Anybody know a good Bluetooth modified radio?

Jeep Joe

Jeep Joe

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Mar 6, 2019
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Short story long, I punched my dash, in my 2004, because it was squeaking and *apparently* I have the strength of a god because My slight love tap on the top of the gauge cluster somehow transferred 2 feet to my Bluetooth modified factory radio and broke it :/

This radio was pretty shit anyways and sounded really muffled and audio quality would change based on what radio channel was selected, (strange for “Bluetooth”) this was purchased from factory1 radio about a year ago.

That being said, does anybody have suggestions on a factory modified Bluetooth radio? One that doesn’t sound muffled. Or would a radio with a wired aux jack sound better?

also, can any audio nerds explain my “Bluetooth” radio changing quality based on what channel it was on?
 
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In my 2000 TJ I installed an OEM radio, modified with a front panel pin jack for an audio cable connection with an ipod or iphone with speaker output. I also have a bluetooth dongle that can install there and which will talk to my iphone when I'm out back in the Jeep kitchen. Supplier was 1factoryradio.com. Note that they would not modify my original radio, as it 'had some troublesome parts' in it. Instead, I bought a similar Mopar unit that works well.
 
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Mark K said:
In my 2000 TJ I installed an OEM radio, modified with a front panel pin jack for an audio cable connection with an ipod or iphone with speaker output. I also have a bluetooth dongle that can install there and which will talk to my iphone when I'm out back in the Jeep kitchen. Supplier was 1factoryradio.com. Note that they would not modify my original radio, as it 'had some troublesome parts' in it. Instead, I bought a similar Mopar unit that works well.
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Can you control the volume and bass/treble sliders with the aux jack? I would really like to be able to keep the radio functions
 
I wired up a $20 bluetooth fm transmitter hidden behind the glove box to the radio fuse. It comes on with the radio when you start the jeep and pairs with a phone almost instantly. Then i just have one of the radio presets set to the trasmitter frequency and it works and sound great with the oem headunit.
 
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Jeep Joe said:
Can you control the volume and bass/treble sliders with the aux jack? I would really like to be able to keep the radio functions
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Yes, at least on my old iphone 5S which I keep in the Jeep for such use. The phone treats the vehicle radio as a speaker.
 
mmmkam said:
I wired up a $20 bluetooth fm transmitter hidden behind the glove box to the radio fuse. It comes on with the radio when you start the jeep and pairs with a phone almost instantly. Then i just have one of the radio presets set to the trasmitter frequency and it works and sound great with the oem headunit.
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Any more info on the model/brand or a link? That sounds (no pun intended) like it may work well for me too.
 
dbbd1 said:
Any more info on the model/brand or a link? That sounds (no pun intended) like it may work well for me too.
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On Amazon, it was described as a bluetooth 3.5mm adapter, but all those links I had are marked sold out. Gotta wait for another container to arrive.
 
dbbd1 said:
Any more info on the model/brand or a link? That sounds (no pun intended) like it may work well for me too.
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I found the one I got randomly in Home Depot, but It was very similar to this one:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082YWZ77X/?tag=wranglerorg-20
I just wired something similar to the below socket to the fuse behind the glove box, zip tied it in there and plugged in the Bluetooth transmitter. Its been running flawlessly for a couple years now and you would never know its there.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08N9ZJHGN/?tag=wranglerorg-20
 
I had a unit I bought off e-bay but I'll tell I recently just upgraded the whole headunit to get a smarter Bluetooth and I love my new headunit. It was just a cheap one off Crutchfield but it sounds so much better and Bluetooth actually works and pairs like it should and allows multiple device pairing.
 
You can also do a double Din install which gives you the ability to install just about any current radio with Nav, Bluetooth, Back Up Camera ect. There are some good Jeep TJ double Din installs on youtube, kit was about 80 ish dollars when I bought mine
 
Gunnersmate said:
You can also do a double Din install which gives you the ability to install just about any current radio with Nav, Bluetooth, Back Up Camera ect. There are some good Jeep TJ double Din installs on youtube, kit was about 80 ish dollars when I bought mine
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I park my jeep with the top and doors off in sketchy areas where anything not welded to the Jeep will be taken. Especially a double din after market radio. So I want to stay low-profile.
 
You can install any factory radio and use the iPod adapter AUX in for bluetooth if you want to keep it stock and don't want a modified solution.
 
joelachr said:
This (https://gromaudio.com/store/bt3_ada...2-09-bluetooth-adapter-car-kit-interface.html) is what I currently have installed. It works well except for one quirk. When in the mode for bluetooth, I can’t turn the volume up, only down.

This (https://www.usaspec.com/p-334-pa11-chr.aspx) is what I had previously with a Bluetooth aux adapter hooked to it. It’s expensive for what I was using it for.
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So, with the grom, all radio buttons work? But you can’t turn the volume up? So how do you turn the volume back up when you turn it down? Also, do you notice any static or loss in audio quality?
 
mmmkam said:
I found the one I got randomly in Home Depot, but It was very similar to this one:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082YWZ77X/?tag=wranglerorg-20
I just wired something similar to the below socket to the fuse behind the glove box, zip tied it in there and plugged in the Bluetooth transmitter. Its been running flawlessly for a couple years now and you would never know its there.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08N9ZJHGN/?tag=wranglerorg-20
Click to expand...
Have you still got factory speakers and amp. If yes these transmitters will be ok. Anything better and don’t go the transmitter route...respectfully they are very poor sound quality.
 
Jeep Joe said:
So, with the grom, all radio buttons work? But you can’t turn the volume up? So how do you turn the volume back up when you turn it down? Also, do you notice any static or loss in audio quality?
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No static and the audio quality sounds great to me. The previous and next track buttons on the radio work to go forward or back in a playlist.

For the volume, I switch back to radio, turn it up, and then switch back to Bluetooth. An annoyance but it works. The Bluetooth pauses when I switch to the radio and resumes when I switch back. I emailed Grom and they said it’s a problem with the amp used for subwoofer equipped models. However, the person I bought it from said it worked fine in their subwoofer Jeep. I have another head unit I’m going to swap and try sometime.
 
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Jeep Joe said:
I park my jeep with the top and doors off in sketchy areas where anything not welded to the Jeep will be taken. Especially a double din after market radio. So I want to stay low-profile.
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might look at a lowrance Sonic Hub mounts under the dash out of sight, I have one in my boat and really like it, the interface is NMEA 2000 so a MFD would needed
 
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