Slopeslider

Mine came in yesterday and I installed
Sat night. I have no sound. It appears the AMP is not powering up. When I disconnect the fiber optic cable I can see a blinking read light from the converter and also at the other end of the cable in the frunk. I don't recall if the light is supposed to blink or should be constant. Can somebody confirm this for me? Also I replaced fuse D9 for the amp in the footwell and didn't change anything. Ideas on how to confirm if it's my amp that is he problem? I did hook both the yellow and red wires to switched power, could that be the issue?

Slopeslider

It turns out I had a bad head unit and amp. I removed the Bose HU and AMP and replaced with an Alpine HU and Polk 5 channel amp. Very pleased with the new set-up. That leaves me with a MOST adaptor that I don't need. The return shipping back to China is pretty stout. I thought I would offer it up to forum members for the differential vs. returning it. That way a forum member could benefit from a significant cost savings and reduced shipping time. Please PM me if your interested.

gittledog

Sent you a PM.

texcwa

Did mot receive the pm

Slopeslider

Sold!

a4gen2

Wondering if I can use this box in place of CD changer in trunk and connect Bluetooth module with RCA jacks (link below) to allow streaming from phone through head unit (CDR23) when selecting trunk CD changer through head unit. Thoughts?

http://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Boat-Stereo-Receiver-Adaptor-Converter-Receiver-Dongle/dp/B00JAPZRH2

Steve

ZuffenZeus

If you're using an iPhone 5 or 6 with a standard audio mini output, this adapter should work.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221802994871?ul_noapp=true

At least at $11 it won't break the bank if it doesn't.

Many have reported that some of the Becker adapters don't work because if the CDR-23 doesn't *see* an actual CD being inserted, then it will not enable the input... in other words, no audio.

Good luck!

Adding information: this has to be for non-most systems using Becker's BE6611 CDR23 series unit.

a4gen2

Thanks for the reply. I wish this solution would work, but I can't see that it could, as the remote CD changer is connected to the CDR23 HU via an optical bus. As this arrangement doesn't include an optical connector, I don't think it would work. The CDR23 probably doesn't even have female slots for those connectors.

But again, thanks for the kind and prompt reply.

Steve

ilikebigbumpers

The solution you've described is exactly how people got around the factory optical amp before, with the Dension products. This new box is really nothing ground breaking except it's considerably cheaper than Dension. If you do not have a CD changer in your car, however, you will need to pay your local porsche dealer to activate it on your car.

ilikebigbumpers

also, the amazon link you provided is grossly overpriced. you can find much cheaper ones on ebay.

a4gen2

Thanks bigbumpers. I was hoping it would work the same as the Dension box, but didn't know if the Dension box had anything extra in it to handshake with the HU and convince it it is a CD changer. I thought perhaps it might for no other reason that the Dension box costs so dang much. $500+ is too much to pay for an AUX input IMHO. Yeah I know they have a "lite" version, but you still have to buy their proprietary harness to hook up an iPhone and who knows what else ....

I guess I will try this box with an eBay BT box (as you suggest) and see if it works. If not, I'll likely be selling one of these boxes soon after I receive it.

Steve

ilikebigbumpers

you wouldnt need to buy their proprietary harness for iphone. Dension has aux input, you can use the same BT to aux converter you are planning to get. Alternatively, dension has a usb port. You can get a BT streaming usb dongle. those dongles will live-encode streaming audio to mp3, and dension will just play that. there's a couple seconds of delay, but some people still prefer this solution as the usb dongle is technically digital to digital that thus preserves sound quality (not that it matters through the factory speakers), and that you dont need to hook up any extra power to the bt adaptor as it directly feeds off the usb port.

personally, i'm not a fan of any of these solutions. there are better ways out there for car radio in general. On a couple of the nonDIN cars I've owned, people figured out ways to open up the radio, and directly connect an aux-in via the CD player. maybe this is not workable for these CDR23 as Becker's own retrofit only gives a mono aux-in. but maybe there's a way to rewire that mono aux-in to be stereo.

ZuffenZeus

Steve,

My Porsche 996 came with the upgrade HIFI most-based system with the CDR-23. The fiber optic output links the HU to the Becker amp in the frunk. The HU feeds the main output in digital form to the Becker amp for speaker-level signal distribution to the 6 chan/10 speaker system in these cars. The CD changer feeds an analog signal to the analog based units like CDR-220 & CDR23 (BE6611) NOT via the optic cable. Basically, these adapters bypass the signal from the CD-changer and instead the audio signal comes from the analog mini headphone connector on the iPhone.

a4gen2

Good idea re: the BT dongle. D2D isn't that important IMO but not running separate power is. I guess my decision is down to 2X cost for the Dension lite vs. waiting for this somewhat unproven box to show up on the slow boat from China.

Re: modding the CDR-23, that HU isn't worth my time. I would like to get songs and navigation directions to play off my iPhone in the car on occasion, but that's really it. I don't want to rip out the Bose amp, wiring, HU, move the A/C unit, .... To much work for me at this juncture in life.

Steve

a4gen2

Hmmm. Ok. Well, I guess I need to pull the HU and see if there is indeed a spot for these connectors to plug into, or are you saying that you are sure it will plug into the back of the CDR-23? Do you have to unplug the optical from the CD changer in the frunk (I like that) so the HU doesn't get "confused"?

Steve