Loudlink for 2010 Quattroporte

Jkulin

Junior Member
Messages
983
Hi All,

I have done a search and can't find where anyone has fitted a loudlink to the QP.

I will hopefully have the car back Wednesday(Yeah after 3 weeks :frustrating: ) and am still undecided about fitting a Parrot Mki9200 or the Mki9100 as I really don't want to detract from the simple striking looks of the dash.

I have seen a number of references to the LoudLink and it would seem to be the perfect solution, has anyone fitted one to the QP?

Does it totally integrate into the Bose?

It would appear that it offers a much better option for the phonebook integration than the factory system and is by all accounts as good as the Parrot system, has anyone got one?

I'm not brilliant with car electrics, scrub that I'm not brilliant around cars full stop (Give me a computer and that is a different matter) so where can I get it fitted, I'm just between Stafford and Wolverhampton.

Much appreciate your help.
 

Ebenezer

Member
Messages
4,445
I have the loudlink fitted the my 2007 QP. Luckily I had the CD changer below the steering wheel. Straight swap. Couldn't be simpler and works very well. But you find yourself listening to the engine and exhaust more. However son eagerly connects his phone via bluetooth to play his yoof music
Eb
 

Ebenezer

Member
Messages
4,445
To be honest I've never made a call in my life using it. I've never used any in car hands free phone so I can't compare functionality. However reading the instructions, you have to have your phone paired and the music source on the head unit set to CDC (CD changer). So it looks like you can't listen to the cars radio and receive/make calls. However if you are switched to CDC you can stream music from your phone (eg internet radio/your own music etc) and take and receive calls. Integration with the car is limited to the following

Music
<< previous track: Play the previous track
>> Next Track: Play the next track
Phone
>> Next Track: Answer in coming call
<< Previous track: Reject incoming call, or hang up the current call
<<< Track fast rewind or Track fast forward: Call the last dialed phone number

I presume that if you have voice recognition this might also work, but I've not experimented with this. - not a heavy phone users.....

PM me with your email and I'll send you a scan of the instructions so you can get a feel for what it is.

As I said earlier, if you have the CD changer (and the sprongs to remove it!), the loudlink realy is a doddle to install

Eb
 

Jkulin

Junior Member
Messages
983
Thanks Eb and Kenny,

I think I have the gist of it now.

I'm one of these funny buggers in that I like everything to look factory spec unless it would look better with an enhancement and I think from the videos the Loudlink would do you fine for my iPhone interface and I'll see how the import of my contacts works with the phone interface as I would rather have these both than a Parrot, even though the Parrot will do everything I just don't want to lose the integration with the steering controls etc.

How easy is it to pull the radio so that I can fit the loudlink interface? Where can I buy one from in the UK?

Thanks once again.
 

Keano

Member
Messages
287
i could never get an iphone 5 to work reliably with my 2009 QP but since i moved to an iphone6 it works a treat. Call quality is fine and it even pulled the address book in until it hit a limit at M and stopped... i have thousands in my address book so think that was the issue.
 

Jkulin

Junior Member
Messages
983
Yep the call quality was excellent, I'm not sure if mine has a fault though as you never here it ringing anyone, the first you know is when it is connected, unless there is an option someone that I haven't discovered yet.

Yep I have a good many in my address book, but it wouldn't import any when I tried directly from the phone, but I have a csv file ready to import when I hopefully get the car back on Wednesday.
 

Ebenezer

Member
Messages
4,445
Not sure what you mean by importing contacts? All the loudlink does is connect your phone to the head unit. Nothing is transferred to the loudlink box. It's really just glorified bluetooth receiver. The head unitstill thinks its a CD changer.
Also reference radio - not sure again if you mean radio. That cannot be pulled as its part of the head unit. Only the CD changer can be "pulled" using special spongs you can get from Halfords or any car radio place. Mine cost £5. People have used coat hanger wire, and I tried that too, and failed....
Eb
 

Jkulin

Junior Member
Messages
983
Sorry Eb, didn't explain my self very well.

Keano previously advised me that you can import your contact into the head unit via the USB front socket via a .csv file, nothing to import into the loudlink. This is a solution I will be looking at when I get my QP back.

