Radio Upgrade? Bluetooth?

Hi all. I have a 2003 Jetta and the CD player recently crapped out as far as I can tell. Is there a way to upgrade to a newer model with like Bluetooth etc for a reasonable price? Or am I best sticking with the OEM 2003?

https://www.crutchfield.com/m_266150/Car-Stereos.html

Don't ask me what a "reasonable price" is, as I'm currently looking at shelling out $500 or so.

If you are looking for a plug and play radio with bluetooth, etc. you might want to look at this radio. It's a factory VW radio. I have a version of this in my Golf. It does all that is claimed. At highway speeds, it is hard for the other person to hear with all the background noise. At low speeds, it works fine. It will play music via bluetooth, but I use a micro USB flash drive as that is easier for me. Probably the only thing I don't like is it takes a few seconds when you switch from radio to USB or whatever. Overall, it's a nice unit.

I just used a $150 or so kenwood deck and wired it in. There are adapters out there, I think I even have an extra one sitting on my table.

Ohoh, is there a specific model from that site you are looking at?

bobbiemartin said:

If you are looking for a plug and play radio with bluetooth, etc. you might want to look at this radio. It's a factory VW radio. I have a version of this in my Golf. It does all that is claimed. At highway speeds, it is hard for the other person to hear with all the background noise. At low speeds, it works fine. It will play music via bluetooth, but I use a micro USB flash drive as that is easier for me. Probably the only thing I don't like is it takes a few seconds when you switch from radio to USB or whatever. Overall, it's a nice unit.

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Looks like a nice unit!!! Was there any adapters required?

As well bobbiemartin, I have the stereo controls on my steering wheel, do you know if this unit integrates with them just plug and play?

WolfgangVW said:

As well bobbiemartin, I have the stereo controls on my steering wheel, do you know if this unit integrates with them just plug and play?

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That I don't know. If you have a double DIN radio, you need an adapter, which ECS sells. If you have a single DIN, it's plug and play. Both are assuming you don't have Monsoon. In that case, I can't say.

^ thanks. It looks like on the website it says the steering wheel controls will no longer work

WolfgangVW said:

Ohoh, is there a specific model from that site you are looking at?

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https://www.crutchfield.com/p_105KWV830B/JVC-KW-V830BT.html

I figure that if I'm going to modernize I might as well jump up to what's current: next will be wireless connect with smart phones, but I've read that battery drain is very high this way- this current level uses USB, which is a bit clunky.

I've got most of my music digitized in FLAC format, which is basically CD-quality. Most newer units handle FLAC.

You can get a decent BT system for pretty cheap. I put this one in my tractor (I had to check what it was that I'd gotten! Turns out that it's a JVC too! It works perfectly well:

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_105KDX33MB/JVC-KD-X33MBS.html?tp=5684

Wiring harness info is provided by Crutchfield. Many people will use them to look stuff up and then buy elsewhere. I feel better about buying fomr Crutchfield and not having to worry about what could happen if there are any issues.

For the MKIV cars I like to have button color matching. I've had to reject some pretty good units because they had fixed button colors (white or blue).

I installed a Jensen VX7022 in the wife's car some time ago. It works well. At the time the requirements were for a unit with GPS, which this has. With smart phone integration this is less necessary (and added cost and a possible added complexity for updates and such). Coupled with some new Infinity speakers in the lower front doors it's a decent system; for sure it's a BIG step up from stock.

Also when you install an after market make sure the k-line in the factory harness is disconnected. Your car may not connect to a scanner and you will have to pull the stereo later to get the car to communicate with the scanner. I recently had to pull my stereo to do this because of no communication with any scanner. As soon as I disconnected that k-line my communications were restored.

I have a double-din 4000-NEX Pioneer in my Mazda, and like it a LOT. PAC makes an interface that will keep your SWCs with the Jetta as well (I have one for the Mazda; different model, same deal) and also makes wiring easier.

Beyond BT (which you'll get going that way; it comes with a mic for calls, and will do both music and phone calls) you also get an SD slot out of that and 2 USB ports; I have a 120Gb SSD on one of them in my car, so my entire music library (in FLAC no less!) is on it.

My '03 has Monsoon and a Phatbox in it, and while the voice nav is sorta nice on that (I've hacked it to put a bigger disk in it) if head unit was to blow I'd probably get the kid another 4000-NEX and put that in there. They're not cheap, but you get what you pay for and you also get the ability to wire in a backup camera (which I did), multi-channel amp, sub, etc.

^^^ Yeah, I'm totally with you!

