Morning all,

I have a few things I need to do to the old girl and having hunted around in the forums couldn't find what I was looking for, so here goes:

1. I need to replace my aerial base as reception is poor and in the hidden menu ANT=OFF. Doing the job is no problem but how much are aerial bases and where is cheapest to get one from - god only knows what a dealer will charge so if I can avoid them )

2. I have a non-mp3 Stream head unit with the 6 disc changer in the boot. I want to get a bluetooth car kit and use my iPod through it. It has no AUX in so either I get a better head unit (Audience/Columbus) with an OEM bluetooth adaptor... or a Parrot MKi9200 (i've looked at the Dension kits and ruled them out). From what I can find I can install the Parrot on my HU and at £175ish i'm guessing that it'll be a lot cheaper than the previously mentioned alternative. What's people's views on this? Can (as I believe) it be done? Or are their cheap Audience HU's about - has anyone got any experience they care to share?

3. If I go the way of the Parrot i'd like to move the 6-disc changer out of the boot cubby to make some room for useful things - but keep it functioning. I know I won't need it if i have an iPod connection etc but i'd like to just because. I've not found anything on moving it into the cabin - has anyone seen this done, where it was mounted, is it easy to re-route the cable? I'd hate to get into it and get stuck so any advice is much appreciated.

If you can help with any of the above then please do!

Cheers

I've fitted an aux in to the non-mp3 stream head unit. There are no pins for it, so you have to use the sound feed from the CD changer. I have a switch to change between sources, but the aux in will not work unless the CD changer is running and the sound is cut off while the CD is changing even when it's being fed from the Aux source.

Yeah i've seen a few methods for adding an AUX and the end result (while providing a solution) isn't what you'd call seamless (as you've found), and (in some cases) you loose the 6-disc changer which if I can i'll keep (just cos i want to, i know it's mostly redundant once my iPod is hooked up but each to their own right?) so it isn't a route i'll be taking. Also it means faffing about with differen't leads to get a line out from an iPod or a generic mp3 player, and there is no option to plug in via USB or other memory card if a mate turns up with stuff on one.

That's why after much deliberation if I can't change the HU i'll get a Parrot MKi9200 - their pricey at £150 + £20 for the wiring adaptor but they offer bluetooth phone use through the existing stereo with muting when in use, iPod connector, line out jack, USB port (meaning I have a USB charge point as well) SD card interface, as well as a colour screen that displays track info, phone book etc and a remote to control it all (as I don't have steering wheel controls in my Octy). And if i sell it on i can remove the kit and the car is 'standard' again.

Edited 13 April, 201016 yr by flaccid_cookie

Yeah i've seen a few methods for adding an AUX and the end result (while providing a solution) isn't what you'd call seamless (as you've found), and (in some cases) you loose the 6-disc changer which if I can i'll keep (just cos i want to, i know it's mostly redundant once my iPod is hooked up but each to their own right?) so it isn't a route i'll be taking. Also it means faffing about with differen't leads to get a line out from an iPod or a generic mp3 player, and there is no option to plug in via USB or other memory card if a mate turns up with stuff on one.

That's why after much deliberation if I can't change the HU i'll get a Parrot MKi9200 - their pricey at £150 + £20 for the wiring adaptor but they offer bluetooth phone use through the existing stereo with muting when in use, iPod connector, line out jack, USB port (meaning I have a USB charge point as well) SD card interface, as well as a colour screen that displays track info, phone book etc and a remote to control it all (as I don't have steering wheel controls in my Octy). And if i sell it on i can remove the kit and the car is 'standard' again.

Does the parrot kit really offer all of this ??? Where did you get yours from mate ??

Yeah i've seen a few methods for adding an AUX and the end result (while providing a solution) isn't what you'd call seamless (as you've found), and (in some cases) you loose the 6-disc changer which if I can i'll keep (just cos i want to, i know it's mostly redundant once my iPod is hooked up but each to their own right?) so it isn't a route i'll be taking. Also it means faffing about with differen't leads to get a line out from an iPod or a generic mp3 player, and there is no option to plug in via USB or other memory card if a mate turns up with stuff on one.

