I have an Android phone that I also use to play my music. I don't like having to use a cassette adapter to play the music, and I also don't really want to install an aux input jack somewhere, although that would be better than the cassette adapter. Ideally, I'd like to install some sort of bluetooth adapter that will allow me to connect my phone to the stereo wirelessly. I don't want to use it for making phone calls, I just want to use it for playing music.

So, does anything like this exist? If so, does anyone have an idea of how to interface it with the stereo?

 

Have a look at the Parrot i9000, i9100 or i9200. They do exactly what you want. You do not need to use the phone feature if you do not want to....and that would considerably simplify the installation if you do not tie into the phone audio and mute in the car, and do not run the microphone.

You would wire it up to use the line outputs from the Parrot driving a PIE ALP AI-AUX with a PAC LD-10 pre-amp. I have learned that ground loop isolators and DC noise filters on the power to the Parrot and the Pre-amp are also a good idea to eliminate any alternator whine.

I have installed this system for a couple of folks and have a write-up in the works (including the phone part for those who want it) that I need to finish up and post.

 

Hi Rev,

I'm using a Motorola TK30 (I posted a few photos and details on another thread). It's working well with my HTC Touch Pro2, and will play music from the phone (as well as allowing me to use the phone). It's definitely designed for interfacing music - supports USB/Bluetooth and Auxin

However, it's not perfect:

a) With the latest firmware upgrade (why, oh why, did I do it....) it now announces every time the cell tower signal is lost/restored. I live in bad signal area, so that happens about 7 times on my 15 mile commute....

b) About 1 in 30 times, when a) happens, if it is playing from a USB device, it freezes. Unplugging the USB device fixes this, but it's very annoying.

c) The hands-free voice dialing doesn't work with the Touch Pro 2 (which is listed as compatible).

However, I don't believe these would affect you, given they are all associated with using as a hands free phone. The small display and control are pretty neat, work well and fitted into my coin tray with some dremelling. I am hoping Motorola come out with a fix for the above (I've been asked to call them, but am not looking forward to spending an hour on their support line after I've emailed them details...all I want is firmware that fixes the issues!)

I did consider the Parrot units, they get excellent reviews, but I didn't like the idea of the separate remote. Also they had reports that they were very slow to handle a large number of tracks on a USB device at startup - the TK30 is very fast (I have about 80Gb of music on there)

Either way, I think you're going to need to interface into the AI-Net system as well - there's a good thread on the same thread as where I posted details. WhiteXKR has some great advice there...

-Steve

 

I installed a T605 Motorola bluetooth adaptor. It worked flawlessly (except for the annoying lack of bass which is an Android issue only corrected by rooting the phone and installing EQ software or by using a phone with Android 2.3 & above, also requiring EQ software) until the 2.2 upgrade was applied. Lost voice dialing, have poor voice pick-up on phone since. However, the music continues to play well, minus decent bass as noted. Love having Pandora in car, just wish had something below mid-range. (lack of bass is because of tiny speakers in phone can't handle bass so they inhibit it in the o.s. This was never a problem when I was using Moto Razr or WinMo phones.) BTW, T605s can be found around $30-$35 online.

 

Beav, I just checked out the T605 and I looks like it would work well for what I want to do, and it's a lot cheaper than the Parrot devices. I have a question, however. Where do I get the "audio in" on the head unit? I'm looking at all of the different wires on the JTIS, and there is nothing about an aux input. Do I need to tap into the wires from the CD changer? And if so, how do I keep the CD changer audio from interfering with the audio from my Android phone when it's playing music?

By the way, my car has the nav system, so the audio hookups might be different than your's.

 

You can tap into the audio wires on the Alpine Ai-Net to the CD changer. If you want to keep the CD changer functionality you need a switch or relay (I think that is what Beav did). There are threads on the forum on this.

If you use the PIE ALP AI-AUX with a PAC LD-10 pre-amp, then when you have an audio signal it causes an automatic switch-over. It can connect between the nav and amp and override the radio. There is a simple mod you can make (its written up on the forum) to the PIE ALP AI-AUX that will let it override the CD instead or be used on non-premium audio cars.

 

I don't need the CD changer to work anymore. I never use it as it is. Any idea which wires to use between the CD changer and the head unit? The JTIS just shows 8 wires. It doesn't identify the purpose of each wire.

 

Sam I have the T605 installed and it works great for the phone. I haven't yet done the audio connection, but this thread seems to be the ticket.

Check it out and see if that is what you are looking for, if not there another method of hacking the CD Changer.

 

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR HELP!!! I finally got it working tonight. I'm installing a Motorola T605, which will allow me to talk on the phone using the car's speakers to hear the person on the other end (doubt I'll ever use that) and it also allows me to play the songs on my Android phone through the car's speakers without having to plug anything in! I don't need to use the cassette adapter anymore! The T605 also has an aux input plug, which I think I'm going to mount somewhere so that my wife can play her iPod in my car if she so desires.

I'm not quite done yet. My car is torn apart from the dashboard to the trunk, so I have to button everything back up. And I also have to thread the audio cable from the trunk to the T605 unit in the dashboard, but I don't think that will be a problem. However, even with everything torn apart I powered it up and it works! It actually works! I have the bluetooth unit connected to the CD audio at the changer in the trunk. I to play music from my phone I just select the CD on the radio and play whatever song I want to play on my phone.

I'm making a video, of course, so anyone who wants to do this will be able to see how it's done. The only thing that I might not like about the final product is the amount of bass that comes through when using the bluetooth connection. But, I'm sure there will be a way to get the bass boosted. I'll figure that out eventually.

 

RS
Did you ever post a video to hook up the motorola T605? Your link for your video's on youtube seems to be broken.

Thanks
Dan C.