My QP doesn't have a multi CD player in, so I need to remove the head unit from the dashboard so that I can get to the AUX output on the back of it, older style radio and on my Porsche are a piece of cake, but I'm not sure how to do it on the Maser, that is what I was asking.
 

rockits

Member
Messages
9,167
Well I must be a magnet for grief at the moment....especially on Maser's!

I bought a Loudlink.....simple install.....of course not. Mine seems to be different to all the instructions and videos. The cable at the back of the Blaupunkt CD Changer is moulded and not removable. Leads about 6 inches to the blue connector block that the Loudlink plugs into which is halfway up the back of the dash. Somehow while upside down with head in foot-well and legs akimbo I managed to get a flat blade on the blue connector block retainer to disconnect the block and remove the CD Changer.

Not a hope in h3ll of connecting the Loudlink blue connector block though as the cable left behind the dash. It is not snagged anywhere or caught and is just too short. Needs to be 2 inches longer and more would be nice. Cue the thread drift!

Looks like I need to get some of the centre console out to get the head unit out to be able to get to the blue connector block. Do these guys do it on purpose?! I'm sure they are ganging up on me of late.
 

rockits

Member
Messages
9,167
All done.....3 hours to do a 15 min job! All down the to dozy engineer in the factory I would guess routing that CD Changer cable through the wrong hole/gap leaving the cable too short. Took all the centre console and NIT out to re-route the cable and funnily enough it is the right length now. Idiots.

Pleased to report the Loudlink works nicely.
 

Ebenezer

Member
Messages
4,445
Kudos you can do this sort of thing! I needed to go to a car hifi place to get them to remove the CD changer. Luckily my Luigi had provided plenty of free wire so plugging in the loudlink was easy!
The irony is that no one ever calls my mobile and I tend to either listen to the engine or the radio since R2 has Sally Traffic or one of her siblings, so it hardly gets used. But on the rare occasion it's nice to have an integrated solution.
Eb
 

rockits

Member
Messages
9,167
I don't know about Kudos....I often rue the fact that I can do stuff. Cheaper but much more expensive in so many other ways.

I am sure it is better to be in blissful ignorance of not being able to do anything! That is not aimed at you Eb.....just a generalisation ;)
 

Ebenezer

Member
Messages
4,445
It's not that I couldn't do it, I just don't know where to start or what to use. Also, every time I do take something apart, it invariably goes back together with one or more bits still waiting for a home!
Eb
 

CatmanV2

Member
Messages
48,547
It's not that I couldn't do it, I just don't know where to start or what to use. Also, every time I do take something apart, it invariably goes back together with one or more bits still waiting for a home!
Eb

If you'll forgive me, that rather sounds like not being able to do it :)

C
 

zagatoes30

Member
Messages
20,759
Mine was about the easiest fit going, the Spyder has more room in the arm rest as there are no rear vents
 

Ebenezer

Member
Messages
4,445
If you'll forgive me, that rather sounds like not being able to do it :)

C

Good pointg! Well I can take things apart, but not so good on the putting back together! So when it comes to something special / costly I tend to leave it to the experts as my own cock up is likley to be even more expensive!

It would be very enlightening to watch someone take bits of the car apart like Rockist has just done - I'd be dead afraid of scatching or breaking something - hence my admiration...

Eb
 

rockits

Member
Messages
9,167
It is just really about taking your time & being careful. If it takes too much pressure to remove or put back then something is not right....most of the time. Sometimes as caveman as it sounds it can just need a whack.

Label things, arrange screws in patterns so you know where they go, be organised, give yourself time and space. The best one is be patient...I have that in spades luckily.

I've just been used to taking things apart & working out how they work most of my life. A kind of natural inquisition if you like. I need to know the answer, the route cause/source of a problem and won't rest until I find it. I find solutions to problems and fix things that are broken in my working life so have had a few years of practice

Sometimes it is a boon but I guess we all fight certain demons. I'm starting to find Maserati's more of an illogical challenge more than any other thing or car I have worked on. The lack of logic means I find it hard to accept some things. The Loudlink installation issue being one. As much it pains me to say it....many German designed/built cars are not the same. I guess the Italians don't sacrifice so much in the quest to make great drivers cars.