# Mk1 TT + Bose + CD Changer + Iphone 4 + Bluetooth Solution



## Pensive666 (Jun 18, 2011)

Hi all,

Newbie member picking up my mk1 tt in one week! Tingling......

Now before anyone screams "search button", I have. For days....It is a minefield. Dension, grom audio. Connects2, Audi etc etc.... Which one?

So I'd like to put my requirements in the hope someone else can point at the right product and say "yes! That will do exactly what you want!".

My setup:
Bose (which I would like to keep)
Cd changer
Tape head unit
I hope that's enough info....

I want:
1) A hardwired iPhone 4 connection which charges.

2) To run navigon on the iphone through the speakers with audio in the background. Control via head unit might prevent this...? Not sure. Just want line level audio out from the iPhone, happy to control tracks from the screen.

3) Maximum quality possible

4)Balanced input volume between radio, cd and iPod.

5)Retain cd changer functionality!

6) Bluetooth phone interface, mike, and sound through speakers?

That's it for requirements.

The following two items are nice-to-haves:
7) aux in 3.5mm jack
8) USB memory stick mp3 playback

I think I can achieve this with Grom kit but I would appreciate any advice before committing!

Thanks in advance peoples!


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## Brendanb86 (Feb 12, 2011)

Don't want much do you?! :lol:


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## Nilesong (Jan 19, 2009)

http://www.xcarlink.co.uk/product.php?p ... t=4&page=1

Could be what you're looking for?  
A few people on here have them, me included. Works well. Bluetooth extra with mic. Sound from speakers in car.

Welcome to the forum.


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## Pensive666 (Jun 18, 2011)

Nilesong said:


> http://www.xcarlink.co.uk/product.php?productid=6&cat=4&page=1
> 
> Could be what you're looking for?
> A few people on here have them, me included. Works well. Bluetooth extra with mic. Sound from speakers in car.
> ...


Touch! That is exactly what I'm looking for! Many thanks nilesong, I hadn't come across that in my travels. (purchase - click)

@Brendanb86 - you're damn right, I want it all!


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## techfreak (Aug 13, 2010)

Pensive666 said:


> Nilesong said:
> 
> 
> > http://www.xcarlink.co.uk/product.php?productid=6&cat=4&page=1
> ...


Your search didn't bring up xcarlink? Strange


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## Pensive666 (Jun 18, 2011)

techfreak said:


> Your search didn't bring up xcarlink? Strange


I see what you sayin there geeza hahahah - and Nope. I don't recall coming across xcarlink, but I did come across GROM and its many different attachements which scared me, audi ones where they said that you can't use your iphone for anything else while the head unit has control of it (which is no good for an iphone with satnav), Connects2 (which I investigated as I've used one before..but doesnt have the general level of functionality) etc.



There should be an ice subforum with audio interface sticky polls, linking to the various options which people can vote for! That would be a grand idea.


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## techfreak (Aug 13, 2010)

Haha yea there are too many choices sometimes.
Another popular choice is to change the hu again alot choices but some popular ones out there for tt. Added benefit is of course better sound quality


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## Baalthazaar (Jul 11, 2010)

Fraid I sacrificed my changer but am addicted to my Parrot 19200 fitting is a doddle with the custom loom from just car kits, retains all the Bose sound quality and allows you to e=search properly on the ipod/iphone/mp3/usb or bluetooth music source or indeed all of them at the same time....who needs a cd???


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## Pensive666 (Jun 18, 2011)

The audiophile in me wants the ability to listen to a professionally printed CD through a proper BOSE DAC! Whether or not there is an increase in quality......is, and always will be a contentious point =D

In a car, you probably wont be able to tell......but still.

Anyway - since the author of this little tutorial replied to my comments, I thought it good to post here, that the GROM product (although a bit scary on the quantity-of-variant-parts scale) can also cover the requirements, with a USB stick functionality bolted on as well. I have already decided, and paid for the xcarlink one because it is a much simpler system 8) - would prefer ease of install over a usb stick function.

The trouble is - those head units are s$h%i^t£e @ navigating MP3s! [smiley=baby.gif]

http://www.jotlab.com/2011/01/06/how-to ... di-tt-mki/


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## Baalthazaar (Jul 11, 2010)

[smiley=book2.gif] Er the DAC is Audi not BOSE...... And the head unit is indeed sh**te at navigating apple and with either the Grom or the xcarlink thats what you are stuck with, thats why most people either change the head or graft on a separate navigation tool like the Parrot. :roll:
http://www.parrot.com/uk/products/hands-free-car-kits
http://www.justcarkits.co.uk/acatalog/info_433.html


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## Pensive666 (Jun 18, 2011)

Baalthazaar said:


> [smiley=book2.gif] Er the DAC is Audi not BOSE...... And the head unit is indeed sh**te at navigating apple and with either the Grom or the xcarlink thats what you are stuck with, thats why most people either change the head or graft on a separate navigation tool like the Parrot. :roll:
> http://www.parrot.com/uk/products/hands-free-car-kits
> http://www.justcarkits.co.uk/acatalog/info_433.html


You are forgetting the iphones luscious touchscreen is already mounted inches from your hand. I use that to navigate audio in the car and its great!

That's why I've never understood the parrott.

Excluding the rather nifty steering wheel mount control (which is very cool - no doubt), you might as well just mount your iphone where the parrott would be. It already does everything a parrott does, plus satnav, m-power app, HD video recording out of the front windscreen, facebook, twitter, facetime, or skype etc. etc. Plus with xcarlink you don't lose the use of the cd changer.