Most everything will be able to wire in fine with the appropriate harness/adapter: heck, I even found one for my tractor! (someone figured out what plugs were used in the tractor- 90s Mitsubishi or something or other) The K-line and monsoon issues are pretty well known and folks like Crutchfield can readily navigate all of it. NOTE: I'm really not trying to promote Crutchfield, it's just that I've had good success with them (am willing to pay more for that peace of mind).

I just use a nulaxy km18 fm transmitter with the factory radio Has bluetooth. Love mine!

Awesome thanks for the input! I'm going to tough it out for a while until I get my TB job done and hope to have the radio done shortly after that!

Proper priorities!

I've waited about 3 years to upgrade my stereo. Everything else, and I mean EVERYTHING ELSE, has been taken care of. Bottom of the priorities list, but it'll signal the end of the renovation of this car (with 162k miles it'll be ready for a lot more miles).

Ya I can deal with my shotty Bluetooth sun visor mount and my ipod thru a cassette adaptor til then!

WolfgangVW said:

Ya I can deal with my shotty Bluetooth sun visor mount and my ipod thru a cassette adaptor til then!

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I don't even have that! Didn't have a "smart phone" until this year (don't ask me how old I am!). Wife wanted a real smart phone so she gave me her old, barely smart, phone. I went to transfer a SIM to it (from my purely dumb phone- a hand-me-down from her) and, after cutting it down, found out that the phone wouldn't accept it. Was pretty much "forced" to get a new phone, so I decided to get what she had (I'd picked hers out for her).

Of course, my tractor is set up with BT (even have front and rear cameras, though the front, for some unknown reason, ahem, keeps getting wiped out).

I'm falling off my Luddite bandwagon

WolfgangVW said:

Hi all. I have a 2003 Jetta and the CD player recently crapped out as far as I can tell. Is there a way to upgrade to a newer model with like Bluetooth etc for a reasonable price? Or am I best sticking with the OEM 2003?

Click to expand...

I watched in Best Buy until I found a Kenwood DNX571HD in clearance.
Had all the bells & Whistles I wanted.
With the missing parts I had to buy it cost me around $200 (US), less then 1/3 of the original cost.
Got the d-din adapter also.
I wired the radio to the studs on the bottom of the relay panel under the dash.
Did not want any issue with scanners not working.
I also took the amp out of the back and ran new 'real' speaker wires under the carpets, up the posts and through the boots.
Two new speakers in the back as 1 was dead already.
No comparison to the Monsoon, and is even better then the radio in my 2014 Tiguan.

UhOh said:

I don't even have that! Didn't have a "smart phone" until this year (don't ask me how old I am!). Wife wanted a real smart phone so she gave me her old, barely smart, phone. I went to transfer a SIM to it (from my purely dumb phone- a hand-me-down from her) and, after cutting it down, found out that the phone wouldn't accept it. Was pretty much "forced" to get a new phone, so I decided to get what she had (I'd picked hers out for her).

Of course, my tractor is set up with BT (even have front and rear cameras, though the front, for some unknown reason, ahem, keeps getting wiped out).

I'm falling off my Luddite bandwagon

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Ya the smartphones are great once you get used to them!

wonneber said:

I watched in Best Buy until I found a Kenwood DNX571HD in clearance.
Had all the bells & Whistles I wanted.
With the missing parts I had to buy it cost me around $200 (US), less then 1/3 of the original cost.
Got the d-din adapter also.
I wired the radio to the studs on the bottom of the relay panel under the dash.
Did not want any issue with scanners not working.
I also took the amp out of the back and ran new 'real' speaker wires under the carpets, up the posts and through the boots.
Two new speakers in the back as 1 was dead already.
No comparison to the Monsoon, and is even better then the radio in my 2014 Tiguan.

Click to expand...

Thats a good idea. Im not in a real hurry so i can keep my eye out for sales

WolfgangVW said:

Ya the smartphones are great once you get used to them!

Click to expand...

Still don't have a cell phone, waiting for them to get out of beta testing.
Aftermarket seems the best choice, and the upgrades to the speakers must be tremendous!

That's funny, Bob!

As a phone I'd have to say that Smart Phones are, in fact, a poor facsimile of a land line. But, they nonetheless come in handy. Having the Internet at your finger tips is great when you need to look something up in a hurry: I can also monitor some things at the homefront. And as a camera they're great: I also use the camera function as a magnifying glass/scope, taking a picture at an angle that I cannot quite get my eyes square on and then popping up the picture on the phone to take a close look.

Anyone looking for some simple replacement speakers should look at the Infinity Kapa 62.11i: Crutchfield has them for about $99/pr; specs are awesome for the price. That's what I'll be putting in my car (fronts only, at this time). I put a set of predecessors in the wife's car and they're really pretty nice. I just set things up such that the rear stuff is more tweaked for bass- not really going to get good sound coming up from way down and behind your rear! I'd probably doing different things if I were looking to add an amp and sub, but I'm not.

