Best iPod/iPhone radio for a Mondial?

Bluetooth for the iPhone and mic hidden by the mirror. iPod hides inside removable faceplate. USB connection for charging frees up cigarette lighter for cleaner look. I'll post a pic and model number tomorrow morning. Of course the music from the engine is my favorite tune.

 

Its raining here today so I'll post pics later.

Hands free works great; everyone seems to be able to hear me clearly.

 

Awesome suggestion, I've been looking for a CD-less radio.

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/pictures_new.php?id=40310&picture_id=-1

 

Really nice unit. Were you able to do the install yourself? I checked crutchfield and they don't sell connecting wiring for our cars

 

Funny, I was just looking at this the other day online. I like my dealer installed Nakamichi but I hate CD's and am in love with Pandora via my iPhone. This Sony is a bit too ricer for my taste but it's features over rules the look IMO.

Now I have to see if it will work in my '89


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The Nakamichi CD player you have is a standard DIN mounting tray, and the Sony will physically mount right in the same place. The connector on the back is completely different and I can't advise you on that.

There are certain 'problems' or challenges with the embedded iPhone using Pandora. Once you put your phone inside the tune tray, the antenna in now encased in a bunch of metal, with a lot of stray elect currents around. It's going to be fine as long as you are in urban, or suburban areas with good 3/4G network coverage, but as you get further away from strong 3G coverage the antenna will not pickup signals as well. The phone is a GSM based wireless device, and there is no ext antenna jack or connector. There are companies that offer antenna 'boosters' but I have not evaluated any of them to see if they actually do anything. If they do, they change the shape of the back of the phone, and would prevent the phone from being inserted into the tune tray of the Sony.

The only solution is to have an ext phone mount on the dash of your car, and use the ugly cable to the front panel USB jack. Don't know if Pandora will output to the USB cause I don't know the iPhone, but if not, you also have the 1/8" aux connector, or Bluetooth however then the Pandora will be controlled by the phone again, and not the tune tray on the radio. Can't win everything I guess.

 

All very true Doc but, in the case of my phone, we drove my wife's Rover from Chicago to the outer banks of NC using a cassette tape and a wire driving the phone. We rarely lost the signal, only crossing over the smokies and only once or twice but better than our Sirius radio and Pandora is a wonderment to me. If I can get this to work in all my cars I can cancel all of my paid Sirius subscriptions. Her new car comes with pandora already installed and has an iPhone interface cable, but I like older cars so I may be purchasing more of these Sony's.

 

I almost bought a Parrot Asteroid but the reviews regarding its quality shied me away.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=374702
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Put an iPod inside and connect the iPhone via Bluetooth. If the phone needs a charge, plug in via USB.

The Sony does have a little "Hong Kong at Night" vibe, but its easy to get it to settle down.

No, I didn't do the install myself. I let a pro do it. On an install like that there is no "factory" way of doing it so its best to have a guy thats done a thousand of them do it than me just figuring it out.

Standard DIN chassis so lots of replacements will fit just fine. The console had the old school "two holes on either side and a slot in the middle" so a sawsall was involved. A Bentley and a couple of Porsches in the bay was reassuring. Very clean install. I have no idea where the wires are.

By the way, I own one of the largest recording studios in the USA so I'm picky about sound quality. That being said, I would need to install a sub to be really happy with the results, but when I'm in the Mondial, Number One with a Bullet is provided by Ferrari!

 

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The Orchestra shots are from my studio. (No, there wasn't any hockey game inside the studio; not enough ice)

 

I've read this three times, and I still don't understand much of it. So - you have a Sony with the Tune Tray, you embedded the iPhone into the radio, and drive from Chicago to the outer banks and only lost signal a few times? Cause - that was my only concern with the Sony and the Tune Tray. It embeds the iPhone(and GSM antenna) inside the radio, which is mounted down in the center console, inside a radio, inside a DIN tray. So - if you did this, I congratulate you on your excellent signal reception. Not sure what you meant about a cassette tape and wire, cause the Sony with the Tune Tray doesn't have a cassette player........

 

You will find your iPhone running continuous data xfer, and also continuous Bluetooth will run out of batt rather quickly. Then, it's back to using an ext wire to power the iPhone, which was supposed to be the reason for the Tune Tray. A fully charged iPhone will prolly last more than an hour that way, so it could work for most trips.

Like I said, you can't always 'win'......

 

Sorry Doc, let me try again.. I do not have the Sony player, I have/had a regular stereo with a cassette player (2004 Land Rover) and we connected the iPhone to the radio via those cassettes that plug into the phone jack of the iPhone. Yes the sound isn't the greatest but it plays through all speakers and regarding the signal, the phone was laying in the console and rarely did we loose the signal. That being said, with the phone being inside the player, you may have a point. I'm going to try it out because I don't know of a better alternative.

 

Got it. You had a iPhone sitting in the car, where everyone keeps there's and you were driving down a major interstate without much reception trouble. No surprise here.

I think you'll be satisfied with the Tune Tray idea in urban and most suburban areas on a major cell phone provider, as I said before.

 

I recently put a Sony DSX-S310BTX in my T and it's awsome! Bluetooth, Iphone/Ipod tray, Pandora and satellite radio. The Ipod interface organizes music by artist, song and genre. Shuffle feature plays a few seconds of each song then plays it from the beginning when selected. Bluetooth phone works better than my Mercedes factory unit. Installation was a snap and the design blends nicely with the dash. What more can I say?

 

I ordered one on eBay, 159.00 shipped. How was the plug match up, did you have to modify the cannon plug or was it plug n play? Please describe.

Next, speakers. I'm thinking Focal. Do we have 6" or what? I haven't searched or looked yet.

 

I did a very basic installation - no amps or sub woofers. Harness did not match up, but wire connection was simple: Ignition + Battery + Ground + Speakers. I recommend soldering all connections; quick snap connectors will sometimes fail under vibration. I went with JBL 3-way speakers in the door and kept the factory dash tweeters. Sound is not concert quality but overall very satisfying.

BTW I always keep an Ipod Nano (with all my songs on it) hooked up in the tray so I never have to fumble with devices and plugs.

 

I keep the remote in here:
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I recently installed a new Pioneer radio in my 328 GTS, along with new speakers. It's great. It has Bluetooth. It has a front plug for an iPad, iPhone, etc. I can even plug the audio out from my SiriusXM portable receiver into that jack. Plus a CD player and removable face plate for security. It works great, sounds great and it wasn't expensive.

 

What model Pioneer?