dandelos

Happy Saturday (to most)!

Now that we've just acquired our Cayenne ('08 GTS), it's time to start thinking about how to outfit it.

One of our highest priority items is to get it bluetooth+iPod enabled. The car did come with an "uninstalled" older Tooki unit, which the original owner had removed when he had to bring the car to the dealership to fix something, as he feared they might reject his warranty claim due to "aftermarket installs". The Tooki unit is a little old (probably 2-3 years) so I'm not sure we want to reinstall it at this time. Perhaps we can resell it to cushion the cost of our new install?

Anyway, I've done some Googling and searching on the forum, and it appears there are 2 general options that might fit what we need --

1) PCM-integrated units such as Tooki, Dension, and Mobridge, which are hidden in the console and allow you to retain the stock PCM interface; and

2) After-market products such as Alpine, Pioneer, and Kenwood (to name a few), which would replace some or most of the PCM

Our main priority is probably phone/voice quality. Retaining control through the buttons on the steering wheel would be nice too. We used to keep our iPod hooked up in the glove compartment in our previous car, so the same set up would be great. Ease of use of the interface to scroll through iPod playlists/songs would be nice to have, but is not that important.

My wife and I both use iPhones, but are open to switching to different phones when our contract is up at the end of the year, so systems geared primarily to, or specializing in iPhone connectivity would probably not be a good idea for the sake of flexibility.

I'm kind of on the fence when it comes to NAV, as we do have a handy Garmin Streetpilot whose interface we love and which we mount on the windshield. Just seems easier+safer to look at when it's closer to eye-level, than looking down at the PCM area. Also, our Cayenne is Bose-equipped, if that makes any difference.

The conservative in me would prefer to retain the stock PCM in the car, but then again some of these aftermarket consoles/interfaces do look pretty slick compared to the duller PCM black+orange screen, and most seem to come with touch-screen capabilities too.

Price/cost is definitely a strong consideration too, but from what I've seen so far there might not be much difference whether it's option #1 or #2.

Any thoughts and experiences would be much appreciated, thanks guys+gals!

Cpa4S

suncoast sells a conversion package that allows you to then pop in the unit you want & this system integrates it into both Bose & non-bose PCM.

http://www.suncoastparts.com/

mudman2

if your willing to drop $1k-$1.2k go third party

Travis

...then there's the cheap route. I went with a Jabra Cruiser for $50 bucks.

It's an FM modulator that connects to your phone via Bluetooth.

You get a hands free talking and dialing experience.

The sound ranges from good to marginal due to interference from other radio stations. It works for us since we are not using it for critical listening, just for background music on road trips.

If the PCM craps out, I'll definitely go with a Kenwood or whatever is best. Just could not see spending $400 for an iPod connector.

Travis

dandelos

Thanks for the suggestion Travis. I have some experience with FM modulators from my college days, and they weren't very fun whenever there was interference. Also, the car's essentially my wife's and she's a music head so I'm sure sound quality will be quite important for her.

In a recent development, an admin at the NAV-TV forum took a look at a picture of the Tooki and iPod adapter units that came with our car, and said that they are eligible for send-in hardware upgrades that would bring them current similar to versions being sold right now. I'll have to look into this a little more but this might just be the most cost-effective option under the circumstances right now.

deilenberger

I have the Denison on my '06. It may be the same PCM as you have (although they changed it sometime around '08/09 I think..) I have the GW500 and BTA1600 which plugs into it - giving me BlueTooth phone/audio connectivity.

I'm using a HTC Droid with mine. The phone functions just fine, the wheel buttons work (but I never remember to use them.) I tried connecting a friends iPhone-4 to it, and it also worked fine.

I have an old iPod Classic G4 (32Gb) buried in the center console, permanently dedicated to P!G use. There are two choices for the interface to it - you can chose to use the interface on the iPod, or use the PCM as the interface (which offers a subset of the full iPod controls.) I use the PCM control setup. I have it set for random play, so it picks one of the 2,700 tracks on the iPod and plays it. Again - wheel controls work. The PCM control is sort of a modified CD control, using submenus from the CD menus to control the iPod. It does allow the selection of playlists, albums or artists. Just takes a bit of getting used to.

