Advice needed for Iphone and Stock 09 MSP3 stereo

W

woodyak

Member
I'm looking for some advice on the best way to connect an Iphone to my 09 MazdaSpeed3's OEM stereo. I'm new to Iphones so bare with me. I'm looking for a way to use the phone as music player and for occasional GPS directions and have it charge constantly. Ideally, I would "dock" the phone somewhere so the screen was easy to see and poke at while I'm driving. I wouldn't mind being able to hear phone calls out of the car speakers as well but that's not necessary. If this gets overly complicated or expensive I'll just use the AUX ports and charger in the armrest and deal with the phone floating around.

Does the OEM stereo have any inputs that I could hardwire into? Anyone have experience with the TomTom car kit? Any other recommendations?
 
woodyak said:
I'm looking for some advice on the best way to connect an Iphone to my 09 MazdaSpeed3's OEM stereo. I'm new to Iphones so bare with me. I'm looking for a way to use the phone as music player and for occasional GPS directions and have it charge constantly. Ideally, I would "dock" the phone somewhere so the screen was easy to see and poke at while I'm driving. I wouldn't mind being able to hear phone calls out of the car speakers as well but that's not necessary. If this gets overly complicated or expensive I'll just use the AUX ports and charger in the armrest and deal with the phone floating around.

Does the OEM stereo have any inputs that I could hardwire into? Anyone have experience with the TomTom car kit? Any other recommendations?
Click to expand...

There's going to be some give and take with all of that. The factory AUX port allows you to plug in via the headphone jack, so any audio (GPS, music, Calls, etc) will come through the car speakers. But then you can't see the screen for GPS
You can always get a longer AUX cable and put the phone elsewhere, like a vent-mount or something closer to the field of view though.

To get iPod integration you will need to purchase the ipod integration unit from a dealer or other site... this allows for full ipod control using the steering wheel or CD buttons while displaying track info on the screen. Unfortunately I don't believe calls or GPS would be output through this audio method, but I can't be sure.

The slickest method, IMO, is to buy a bluetooth stereo a2dp adapter that plugs into the 3.5mm AUX jack. Then you can simply have the phone wherever in the car and stream audio to it for a cleaner setup. A few companies make these and they usually have batteries like a bluetooth headset and require periodic charging
ex... https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

not gonna bring up mounts, because those are generally universal and can be had for many different locations/configurations.
 
I don't really have an answer to your question. I currently just use the aux jack in the elbow rest/storage box with an extension cord to attach my iphone. Works fine for me. I generally just listen to Podcasts (Adam Carrola Podcast and Carcast which is also hosted by Adam Carolla) so it's just a matter of turning it on when I start driving and then tossing it into the box so the phone doesn't get thrown around when I take a corner.

One thing I will mention is that if you use the power adapter in that armrest box to charge your phone (which makes sense since you can easily get the wires up to the phone in the top part of the box. Nice and tidy.) you'll get a lot of interference on the stereo. Sounds like crap. I think the manual for the car said not to use that jack for charging your MP3 player or something (I listen to directions really well, eh?), probably for this reason.
 
I like the Blue Tooth idea but I needs something that charges my battery instead of gobbling it up. It sounds like the Intregration Unit might be my best option. I like to keep my phone in the little change dish so I could run the wire up through my emergency brake and leave enough wire so I move it around a bit. We'll see. Thanks for the responses!
 
SKiZZ said:
I upgraded to the latest firmware and it seems to be working fine now :)

You get some noise from the phone trying to get cell signal. Thanks ATT <eyeroll>, but overall I am impressed so far.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update. I'll have to pick one up once I get my phone.
 
I use a vent mount style holder and have the Aux input wire hidden throught he center console. Works great. Just plug it in and the Navi on my iPHone lowers the music and speaks through all the speakers just like an OEM Nav unit.

I use bluetooth in the car for talking so I never really mis a beat.

