Bluetooth Audio via MMI/AMI *Finally Possible*

[tsivas27]

Thanks to the guys over at A5OC, I am now successfully able to stream music, pandora, slacker, you name it to the 3G MMI from my iPhone 4 without a hiccup. The quality is very good and it's all totally hidden in the glove compartment with no wires hanging out.

Here is the thread.. (I basically followed the 1st and last pages, but definitely read the entire thread to get an idea of what they are talking about).

http://www.a5oc.com/forums/a5-s5-top...o-via-mmi.html

Please follow and read the thread in it's entirety. It will involve you cutting some wires inside the AMI unit and replacing a resistor from 18.7KΩ (iPod) to 1KΩ (3.5mm stereo) since the resistance indicates to the MMI/AMI system which type of cable is connected.

Things you will need. A soldering iron and solder, some electrical tape, a good pair of needle nose pliers, a small wire cutter...

Also you will need some sort of bluetooth receiver.. I went ahead and used the Blackberry Gateway for the Bluetooth unit..

http://www.amazon.com/BlackBerry-Rem.../dp/B00170KUM0

http://www.amazon.com/Version-Belkin...=5336106933-20

You will also need this..which is the bridge/power source for the bluetooth receiver and connects to the modified AMI cord.
http://www.cablejive.com/products/dockBossplus.html

Finally, if you are using the Blackberry Gateway, you will need a micro to mini usb adapter, in order to connect it to the Dockboss.

I used the motorola one and it's perfect...
http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Mini-.../dp/B0018L4GOQ

The PITA parts involve modifying the AMI cable. I was hesitant at first but it's not really that bad.

Parts that were tough- removing the damn plastic cover off the AMI cable. lol.

The hacking of the cable involves unplugging the middle wires which are for the iPod and then removing the resistor and swapping it for another one.

Some tips.. when you pull out those iPod wires in middle.. SAVE them. the mini connectors at the bottom of them can be used for the new resistor to plug into the main unit again. they go in these very tiny little holes and u need to be very delicate. basically take the resistor, replicate it to it's entirety to the original resistor with the new 1KΩ one. I cut the old resistor at it's base and used the original small pin connectors with the wire itself and soldered it to the new one. I had the iPod wire connectors as backup.

You need to be very clean with your soldering. Make it as thin as possible and then cover it all with electrical tape. Again, try and replicate the original resistor in shape and position of stuff.

Putting the new one back into the original holes took a steady hand, but make sure u premark or visualize where the two ends need to go.

Once fully in, tuck everything in nice and neat, snap the covers back on and plug in the AMI back into the glove box. Then connect the Dockboss to it and plug both the usb(with adapter and the 3.5 mm) into the blackberry gateway.

Sync with your phone and ENJOY. It's a really clean install and again.. NO WIRES coming out of the damn glovebox.

The only drawback is that the cable loses all AMI control from it. But in the end, I got what I wanted.

[FourRingRider]

I found that write-up a few days as well... nice.

I will be creating a new simplified write-up for this as well once I get my car and/or I may even start selling the modified cables...

[tsivas27]

I found that write-up a few days as well... nice.

I will be creating a new simplified write-up for this as well once I get my car and/or I may even start selling the modified cables...

yeah fourring.. it wasn't too bad. the writeup looked overwhelming. mine doesn't really help.. now that I look at it. lol. a simplified and magnified picture by picture would be great.

It's basically pulling apart the AMI cable and pulling out some wires and soldering/plugging stuff back in.

took me 30 mins to do.

[phillips2024]

cool. im still going to stick to plugging in my iphone/itouch into the glovebox.

[FourRingRider]

cool. im still going to stick to plugging in my iphone/itouch into the glovebox.

You can do that, buuuuutttt no PANDORA...

[LeadToRome]

You can do that, buuuuutttt no PANDORA...

No Pandora, no Spotify, no RadioParadise.com (or whatever internet radio you like)...the SD cards and jukebox together hold plenty of music, the ipod functionality is superfluous for me. Thanks for the heads up tsivas. Why Audi hasn't been supporting this for like the past 3 years is beyond me.

[phillips2024]

i just dl songs from itunes and then play them on my iphone..

also...electric area FTW!

[tomh009]

You can do that, buuuuutttt no PANDORA...

No Pandora for us Canadians anyway.

Meh, I'll go with the SD card/hard disk approach. Hidden behind the cover, I can leave the card in (or copy to hard disk), no need to recharge the batteries, no need to carry an iPad around (or leave it in the car). Now if someone figures out how to upgrade the MMI hard disk to a bigger one I'll be interested!

[kausbose]

This post is over a year old and I found it white trying to figure out how to stream over Bluetooth. Is there anyone here that was successfully able to get this to work and stream music from their iPhone that was being played in an app, e.g. Pandora, Slacker or Spotify. The reason I ask is because there is a post later on in the thread that claims that they weren't able to stream stuff that plays through apps. Only songs located on the iPhone.

