- Joined
- Jan 21, 2005
- Messages
- 29,293
- Location
- Mittel England
- Car
- Smart ForFour AMG Black Series Night Edition Premium Plus 125 Powered by Brabus
hahaha, I thought the "try turning the volume up" was a joke at first, but apparently not! Yes, when having trouble with sound levels, I tend to try the volume as a first course of action
Volume was up full. Still very low in the car. It's audible, at low speeds, but definitely nowhere near as loud as the rest of the stereo. I am gonna go for one of those bluetooth Amazon cig lighter jobbies, cheap and cheerful but hopefully will be good, especially as the radio reception is so nice in the car.
I recently posted this for the W164 ML which is very similar to your R:
For Bluetooth audio (and phone if you need it) blue an Anker SoundSync from Amazon for £12 and a flush fitting twin USB 12v car charger (Griffin are good) for around £2.
SoundSync Drive
Plug the USB charger into the 12v socket behind the arm rest between the front seats. Then plug the USB cable (connected to the Anker SoundSync) into the charger, and route the cable along the passenger side of the centre console. If you lift the lower edge (of the centre console) along it's length, then you can slip the cable up behind the centre console out of sight - do it a few inches at a time.
Then plug the jack plug lead (connected to the Anker SoundSync) into the jack socket in the side of the glovebox, and tuck the cable into the edge of the glovebox, routing it down to the centre console. Next mount the (sticky) SoundSync unit on the dashboard in a discrete position close to your left knee, positioning it so the cable has only a short run to the ashtray.
Now I'm not 100% sure on the precise route from here, but the I think I then routed the cable through the joint between the centre console and the dashboard, but take a look and you'll find a way of concealing it. If you do it in the order described then the excess from all three cables will be on the passenger side, tuck it all up behind the lower edge of the passenger side centre console.
Use your finger (or trim tools if you have them) to manouvere any visible cable so it's concealed and out of sight, be patient and it will disappear, just leaving the Anker SoundSync unit and the end of the USB cable visible. The Anker SoundSynv unit contains the play/pause/<</>> controls, and includes the microphone (for use making/receiving calls through your car speakers.
Sound quality is great, even for making calls (if you don't have the OEM hands free kit).