I just got a new car. It was an upgrade from a 1991 Buick Century to 2004 Chevrolet Impala. In those few days before I committed to purchasing it, I started looking around at car stereos. I was thinking that I would not be satisfied with the stock stereo. Interestingly enough, I was not looking for the best speakers because I wasn't interested in blasting everyone/thing away. When I had everything chosen, I laughed a bit because I had picked out quite high end components at Best Buy. I was looking at $1,500 or so...which is much more than what I was going for: a moderately loud sound with very good frequency response, which is very important to me and many people.
After listening to the car stereo and realizing it is the upgraded, premium stereo with CD (no cassette, boo hoo)...I am more than satisfied with the deep bass, good high tones, and a good variety of mid ranges. Therefore, I decided to not spend the very large sum of money replacing everything--especially this early.
So I spent 3 hours Saturday morning cleaning it. After some other activities, I ran to Best Buy and found an installer who pointed me to the iSimple GM kit. It essentially lets you use your iPod with your stock stereo, which is a great goal. I, therefore, won't lose the auto volume adjustment (based on speed, I kind of like it), or other settings that are set through the stereo--oh, or the door chimes.
After a few hours trying to find all the screws--even with two separate instruction sets--I got the dash opened up and it was one piece, door to door! I pulled the stereo and attached the harness. I then needed power. With my handy meter in hand, I tested some cables for power. After getting it all hooked up, I tried it. With my iPod Nano, it does this weird flashing on the screen every second or two and the pixels seem to double in size, making it difficult to read. Something is very strange about that. However, with my inexpensive die-test out of the way, I could move to the real issue. Does my iPhone work? YES! It works beautifully and even charges--some other devices work with the iPhone but don't charge it for some reason.
I then spent another half hour checking all routing spaces. I did not want to drill holes because it would be extra work, hassle, and would more permanently change the vehicle. By the way, I didn't even splice the power cable. After one of the seemingly easiest but most difficult routings ever, I got the cable ran to the floor straight down to the center floor of the car.
The included mount was worthless. It would mount via adhesive--I don't have a flat space anywhere--screws (no)--or a air vent mount, which obviously is a horrible idea. So now that I knew it was working and new I would need another mount, I closed the dash up, tried it once more, and ran to Best Buy again (I am installing it the day after purchasing it). The cupholder mount was appealing but wouldn't work well for a number of reasons. I ended up choosing the windshield mount with the intention of somehow adding some minor support from the dash up to the device. After arriving home again, I opened it up and started bending the arm around. It was longer than usual but still not long enough to go down from the window to the dash and up to the iPhone mounting position. So it has to simply hang from the ceiling.
Then I had the major issue of the cable. Honestly, I don't even want to see the thing! Hmm, I started looking around and realized the ultimate solution (and it really is)! I ended up concealing the cable from its exit point heading left to the driver's door, nicely hidden above trim pieces. It then continues behind the fuse box and up through the driver's door trim. At that point, it easily sits in the gap at the ceiling where it continues to the rear-view mirror. Here, it descends behind built in trim that conceals power wires for the mirror. After this, it is literally a few inches away from the mount suction cup. Now, I just grabbed a few click-ties and very securely and tightly fastened the cable behind the arm so it contours the arm down to the bottom where it can connect.
The cable is 100% concealed until it passes the mirror--which is only a few inches! You wonder how the cable magically got there! Also, simply amazing was the fact that the cable was 100% exactly the correct length. After quickly estimating cable requirements, I realized I might be a little short. So I pulled some of the excess I left from behind the stereo, etc., to basically take most of the slack out. By the iPhone, there are no complaints at all of too much or too little cable. It is perfect.
It can be annoying getting it going because it usually requires some intervention, but usually just a few buttons pushes. When I attach it, it asks if it should enter airplane mode. I don't notice anything too horrible even when it's not in airplane mode. Also, I am going to take my dock connector out tomorrow morning to see if I could somehow rig that up. Now, I have to squeeze the cable to disconnect. I want a dock that I just set it in, but I still want the side pads to grip the iPhone. I think with some more click ties and possibly a very clean strip of tape, I can attach the dock to the mount.
When I found the product, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to find a good solution. I obviously had no interest AT ALL in routing the cable to the glove box. I'm not throwing my $600 phone with gorgeous display in the glove box! I want it visible so I can see the cover art and even use the phone (not while driving, of course). By the way, the car stereo next/prev buttons do in fact work. Unfortunately, my single complaint of the car is that it doesn't have the steering wheel controls, otherwise I'm assuming those would work, too. I am almost tempted to see if I could get a different wheel at a junk yard because those controls would be incredible.
I know how important music is to everyone here and this project turned out so many times better than I thought it ever could I just have to brag a little bit. And the price wasn't bad at all, either, especially compared to $1K + for a completely new stereo--which wouldn't be worth it to me. The iSimple interface (by Peripheral) cost $100 and the better mount cost $31. I got 12%/10% off both items because of the Best Buy coupons this past weekend. In the end the whole project cost me around $120...oh, plus $600 for the iPhone, lol! But now I am actually using the iPod features--very much so! No more burning CDs! I do have a nice CD in the dash for the hopefully never or rare time I don't have my iPhone.
If anyone else has a nice setup I'd like to hear ideas as well. I will try the dock tomorrow and make a point of posting pictures. If I get the dock connector how I want it, then adding or removing the iPhone will be a snap--but there will be some resistance from the pads so it doesn't fall out.
Author
Topic: Must Read: Car iPhone Setup (Read 3156 times)