Thanks for your responses.

[ahcow]

Huh? This post is 3 days old...

[tsivas27]

This post is over a year old and I found it white trying to figure out how to stream over Bluetooth. Is there anyone here that was successfully able to get this to work and stream music from their iPhone that was being played in an app, e.g. Pandora, Slacker or Spotify. The reason I ask is because there is a post later on in the thread that claims that they weren't able to stream stuff that plays through apps. Only songs located on the iPhone.

Thanks for your responses.

works perfectly with my setup. can stream music from iPhone. sound is pretty good. songs on iPhone, pandora, slacker, musicdock all work fine.

main thing is hacking the AMI connector and it's not that big of deal to do if you are good with hands.

[kausbose]

sorry, misread the date :P

Huh? This post is 3 days old...

[kausbose]

I can hack the iPod connector. What are you using as the bluetooth receiver. I tried searching on Amazon for one and was not able to get one readily.

Appreciate your help.

works perfectly with my setup. can stream music from iPhone. sound is pretty good. songs on iPhone, pandora, slacker, musicdock all work fine.

main thing is hacking the AMI connector and it's not that big of deal to do if you are good with hands.

[kausbose]

works perfectly with my setup. can stream music from iPhone. sound is pretty good. songs on iPhone, pandora, slacker, musicdock all work fine.

main thing is hacking the AMI connector and it's not that big of deal to do if you are good with hands.

tsivas27:

Appreciate your reponse. The other questions that I have for you is what happens when you are listening to music via bluetooth and a phone call comes through. Does the call get routed through the car via the car's bt module or this new bt dongle. Also can you answer using the steering wheel controls and does the call information show up on the MMI? In essence is the phone paired up with two devices? One - the car itself and two- the BT dongle attached to the AMI?

Appreciate your response.

[tsivas27]

I can hack the iPod connector. What are you using as the bluetooth receiver. I tried searching on Amazon for one and was not able to get one readily.

Appreciate your help.

Bluetooth receiver and other components needed are in initial post. I'm using Blackberry gateway receiver. You will need a power source for the receiver and hence the need for the DockBoss +.
I haven't checked phone yet as far as where it's connected, but I do know the volume does go down when call comes in. I gotta check and see to which BT it's connected. I believe it's the Audi MMI. The BB gateway receiver just shows up on MMI as aux input.

[yas]

Apparently the 2012's come with this feature enabled, and to my knowledge the only thing that has changed is the MMI firmware (no hardware changes). So, conceivably, it should be possible to get this on the 11s with the firmware.

Anyone know if it's possible to get the 2012 firmware on the 2011 system? I've heard rumblings over at audiforum.us, but nothing definitive.

[kausbose]

Bluetooth receiver and other components needed are in initial post. I'm using Blackberry gateway receiver. You will need a power source for the receiver and hence the need for the DockBoss +.
I haven't checked phone yet as far as where it's connected, but I do know the volume does go down when call comes in. I gotta check and see to which BT it's connected. I believe it's the Audi MMI. The BB gateway receiver just shows up on MMI as aux input.

Well what happens when the call comes in do you answer and speak on the phone or the handsfree in the car. Can you answer/dial using the controls on your steering wheel?

[tsivas27]

Well what happens when the call comes in do you answer and speak on the phone or the handsfree in the car. Can you answer/dial using the controls on your steering wheel?

It's handsfree and you can hang up with MMI controls.

[weirded]

Old thread, but replicated this setup yestertday, works great, thanks for putting all the info together. Modding the AMI connector was a pain. Someone could probably earn some money selling modded ones, I'd happily pay money for one.

[richib86]

ill look for the post in a bit, but there is someone on a5oc.com selling the cable for i believe $75

Old thread, but replicated this setup yestertday, works great, thanks for putting all the info together. Modding the AMI connector was a pain. Someone could probably earn some money selling modded ones, I'd happily pay money for one.

[EXRS4]

No Pandora for us Canadians anyway.

Meh, I'll go with the SD card/hard disk approach. Hidden behind the cover, I can leave the card in (or copy to hard disk), no need to recharge the batteries, no need to carry an iPad around (or leave it in the car). Now if someone figures out how to upgrade the MMI hard disk to a bigger one I'll be interested!

I spent a couple of days adding and deleting all dupes from my music library and updated my car, not much I dont have anymore car is loaded with 2, 32 gig SD Cards, 20 gig juke box and 60 gig iPod, I don't think I'll be getting bored for a while now.

I have a 1 TB external drive I would love to hook up, years of converstion and download = ~ 150,000 songs LOL, I need a life

[weirded]

ill look for the post in a bit, but there is someone on a5oc.com selling the cable for i believe $75

Oh nice. I wish I had known 2 days ago :)

[maskinut]

Oh nice. I wish I had known 2 days ago :)

I searched over there but can't seem to find it. Search function doesn't go across forums.

