Head Unit Upgrade?

[crimson45]

Sup everyone. I got a 06 M45S with about 156k miles on it and its still running great. Absolutely love this car. So my car has the navigation and BOSE system packages. It's great and everything but my #1 concern is not being able to play music from my phone to the car's audio system.

Car is too new for the cassette tape adapters and too old for aux cords. I did find a workaround on youtube though, using the DVD player's RCA input to connect an RCA to AUX cable adapter. That worked for a couple months then one day it just stopped working. No tears or creases in the cable or anything. I usually had to turn my phone volume and car volume almost all the way up to hear it at the level I wanted to hear it. So I'm guessing some sort of fuse or amp blew? Car audio works fine on radio mode so hopefully it wasn't too big of a deal. Before even trying the cable idea I bought one of those bluetooth adapter that plugs into the cigarette lighter so I could use my car radio to tune into my phone's frequency to play my music. But the cigarette lighter blew out also (replacing the fuse didn't work). Besides, the audio quality wasn't spectacular to say the least.

So last week I was interested in the Android Radio options (not to be confused with Android Auto) only to call and visit multiple shops to hear that my car wouldn't be compatible without spending big $$$. Most shops didn't even wanna touch my car because of how finicky the nav system is apparently.

Am I SOL here? I'm tired of the radio and burning mp3 CDs every so often doesn't sound as fun as it used to 10 years ago. Are there any other options I haven't tried?

[Larz]

Welcome to the forum.
There are 2 ways that I know of ... one is not worth doing and the other works very well. Hopefully Ilya, another moderator, will chime in as he did this on his M45.
I can't remember the brand name os the product, but I'm sure he will see this thread soon and respond.
In the meantime, Have a go with the search box and see what you can find. Maybe under topics like android audio, etc.
What I did was burn CDs but I burned them as 'data' mode instead of MP3 using windows media player. That way I was able to fit tons of tracks on one CD.

[Ilya]

You are effectively SOL unless you wanna go talk to Xzibit at West Coast Customs lol. Like, as in, full fab work and rewire.

If you want to use your phone with AUX, you can get a GROM audio unit. But I don't recommend them unless in the last 5 years they've gotten better. The device of theirs I tried on my 07 M35x back in like 2011 was absolute GARBAGE.

If you have an iPod you can use, I suggest a USA Spec PA15-NIS or PA15-INFI (if you don't have or do have satelite radio, respectively). It allows full use of the steering wheel controls, etc. I liked it, a lot. If you search YouTube for videos on it, you'll likely come across my video review of it.

If you want to use Bluetooth, other members here have gotten a BT module from USA Spec which I guess is pretty decent but I have no experience with it.

[Gene Ln]

From my understanding, (reading of posts here) the Grom BT adapter seems to be pretty good, it even allows you to search/select tracks via the steering wheel controls/dash buttons. or so people have said. But I agree with Ilya the USB adapter is garbage, a few years ago I bought that and the sound was like someone had put the volume so high it was distorting the music, and that was at low volume on the stereo.

[Ilya]

From my understanding, (reading of posts here) the Grom BT adapter seems to be pretty good, it even allows you to search/select tracks via the steering wheel controls/dash buttons. or so people have said. But I agree with Ilya the USB adapter is garbage, a few years ago I bought that and the sound was like someone had put the volume so high it was distorting the music, and that was at low volume on the stereo.

For me the Grom was garbage because:

1) The USB/AUX adapter was flimsy so it would lose connection
2) The Grom at 100% audio (dial all the way up) had the volume output of my USA Spec. PA15-NIS at 40-50%. Sound quality was horrendous.

Maybe they improved since I reviewed their item 5 years ago but I'd be surprised.

[EniGmA1987]

I use a bluetooth receiver off of Amazon and it works great. I tucked it out of the way nicely and my Android phone allows me to change track by holding the volume button up or down while the screen is off so it works really well. Sound quality is very good too for a wireless connection.

Replacing the head unit itself is a major project with a lot of money involved.

[cruzad3r]

what bluetooth receiver are you using? care to share?

