On call this weekend so I decided to spend some quality time with the Jag at work. Installed T605 Bluetooth kit. It was easy, thanks to those before me (names elude me at the moment, the paperwork I printed is still at the shop.)

However, the author had a dead CD changer and decided to pull it apart and hack into the connector inside the unit in order to access audio inputs for the ai-link. I've always been of the mind that you give your difficult jobs to the laziest person you know and they'll find the easiest way to accomplish the task. O.K., so I'm the laziest person I know, so I came up with a new way to accomplish the job at hand...

Why tear out the back seat, etc. to access the CD player/ai-link?, I thought. I've already got the armrest off, a few more screws and the console and radio will also be out. So, after removing the radio I disconnected the ai-link from the radio and stripped its sheath open a few inches back from the connector, being careful not to damage the wires inside or their insulation. Pinch up the braided shielding wire and carefully cut it to gain access to the inner wires. Inside you'll find 2-3 individual wires, a heavier gray wire and a couple thinner gray wires. The heavier gray wire is the twisted pair (sheathed) for the ACP network - no need to mess with it/them. The two smaller gray wires are actually the left and right channel feeds from the changer. They are also sheathed, the braided sheath providing the audio ground for that particular channel, the inner, insulated wire is the signal for that channel. Now, this is where one gets to display one's surgical abilities, parting the sheathing braid, stripping the inner insulated wire, clipping the RCA jacks from the T605 aux input leads and also stripping them in identical fashion. If you're following me so far, you'll know enough to solder and insulate the respective wires accordingly. I suppose a person could install diodes to isolate the T605 and the changer but, as clearly stated earlier, I'm lazy. I just hooked them up and turned the key. Everything works as intended - the bluetooth plays through the CD portion of the radio (I didn't have any CDs loaded in the changer, nor would I have the bluetooth streaming audio while listening to CDs - would probably sound like a three-way party line if one did) and the changer works as intended (again, without the bluetooth enabled.) Everything sounds fine, no issues from the sharing of the inputs and a heckuva lot easier than running wires to the trunk. In fact, with tucking the T605 below where the OE phone (yellow) connector was, the T605's RCA input cable was long enough to reach the radio without extension.

I also used the already available microphone wiring in the car, clipping the connectors and soldering appropriately. However, for a neater install, I suggest drilling the overhead console where it was obviously intended to support the OE microphone. Remove the lighting module and take your time to center the hole, sizing it to properly fit - keep reading before drillng... After fiddling a bit, I found that the proper placement is for all of the microphone's side slits to protrude through the hole. The lighting module has an anterior yoke to support the microphone but that apparently only works with the OE mic as the T605's mike will need to be a bit snug in the hole to adequately reach through the console.

Even if you find splicing the input leads a bit daunting, consider that with bluetooth, an auxiliary input and Pandora, etc., who's going to mess with a CD changer in the trunk?