I put one of these: http://enfigcarstereo.com/DENSION_GBL3VW1.html
in each of our cars. It works pretty well for streaming music and pretends to be a CD changer so the radio and steering wheel buttons will control it. Can be used to make and receive phone calls, too, but I hardly ever talk in the phone while driving. Good solution if you want to keep your factory radio and don't want to mount a Bluetooth control pad somewhere. I tried a couple other Bluetooth adapters but I didn't like having to deal with finding a location for a wired remote control. That reminds me: I have a big box of Bluetooth adapters and wiring I need to get rid of. Look for it soon in the for-sale area...

I just purchased an RCN210 radio for my 2004 Jetta. It's basically a knockoff version of the RMT 100. I say knock off because it's built by Desay SV in China, whereas the RMT 110 is built by Clarion in Mexico. Both are technically "OEM". the RCN s $120 shipped, the RMT is more than $300 at ecs tuning... unless there's a massive quality difference I don't see the value in the RMT.

Adapters are deifnitely the worst part of installing a new radio. In my case, I didn't know whether the car had a monsoon (double DIN) or a Blaupunkt (single DIN) from the factory, as it came with an aftermarket radio. So after some poking around, I found that I needed a Quadlock to ISO adapter, with CAN-bus mirroring or emulating abilities (if I wanted to use bluetooth). I know a lot of people have been getting headaches trying to get their new, expensive RMT 100 radios to work because it comes with no instructions and the adapters might not be totally plug and play (IIRC, somebody can illuminate if it's otherwise)

Gustav said:

Adapters are deifnitely the worst part of installing a new radio.

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I wired the power and ground to the posts under the relays.
Used 1 with power always, another with power in run, not crank.
Grounded to the dash support framework.
I didn't want problems with scanners later.

Also ran new 'real' speaker wires.

Isn't it just the Monsoon systems that have the issues with the funky power-off sensing that relies on feedback from the speakers? That's why it's necessary to run new speaker wires to the rear?

gmenounos said:

I put one of these: http://enfigcarstereo.com/DENSION_GBL3VW1.html
in each of our cars. It works pretty well for streaming music and pretends to be a CD changer so the radio and steering wheel buttons will control it. Can be used to make and receive phone calls, too, but I hardly ever talk in the phone while driving. Good solution if you want to keep your factory radio and don't want to mount a Bluetooth control pad somewhere. I tried a couple other Bluetooth adapters but I didn't like having to deal with finding a location for a wired remote control. That reminds me: I have a big box of Bluetooth adapters and wiring I need to get rid of. Look for it soon in the for-sale area...

Click to expand...

Hey this looks neat! I do want a CD player however and mine is broken, hence the looking for a new one. But maybe I'll look into this as it could be a solution if I'm willing to give up the CD player

Gustav said:

I just purchased an RCN210 radio for my 2004 Jetta. It's basically a knockoff version of the RMT 100. I say knock off because it's built by Desay SV in China, whereas the RMT 110 is built by Clarion in Mexico. Both are technically "OEM". the RCN s $120 shipped, the RMT is more than $300 at ecs tuning... unless there's a massive quality difference I don't see the value in the RMT.

Adapters are deifnitely the worst part of installing a new radio. In my case, I didn't know whether the car had a monsoon (double DIN) or a Blaupunkt (single DIN) from the factory, as it came with an aftermarket radio. So after some poking around, I found that I needed a Quadlock to ISO adapter, with CAN-bus mirroring or emulating abilities (if I wanted to use bluetooth). I know a lot of people have been getting headaches trying to get their new, expensive RMT 100 radios to work because it comes with no instructions and the adapters might not be totally plug and play (IIRC, somebody can illuminate if it's otherwise)

Click to expand...

Hey does your unit work well? Pros and cons? That's a good price

UhOh said:

Isn't it just the Monsoon systems that have the issues with the funky power-off sensing that relies on feedback from the speakers? That's why it's necessary to run new speaker wires to the rear?

Click to expand...

I thought it was the amp in the quarter panel that had a power off sensing issue. Maybe a couple posts on the amp killing the battery over the years.

I only see power hot at all times going to both the radio & amp.
I assume the wires going to 'COMPUTER DATA LINES SYSTEM' control the radio being on or off.
These 2 lines may be what cause the scanner not working issues.
They are pins 9 & 10 on the radio.

I ran new speaker wires to all 4 speakers to have heavier 16 gauge wires, not to use the thinner VW wires.
Also, I did not cut any wires so later I can re-install the Monsoon & amp for when I sell the car after I retire.

The Kenwood goes into the Tiguan then.