Dension Gateway/iPod Dock Install (Lots of pics)

I know there's lots of iPod integration threads out there but I haven't seen an install of a Dension unit yet so I though I'd share my experience from last weekend. I was looking for more functionality than the standard aux input so I went with a Dension Gateway 300 coupled with a 2point5 spec.dock in the cupholder. The end result for my '09 JSW gives me a slick dock with 5V charging, control through the MFSW and text in the MFD.

Step 1: Remove the dash storage bin by taking out the two screws and prying it up.

Step 2: Pry up the the top piece of of dash trim. (The piece with the hazards button, vents, etc.) Be gentle, there are tabs around the whole thing but it should come up (straight up) easy. It doesn't need to be removed, just lifted.



Step 3: Remove the stereo/ac surround trim. Two screws at the top come out and it pops off easy.



Step 4: Take out the 4 screws holding in the stereo and withdraw it from the dash.



Step 5: Unhook the wiring harness and the antenna leads. There's a little plastic tab on the antenna leads that needs to be pushed away from the back of the stereo to remove them.



Step 6: Carefully pry up the gear shift surround.



Step 7: Remove the 2 screws holding in the "ashtray" and pull it up. Remove the wiring clips for the ESP button and 12V socket and remove the ashtray.



Step 8: Plug the Denison wiring harness into the stereo harness. Re-install the harness and antenna leads to the stereo and feed all the wires back into the dash making sure that the plug that attaches to the Denison unit drops down to the area under the ashtray.




Step 9: Drill a hole in the bottom of the cupholder (remove grip liner first) large enough to feed the dock wiring through and pull it through. Popping up the foam around the gear shift makes it alot easier to reach. Feed it through and plug it into the Dension unit. (Sorry, no pic here.)

Step 10: Test drive your new dock.

Step 11: Put all the trim and such back where it belongs and admire your handiwork.




All in all, not too hard and I'm super pumped with the results.
Thanks for reading all this. There's more pics in my member gallery for those interested.

Three questions..

1. How much?
2. Do you know if it works with the iPhone 3G (Will it charge more specifically)
3. Where did you get it?

I went to the Denison site and what I saw was discontinued / no longer available.

I want this.

dzcad90 said:

Three questions..

1. How much?
2. Do you know if it works with the iPhone 3G (Will it charge more specifically)
3. Where did you get it?

I went to the Denison site and what I saw was discontinued / no longer available.

I want this.

Click to expand...

3 answers...

1. $225 for the Dension box and $150 for the dock. (Expensive but slick.)
2. As far as I know, it works perfectly fine with 3G iPhone. I'm currently using a nano but I got the dock insert for iPhone because I'm planning to get one.
3. http://enfigcarstereo.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/DENSION_GW33VC1.html
http://enfigcarstereo.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/2POINT5_VWMKVV2I.html

A few questions, what can you do through the steering wheel buttons? Navigate through playlists? Are the artists/titles available in the MFD? Does it use the CD Changer interface on the radio?

Thanks

path23dv said:

A few questions, what can you do through the steering wheel buttons? Navigate through playlists? Are the artists/titles available in the MFD? Does it use the CD Changer interface on the radio?

Thanks

Click to expand...

It does use the CD changer interface to operate but I believe you can get a harness that will let you retain the changer if you want. If you've got the in dash changer like I do, I don't think there's any effect on it. (Not positive on this but I'll investigate further.)

You can navigate using the MFD and steering wheel controls as you would normally navigate your iPod. Playlists, Albums, Artists, etc. Each of the menus even has an alphabetical search. While in playback the MFD shows song title, album title, artist, time remaining for song and fuel volume remaining.

Great post, Thanks! A few questions: So after adding this: Does your in-dash cd changer still work? Sat radio? Did you have the AUX input too? I'd love to throw a ipod nano in the glove box hooked up to one of these, but don't want to sacrifice my sat radio or AUX in. Having recently been behind the radio, do you think it'd be any trouble to route the ipod connector(no dock) to the glove box and put the dension box in there(or somewhere else) as well?

Thanks for the heads up and photos.

It should work with the iPhone 3G as it charges off 5V... AFAIK, all the new iPods and iPhone charge with that voltage...

Hmm, been doing some reading. Any reason you went with the 300 series over the 100 series? Do you use the usb input for mp3s?

keggo said:

It should work with the iPhone 3G as it charges off 5V... AFAIK, all the new iPods and iPhone charge with that voltage...

Click to expand...

That was my understanding as well.

user1121 said:

Great post, Thanks! A few questions: So after adding this: Does your in-dash cd changer still work? Sat radio? Did you have the AUX input too? I'd love to throw a ipod nano in the glove box hooked up to one of these, but don't want to sacrifice my sat radio or AUX in. Having recently been behind the radio, do you think it'd be any trouble to route the ipod connector(no dock) to the glove box and put the dension box in there(or somewhere else) as well?

Thanks for the heads up and photos.

Click to expand...

I haven't tried the changer since the install but I think it should still work fine. I will confirm in the morning for you. I don't have sat radio so no clue there. I don't see why there would be a problem with that though. It does take the place of the aux in line on the stereo but the Dension box also has an aux input so you aren't really losing it, just moving it. I didn't notice if there's a way through to the glove box but if there is, the unit came with a plastic grommet to keep the cables in check.

user1121 said:

Hmm, been doing some reading. Any reason you went with the 300 series over the 100 series? Do you use the usb input for mp3s?

Click to expand...