I'll post pics of my set up later.

woodyak said:
I'm looking for some advice on the best way to connect an Iphone to my 09 MazdaSpeed3's OEM stereo. I'm new to Iphones so bare with me. I'm looking for a way to use the phone as music player and for occasional GPS directions and have it charge constantly. Ideally, I would "dock" the phone somewhere so the screen was easy to see and poke at while I'm driving. I wouldn't mind being able to hear phone calls out of the car speakers as well but that's not necessary. If this gets overly complicated or expensive I'll just use the AUX ports and charger in the armrest and deal with the phone floating around.

Does the OEM stereo have any inputs that I could hardwire into? Anyone have experience with the TomTom car kit? Any other recommendations?
Click to expand...
 
SKiZZ: Good tip on the GROM! Hadn't heard of that before... Will definitely check it out!

pdqgp: Really interested in seeing your set up / how you ran the wire(s) etc!

ALL: FYI, the specs for the OEM iPod integration module state that it is incompatible with the iPhone/iPod Touch. That may mean either that it won't be able to do anything with it, or simply that it won't charge it; which of these it is is unclear.
 
eg6motion said:
The slickest method, IMO, is to buy a bluetooth stereo a2dp adapter that plugs into the 3.5mm AUX jack. Then you can simply have the phone wherever in the car and stream audio to it for a cleaner setup. A few companies make these and they usually have batteries like a bluetooth headset and require periodic charging
ex... https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)
Click to expand...

That is pretty slick actually. Gonna have to look into that.
 
Anybody found a way to charge the phone while using it to play music through the AUX port without all the interference? I thought maybe it was only a problem with the outlet in the elbow rest box, but I tried the cigarette lighter and it has the same issue. Maybe worse. A "Tick tick tick" sound that seems to speed up or down along with the revs of the engine.
 
Ooohh! Now that's what I'm talking about!

Looking forward to hearing how that works out!

Thanks! (yippy)(cool)
 
eg6motion said:
There's going to be some give and take with all of that. The factory AUX port allows you to plug in via the headphone jack, so any audio (GPS, music, Calls, etc) will come through the car speakers. But then you can't see the screen for GPS
You can always get a longer AUX cable and put the phone elsewhere, like a vent-mount or something closer to the field of view though.

To get iPod integration you will need to purchase the ipod integration unit from a dealer or other site... this allows for full ipod control using the steering wheel or CD buttons while displaying track info on the screen. Unfortunately I don't believe calls or GPS would be output through this audio method, but I can't be sure.

The slickest method, IMO, is to buy a bluetooth stereo a2dp adapter that plugs into the 3.5mm AUX jack. Then you can simply have the phone wherever in the car and stream audio to it for a cleaner setup. A few companies make these and they usually have batteries like a bluetooth headset and require periodic charging
ex... https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

not gonna bring up mounts, because those are generally universal and can be had for many different locations/configurations.
Click to expand...
I may be wrong ere, but that link is to a transmitter. would we not need a reciever?? since the phone can transmit via bluetooth already

like this
https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)
 
I suppose the bluetooth connection method would correct the "noise" issue when charging the phone as well, eh?

Is the bluetooth sound in Stereo? I was thinking that iphones didn't do a stereo bluetooth signal. Maybe that was only on 3G or something...
 
Z-Indy said:
I suppose the bluetooth connection method would correct the "noise" issue when charging the phone as well, eh?

Is the bluetooth sound in Stereo? I was thinking that iphones didn't do a stereo bluetooth signal. Maybe that was only on 3G or something...
Click to expand...

They should all output stereo bluetooth, it was an OS enhancement from either 2.0 or 3.0.
 
Please log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

D
    • Like
    • Love
Custom iPhone mount and charger
2
Replies
32
Views
9K
Mazdahawk72
Mazdahawk72
D
  • Question
Help needed with Aftermarket Stereo Installation in 2015 CX-5 GT (Bose System)
Replies
7
Views
3K
BRoumen
B
A
    • Like
Attention all gearheads! Need advice for Mazda MX-3
Replies
0
Views
699
andre999
A

Latest posts

Back