HarmsWay

If you turn up the volume on a quiet section of music does the hissing get louder or stay the same? The D3 volume control goes to 0-40. When playing a typical CD, at what volume setting does it start to clip? I'm just trying to get an idea of how well the levels are matched between your D3 and the Bose amp. Did you do the install?

From what I've seen, 2 volts is more common. The line outputs are also singled-ended whereas the Bose wants a 4 volt balanced line (mine anyway). I tried driving my Bose with line outputs before someone here (superjet) recommended speaker outputs and there was no question which was the better. The maximum volume was very low and the noise floor with the line outputs was bad. I think the noise floor issue was because the Bose input harness uses unshielded twisted pair wiring which is good but only if the signal is a balanced (differential) pair otherwise is should be shielded. The onl

Doesn't that make it reversed?

Well that's the way it 'should' be but for Mercedes the DRL system also controls the dash illumination. Hopefully GM is smarter.

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like it's not worth the extra cost - at least to use it with the D3.

If Wasah says "its not loud at all" then that would suggest that the line outputs were used instead of the speaker outputs. Most Bose amps take a high level balanced input instead of line levels. The Bose amps also do a lot of sound processing so it's best to start with the D3 EQ settings as flat as possible and loudness off. If it's like my Bose system, the amp takes full range front and rear signals and generates a sub channel and whatever else it needs.

I've been thinking of replacing my phone and I'm wondering if it's worth getting one that supports stereo bluetooth - mostly for use with the BTB200. Does anyone use bluetooth audio on their BTB200? I like the way the phone interface works but it's not clear to me reading the BTB200 manual or posts on this forum whether I'd be able to use the phone (as a phone) and listen to the bluetooth audio as well - not listen to both simultaneously but have both connections. Looks like the phone would need to support the AVRCP profile to do that and most phone makers only list A2DP when they mention p

Could be a bad nav disk as well. CD's and DVD's are much noisier (mechanically) when they spin up if the disk is out of balance or warped. Stick other DVDs in and see how loud they are.

I had a similar issue that turned out to be an easy fix. In my car (Mercedes ML), the daytime running light (DRL) system ran off two relays. One operated the headlights and the other ran the dash lighting and licence plate light. The relays work in parallel with the normal headlight switch. I found that if I just removed that second relay, the headlights were still on all the time but the dash lighting worked only with the switch (like the old days). If that doesn't work for you, you could always put a switch in-line with the dimmer feed from the car. That way, the variable dimming w

My GPS accuracy was spot on until this past weekend. I was returning from a friends house a week ago and the route was along the side of a mountain and it was raining heavily. The D3 GPS clearly didn't know where I was and was relying totally on the 3D hybrid sensors and VSS which were quite confused. However, once I was clear of the mountain, I got the accuracy back and didn't really think much more about it. My GPS antennae is installed in the dash which obviously is not ideal. Anyway, I didn't use the mapping functions of the D3 for about 5 days but was still driving. Then I switched

Bad GPS accuracy and bad routing are two separate issues. My D3 has always had very good accuracy. I agree with whtcrxghst - probably a problem of satellite signal strength. And I'm guessing Jay's VSS may not be hooked up properly. Has nothing to do the D3's bad routing though.

Joystick??

Why would you ground your park brake? You either tie your park brake signal into the D3 park brake line __OR__ ground the D3 park brake line (bypassing the safety). If you have it bypassed, it should be completely independent of your truck's park brake. By shift lever, do you mean park brake lever?

My D3 is new, but I never had any LCD issues in seven years on the OEM unit and I don't recall that complaint from anyone else. The vehicle is a large mass and takes a while to cool off. Plus the unit will self heat quickly when turned on.

Mine is also stuck inside the dash above the D3. I'd originally just stuffed it in there temporarily but haven't any any GPS signal strength issues so there it stays. I would expect that the purpose of the metal pad that the GPS antenna sticks is to block interference from car electronics to the antenna, so it's not surprising it would work in that windshield location. It's not that close to other electronics, so as long as the windshield isn't metalized it would be fine. The 3D (pitch, roll & yaw) sensors are inside the D3 are they not? So they will work regardless of where the

I can't imagine buying the D3 and NOT getting the $30 ipod cable. This gives you SO MUCH more than a MP3 audio input like full control and browsing of the iPod via the D3 screen and controls plus you can charge your iPod if you want.

Now I see why so many are complaining about the positioning accuracy of these units. Whether it is useless, useful or necessary probably doesn't depend so much on the car (other than GPS antenna location) but rather on typical satellite coverage for that person.

I believe all gens of the Nano work. Is it possible the nano is just not fully charged? The D3 should be set up to charge the nano. From the D3 iPod screen: Menu -> Function -> iPod Charge. Other than that, make should the iPod cable - the CD-I200 - is solidly plugged in at the back of your Taco's D3.

The purpose of the VSS signal in the D3 is to improve the accuracy of the GPS. Along with the VSS, D3 uses the reverse signal and built-in G sensors to guess which direction the car is going. Not that important until you're in a place with marginal GPS satellite coverage with stuff like mountains, forest or buildings blocking the satellites. Somes OEM systems use the VSS to increase the volume as the car speed goes up. My ML430 did that through the MCS head unit. The D3 does not vary the volume depending on vehicle speed. Perhaps that is done in the Bose amp which is why it's varying

Who is responsible for the bad routing? Is this entirely Tele Atlas or is it Pioneer attempting to route with bad Tele Atlas data? I think I have examples of both. Can it be fixed? If it's just bad data, then in theory it can be fixed with an update disk. If it's a bad routing algorithm, can that be updated with a new DVD or is the routing algorithm in firmware on the D3?

If you're not getting a good GPS signal it can't figure out where you are and places you in LA - the default location. Look at the GPS satellite signal strength when this happens. It also defaults to LA the constant 12V is first applied until it figures things out. If the GPS signal stength is okay make sure your constant 12V connection is not intermittent.

Well, I ran the D3 speaker outputs directly into the Bose amp and it sounds at least as good as with the old MCS - maybe better. The noise floor is also very good again. Obviously that's the best way to do it. Thanks to superjet for suggesting that and Lu Scola for confirming. I'm a happy camper again!

Thanks, I'll try that tomorrow (without the converter).

Canadian online distribution from Future Shop and Best Buy the last time I checked. Ipod cable is C$35 extra. You'll also need a car harness of some type ($10-$100) and possibly a installation kit <$80. You'll also want the Bluetooth adapter for another C$200.

Both these sound like poor GPS satellite reception.