I was at the dealer the other day picking out the goodies for my MCS. i wanted the Sirius and iPOD and they weren't sure if the two would work together.... anyone know?

 

I have both ordered on my MCSC. Checked with the dealer yesterday and they will play nicely together as long as you do not have navigation.

 

I screwed then, I got the Nav.... do we know what the problem.

 

Don't know the technical aspects but I would assume either the sirius or ipod adapter uses the same port as the NAV on the head unit.

 

Bah, who need the nav? Half the fun is getting lost! I'd much rather have the music, but that's me.

 

It was my understanding that Sirius uses the same port as the ipod, so you can't have both the Sirius AND the ipod adapter that works through the steering wheel. You can, however, have the Sirius and an Aux/in and use the ipod that way.

 

According to my dealer you can. We'll see when I get the car. The dealer is Tate Mini of Annapolis MD

 

I hope you're right, because that's exactly what I'd like to do too. But you can't do it on the configurator at MiniUSA (ie have Sirius and the ipod adapter, but you can have the aux/in), and the dealer in Milwaukee said it was one or other. The aux/in isn't the end of the world, but you can't use it with the steering wheel, and you have to use a workaround for it to be a true line out rather than using the ipod's headphone jack (On my current car stereo, I have an aux/in in the face plate--the ipod sounds much better using a line out rather than the headphone jack. It would be interesting to see if anyone with the aux/in notices much difference in sound quality between using a line out or the headphone jack on the H/K stereo. Monster makes a nice car charger/ipod adapter with a true line out, or you can dock your ipod and use a stereo cable from the dock to the aux/in, which is somewhat awkward but would be an easy way to test it).

 

I'd like to warn to anybody that hasn't gotten it yet, that the IPod Adapter accesory is not as good as it should yet. The product needs some more development and improvement yet. I'd say that as it is now, is good enough for an average type of music consumer. But if you're a total Ipod freak, you'll better want to get the Aux In connector, rather than the Ipod adapter.
In short, the main drawbacks of the product are:
* Bad sound quality: sound comes out with some white noise/ line noise, mostly audible when playing at loud volumes. During song fade-outs or quiet passages, the noise becomes awfully evident.
* Random play function is resetted everytime radio system (or car engine as well) is turned off; thus songs may come up into your playing sequence very repeateadly. (...and you know how vital proper Shuffle function is for any Ipod serius user!).
* The fact that only up to 5 pre-determined playlists can be accesed only while the Ipod is connected to the system, wouldn't hurt that much if it wasn't that that connection does also block all type of Ipod control access from the handset it self, thus access to specific songs that may want to be picked to be played (either by any of the usual parameters: song, artist, album, etc.) is blocked then as well.
* Last, and I'm not sure if this only happened to me because my Ipod is loaded at almost saturated capacity with 9200 songs (40 GB model), but when playing from the "Play All" playlist, it eventually goes tilt. I have to disconnect and reconfigure all system in order to play normally again. And in two opportunites, I had to reformat the Ipod entirely, as it was damaged by the MINI interfase.
I don't recommend this product, at least as it is placed in the market currently.

 

Sbeach, do you have the H/K or the standard stereo? Doubt it would make any difference--it shouldn't, just curious though. Well, maybe I'll just go aux/in then--I really want the Sirius; I'd probably just use the ipod for long trips, so using the aux/in wouldn't be that big of a deal anyway.

 

I have the H/K. But I agree, and I don't think it would make a difference. The configuration you suggest (Sirus + Aux jack), I think it's one of the best options.

 

Anyone know how you can rig the Sirius Radio antena up for a MCSC? My dealer (in VA) won't put it in because there is no serface for the antena. But I though it could be mounted on the dash for rag-tops at least??

Any advice?

 

If you use the OEM Sirius it uses the CD changer interface in the boot area to connect. If you then use an aftermarket iPod solution like the Dice Electronics modules or the Monster iCruze (which also use the changer interface) you can have both. There is a pass-thru port on the OEM Sirius tuner that with an accessory BMW cable will allow you to switch between the Sirius and iPod using the Mode button on your headunit. However, I and others have found that in this configuration and (only) when the iPod is selected you may experience a small amount of alternator whine. I haven't made any serious efforts to find it though and can "tune" it out mentally and still enjoy my iPod.

 

The OEM MINI kit is compatible with Sirius as long as a special adapter cable is used. If you haven't purchased an iPod kit yet - the DICE would definitely simpifly things