Stream mp3 questions

[lazerbrain]

I've got an October 2005 Octavia 2 Elegance with the standard Stream hu and 6 cd changer in the boot. Due to a job change I now spend a couple of hours commuting a day rather than 10 mins to the station, so the cd changer tends to loop round a bit too frequently. I'm burning comedy shows onto cd, but the pile of "listened to once, but probably never again" cds is starting to mount! Anyone want a cd mobile for their baby??

My first thought was to use the aux in connection, but although it's switched on in one of the menus the cd button only switches between the dash and boot cds. I believe this is true of the pre-mp3 Stream hu. I'm tempted to buy/fit a Stream mp3 and run an aux lead from the centre console box for my iPod.

Here come the questions:

1) Do all Stream mp3 units have a working aux in?

2) Does the Stream mp3 hu allow mp3 cds to be used in the boot cd changer, or only the hu?

3) What functionality do you have with mp3s? ie can you choose to play selected albums or does it play through the whole dir structure?

4) Does it display the ID tag info or the filename?

thanks,

Darren.

[chr1staylor]

Here come the questions:

1) Do all Stream mp3 units have a working aux in?

AFAIK they all have the ability to take an aux-in, but you still might need to fit it yourself

2) Does the Stream mp3 hu allow mp3 cds to be used in the boot cd changer, or only the hu?

Only the headunit, the cd changer is not capable of reading mp3 CDs

Couple of answers in bold.

It would definitely be worth considering a Connects2 adapter to use with your current Stream unit. It hijacks the CD changer socket and gives you an aux-in instead:

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m570.l1313&_nkw=CTVSKX003&_sacat=See-All-Categories

I've fitted one to my Stream and it works perfectly, sound quality is perfect. It's very straight forward to fit. Removing the HU is simple and there's a hex screw ideally placed behind to use as an earth point for the Connects2 unit.

Only downside is that you'll not get any track info on the hu, will just be on the ipod.

Once you have the ability to connect your ipod I doubt you'd ever need the CD changer again anyway, and if you do have the odd CD you can still use the CD slot in the headunit itself.

(I've mentioned this quite a few times on here as it's one of the very things I actually feel qualified to answer, being a newcomer to Skoda myself!)

Relatively low cost:

~£30 for unit + ipod-specific phono cable for better quality (apparently using the headphone socket as a line-out introduces a lot of background noise, better to use the main bottom connection with a cable like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Phono-Cable-Apple-Media-Players/dp/B0039ZHS4O/ref=sr_1_14?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1291209329&sr=1-14 )

Chris.

Edited 1 December, 2010 by BigC

[lazerbrain]

Thanks for the info Chris.

As it's only the hu's internal player that can use mp3 discs I'd not really be any better off! I suspected this was the case, but nice to know for sure.

I thought I was onto a winner with a £50 new Stream mp3 on eBay, but they realised before they posted it that it was the older version.

I've had a look at the adaptor you linked to - it's probably the cheapest and easiest way forward. Looking at the Connects2 website the installation guide for the Stream model suggests you may be able to use the hu buttons to control the iPod. I'm suspecting this is not true as the extra lead you mention is purely to get line out to the interface rather than any control signals...

What does the hu display show when you switch to the autochanger input?

[chr1staylor]

There is an ipod-specific Connects2 I think, which may give you some basic headunit functionaliy, but I'm not sure how much nor how effective it is. The one I linked to is just the generic one that provides a basic aux-in.

As the generic one just fools the headunit into thinking it's playing a CD from the changer it just acts as if you have a CD in slot 1 of the changer, so all you see on the hu itself is something like "Track 1: 0:00:00" which continues to count up until you switch back to the radio or turn the car off. Not ideal, but otherwise it'd just show "Aux" or similar, so it doesn't bother me. Will take a pic next time I'm out if I think on.

I use either my iRiver or my HTC Hero with it, set it on random play and then put it in its dock and forget about it.

You can feed the cable into the top storage box (where the hazard light switch is) and then just leave your ipod in there while it's playing, or get a cradle for it. I bought a Brodit mount for the Hero so it sits just next to the headunit, as I use it for satnav too.

[chr1staylor]

Here's what the display looks like:

Also some pics of removing the stereo, while I've got my Flickr open:

[andyvee]

Why not go for a Dension Gateway?

