V70 Stereo/DVD: Parrot Mki9200

[chris1d]

I have one of these fitted into my S60. I also had it fitted into my old Vectra and the sound quality in that was awesome. I assume this was because the Vectra stereo was poo and the Parrot amp was making the speakers sound good. Nice bass etc.

On the S60 I find the quality is nowhere near as good as a CD. I can listen to the same song through the Parrot and then through the CD player and the difference is quite big. It gets worse the louder you go.

[mrbroons]

Sorry to hear that Chris, my one is awesome, no difference at all. I would take it back to whoever installed it or check the wiring loom.

Ok, an update on usage of the Parrot since my last post.

It's still great and working well, however some serious downsides to the unit:

1) When the Bluetooth or iPod is activated the SAT NAV screen goes blank and is effectively off (for the entire time you are using iPod or BT)
2) As above - the parking sensors are also deactivated

If anyone knows a way of fixing these problems I would love to hear from them!!

Cheers,

MrBroons.

[filsdelle]

Originally Posted by wilkhaven

Well, got it all fitted and first impressions are pretty good.

Fitting it was much easier than I expected, helped by the fact I have had the head unit out before so knew how to do it.

I have the geartronic stick with the aluminium finish surround. use a plastic tool to lift this from the rear end by the cubby hole. This then snaps out of place, the problem is I can't work out how to remove the gear stick so have to manipulate the base around the stick.

This then exposes two torx screws under the main unit. Take these out and the whole unit (radio, air conditioning and lower switches) drops down and lifts out. Here it gets tricky with the gear stick - with the ignition on put the car in Drive to get it as far back as possible and then disconnect the battery. This gives just enough room to get the whole unit out.

I bought an Audio2Car lead with mute box from a certain auction site, this was definately a good move. The seller was extremely helpful in ensuring I got the right lead for the car and stereo unit - if anyone wants his details pm me. This lead was used in place of the lead supplied by Parrot, with it fitting between the main power plug and another between the speaker plugs. The microphone was routed to the roof with little problem and the leads for ipob/usb/aux sent to the glove box.

There was enough room to lodge the parrot unit to the right of the space where the head unit sits and some careful manipulation of the extra wires got the unit back in without too much fuss.

First impressions with the sound quality is excellent for the telephone, muting the head unit without fuss and sound coming through the speakers - however this was while just parked on the drive, I've not tested it out on the road yet.

I have also only tested the music through Bluetooth streaming and was pleasently surprised with the quality. The bass is not as defined or heavy but the excellent speakers in the car (standard fit) really do make for a very listenable sound.

I'll try it on the road tomorrow if I get a chance but despite not expecting too much initially I am now really pleased that I went for this solution.

Hi Wilkaven, I am purchasing a Parrot hands free to go in my 2005 V70. Can you give me the details for your lead purchase from that very nice man down at the bay.

I have tried tp pm you but the forum won't allow me to as I have less than 30 posts.

[bluetownbarry]

To anyone else reading this forum considering buying the parrot mki9200 - don't!

Aside from the fact that it uses it's own very cheap amp to power the speakers & the sound quality is awful, if you intend to use with any apple product, the software problems are well doucumented (do a google search).

As a simple BT handsfree solution its great, if you intend to use it for music then save your money and get something similar to the grom audio solution.

My two pennethworth, but for music and apple it's terrible. I speak from experience, I had one in my last car (a Jag) and it was awful.

[wilkhaven]

Everyone has their own experiences - as I have stated before the sound quality for music is very good in my V70, even though it is no where as good as the sound from the head unit using the full dolby pro-logic amp system. Maybe it's down to the quality of the speakers!

I don't use any apple products, and all the music is from a SD card plugged into the parrot head set.

For bluetooth phone connectivity I find it superb, excellent in-built voice control and sound quality on calls.

The lead I bought was a "MC8586 MusiConnect non SOT MKi9200: S60/V70/S80 Dolby" - do a search on this item number, the seller is who I bought mine from: 220723103104 (I have no connection to the seller other than being a satisfied customer!).

[rickpol1]

is the parrot mki9200 compatible with a four year old V50 with standard radio?

[chris1d]

I have mine in my S60, and it works really well with my iPhone 4. Connects straight away and when plugged in for iPod use the phone rings via the bluetooth when required. The sound quality as I said previously isn't as good as a CD when you crank it up but its ok for normal tunes.

The parrot should be compatible with the V50, but get it installed by a parrot certified engineer. Halfords are usually ok with fitting but the weird dash on the V50 might cause issues for them

Chris

[LJD]

I have just stripped my 9200 from the golf i am selling.

It is a great unit .One that works very very well is simple cars ..........
But these days the ICE is no longer simple !
I can 100% say there is no way in hell the small Digital amp will run the Volvo speakers well.There is no headroom and its far far too underpowered.

You are losing 70% of the ability .

What my plan is this

To get the right leads!
To rewire the parrot speaker leads to RCA convertors .This will mean the Music no longer needs the tiny amp.

If the system does not mute well. I will have the phone running on its own Nokia car phone speaker (Old skool, but they sound great !)

I love the Parrot , but no way in hell am i letting it play music in the car whilst i have a better option !

[mikealder]

Look up the SOT-1000 addapter as thats intended for use with the iO-Play or Parrot kit, it drops the bluetooth amp output to the line level required for the Volvo amp. I fitted such a kit to a mates C70 with amplified set-up last year and it works well (even though the instructions supplied are not far short of crap) - Mike

[LJD]

Originally Posted by mikealder

Look up the SOT-1000 addapter as thats intended for use with the iO-Play or Parrot kit, it drops the bluetooth amp output to the line level required for the Volvo amp. I fitted such a kit to a mates C70 with amplified set-up last year and it works well (even though the instructions supplied are not far short of crap) - Mike

Mike

Any link to the SOT 1000? i cannot find a "1000" !!