GM Volt Forum banner
101 - 114 of 114 Posts
Discussion starter · #101 ·
I don't think it's quite that sinister...
When it comes to removing Pandora, yes, it is really that sinister - Apple wanted Pandora out, and they are out.

removing the CD player saves weight, cost, and space (all things the industry cares a lot about, which is why spare tires are rare now too). And the majority of users these days don't use them. I used them (mp3s on CDs, mainly) in my old car, but once I got an iphone I almost never did. And I've never used a CD in my Volt, I either do bluetooth from my phone or USB to an old ipod a friend gave me (better interface than a flash drive, I think). You are unfortunately in the minority... but you are far from alone. I'm sure this bothers a lot of other people too, and I do feel for you. I get very annoyed when features I use are removed from products I like. And for what it's worth, I think it's a bit premature to remove the CD drive too, though it would have to happen eventually. Heck, Teslas don't even have an Aux jack, you have to use bluetooth or USB, which I think is dumb. I use Aux jacks on roadtrips with friends to have rotating DJs.
Thanks. Yes, saving weight makes sense. But the replacement technology is still inadequate, unfortunately. It's awful that Tesla doesn't have an aux jack. Bluetooth would be suitable if there were ways for the car to handle multiple connections, one for the phone and one for a possible audio device. Can the Tesla do that ?
It seems like the Bluetooth 4.0 spec may support multiple devices. Maybe the Bolt can do it also ? But I have no idea what version of Bluetooth is supported by the Bolt, or which phones & audio devices support it, either.
My husband was a DJ in a past life, so it may explain why he has so many CDs.

You have to admit, though, that your case is a minority of the minority. That collection is easily 100x bigger than anyone I personally know. And even among avid collectors, I would bet it's rare that they would want instant access to anything in their car; having their favorite 100 albums or whatever on flash probably good enough for most. But I'm sure there are others like your husband, and it is rough to suddenly have your preferred and convenient methods ruined by bean counters... it's just that the industry doesn't cater much to outliers. I'm glad the installers sound like they can help you and I think we're all interested to see the final product, as I'm sure there will be some others who might be interested in doing the same thing. It's rough being the pioneer but it sounds like you are on the right track.
FYI, I called Myron and Davis, and they confirmed that their AD318 DVD player unit can play audio CDs. I ordered it from Amazon prime, and should have it delivered tomorrow. We'll probably get it installed in the Bolt the day after that. So, I think this should be the end of that. I will be sure to report and post pictures when it's done.
 
.... DVD player unit can play audio CDs. .... We'll probably get it installed in the Bolt the day after that. So, I think this should be the end of that. I will be sure to report and post pictures when it's done.
Can't have it mounted where the driver can see it.
Just thought I'd throw this into this long thread!!
 
Thanks. Yes, saving weight makes sense. But the replacement technology is still inadequate, unfortunately. It's awful that Tesla doesn't have an aux jack. Bluetooth would be suitable if there were ways for the car to handle multiple connections, one for the phone and one for a possible audio device. Can the Tesla do that ?
It seems like the Bluetooth 4.0 spec may support multiple devices. Maybe the Bolt can do it also ? But I have no idea what version of Bluetooth is supported by the Bolt, or which phones & audio devices support it, either.
Shouldn't take that. Literally, it's a matter of software support, perceived need, and deciding how it's going to be managed. Even old BT specs provide for seven devices (or maybe device/profile combinations (it's been a while since I read the spec) -- 8 with the hub/bridge itself). But there's a lot of questions about "how do you deal with calls coming in on two phones at once?" "should audio streams be mixed, given a priority list, or just last one to start wins?" that have to get addressed if you provide for more than one actual device. And before you decide to answer that, you have to figure out if it's WORTH it. How many people want to do this? High end headsets, for example, seem to have settled on "two connections are worth it, more probably not".
 
Discussion starter · #106 · (Edited)
Shouldn't take that. Literally, it's a matter of software support, perceived need, and deciding how it's going to be managed. Even old BT specs provide for seven devices (or maybe device/profile combinations (it's been a while since I read the spec) -- 8 with the hub/bridge itself). But there's a lot of questions about "how do you deal with calls coming in on two phones at once?" "should audio streams be mixed, given a priority list, or just last one to start wins?" that have to get addressed if you provide for more than one actual device. And before you decide to answer that, you have to figure out if it's WORTH it. How many people want to do this? High end headsets, for example, seem to have settled on "two connections are worth it, more probably not".
Thanks - didn't know old BT specs already provided for multiple devices.
Agree that managing multiple devices is more complicated for the car's software. But it shouldn't be an impossibility.

For the car to support 2 bluetooth phones makes sense, at least for the 2 people in the front, there is also a bit of issue with the microphone though if the passenger is the one speaking - same problem if car has a single bluetooth connection to passenger's phone. Basically you can hear the call through the car's speaker, but the passenger can't be heard well due to the car's microphone location on the driver's side usually. Haven't checked this with the Bolt yet. A car that really supports more than one bluetooth phone probably would want to have multiple physical microphones.

