Kamold's R36

[kamold]

Install was easy.
Pop off the trim, 4 screws hold it in.
3 plugs to remove then put new one in.
Run flap motor adjustment (hold down front vent and AC buttons 5 seconds) and then compressor init (hold down rear demist and AC 3 seconds).
Adjust coding (main thing is turn off humidity sensor)

Dual stage auto works as does every other function.

Only issue I have is the AC is starting when car is started even if it was off (remembers all other settings in use).
I'll look into and fix that.

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[kamold]

Update:
I had to cut, swap and then rejoin pins 16 and 20 from the connector block A for the climatronics panel and it now remembers its settings

[kamold]

Trim piece arrived.
Back to factory look but now with added MY10 functionality that I missed from my Octy.

[kamold]

Shout out to Dean from VW Central who figured out what I needed to do with the pin swap to get the panel remembering its settings.

[kamold]

And now the journey to Dynaudio goodness begins...

I've secured an amp from the US, and have been scratching my head and trying to figure out how to make the square peg go into the round hole with respect to the twin plugs on the 600w amp

vs the single large connector in the car harness for the existing 250w amp


What I've decided to try is to remove the connector from the existing amp (which is next to useless to me now) by desoldering it from the board


(not much to this amp is there??)

I'll then solder and heat shrink the stripped wire ends from the twin plugs onto this salvaged connector, allowing me to plug it directly into the car's harness. I'll then just need to pull an additional 12v feed from the fuse box to feed the additional 12v pins on the Dynaudio amp (which has 3 x12v power and ground rather than the single feeds required for the 250w amp).

This will also have the benefit of being able to be removed again should I have the desire, and the original amp rebuilt and returned to the car.

Will be attempting this in the next week or so hopefully once I've got the necessary tools and components, plus time (much harder to procure) in hand.

incidentally the connector part is a Tyco 1534531-1 which could be obtained seperately from a components supplier I'd imagine in order to make up the adapter...

[Jakeys]

Jeez that's very in depth. More than I would have ever tried.

If it works, this could be hugely useful info. Wayyy down the track on my mod list is a Dynaudio retrofit but I was going to use the off the shelf Dynaudio speaker kits (Don't remember the model names now but it was the set very close to stock, just a bit better) and then to get it working with the car, RNS etc I was just going to try and retrofit the OEM Dynaudio amp second hand like you have.

Plus, the OEM Dynaudio grilles are on Aliexpress.

[benny82]

Hi kamold have you ever thought about installing the b7 analog clock where the hazard switch goes?

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[kamold]

Hi kamold have you ever thought about installing the b7 analog clock where the hazard switch goes?

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Nope, never liked the look of it.

BUT.....tonight I FINALLY got the Dynaudio amp installed and running!
Its currently powering the stock speakers, but it still sounds pretty good compared to the stock amp.
Its way past my bedtime, so I haven't taken any photos or anything, suffice to say I am releived after a lot of false starts trying to figure out how to get the cabling done in the space left after the amp is in.

Basically I've pulled out the amp connector from the original amp, cut off the 90 degree bends in the pins from the board, then connected all the pins from the 2 Dynaudio connectors to the original amp connector, which then plugs straight into the car harness. Plus additional ground and 12v from the fuse box.

VICTORY!!!
Now bed.

[kamold]

Have been cranking the tunes through the stock speakers (as Nermal pointed out in his retrofit, you eventually get some complaining BLARP!!s from the stock woofers).

The improvement in sound to me over the stock amp is substantial. I'm happy I stuck with it and got the amp in.

As also pointed out by Nermal, the 600w amp's separation of the channels results in very tight, punchy bass and very bright treble (overly bright to me with the stock front tweeters, hopefully this will mellow a little with the Dynaudio tweeters.) The staging and clarity is excellent.

Need to finalise the harness now that its working (solder on the terminal connectors to the old amp connector, then shrink the heatshrink insulation which is just sitting loose, and put some tape around the whole Frankenharness).

So its possible. I have a spare 600w amp (not speakers) if anyone else wants to do the upgrade.

[Jakeys]

Fantastic work mate! Love the in depth stuff being done to these cars like this.

Is there any chance you could do a technical write up of this so a layman like me could attempt this at all? Dynaudio is on my mod list for the future, but the amp is a sticking point. I am happy to buy an equivalent off the shelf Dynaudio kit which will suit the factory mounts (FHRX Studios covered this for me back in the day) but I still don't have any idea what to do about the amplifier. I have only ever had cars where you just turf the head unit and bang in your own third party amp, but I would want to OEM it with the correct amplifier mounted and the RNS software mod done for the branding. (If you didn't know about that, you can do it by the way.)

Alternatively if you reckon your spare amp would work in my MY10.5 we could talk me buying that from you if it's affordable? If it's just a case of connections to determine suitability I can get some photos of what mine looks like, or the part number. I'll chuck you a PM or FB you if you want.

EDIT: I basically already said all that two months ago apparently, like three posts up haha. Whoops. At least I'm consistent.

[kamold]

I will get some photos up when I get the harness back out to finalise it. Bear with me.
Also my notes with the pinout connections etc.
Will try and do it over the weekend but have been pretty busy.
Will also post some links to the terminals I used.
My harness has ended up being a bit of a hack job given the iterations it went through while I figured out how to build it, so if it were done from scratch would be a bit neater and have fewer solder joints in it.

The spare amp has the two original connectors (grey and green), so (if following my design) would just need the connector removed from your factory amp, a couple of meters of various gauge wire, terminals etc.

[Passat R36]

Impressive!

[Jakeys]

I will get some photos up when I get the harness back out to finalise it. Bear with me.
Also my notes with the pinout connections etc.
Will try and do it over the weekend but have been pretty busy.
Will also post some links to the terminals I used.
My harness has ended up being a bit of a hack job given the iterations it went through while I figured out how to build it, so if it were done from scratch would be a bit neater and have fewer solder joints in it.

The spare amp has the two original connectors (grey and green), so (if following my design) would just need the connector removed from your factory amp, a couple of meters of various gauge wire, terminals etc.

Yep as per PM's keep me posted as I am very interested in doing this as we discussed. The more detail the merrier. Amazing work mate, I am guessing you are the first/only person to do this? At least for R36's?

[kamold]

I've not seen online anyone having done this exact upgrade.
Nermal of course did a superb writeup on his retrofit, but luckily had the older connectors making the amp install plug n play.
There is also a very good Danish (I think) guide but that was a complete install into a Passat without amp, so required full harness installation from head unit to speakers etc.
Jimmi CBX in Malaysia has possibly done one as he has done some pretty crazy retrofits like ACC, DCC etc

[prn31]

I will get some photos up when I get the harness back out to finalise it. Bear with me.
Also my notes with the pinout connections etc.
Will try and do it over the weekend but have been pretty busy.
Will also post some links to the terminals I used.
My harness has ended up being a bit of a hack job given the iterations it went through while I figured out how to build it, so if it were done from scratch would be a bit neater and have fewer solder joints in it.

The spare amp has the two original connectors (grey and green), so (if following my design) would just need the connector removed from your factory amp, a couple of meters of various gauge wire, terminals etc.

Mmm, I’m interested in the Dynaudio amp too! How easy is it to source the speakers? I believe doing the speaker grilles with the Dynaudio chrome trim is a pretty fiddly job.

Kamold is local to me and a top bloke - he has updated my RNS510 firmware and maps. Only problem is I would need to keep him supplied in boutique liquid amber for a couple of years to make this work for me…..