Dension Gateway 500 iPod Adapter Arrived Today - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

rickhuizinga · 01-05-2007, 09:08 AM

I just received my Dension Gateway 500 iPod adapter for my '05 987S (w/PCM).

I've only had a chance to unbox it, but will attempt installation this weekend.

Here are the pics for anyone interested.

Bavarian Motorist · 01-05-2007, 09:13 AM

Congrats

How much was it?

rickhuizinga · 01-05-2007, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bavarian Motorist

Congrats

How much was it?

It was 386 euros, which worked out to be around $500.

RandallNeighbour · 01-05-2007, 12:38 PM

iPod adapter for car = cost of 2 video iPods!

MrBoxster · 01-05-2007, 12:41 PM

Wow, for that price you could have bought a new CD player with an AUX hook up.....but that is not classy

djomlas · 01-05-2007, 04:47 PM

no joke... on my MP3 player i have total of 12 songs

i just dont care much for music in car, so im not that interested in 500 dollar additions to already expencive car.
but please do post pics when u get it installed

berj · 01-05-2007, 04:50 PM

I'm *very* interested to see how this install goes. I've been waiting for something like this since I bought my car. I've got tons of music on my iPod and I take long trips on a regular basis. It sure beats having to hunt down good radio stations ass I pass through 3 states or 2 provinces.

kenkamm · 01-05-2007, 06:14 PM

I'm interested in this as well.... but I must say I'm almost pissed off at the price of admission. 2X the cost of a very nice ipod, just to connect said ipod to the car. Makes me want to rip out the entire MOST bus and replace it with something simpler, or just use the silly FM solution.

01-06-2007, 08:50 AM

12 songs? Ive got like 7,000 lol. I got my Ipod like 4 years ago and its still limping strong. But for my purpose its perfect (battery sucks). I bought the panasonic CD player with the Ipod feature and cable, so I control it all through the CD player and its great. It charges my Ipod while its on so my crappy battery doesnt matter. I bought a similar piece for my jeep, but it was an interface adapter. If anyone has a jeep liberty and wants to hook up their MP3 player, PM me.

Rail26 · 01-06-2007, 03:26 PM

987 owners, I just installed sirius in my wife's 4 Runner. I went the FM transmitter route (the one that goes directly in the antenna) and it sounds great! The unit I bought even has a MP3 player input. I am going to do the same thing in the Box. I thought the sound quality was good and there was no interference whatsoever.

kenkamm · 01-06-2007, 06:19 PM

A wired FM gizmo (not the transmitter type) is the next thing I'm going to try. I'm just trying to figure out which one to get and where to get the antenna adapters. All the modulators I have seen have the standard antenna connectors on them; our cars use something different. I've read the Scosche adapter is one of the better ones, so I might try that one. Of course the sound still won't be the best, going through the FM tuner of the radio, but at least the intermittent static will subside.

rickhuizinga · 01-08-2007, 07:24 PM

Here are some pics of the PCM display when playing the iPod.

Overall, I haven't seen any glitches but I've only taken it for one drive.

I wish the navigation of the menus were better integrated with the PCM rather than utilizing various audio commands (CD #, next/prev track, etc.) but that would have required new firmware for the PCM (which would be difficult to do without Porsche). Despite this, its not too difficult to get use to, although it is a different paradigm than navigating the rest of the PCM screens.

So far it looks good. Audio quality is great, as well as the extensive song selection!

Chris_911 · 01-09-2007, 03:57 AM

Rick

Can you post more details on how you installed the unit, routed cables, etc?

I'm interested in sourcing one here in the UK but want to judge hwo much hassle the installation is.

Thanks.

berj · 01-09-2007, 04:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickhuizinga

Here are some pics of the PCM display when playing the iPod.

Do you know what the interface would look like/how it would work in a car without the PCM? The radio has only one line of visible text so I'm curious how the controls might work. Does them manual give any indication?

Thanks,
Berj

rickhuizinga · 01-09-2007, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by berj

Do you know what the interface would look like/how it would work in a car without the PCM? The radio has only one line of visible text so I'm curious how the controls might work. Does them manual give any indication?

