I just bought a 1999 Audi A6 Quattro and I love it! Anyways, the factory stereo head unit (the one with the red lights) only has a cassette player, which does not even work, and i am looking to get rid of the factory unit. Is is possible and easily removable and easy to install my own unit that i bought off ebay that contains a CD player instead of a cassette player in the same place where the factory unit is currently installed? Thank you.

 

I just bought a 1999 Audi A6 Quattro and I love it! Anyways, the factory stereo head unit (the one with the red lights) only has a cassette player, which does not even work, and i am looking to get rid of the factory unit. Is is possible and easily removable and easy to install my own unit that i bought off ebay that contains a CD player instead of a cassette player in the same place where the factory unit is currently installed? Thank you.

 

you can buy conversion leads to fit your audio system depending on what you have??

 

get an aftermarket headunit, youll be better off

 

I second the aftermarket idea - much more flexibility, and since you're already in a situation where you have to change it, might as well get better sound out of it. Try Clarions - they have a setting to change the color to match the rest of the dash (red color lights) and they sound pretty good and most even mid-level clarions will give you the level of customizing the settings for the sound reproduction that you will never be able to get out of a stock radio. You can get a dash-matching panel to cover up the gaps (stock radio is wider than a regular single-DIN unit), the bracket to install it into and the adapter plugs (easy to install yourself) at a circuit city or if they don't have those for A6, go on ebay - you'll def find it there.
good luck, let us know how the search goes - interested to know which unit sound good/bad with factory speakers.

 

color matching is a nice idea. eclipse decks have a red color in em thats 95% factory, its the closest one ive seen. i have an eclipse myself, but i just yanked it from my other car and will be installing it soon. ill post photos, so look for that

 

yeah! I didn't even think of Eclipse - their design may actually match the dash better too. I like color and design matching the aftermarket stereo to the dash because it gives a sense of proper componentry - nothing looks out of place. To me the best mods make your car look like it was designed that way from the factory.
By the way, there is one absolutely great brand you can check out for the headunit, but it can be pretty expensive and hard to service if you have an issue - the brand is Nakamichi. I had their mk 1 MB 75 in-dash, single DIN 6-cd changer and it was hands down the best sound I ever heard in a car. Period. Even comparing the new DVD-Audio systems in the Acura's RLs and TLs, that unit beat everyone for the quality of sound: very crisp, very precise reproduction, never a dull detail and very high end quality. However, I did not get that lucky with the unit itself - though it was residing in my lowered Honda del Sol with oversize wheels, so it must have been getting way more jarring from the NYC roads (and the way I drove) than Nakamichi ever anticipated. I had to send it in to Nakamich twice - UPS to Cali - the second time they gave up and sent me a brand new unit (which was lucky for me, because the newer units were more expensive and had the color-matching option). But what I started to say is that Nakamichis too have a nice red, that I would imagine, should match the dash very nicely and unparallel sound quality.
here, go to this link, after the intro, click on "in-car entertainment" if you wanna check it out:
http://www.nakamichi.com/home.html

 

I have to share this information with you guys before you fit aftermarket radios to newer than 1997 " well worth the read "

http://www.gendan.co.uk/article_12.html

now you know why the dealers wont diagnose the car for fault codes if an aftermarket unit is fitted

 

try www.crutchfield.com

they have great prices and the installation kits & instructions are first class

 

I wouldn't go aftermarket in these cars, I'd stick with the factory radios if possible simply to avoid problems associated with the intregal nature of the headunit and everything else in the car. You'd instantly lose the radio information present in the instrument cluster, you may lose connectivity with your CD Changer in the trunk, and you have to be careful of any issues related to a Bose system if you have one.

Since you mention that your headunit only has a cassette player and no CD I have to assume that you're talking about the Concert I stereo, single DIN. The '99.5 cars moved to the double DIN Symphony I stereo. I'm not convinced that you can install a Concert II head unit in your car (has a single CD player) because the Concert II may require the CAN-BUS wiring loom and it's not something you can easily install.

Check out the AudiWorld Audio forum for better info than I can provide: http://forums.audiworld.com/audio/