If you have maxidot all of the mp3 tag info etc is on there. If you don't have maxidot it is a bit awkward though, unless you put it in iPod UI mode so that you control the playback of an iPod from the iPod, and still get all of the info showing on the iPod screen.

If you are swapping from a Stream to a Stream MP3 then you need to move the earth pin for the CDC or you will find the CDC is very quiet with lots of interference (as there is no earth for the L and R audio feeds from the CDC to the HU). There is a post on here somewhere about doing this. Skoda changed the wiring sometime around 2007 when Stream MP3s became standard equipment. I had to do this in mine and it is a October 2005 registered 2006MY.

If you get a Dension you can connect a iPod/USB stick/hard drive full of mp3s - you don't need a CDC anymore!

[Paul007]

And it's working fine now is it Andy ?

[andyvee]

Working very well - once I worked out how to do the display selection properly so it stays on the maxidot, working brilliantly!

Only thing I haven't done is the seperate earth so a very slight buzz is noticeable on very quiet tracks - couldn't see the earth wire on the harness??

[Paul007]

Neither could I which is why I never sorted it out properly. My Bolero as its replacement is hooked up to the CDC and I'm using a 4Gb SDHC card as well. Just need a trip from here to John O'Groats or somewhere to listen to it all...

I saw a post on here yesterday about being able to earth the unit behind the hazard switch or something like that...might be worth doing a search.

Edited 9 December, 2010 by Paul007

[andyvee]

Neither could I which is why I never sorted it out properly. My Bolero as its replacement is hooked up to the CDC and I'm using a 4Gb SDHC card as well. Just need a trip from here to John O'Groats or somewhere to listen to it all...

I saw a post on here yesterday about being able to earth the unit behind the hazard switch or something like that...might be worth doing a search.

It is the Dension end that I don't know where to run the earth to as the instructions mention a seperate earth wire should be present on the harness but I couldn't see it. I was thinking of just running an earth from the body of the car to the earth of the USB cable and seeing what happens! It will either get rid of the very faint buzz or make it worse

I have managed to run both the USB and iPod cables through to the Jumbo Box between the seats so have a really neat solution - nothing visible and iPod/USB nicely hidden in the Jumbo box. Dension and Fiscon both mounted in the space above the ashtray and behind the climate control unit, velcroed and tie wrapped in place. There is just enough room to get the original wiring harness out from the rear of the stereo into this area and the run the new harness back up behind the stereo, so no problems with loads of extra ISO connectors jammed in the space behind the HU. It is a bit of a pain getting all of the centre console out to do this, but I could do it again in about 20 mins now I know where all of the screws and clips are! First time round take it slow and gentle so as not to break, damage or scratch anything.

Bolero - now there is a thought seeing as I have a Fiscon Basic+ so will work with the touchscreen

Edited 9 December, 2010 by andyvee

[chr1staylor]

There's a handy hex screw right behind the headunit that you can use as an earth point. Should be a pic of it somewhere on my Flickr acc linked above.

[andyvee]

There's a handy hex screw right behind the headunit that you can use as an earth point. Should be a pic of it somewhere on my Flickr acc linked above.

Seen that, no problems with the earth to the body of the car, the Dension instructions are garbage though as they say that there is a seperate wire coming from the harness to connect to earth, and there isn't!

Taking a wild guess that the outer screen of the USB connection will be earth and see what happens!

I suppose I could be less lazy and trace the wiring in the Dension harness to find which wire is earth and tap in to that but that means having the HU and climate controls out again. At least I can test it with the USB socket in the Jumbo Box and see if it makes any difference, and then do a more permanent fix once I can be bothered (and it isn't -5 all the time!)

[lazerbrain]

Thanks all... and thanks again Chris for the pics.

I don't have maxidot so decided that the Dension was an unnecessary expense. If I did have maxidot then I think I would have been quite tempted!

Anyway, I've now bought and fitted the Connects2 unit after remembering to empty the obsolete CDC. I've run an iPod lineout cable into the top storage box (above the hazard switch and airvents) where it plugs into a Maxell radio remote control and then into the base of my iPod nano. Total cost was under 50 quid (Connects2, cable, remote control). I intend to velcro the Maxell remote somewhere handy - it allows play/pause (hold to switch off iPod), track skip forward and back and volume up/down (which controls the lineout volume.)

Maxell radio remote for iPod

The output seems ok and not noisy (when tested on a quiet piano track.)

I'll link some pics when I get a chance.

[chr1staylor]

Great stuff, glad you got it sorted.