[jheckart]

Hello,

I have a 2005 Touareg with factory CD Nav including the factory amp. I want to rip out the useless nav and put in the pioneer f90bt, but am really struggling with whether or not I can attempt it myself.

I have assembled the parts list including the following:
F90BT
SWI-PS (steering wheel controls)
CAN Adaptor (steering wheel controls)
Scoche Trim Kit
Scoche wire harness

I am pretty comfortable with everything except the amp-bypass. I have read some great posts in here regarding this, but am not clear on how difficult this will be.

Does anyone have advice on the amp bypass?

Thanks!
Jeff

 

[jheckart]

So, I went ahead and ordered the f90bt, and all accessories. I called around to some local shops, and I got install quotes from $1000-1800 (all parts included). Of the 5 places that I called, not one got the steering wheel control parts correct.

I paid a $100 premium to go with crutchfield for support, and to return if this doesn't work out for me.

Crutchfield is telling me that the factory amp, my biggest concern, is a non-issue. The 11 speakers in my system all boil down to 4 channels. I understand the three ways up front, and two ways, but I don't get how the center channel is added in. They also confirmed that the crossovers exist at the speakers, and not the amp, so I won't need to mess with anything but splicing in 4-pairs from the new head unit to where the amp is located. That shouldn't be a big deal.

My final question was impedance, and they said that they don't know what the current impedance presented by the factory speakers is, but that the new head unit will have no problem.

The unit should arrive this week, so I'm going to attempt the install and get some pictures along the way.

Can anyone confirm Crutchfields statement regarding 4-channels and that the crossover with the speakers, as opposed to built into the amp?

Thanks.

 

[jheckart]

I thought that I'd get a jump on this and start running some cables from the new head unit to the rear with the amp.

I removed the rear passenger quarter panel to find the amp. I found the amp, and was shocked. It has what appears to be 2 digital connections in the harness, and a total of 33 strands of wire into the amp.

What are 33 pieces of wire being used for? I'm pretty sure that this means that the amp is also the crossover. Apparently Crutchfield doesn't know what they are talking about. Clearly I have more than 4 pair's of wire back there. On the phone with them now. I might be returning all of this before I get it.

 

[jheckart]

I ended up getting this nearly done over the weekend.

Everything works 100%, except that the scosche trim kit doesn't quite fit right. Should I try the Metra?

The sound quality is noticeably better than with with stock unit. The bluetooth is very clear. The ipod/iphone integration is great, and it is charging the iphone 3g. The navigation is comparable with my tom tom portable, and it picks up satellites immediately. DVD playback is impressive, though the DVD audio is not as great as the ipod.

The install was not that difficult, but there was just so much unknown. Additionally, the wiring at the amplifier was ridiculous. There are multiple same color wires, and were even 2 speakers that had a positive on one harness and negative on the other. The diagrams that Crutchfield had for an 11 speaker premium 2005 Touareg did not match. The battery pop test was the only way to get this done. In the end, Crutchfield was very helpful.

Here is what I ended up with for the diagram:

B Harness - Contains Constant and Ground (larger guage wires)
A Harness - No large guage wires

LF Tweeter
+ Red 21a
- Brown/Red 24a

RF Tweeter
+ Red 23a
- Brown/Red 2b

LF Mid
+ Red/Green 12a
- Brown/Green 9a

RF Mid
+ Red/Green 18a
- Brown/Green 15a

LF Woofer
+ Red 15b
- Brown/Red 18b

RF Woofer
+ Red 9b
- Brown 12b

LR Mid
+ Blue 8a
- Brown/Blue 7a

RR Mid
+ Blue 4a
- Brown/Blue 5a

LR Woofer
+ Blue 3b
- Brown/Blue 6b

RR Woofer
+ Blue 1b
- Brown/Blue 22a

Center
+ Green 1a
- Brown/Green 2a

 

[RJB7266]

looks cool...pictures please

 

[traindog71]

please anything will help, getting ready to do this myself, how did you come up with the wiring numbers? what type of crossovers did you use? I only have the 10 speaker system

 

[jheckart]

I'm going to grab some pics once I get time to make the dask kit fit properly.

I ended up using the battery pop test, as the wiring diagrams didn't match what Crutchfield sent. 1.5v battery (I used a C-cell), negative lead on - of battery and positive lead on + side of battery. You will get a pop to identify the speaker. This has to be done in the rear of the vehicle where the harnesses plug into the amp.

For crossovers, I used bass blockers on the tweeters, and let the mids and woofers handle everything. I'm sure that is not optimal, but it is sounding great. Someone else may be able to offer more input into building a better crossover.

Does your 10-speaker have an amp, or are your speakers wired directly to the head unit?

 

[kkurko9]

I ordered the F90BT from Crutchfield.com and they provided all of the wiring diagrams and correct components to allow use of the steering wheels controls. Plus, they were very helpful when I called with questions. Sounds like a sales promo for them but actually this is the first time I have ordered something from Crutchfield. I was able to get everything installed over the period of two weekends and it wasn't too difficult.

 

[vwfemale]

Congrats on getting the new head unit in. Got pics?

 

[jheckart]

kkurko9,

Did you have factory navi? They were very helpful once I got passed sales, but nothing matched up. Did you use the bass blockers for crossovers when doing the amp bypass?

How do you like the F90BT? My complaint so far is that it's slow to respond at times.

 

[kkurko9]

Don't have any pics. Have things torn apart as I'm tinkering with bypassing the parking brake lock out so I can use the navigation programming while driving. I'm also waiting to receive the European storage bin that goes above the radio unit. You have to remove the radio to install the unit but I'm getting tired of waiting on the backorder. I will probably end up putting everything together and then the storage unit will arrive. I will post some pics once everything is done.

jheckart, I didn't have the factory nav system so the 90bt is definitely an upgrade. I didn't use any bass blockers (not sure what they are) as I didn't do anything to bypass the amp. Actually, I have the 10 speaker system so I don't think I have any amp but now I need to check. The only tricky thing I ran into was connecting a couple of wires from the swi-cam as they were too dificult to "tap" into the wires of the factory harness. I talked with Crutchfield and they sent me another aftermarket harness so I could pull the pins out and install the swi-cam wires into the wiring harness for a nice clean finish.