[phillips2024]

just an update. I used slacker radio and it worked fine when hooked up through the AMI plug

[mpatel1080]

I searched over there but can't seem to find it. Search function doesn't go across forums.

The guys name on A5OC is washcroft. His cable works great...I have it hooked to a blackberry music gateway and it works pretty seamlessly. Automatically pairs when I get into the car, handsfree calling still works. Look for my post on the other bluetooth streaming post and I listed all the things I bought to make it work. Total cost was about $120...worth it in my opinion.

[tahoskier]

Does anyone have experience with this?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BLUETOOTH-A2...ht_4971wt_1180

[tomh009]

Does anyone have experience with this?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BLUETOOTH-A2...ht_4971wt_1180

That looks like a very tidy solution, if it works. Maybe I could actually get some use out of the iPod cable that came with the car?

[gringoloco2000]

Does anyone have experience with this?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BLUETOOTH-A2...ht_4971wt_1180

I just ordered one. Will report back. I think it is worth a $39 bet.

[svander]

I just ordered one. Will report back. I think it is worth a $39 bet.

Nice, please do.

[acey]

That solution looks amazing. Looking forward to your report. Would make life so much easier (and reduce risk of an accident having to change tunes in spotify from the glove compartment...)

[richib86]

same here. I should have mine sometime this week

[tomh009]

My question is whether my phone will be able to pair to two separate devices at a time, the car (for phone calls) and the adapter (for streaming). Will be waiting for the reports with interest!

[inNout]

My question is whether my phone will be able to pair to two separate devices at a time, the car (for phone calls) and the adapter (for streaming). Will be waiting for the reports with interest!

Was wondering the same.

[NPuter]

That will most likely not work... There is a similar device on amazon, and there were a few reviews stating that it did not work with Audi's AMI system.

Even if it does work, I do not believe that you can pair to two devices at one time.

However, I would be very happy to be proved wrong on this one.

[mpatel1080]

Was wondering the same.

This probably depends on if your phone is capable of pairing to two devices at once. I can say it works perfectly with my iPhone 4s. When I get into the car it first pairs with the blackberry music gateway and then 10 seconds later pairs with the car. If I am streaming music it pauses the music and the phone call works over the audi MMI, then when the call ends it returns to playing the music.

[richib86]

thanks for the input, glad i went ahead and ordered it then

This probably depends on if your phone is capable of pairing to two devices at once. I can say it works perfectly with my iPhone 4s. When I get into the car it first pairs with the blackberry music gateway and then 10 seconds later pairs with the car. If I am streaming music it pauses the music and the phone call works over the audi MMI, then when the call ends it returns to playing the music.

[tomh009]

This probably depends on if your phone is capable of pairing to two devices at once. I can say it works perfectly with my iPhone 4s. When I get into the car it first pairs with the blackberry music gateway and then 10 seconds later pairs with the car. If I am streaming music it pauses the music and the phone call works over the audi MMI, then when the call ends it returns to playing the music.

Looks like it'll work with a BlackBerry as well:
http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...evices-601746/

[mpatel1080]

Looks like it'll work with a BlackBerry as well:
http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...evices-601746/

Just to clarify...I don't have that adaptor from ebay. I bought a different MMI cable from a user on the a5oc forum that has a headphone jack and a mini usb jack for power. I use a blackberry music gateway to stream the music. I don't think that ebay adaptor will work without a different MMI cable...the one that came with the car hooks to the iPod and controls it with the cars' built in interface.

[Hpc3]

Just to clarify...I don't have that adaptor from ebay. I bought a different MMI cable from a user on the a5oc forum that has a headphone jack and a mini usb jack for power. I use a blackberry music gateway to stream the music. I don't think that ebay adaptor will work without a different MMI cable...the one that came with the car hooks to the iPod and controls it with the cars' built in interface.

....which is exactly what the adapter is designed to do. Provide a A2DP gateway to the Apple 30-pin interface, has nothing to do with the car its plugged into. No clue what car/switch functions the gateway will support from Audi's MMI standpoint but for ~$25-40 shipped(based on eBay vendor) its worth trying out. This is something Audi should have included long ago.

[mpatel1080]

....which is exactly what the adapter is designed to do. Provide a A2DP gateway to the Apple 30-pin interface, has nothing to do with the car its plugged into. No clue what car/switch functions the gateway will support from Audi's MMI standpoint but for ~$25-40 shipped(based on eBay vendor) its worth trying out. This is something Audi should have included long ago.

I was never able to get my phone to work in my car by plugging it into the factory cable and then trying to open pandora and play it...the factory system is designed to force you to use the MMI interface. Basically it turns your iPod into a hard drive type device that the car controls via its own interface. That is why I think the ebay device will not work.