And its cheaper, cos you dont need to buy the parrot as wel las the audio interface. And you dont end up with another device to remove from your car when you park it.

Too many negatives to make it worthwhile - at least for me.

You know what would be REALLY cool?

A bluetooth Parrott style steering wheel controller which worked with iphones and android phones..... surely someone must have made one by now.


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## Baalthazaar (Jul 11, 2010)

Iphone= a little distracting whilst driving. Parrot= whilst an acknowledged compromise has simplified controls without the necessity for focusing on a touch screen.
This is obviously down to personal taste; lastly if I need to use a cd because I need to appreciate its sonic superiority, I will stick it in the head which has a 16 bit DAC rather than the changer which is limited to paltry 1 bit sampling rate. Even better copy it to the ipod listen to it in the poor acoustics of the car, and come home to listen to the original on a 64 bit external DAC in the comfort of my own home....Unless you are willing to spend $$$$ on a decent ice system then the TT is always a compromise.


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## Pensive666 (Jun 18, 2011)

Just an update to this thread- I just installed the xcarlink adapter, and everything works really well.

Most impressed, sound quality is awesome, but make sure you are playing through "Dock Connector" and not "XCARLINK", the dock connector is CD quality and sounds excellent, the XCARLINK is the bluetooth stream, which is OK, but comparable to a good FM transmitter in quality. The bass, in particular, suffers through bluetooth because its aggressively compressed.

The phone works, the music pauses, the audio comes in through the car speakers, and the mic seems to work OK - its not crystal clear, but people can understand you OK so thats all that matters. When the music comes back - it fades back in nicely. You do not need access to the button on the bluetooth module in operation - you can just use the iphone touchscreen.

One last point to add - it gets confused at times. I recomend not using the ipod playlist buttons on the HU at all, and leaving it on manual ipod control at all times. Once you select a playlist via the touchscreen, the track flipper twiddle button on the stereo does a grand job - and thats enough for me.

Happy customer! Now im gonna go for a drive.....


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## rwn45549 (Dec 14, 2011)

Hi Pensive666.

I'm looking to do exactly as you have with you TT.

Have difficult was the installation of the XcarLink system? Where did you find the installation instuctions?

Any advice would be appreciated!!

Richard


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## Pensive666 (Jun 18, 2011)

Install was dead easy! BUT

With hindsight I would have just changed the head unit for one with built in functionality. Audio is great, phone doesn't work do well. It's a shame because it is purely because of the Bluetooth audio being too quiet compared to the dock connector line in 

Instructions come with the kit, it's just a plug through adapter set.

Took me maybe 90 minutes to fit?

Also don't expect to "switch" to your cd changer. It doesn't work well at all.


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## rwn45549 (Dec 14, 2011)

Thanks for the advice, is there a head unit you would recommend?

Richard


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## droopsnoot (Sep 5, 2002)

Pensive666 said:


> Also don't expect to "switch" to your cd changer. It doesn't work well at all.


I have quite a basic Xcarlink device, which just has SD and USB sockets - all I wanted was access to more music than the standard 6-disc changer allowed. But I generally don't have any trouble switching between the CD changer and the xcarlink. The only problem is that if I switch the car off with one of the media players selected (as opposed to the tuner), when I switch it back on it almost always selects the xcarlink, whether that was the one I was playing or not.

Mine is getting on a bit now, and maybe showing signs of unreliability in refusing to play tracks and sometimes requiring me to switch to the tuner and back before it will work. That could just as easily be the SD card, though.


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## Scrappy (Dec 8, 2010)

I've been contemplating a new Head Unit,

currently I have an Alpine fitted, which runs a USB cable into the glove box which connects to my old iPhone 3GS (I have the 4S now as well, and I run iTunes music on my iPod, and control through the head unit, almost as if the 3GS were a run of the mill iPod)

What I want to acheive, is being able to control other apps on my phone rather than whatever music I have on iTunes, as well as being able to swop the 3GS for my 4S every now and again if I want to make handsfree calls...

after looking around a lot, and seeing that Pioneer and Alpine seems to be tackling the situation...in their own little way, see this for an example (http://www.dynamicsounds.co.uk/alpine-i ... -9815.html) I came across this....



 - seems to be ideal. I could stream tracks from Youtube, or Spotify, if I wanted to, or stick video on, the sound from all of my apps would play through the speakers, so running my sat nav app would be ideal, as well as access iTunes music.

I could also take or make calls, and with the advent of Siri, send texts as well...

Admittedly, it's a bit of a faff and a little distracting to use the phone, but if I had the most up to date Alpine i'd still be scrolling through Artists/Tracks etc, which is just as distracting IMO, except I have all the added benefits of my other apps this way....

Only thing i'd worry about with this head unit, is a loss of sound quality, coming through the BOSE speakers, in comparison to going with a Pioneer or Alpine unit....

What do you guys think??


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## kayone (Dec 9, 2011)

I do like the idea behind the oxygen audio head unit, but you have a good point around the sound potentially not being great quality.

I'm also looking for something very similar for mine.


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## Oldtimer (Nov 19, 2011)

Nilesong said:


> http://www.xcarlink.co.uk/product.php?productid=6&cat=4&page=1
> 
> Could be what you're looking for?
> A few people on here have them, me included. Works well. Bluetooth extra with mic. Sound from speakers in car.
> ...


 Looks like what I am currently shopping for as well.....how big is the unit and the bluetooth module and where do you fit it ??


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