I did want the usb because sometimes my wife steals my iPod so I wanted to be able to plug in a flash drive too. I fashioned up a usb port in one of the switch blanks behind the shifter but didn't show it originally because A: It didn't turn out like I had hoped looks wise and B: You can only put 10 pics in a single post. Here it is though.

I've confirmed that the in dash CD changer works as normal.

Great choice of radio station. I used to listen to 1010 on the A4 Golf, but on the new Jetta, CBC on 99.1 FM sounds so much better.

Where did you buy the Denison unit?

Thanks,
Steve

Steve said:

Great choice of radio station. I used to listen to 1010 on the A4 Golf, but on the new Jetta, CBC on 99.1 FM sounds so much better.

Where did you buy the Denison unit?

Thanks,
Steve

Click to expand...

Now that I'm using the iPod I don't use AM or FM for listening to CBC. I just download the podcasts. I found the dension unit at enfigcarstereo.com, the link is below.

http://enfigcarstereo.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/DENSION_GW33VC1.html

There's a cheaper version without USB too.

Would you mind snapping an underside shot of your USB port? I'm curious as to how you wired it up.

keggo said:

Would you mind snapping an underside shot of your USB port? I'm curious as to how you wired it up.

Click to expand...

No wiring required. The unit comes supplied with the USB cable. It just happens that the female end fits nicely into the switch blank underside needing only a hole to poke through and a couple dots of super glue to hold it steady. I'll pop it out and take a pic though because a pic is worth a 1000 words as they say. I think I'll get another switch blank and try to flush mount it though because I don't like how it sticks up and I smeared the top with a bit of super glue too.

Pics of the USB cable underneath the switch blank. The USB cable end is actually large enough that it friction fits between the tabs that hold the switch blank in but it will push through when you plug in your USB device if you don't tack it with some super glue or something.

Thanks!!! I still think it's awesome even if it didn't turn out how you wanted it... Thanks again!

Shouldn't be too hard to fix. Just need to be more careful this time. Like not scratching the switch face with my file and not being such a stonehands with the super glue bottle.

AUX + iPod

So Dension allows you to retain the AUX input? Is it the original AUX input or a new cable coming of the Dension box?

What about accessing the Dension? Do you do that by pressing CD twice?

I've also got the Dension 300, which I've been using in my Audi A3 TDI for a year now. I have the Concert II+ headunit, which looks (and probably functions) a lot like the OP's headunit. I'm not using an iPod dock, however, as I don't have any Apple devices. Instead, I use a 32 GB microSDHC card in a small USB reader and plug it into the Dension's USB input -- I took a Dremel to one of the blank buttons below the headunit to make an opening to access the Dension's USB. With the reader in the socket, it's very unobtrusive.

I was able to retain the factory AUX input; I suspect it'd work likewise on VWs. I press CD once to get the Dension -- pressing a 2nd time would give me the CD player built into the Concert II+ headunit. That's because the headunit remembers which CD mode it was in last & switches to it on the first press.

This unit is very easy to install; I did mine in less than half an hour. The hardest part is fitting all the stuff into the cramped space in the dashboard. The Dension has worked very well, but it does crash occasionally. It stops playing, and doesn't take input from the steering wheel or headunit controls; when that happens, switching to another input & back to the Dension does the trick. Note that if you have Sirius or XM, you'll have to get a passthru cable if you want to keep the satellite radio working.

FuelForThought said:

So Dension allows you to retain the AUX input? Is it the original AUX input or a new cable coming of the Dension box?

What about accessing the Dension? Do you do that by pressing CD twice?

Click to expand...

Yeah, so it does replace your original aux input and has one of it's own. You would need a new aux cable to use it. It is accessed in the same way like you say, push the CD button twice.

3waygeek said:

I was able to retain the factory AUX input; I suspect it'd work likewise on VWs.

Click to expand...

This actually isn't the case with the VW HU's. At least not in the '09.

I would love to see some pics of your setup. I'm planning on doing something similar in my A4.

Tim$2 said:

This actually isn't the case with the VW HU's. At least not in the '09.

Click to expand...

Just to make sure I understand correctly: the old physical AUX input is not removed since you connect the Dension to the SAT input but the old AUX input is no longer functional after the Dension install.

I also would wonder how the Audi is different from the VW in this sense.

Ok, it would make a lot of sense if I could draw it on paper for you but here goes...
To start, nothing is physically replaced. What happens is that the headunit has a certain number of inputs. The Dension replaces one of those inputs at the harness. In the case of my HU, it has two inputs, CD and Aux. The Dension harness blocks the factory Aux line replacing it with it's own. It's basically telling the HU that it's the Aux line and it's outputting 4 signals. Aux from Dension, USB, iPod audio only and full iPod data. It kind of works like an external CD changer, CD1 is the Aux, CD4 is the USB, 5&6 are the iPod. So... if that makes sense. The Audi HU has at least 3 inputs. CD, Aux, and Sat. So instead of replacing the Aux input, it's replacing the Sat input leaving the Aux free to operate as normal. So you need to figure out what input will be replaced on your HU. Do you have a sat input? You'll note in my earlier pics that I do not but there are VW HU's that have it so... Does that make sense?

Tim$2 said:

Do you have a sat input? You'll note in my earlier pics that I do not but there are VW HU's that have it so... Does that make sense?

Click to expand...

I do have a SAT input and I too have a 09 jetta (sedan instead of your wagon).
It does not matter too much anyway since Dension gateway has a 3.5mm input. The Dension seems to b doing everything I need (AUX + iPod) so I will be ordering it shortly.
Thanks for all the input!
Max