That's why after much deliberation if I can't change the HU i'll get a Parrot MKi9200 - their pricey at £150 + £20 for the wiring adaptor but they offer bluetooth phone use through the existing stereo with muting when in use, iPod connector, line out jack, USB port (meaning I have a USB charge point as well) SD card interface, as well as a colour screen that displays track info, phone book etc and a remote to control it all (as I don't have steering wheel controls in my Octy). And if i sell it on i can remove the kit and the car is 'standard' again.

The USB on the Parrot supports USB charging. the only thing I would say is that the parrot is a very buggy bit of kit, unfortuantely and you need to be on top of the software updates to ensure full functionality

Info on the Parrot MKi9200 (thankyou google - there are many more these were just near the top);

http://www.parrot.com/uk/products/hands-free-car-kits/parrot-mki9200

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_569633_langId_-1_categoryId_165571

http://www.smartphonedaily.co.uk/reviews/review-parrot-mki9200/

shop around and you can get one for £150. I've not got one yet but read lots of threads by other people who have. I'm just wondering if their as good as they look or could i replace the HU + some other OEM parts for a similar price and what do those who have done one or the other think? (as well as finding out the cost of aerial bases and any clever places to relocate the CD Changer to inside the car)

The USB on the Parrot supports USB charging. the only thing I would say is that the parrot is a very buggy bit of kit, unfortuantely and you need to be on top of the software updates to ensure full functionality

Yeah i've seen lots of web threads filled with unhappy people over this. It's one of my big worries really. Bugs are fine till they affect you and they render your lovely, expensive, integrated kit useless till a firmware update. From what i've seen more recently it seems that the bugs are mostly ironed out but it'd be good to know from someone who has one at the latest update level what it's really like - and if it'll go on a non-mp3 stream HU (everywhere says it will but their trying to sell you the damn thing so they would say that) so if someone has installed it on theirs how'd it go, did you have to sacrifice the 6-disc changer?

sorry, i meant to say that the Parrot DOES NOT support USB charging

sorry, i meant to say that the Parrot DOES NOT support USB charging

Fair enough - i'd not read that it did anywhere I just assumed! Thanks for the knowledge!

My CD changer still works and adding the Aux cost me something approaching 20 Euro and took nearly an hour (But that cost includes making the jack to jack lead needed to connect the mp3 player and time to hollow out the button blanks I used for the switch and the socket. I got one of these: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bluetooth-2-0-Stereo-Headset-Headphone-Stereo-Plug-USB_W0QQitemZ260575471610QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Mobile_Home_Phones_Bluetooth_Acc_ET?hash=item3cab8227fa to allow my phone to play music through the car wirelessly...

My CD changer still works and adding the Aux cost me something approaching 20 Euro and took nearly an hour (But that cost includes making the jack to jack lead needed to connect the mp3 player and time to hollow out the button blanks I used for the switch and the socket. I got one of these: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bluetooth-2-0-Stereo-Headset-Headphone-Stereo-Plug-USB_W0QQitemZ260575471610QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Mobile_Home_Phones_Bluetooth_Acc_ET?hash=item3cab8227fa to allow my phone to play music through the car wirelessly...

So you manually switch from the changer to the mp3 link (while the changer is on) and plug in your generic mp3 player of choice. Then attaching the bluetooth unit to this allows for mp3 from a bluetooth source... is that a right? What guide did you use to do the work or did you just get in there and figure it out?

Can you use your phone through this providing you have a bluetooth headset and manually switch it on to make/recieve calls?

You need a phone with A2DP (Stereo Bluetooth) support to use the bluetooth device as a music player. There's some other more obscure abbreviation your phone needs to have so the track forward and backward buttons work too. My Sony Ericsson C702 has both anyway, so I'd guess most vaguely high end phones will have this (Except probably the iPhone, since every fancy feature they seem to advertise as being new to the phone has been on my phone for years).

I don't trust bluetooth microphones, especially those in cars (Based on being only able to hear about 20% of what friends of mine say while phoning me from their cars using them), so I only use it to send music to the car and don't use the phone functions while driving at all.

There's no decent spot to put the bluetooth unit to get the microphone near your mouth while driving anyway, so it's definitely not a solution to phoning and playing music from the car unless you just leave it clipped to your shirt and don't connect it to the stereo. My guess is connected to the stereo, the feedback off it would be horrendous too (Car bluetooth has noise cancelling to deal with this).