It will also connect to the music stored on my Droid phone, and has very limited control of what plays. And it will work quite nicely with a simple USB thumbdrive loaded with MP3's, probably the least expensive solution. Only tricky part is laying out the directory structure on the thumbdrive, if you decide to go this route, ping me and I'll explain what I use. Note that it's an OR setup - you can use the iPod OR the Droid music player OR the thumbdrive. You can't mix all of them at once.

So - does it work? Usually. Once in a great while I have to reboot the iPod (usually after not using the truck for a few weeks and the iPod battery goes dead) to get the interface to recognize that it's there, but overall, it's a satisfactory setup. Phone is quite audible at my end, and apparently acceptable at the other end when they're listening to me. There are some trick settings that Denison very poorly documents to change volume and sensitivity settings.

Denison now offers a combined unit that has the Bluetooth interface built in. If I was buying it today that's what I'd get. I also got the kit that enables me to switch back to the 6-CD changer mounted in the trunk area. IMHO - it's useless, I've never actually used it since I got the iPod hooked up.

Some people have complained about support from Denison. My experience was generally positive - but there is often a 2-3 day delay in getting a response to an email. I believe some vendor here also sells and supports the Denison line, and it would probably be wise to buy from them if that's the route you want to go.

Good luck - let us know what you pick and how it works out..

rbaron

[QUOTE=Travis;10581295]...then there's the cheap route. I went with a Jabra Cruiser for $50 bucks.

It's an FM modulator that connects to your phone via Bluetooth.

You get a hands free talking and dialing experience.

The sound ranges from good to marginal due to interference from other radio stations. It works for us since we are not using it for critical listening, just for background music on road trips. /QUOTE]

I'd like to know if anyone would care to (or be able to) update this thread.

I'm the original owner of an '04 CS and I don't at this stage of its (or my) life want to exchange the PCM or do anything major. It works reasonably well as a radio and as a CD player (and my hearing is pretty shot) so I'd just like to get some tunes and phone calls from my iPhone into the Cayenne's Bose speakers. I see the Jabra Cruiser is now Cruiser2. Does anyone have more current experience with it or any other cheap add-on?

--Bob

mtnrat

I use the Jabra Freeway. Works pretty well and plays music over FM band. Not concert sound, but not bad.

155

I wouldn't canabalize my interior for an aftermarket HU on a budget. Even the nice ones are outdated within a year. I have a CDR23 and plan to go the Denison Gateway 500 route when the time comes.

Travis

We are still using the Jabra Cruiser...can't wait to upgrade the head unit so we don't have to use it going forward.

We've done quite a few road trips with it and it is a pain as you have switch frequencies in order to keep the music flowing. Definitely not a one person operation.

Sound quality takes a double whammy. Bluetooth audio compression plus FM audio makes it tolerable for low volume background music, but nothing more.

Glad we didn't spend a lot and we knew full well this was going to be a short term solution.

DWPC

Porsche really painted 955/7 owners into a corner with the combination of MOST fiber optics and Bose; neither of which are compatible with the rest of the car audio world. Find the FM interface for BT and audio that you like or face a very expensive upgrade. The PCM 2 in my 06 is a fossil compared to the Pioneer AppRadio 3 in my truck.

rbaron

When you are listening to music and a phone call comes in, do you have to reach for your phone to answer it? How do you make an outgoing call? Can Siri do it for you?

My hearing is so shot that fidelity is a lesser concern but convenience and safety are big ones.

rbaron

Addendum: Per the Jabra website it appears the Cruiser2 has been superseded by the Freeway, so if anyone has experience with that and wishes to chime in, well, feel Free.

Also, I am curious: if these devices are affixed to the sun visor, how do they work when the sun visor must be lowered? I seem to be driving into the sun a good portion of each morning and evening.

DWPC

I've been planning to install an iSimple Tranzit FM transmitter; good reviews and it hardwires into the antenna connector instead of transmitting a weak FM signal. Needs Euro antenna adapters as well. I used their iPod connector in a different vehicle and it was a solid product.

seafeye

How about Dynavin. Mine works great.

https://rennlist.com/forums/porsche-cayenne-forum/797070-dynavin-head-unit.html