To tell you the truth, I think it would be more intuitive on the CDR23/24 without the PCM display as you don't need to mentally shift user interface paridigms when using the unit.

Operation is quite simple:
CD 1-4 correspond to the first four playlists on your iPod. You can name the playlists with the first character as '1' - '4' to guarantee a match. This is a quick way to access your favorite playlists
CD 5 corresponds to playing all tracks on your iPod.
CD 6 corresponds to accessing the menu.

In the menu >| (skip next) and |< (skip prev) send a command to the CD changer to switch to the next track/prev track. In response the gateway 500 displays a track name on your 1 line display corresponding to the menu item (i.e. playlists, artists, podcasts, albums, etc.). On a given menu item (cd track - as your head unit would see it), pressing >> (fast forward) selects the menu item and << (rewind) exits up one menu level.

So, suppose you wanted to play a playlist called "My Playlist", assuming this is not one of the first four playlists, this is how you would do it:

1. Select CD 6
2. Press >| until you get to the [Playlists] menu option (this happens to be the first option). Press >> to select this menu option. (On the PCM, you need to hold down >| to perform a fast forward)
3. Press >| until you get to the Playlist "My Playlist". Press >> to select.
4. At this point I get a little confused as I've only been on one drive with the unit. I believe it then shows the name of the first song in the playlist. Pressing >| will display the next song, and so on. Pressing >> will select the song in the playlist to begin playback.

Rick

rickhuizinga · 01-09-2007, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris_911

Can you post more details on how you installed the unit, routed cables, etc?

I have attached a picture from before cleaning up the installation. In this picture, the cables still need to be organized and the front trunk plastic covers need to be reinstalled.

I connected the Gateway 500 by tapping into the connectors going into the back of the NAV drive.

The optical connection was very easy - the instructions in the Gateway 500 were clear and all required parts (couplers, optical cables, etc.) were included. It entailed unplugging the optical connector from the back of the DVD drive and unfastening one of the optical cables from the connector followed by inserting one of the included optical cables back into the connector. Basically, the cable that was unplugged from the DVD drive goes into the Gateway 500, and the new cable goes between the Gateway 500 and the DVD drive connector.

If your car doesn't have a DVD drive, you will need to perform this procedure on some other MOST component (head unit, amplifier, etc.). The DVD drive was convenient because it is very accessible. The amplifier is hard to reach with the optical connections hiding behind the speaker wires, and the head unit requires removal from the center console.

The only other thing to connect is power. You will need to find some location to connect the included power cable to get +12V and GND. I soldered the power wires onto the power connector pins the DVD drive.

That is all there is to the install! Pretty simple if you have NAV.

Chris_911 · 01-10-2007, 04:16 AM

Many thanks Rick.

Car doesn't have PCM (and hence no DVD drive) so my installation sounds more complex, though the car does have the optional CD changer.

I think I will try to find an audio installer with the product and seek further advice.

rickhuizinga · 01-10-2007, 06:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris_911

Many thanks Rick.

Car doesn't have PCM (and hence no DVD drive) so my installation sounds more complex, though the car does have the optional CD changer.

I think I will try to find an audio installer with the product and seek further advice.

Your install should be easy as you can tap into the back of the CD changer. (or just remove it). You just need to make sure that the Gateway 500 is 'upstream' from the CD changer on the MOST bus.

Only one of the CD changer or Gateway 500 can be used at a time. There is a switch on the Gateway 500 to select which device is active. Changing the selection requires waiting until the MOST bus is restarted (i.e. the next time you start the car)

berj · 01-10-2007, 09:03 AM

Excellent! Thanks Rick. Looks like I'm going to be talking to the car audio guys here sometime soon.

bolkar · 01-10-2007, 12:19 PM

Did you get a chance to try the usb connection? Also the other audio input. I dont want to use an ipod, I have a creative mp3 player with 120gb hdd (which I replaced the original 40gb). Therefore, I am curious how it will work.

I have PCM with CD changer. If I understand correctly, you can change between cd changer or the dension with a button on the dension unit? So that means I have to get out of the car open the trunk and change it? Wish there was a way to do this inside the car.

Thanks a lot for your post about this product. My last question is, is there a company that imports them to here? Or should we get them from UK web pages?