the mechanic and myself for over 18 months (yes...18 LONG months!!). Throughout Covid I understand that it was difficult to get parts and/or a replacement amp. Over this time we received several incorrect amps and components & have sent amps to dedicated repair shops (internationally). The list goes on. Nothing has worked. My mechanic is quite well known in my area and when I ask around locally his name is the one that comes up if you have a stubborn problem. I trust him and I know he's trying his best.

On Friday I spoke with him and he's fed up. He said that he's just going to put an aftermarket amplifier in the car and be done with it. Can anyone tell me if there are any "cons" to this fix? Will I lose any functionality of the MMI or steering wheel controls? I wouldn't think it would, but I know that these cars are really complex.

Any input would be welcomed. Thank you!

 

[V6thomas]

1. Its definitely going to throw errors without a oem amp

2. You might be best going to a vag specialist asvtheres almost certainly coding discrepancies

If you have the damaged amp its possible to pull the coding from it with vcds as it might still partially talk to the canbus if your lucky

Also you wouldn't loose and radio or steering button functionality as this is handled by the mmi not the amp

 

[Andy_A5]

1. Its definitely going to throw errors without a oem amp

2. You might be best going to a vag specialist asvtheres almost certainly coding discrepancies

If you have the damaged amp its possible to pull the coding from it with vcds as it might still partially talk to the canbus if your lucky

Also you wouldn't loose and radio or steering button functionality as this is handled by the mmi not the amp

Thank you for the reply!

That's what I assumed re: the mmi. At least that is reassuring 👍😎

"Unfortunately" my mechanic is a vag specialist, and very well known for electronics work. He has also been in contact with other vag/vcds specialists. They're all scratching their heads. My gut feeling is that the issue could be with more than one component and they're focused on just the amp (?)

They pulled whatever info that was available from the original amp. They put a new mother board within that amp (which had clearly been water damaged). That didn't work. Then they found a used (tested/working) amp with all of the identical serial numbers etc. That wouldn't work. Then they had another "brand new" amp built specifically based on the serial number of the car. Doesn't work. Then the manufacturer sent them another "chip" which also didn't work. The list goes on.

I have been at the shop on a couple of occasions when they're testing the system - always when they thought "this is FINALLY going to work". I've heard the "test beeps" sent to the individual speakers from the technician's laptop/vcds software. But have never heard "music". With any other car it would be obvious that you just need to replace the head unit or the amplifier or a speaker. It would be fixed in a couple of hours, at most 😢 I have to call him again this afternoon....Keeping my fingers crossed

 

[Andy_A5]

Small update My mechanic believes he can solve the issue with a Pre-Amp. Now they have to find one that will work. Again, keeping my fingers crossed

 

[JohnS4]

The amplifier will only amplify what is sent to it. No signal = no music. Has your guy verified that the amplifier is receiving a valid input signal? This may be tricky to do as some of the MMI units transmit the audio signal over a fibre optic bus. If he hasn't checked out the upstream components then its time he took a closer look at them. If 3 separate amplifiers all failed to produce sound then something else is highly likely to be causing the problem.

 

[Andy_A5]

The amplifier will only amplify what is sent to it. No signal = no music. Has your guy verified that the amplifier is receiving a valid input signal? This may be tricky to do as some of the MMI units transmit the audio signal over a fibre optic bus. If he hasn't checked out the upstream components then its time he took a closer look at them. If 3 separate amplifiers all failed to produce sound then something else is highly likely to be causing the problem.

Thank you! I will ask him about that.