my dash gadgets

    I've been chasing the best audio solution for my needs for a while, and am now happy with my setup.


    Key was being able to use my 32 GB iPhone for all my music; I have connected it via a Dice Silverline to a BMW CD43 head unit, which allows me to track-forward and track-backward via the CD43, whilst other functions such as playlist selection and track info are still available on the iphone itself.


    The phone cradle is an active Brodit cradle, which I had to adapt slightly to take the dock cable from the Dice. It charges the phone whilst in use. The cradle is mounted on a Brodit clip, which provides a very solid attachment to the dash without any screw holes or other damage to the dash.


    Satnav is a TomTom 940, also on a Brodit clip.


    Lastly, the Bury 9060 sends phonecalls through the car speakers via the stock amp (which the Dice doesn't do). I have a microphone mounted by the sunroof controls. Switching between phonecalls and music is seamless.


    My favourite unexpected bonus of this setup is that the iPhone lets me listen to a great range of podcasts and international radio stations, as long as I have a 3G phone connection; which is the case on my daily commute.

    Yes, nice integration there, though I prefer not to cut into my dash and, in my case, it's all about the iPhone really; it's amazing what that thing can do.


    The obvious thing for me would be to let the iPhone do the satnav too, but the Tomtom has live traffic updates and I can update it with safety cameras etc.

    Jaap



    1996 840Ci
    1990 964 RS
    1985 Turbo Esprit

    You could get rid of one of your screens very soon with this app....


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA0vVsCDbfo


    not done much research on it myself as my ipod/phone has 4 wheels and a V8 ;) but it certainly looks promising. How do you find air circulation by the way ??


    I also have a HTC Touch HD that does TomTom7, 32GB of music, email etc. The iphone is great, as far as the UI goes, but not very customisable. Plus you have to give even more money to Steve Jobs' marketing machine in the process. When he finally gives in and releases a phone that beats the current HTC one then I'll give in as I do in fact like the iphone/itouch OS.

    Interesting link, thanks. I'd be happy to have the iPhone as the only a screen, but suspect it will be a long while before any phone based navigation app matches the features of a dedicated Tomtom, though perhaps I'm wrong; does your TomTom 7 have some kind of live traffic update & rerouting feature?


    I would like to lose the Bury screen from my setup, and I could (as the Bury still works without the screen), but it means clicking through three steps every time I answer the iPhone to route the audio through the Bury (and therefore car speakers). As it is, I only need to press the Bury once.


    Air circulation is good; there are a couple of inches between the vents and the clips; if anything, I prefer the way the air doesn't blow straight at me now, but gets 'diffused' a little.

    Jaap



    1996 840Ci
    1990 964 RS
    1985 Turbo Esprit

    You could put the Bury in the center console partition, right behind the ashtray - that's where I've mounted my Parrot. Mine is one without a display as I wanted it as unobtrusive as possible, but reaching down to the console answers calls to my iPhone with one click.


    I mounted my microphone in the stock location for the later cars next to the MID display.


    Also, I'm not sure about the UK, but AT&T US just released their navigation application for the iphone 3GS which includes live traffic updates and all the bells & whistles.

    Thanks for the tips. I often use an application called Pocket Tunes to listen to international radio stations in the car, which wouldn't work in the background of running the navigation app, so I think I'm better off with the separate TomTom

    Jaap



    1996 840Ci
    1990 964 RS
    1985 Turbo Esprit

    I've just completed an iPhone integration. I didn't want to modify anything original, i.e. drill holes, and I didn't want to have the phone stick to the windscreen so I used the following:


    Phone bracket from www.drivesafeandlegal.co.uk:
    1 X 652000, ProClip Center mount for BMW 840-850 E31 90-01 in all countries @ GBP 15.49 = GBP 15.49
    1 X 516193, Holder with Pass-Through Connector for Apple iPhone 4S in all countries @ GBP 64.99 = GBP 64.99


    This allows the iphone to be mounted in front of the passenger centre air vent without obscuring the vent or the controls. It means the iphone is at optimum position to reach it while driving and it can be rotated vertically or horizontally.

    I purchased a CD43 off Rob Marrs who advertises these on Ebay - superb service and unit was as new.


    I used the GROM interface unit from www.carputer-shop.co.uk - again superb customer service - really helpful.
    1 x BMW - Mini - Rover - iPod/iPhone & Bluetooth integration kit (GROM-IPD3-BMW) + bluetooth dongle and microphone accessory.

    The GROM unit fits inside the centre console behind the radio.


    I use the SYGIC iphone app (with live traffic updates) for navigation and Spotify for music (I have the premium membership so I can download the songs and store on my iphone).


    The whole lot works superbly together. The iphone song data shows on the CD43, music and navigation annoucements are through the car sound system and I can receive a call on the iphone and the radio/music mutes while I do so.


    The microphone was fitted where the BMW telephone microphone would be - I did drill a 10mm hole in this plate to located the microphone (incidentally these blank plates are NLA).


    8er.org/forum/index.php?attachment/21903/ 8er.org/forum/index.php?attachment/21904/ 8er.org/forum/index.php?attachment/21905/


    You will need to take a wire from PIN 7 of the CD43 and connect this directly to the BUS input wire of the GROM unit. There is no OEM wire on PIN 7 position in the BMW block connector from the wiring loom. I used a depleted BIRO tube, heated with hot water to soften it, pushed over a bared wire onto PIN 7 - this was then fed through the pin 7 "hole" in the block connector before locating the block connector onto the radio.

    Very nice - does that Grom unit allow track forward/backward from the CD43? I got rid of my Bury screen, so I just have iPhone and Tomtom -an iOS update made it redundant as I can answer calls with one touch now. How do callers find your audio quality from the microphone - I've always imagined it would struggle with ambient noise from that position.

    Jaap



    1996 840Ci
    1990 964 RS
    1985 Turbo Esprit

    Yes, you can advance tracks by pressing the manual tuning arrows. I've not tried a call on the move yet - will let you know. Here are some pics of the installation.


    8er.org/forum/index.php?attachment/21949/ 8er.org/forum/index.php?attachment/21950/ 8er.org/forum/index.php?attachment/21951/ 8er.org/forum/index.php?attachment/21952/

    Excellent - I fed my cable through the seam between vent & surrounding dash, so there's 'less cable' visible. My microphone is mounted by the sunroof controls, and the audio from there isn't really all that great either. For my wife's car I bought a mic on a bendable stalk, mounted by the hand grip above the door, and that works very well -you move it in front of you when needed, basically.

    Jaap



    1996 840Ci
    1990 964 RS
    1985 Turbo Esprit

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