For a bluetooth audio player as opposed to phone, it should be simpler for the car to implement, there is no issue of microphone. As long as the device type is properly transmitted over bluetooth, the car should be able to treat like any other audio playback device, ie. similar to how it handles audio playback from a USB device.

Things get complicated with smartphones that have multiple purposes. For example, I have used Google maps with my smartphone on my Volt through bluetooth instead of the built-in GPS to get traffic info. In order to hear directions through the car's speaker, I can't have any music playing at the same time - from USB stick, XM, or CD player. It doesn't have to be this way, but the car's firmware isn't smart enough to deal with it.
 
Discussion starter · #107 ·
Amazon was late delivering the unit - it came wednesday instead of tuesday, and they refunded the 1-day prime shipping.

We got it installed on thursday. It only took the installer one hour.

Here are a few pictures of how it looks :









We ended up mounting it under the glove box.

The installer told us that if he bypassed the audio wire completely (internal wiring), we would likely lose the 2 front USB ports nearby as they were on the same connector. I'm guessing there might have been away to avoid those a small part of the audio wire without losing the USB ports, but it would have required more wiring and for the installer to identify the specific audio wires on the connector, hence probably much more labor cost. We didn't push it. So there is about 6" of exposed audio wire as a result. Installer ran the audio wire under the carpet, and tapped to the 12V power internally, so that 6" of audio wire is all we can see. The 12V outlet is still available and usable - single one on the Bolt, unlike the Volt which has 3 of them.

Everything works pretty much as we expected with the unit.

The physical buttons are a little far from the driver side, but still reachable. The unit also comes with a small IR remote which can be used to operate it as well. The IR remote has a lot of small buttons as it's a DVD player remote, not just CD. It could be replaced with a different learning IR remote with fewer and larger buttons if we wanted. You can see the top of the IR remote in one of the pictures in the wireless device charger compartment.

Compared to a typical factory built-in car CD player, the unit doesn't automatically turn on when the car is turned on. One needs to either press the power button on the unit, or use the IR remote power button, and then play. But it has memory, and does resume from the last track/offset on the CD once turned on. Have not checked the gapless playing yet, but assuming it would have no issue with it.

My husband reported that the volume level from the CD player is still somewhat lower compared to the other audio sources on the Bolt (XM, USB, etc). I'm not sure if there is a way to adjust this on the player side. Maybe if we hooked up a display to it temporarily, we would find a setting for this in one of the menus. I will get to reading the manual eventually. Some inline audio amplifier could possibly be hooked up too, but this isn't a major issue unless one wants to play CDs really loud. Most compact portable audio amps I have seen are battery powered, though. Maybe there is one that could hookup to 12V power too.

I don't know if this is the first Bolt that has been equipped with a CD player, but I doubt it will be the last one. I hope this thread helps someone else.
 
Thanks for taking to the time to post a followup. Although not cup of tea I'm glad you found a solution that works for you.
 
Discussion starter · #111 ·
Congrats. Glad you found something that met most of your needs.

If you don't mind sharing, how much did the shop guys charge you, just in case others are interested.
$150, just a little bit less than the price of the Myron & Davis AD318 unit DVD itself. So, about $300 total installed.

Had no luck bargaining on labor as it was their first Bolt - they were expecting to spend up to 2 hours on it, but it turned out to be much less. We went to run some errands in my Volt while they were working on the Bolt, and they called us back to pick it up under the 1 hour mark. The shop we used was Sound Systems Plus in San Jose on S Capitol, about 10 mins down the hills from where we live.
 
Us too. We take delivery of a Bolt next week. My wife borrows CD's from the local Library, (They still have thousands of educational and entertaining material). It is not an option to rip to usb drive. These are a one time use. My wife does not want to take delivery, despite losing our deposit. Desperately need a practical solution.
 
Our brand new loaded Bolt was just delivered a few minutes ago.
Turns out "fully loaded" for Chevrolet doesn't include a CD player. We were not previously aware of this.

My husband has a 15,000+ CD collection at home that is still on physical disks and which he wants to be able to play in the Bolt. The Bolt is his car.

What would be the best option for him to play the physical disks in the car, in terms of both ease of use and audio quality ?

We have already tried to plug in a portable USB CD drive, but unfortunately, it is not supported by the car.

Please, no jokes about using 1981 technology in a 2017 car - transferring all the disks to USB flash drive/hard drive is not under consideration.
 
Try a Gueray portable cd player with 3.5 mm input cable and usb charger cable. I am using one on a Bolt EV and as long as you have a usb port, 3.5mm input and an infotainment center it should work for you. I am very pleased with mine because it plays all my cds. I am not saying your Volt has everything you need but for 39-45 dollars this cd player has made a big difference to me. I hope it works for you.
 
101 - 114 of 114 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top