There's not much to fitting the aux plug. Bought the bits in Maplin (Panel mount 3.5mm socket, wire, spade connectors and a switch that rather than just switching one connection at a time will switch 4 (This is the hard bit to find). I used three of these connections for left, right and ground sound feeds. After that I pulled the fascia off catching it over the ashtray (You can get a hold of the bottom of the fascia piece by reaching under it while the ashtray door is half open) and pulling gently, which allows you to get at the screws to remove the radio (They're hidden under rectangular covers in the face of the radio).

After removing the radio, look at the pin diagram for the plug at the back and find the ones labelled CD L, R and GND (I think, it's been over a year since I did this, but the labelling was obvious, though the orientation of the plugs relative to the diagram was not). Cut the wires and fit spade connectors so you can reconnect them if needed. Then connect the switch, again using spade connectors, so that the centre output goes to the radio, one side goes to the CD changer and the other goes to the socket. I have it set so that moving the switch up connects the CD changer and down connects the aux plug.

I used two of the button blanks above the ashtray to locate the switch and the socket - there's loads of space to run the wires behind the aircon controls to this point, so a very easy fix - getting it to the centre box is a bit more work and as I discovered when I wanted to plug a GPS unit into the radio less convenient for the devices I actually used it for.

The lead I used to connect to the music player has a jack plug with a 90 degree bend at one end, so when I plug this into the socket by the ashtray its well out of the way of the gear lever. The lead is long enough to reach a GPS unit on the windscreen or an mp3 player in the cup holders or centre box.

You need a phone with A2DP (Stereo Bluetooth) support to use the bluetooth device as a music player. There's some other more obscure abbreviation your phone needs to have so the track forward and backward buttons work too. My Sony Ericsson C702 has both anyway, so I'd guess most vaguely high end phones will have this (Except probably the iPhone, since every fancy feature they seem to advertise as being new to the phone has been on my phone for years).

I don't trust bluetooth microphones, especially those in cars (Based on being only able to hear about 20% of what friends of mine say while phoning me from their cars using them), so I only use it to send music to the car and don't use the phone functions while driving at all.

There's no decent spot to put the bluetooth unit to get the microphone near your mouth while driving anyway, so it's definitely not a solution to phoning and playing music from the car unless you just leave it clipped to your shirt and don't connect it to the stereo. My guess is connected to the stereo, the feedback off it would be horrendous too (Car bluetooth has noise cancelling to deal with this).

There's not much to fitting the aux plug. Bought the bits in Maplin (Panel mount 3.5mm socket, wire, spade connectors and a switch that rather than just switching one connection at a time will switch 4 (This is the hard bit to find). I used three of these connections for left, right and ground sound feeds. After that I pulled the fascia off catching it over the ashtray (You can get a hold of the bottom of the fascia piece by reaching under it while the ashtray door is half open) and pulling gently, which allows you to get at the screws to remove the radio (They're hidden under rectangular covers in the face of the radio).

After removing the radio, look at the pin diagram for the plug at the back and find the ones labelled CD L, R and GND (I think, it's been over a year since I did this, but the labelling was obvious, though the orientation of the plugs relative to the diagram was not). Cut the wires and fit spade connectors so you can reconnect them if needed. Then connect the switch, again using spade connectors, so that the centre output goes to the radio, one side goes to the CD changer and the other goes to the socket. I have it set so that moving the switch up connects the CD changer and down connects the aux plug.

I used two of the button blanks above the ashtray to locate the switch and the socket - there's loads of space to run the wires behind the aircon controls to this point, so a very easy fix - getting it to the centre box is a bit more work and as I discovered when I wanted to plug a GPS unit into the radio less convenient for the devices I actually used it for.

The lead I used to connect to the music player has a jack plug with a 90 degree bend at one end, so when I plug this into the socket by the ashtray its well out of the way of the gear lever. The lead is long enough to reach a GPS unit on the windscreen or an mp3 player in the cup holders or centre box.

I got a bit lost with this thread. Does this last comment refer to the Stream system fitted to my 2006 Octavia? I posted a thread a few days ago referring to making it play my ipod, as the owners manual appears to say that the radio has an aux out, and I can't find it. Your description appears to be a solution.