[EniGmA1987]

Receiver:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G5 ... UTF8&psc=1

ground loop idolator to clean up the aux input audio:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0193 ... UTF8&psc=1

[cruzad3r]

does this receiver broadcast in STEREO mode or MONO? There was another post from other users on buying an ebay BT receiver but that thing is on MONO. I bought it many moons ago and finally used it last Sunday, to my disappointment, the sound was low and only on the LEFT channel.

i'm assuming installation is as follow: - Phone connects through BT to Receiver, Receiver 3.5mm output to ground loop, Ground loop output to 3.5 RCA to AUX?

[EniGmA1987]

does this receiver broadcast in STEREO mode or MONO? There was another post from other users on buying an ebay BT receiver but that thing is on MONO. I bought it many moons ago and finally used it last Sunday, to my disappointment, the sound was low and only on the LEFT channel.

i'm assuming installation is as follow: - Phone connects through BT to Receiver, Receiver 3.5mm output to ground loop, Ground loop output to 3.5 RCA to AUX?

I assume it is stereo. Audio sounds normal to me and does come out left and right channels in the car. I would assume it would be stereo but I suppose it is possible the receiver sums the channels into a mono output.

And yes that is how it is connected

[crimson45]

thanks to EniGmA1987, Ilya, and Larz for the input on the subject. So ya the new GROM BT adapter seems to be the leading candidate so far. I've heard you guys s*** on them before lol like Ilya said. But hopefully the quality has picked up since your guy's last reviews.

And I guess this is the newest version of what Enigma said:

https://www.amazon.com/Mpow-Bluetooth-R ... Src=detail

I'll have to get my cigarette lighters working again in order to use this. But that's better than getting stuck with nothing. Gonna take the weekend to think about it. Maybe I'll ask the shops I've been to if they've heard of GROM BT units. Thanks guys. I'll let you know on what I decide.

[mactaite]

Don't know if you already made your decision but I have a 2009 M45 and I chose to install a Tranzit Blu device. I purchased it from Car Toys and they were able to hide the device under the cup holders. Once the device is installed, you download the Tranzit isimple app and tune your radio to whatever station you choose on the app. It sounds like a FM transmitter but unlike those static devices, this one is hardwired into the antenna. I drove across the country without having any static problems. The only problem I have is that you can't change Bluetooth devices while the car is running. So if your passenger wanted to listen to their phone then you would have to pull over and cut the car off then turn it back on with your device disconnected. The workaround this would be a kill switch installed on the device. I plan on adding one in the near future.

[crimson45]

Nobody makes s*** for our cars and lots of the stereo places I called didn't even wanna touch it because of how finicky our NAV is apparently. As I understand it, all the electronics that run through the dash connect to the NAV unit which is notorious for having issues with installs.

I went with the GROM Bluetooth unit which is ok but not great (costs about $200, did the install for $75). I have to turn my phone and stereo unit up almost all the way to get to the volume I want (which is like 95% of the volume bar as opposed to 40-55% when I'm listening to the radio). Sometimes the bluetooth doesn't want to connect right away either and takes 5+ tries. Is it better than nothing? Yes. Is the quality top notch? No. But it's still better than spending thousands of dollars to completely redo your dash. (Note: 9/10 places I called about the GROM unit never even heard of it. Some were adamant about anything working for my car, 06 M45)

Thanks for everyone's input. I only plan to keep this car for another year or two as it already had about 159k miles on it. After that I was leaning on getting a newer M/Q50. Hopefully there are improvements to the audio units that will be less of a hassle to upgrade.

[Ilya]

Shoulda got a USA Spec BT unit. Grom Audio sucks. I had that issue with their AUX input adapter (volume) back like 5 years ago. Nice to see they haven't fixed the issue...terrible company.

[pieguo]

I'm not sure if m45 08 is the same technology as my friend's g35 09, but he installed vline and uses his phone as a hot spot to pair with it. he seems to be happy about the unit so far.
waze, spotify on his screen. Saw that too, but was not fully impressed with the low res screen. Not sure if that's stereo or vline though